I was attacking my daily goal of 10,000 steps, and felt a little off, got off the treadmill, and realized I was shaking, and so tested my blood sugar to see what was going on, and it was at 59. I ate something, and went and laid down, and my chest started hurting, it felt really weird, right in the center, almost like my sports bra was constricting and pushing something scratchy and poky in to my chest. Lasted for 3-4 minutes and then went away. I was googling symptons like crazy, because I'm a hypochondriac, and given the symptoms of chest pain, what can't you do with that? It doesn't seem like a common symptom, but low blood sugar can cause chest tightness or pain. About 15 minutes after I ate, my blood sugar was at 89, I ate again, and I took a nap because I felt crummy, and it was at 116 when I woke up.
I think I need to cut back on the dosage of medications I take for diabetes they're a little too high for the increased level of exercise. Later after that, I tried to walk gently on the treadmill, but, it wasn't happening I still felt woozy, I think this is going to throw my day off step-wise. I have to take a breather.
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Anyhow, on to reason #4 of why I hate being overweight....
I have mild scoliosis, and my upper back and neck look like a Z. My head always cants to the left, and it compacts my neck, so it's very short and thick. Which is prime ground for sleep apnea. I live alone, so I'm not sure when it started, but I know around 180 pounds, is when I had someone first notice it, I only did it the once on our trip, so it seemed like maybe a one-off, and I didn't know about sleep apnea yet.
Later I would share a hotel room with my parents, and wake up with my Step-Father standing over me, and saying emphatically, you need to get medical help! And then he slept in the car the rest of the night, rather then being in a room with me sleeping.
I went to the Doctor, and they referred me over to a sleep lab. It was one lone sleep technician, and she was really nice, I mean - just the sort of person you'd want to watch you sleep all night, if you had to choose someone not creepy out of a line-up. The sleep lab hooked me up to a ton of electrodes, and then I tried to go to sleep....and tried....and tried. Finally in the wee hours of the morning I did fall asleep and they got the data they needed, and eventually I went home with a CPAP machine, this was 11 or 12 years ago?
Sleeping with something on one's face does take awhile to adapt to. At first it feels like it's going to suffocate you, and it takes awhile to get a mask that fits right. But I slept SO much better, that I adapted to it pretty easily, and it's never bothered me to use it in that way.
But golly, sleep apnea is a pain!
1) Camping - where in the middle of the wilderness would you plug your machine in? Surely your friends wouldn't want to hear you suffocating and choking through the thin tent walls.
2) Traveling - I've lugged that stupid machine to Europe and back, worried that somehow I'd damage this very expensive and delicate piece of equipment. Nevermind trying to sleep on an airplane, knowing that you're gonna make some ugly sounds if you fall asleep on the flight.
3) Stay at a friends house too late? Well, you can't just crash on the couch, unless you want to suffocate all night long, also no impromptu naps away from home.
4) Power outages - Yep, nothing suddenly not being able to breath so well, and realizing the power went out, and that it's better to stay awake all night long, then to starve one's brain of oxygen.
5) Mask face - It can take awhile for the seams of the mask to disappear, so sometimes I go to work with a few mask lines. Also from wearing a mask for so many years, it's started to create broken capillaries across my cheecks, giving me a permanent rosy cheeked look. My goal is to have them removed once I'm well under 180 pounds.
6) Stigma - I hate that part when I'm going to share a room with a friend, and I'm like....so I have this machine....or a potential relationship, where I'm like....so I have to plug into this machine at night, it's super romantic, if Darth Vader turns you on, you'd love me.
7) Costs - You're supposed to get new supplies on your machine every 3-6 months for different things, and even when my insurance covers it, it's still a hefty co-pay. The little water tray is $200, without insurance to replace. There's tubing, filters, and the face mask, and the straps that hold the mask on. Also one is supposed to get re-tested every few years - I never have, because nothing has seemed to be wrong, so I just kept forgetting. I'm in no hurry to get a bunch of electrodes pasted to my head, and letting someone watch me sleep all night.
Being able to lose weight, and shed the machine, would be awesome, and a definite goal I'm looking forward to.