Sleep Clinic

I had my appointment at the sleep clinic on Friday. When Jane and I were in Poland, we shared a hotel room and she swears I have sleep apnea; this in addition to my dreadful snoring. So I thought I would check it out. Of course I had to go as a private patient. It would have taken about two years to get an appointment on the NHS. It is interesting when you are a private patient. You get seen by the Professor and he sees you quickly and spends time with you. We discussed my history of sleeping and my daytime activity or lack thereof. He explained the difference between sleepiness and tiredness. The only way to tell for certain whether you have sleep apnea is to come in to the clinic and stay overnight. You sleep with machinery connected to you and it measures how often you stop breathing. If I have it, it is quite mild so I decided not to do the overnight now but wait to see how I am at the end of the summer. He has suggested a mouth guard that will hold my mouth open while I am sleeping so my throat doesn't collapse. I'm very happy to try it and will get one on Monday. What I am less happy about is his recommendation (insistence) that I lose weight. He is talking a stone (14lbs). I know he is right but I'm not looking forward to it. The last time I lost a noticeable amount of weight, I was still smoking and that makes it a whole lot easier. I will start tomorrow counting calories and being good.