I Have Marfan Syndrome

Sunday, 28 March 2010 14:57

In my CPAP Machine post I mention that I have been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. So, I've been using a CPAP machine at night for the past couple of months. That means that I place something over my nose and it pushes air down my airway to keep it open.

Since I've been using the CPAP, my energy level has increased. I actually feel great. It's quite an amazing revelation. However, there is still a huge issue. I am still falling asleep at the wheel... literally.

For the past 20 years or so, I've been dealing with trying to keep myself awake while driving, and it hasn't been much of an issue. I've dozed off at times, and I wake myself up. I've never gotten into an accident, and no one has ever gotten hurt. I don't remember ever being really afraid. This has also happened while driving my daughters. I drive Sam to Pre-School 3 days a week, a 1/2 hour each way.

This past Tuesday, on the way back home, at about 3pm, I was having an extremely difficult time staying awake. My usual methods weren't working - my wife wasn't at her desk, so I couldn't talk to her on the phone, and the music on my phone just wasn't cutting it. We made it off the highway okay, and then we had to make it to town. There's only one traffic light on the whole route, and that's at the center of town. I remember being about 2 blocks away and dozizng off, but I was able to wake myself up. Apparently, though, I feel asleep for microseconds, because I awoke as we went over the bump in the intersection.

Luckily, there was no one turning, and we had the light and there was no one in front of me. If any of those circumstances hadn't been right, then we would've been in an accident. That scared me.

So, I called my Sleep Doc. She looked at the chip in my CPAP machine and saw that I am definitely using the machine enough, averaging about 5 hours a night. This means that there must be something else going on as well as the Sleep Apnea.

Going through my history, and what happens in the car - I seem to fall asleep when I get bored. Most people zone out, but when I zone out, I fall asleep. In the car I have to lilsten to the same Kids Music over and over and over again. It seems that if I'm not intellectually stimulated in some way, then I get tired and fall asleep.

I just happened to look at some report cards from when I was in High School and it was so clear back then as well in the teacher comments. In English Class I had pretty good grades and good comments from the teacher. In Spanish clash, the teacher would always comment, "Geoff falls alseep in class and need to pay more attention." But I got good grades. In Math class it was the same- "Geoff is missing homework and seems very tired and uninterested, but does very well on the tests."

I fell asleep in just about every class in college. I think the only class I didn't fall asleep in was a Playwriting class that I took.

The Sleep Doc's solution is to take drugs. She prescribed Nuvigil. However, Nuvigil has only been around for about 2 years, and the possible side-effects are VERY scary. This is instead of amphetamines, which would be the only other choice. Either choice would most likely leead to me having to take more drugs on top of those and the ones that I'm already taking.

I've never wanted to be one to take more than two or so medications. The thought of having to take more than that scares me. The effects on my liver and my brain and my kidneys... So, I've asked my mother for help in looking for any other alternatives. More sleep is out of the question as a possibility. I need to look at diet, meditation, exercise, supplements, anything that will not possibly give me a rash or chemically overload my liver.

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