I took a half-day off on Friday so that I could go to the 2pm setup class at the clinic and get my device. This was relatively straight forward, as there were only 5 of us, and we had a good time sharing stories of our studies when the tech was out of the room. The unit they provided us was a ResMed S8 Compact, which seems to be an unremarkable but noncontroversial machine, from the research I’ve done since. (I still intend to followup on laurel‘s excellent advice, but for now, I figured I’d take what was given and not waste time.
As most people warned me, it is going to take some getting used to. The whole “there’s something strapped to my face” feeling really doesn’t phase me, but I’m finding that I’m hyper-conscious of my breathing at first. I’ll actually be thinking “Ok, breathe in…..and out……and in….and out.” Other than that, I don’t seem to have too many problems with it insofar as it being a distraction from falling asleep.
The other thing that’s going to take some getting used to is that I seem to only be sleeping in 3-4 hour increments. After about that much time, I’m waking up, and finding myself too wired to go back to sleep. So I’ll get up for about an hour or so, then try to go back to bed, and often succeed for another 2-3 hours. My co-worker Tim has suggested that I will probably find that I don’t actually need as much sleep as I used to, since the sleep I’m getting is higher quality, and he may turn out to be right. i would not actually mind a couple of extra hours in my day!
Of course, the bottom line, and the most important thing, is that I’m feeling a ton better after sleep, regardless of the length of time I actually spend doing it. When I wake up, I find I’m instantly awake, and no longer feel like I’m having to push a large weight off of my brain. While I don’t have the “bursting with energy like an ADD ferret on meth” sensation that some people reported after their first experience, I am feeling less fatigued, more alert, and generally more upbeat as a result.
Ultimate verdict: I think this is going to be a good thing.
Thanks to everyone who posted with encouragement, suggestions, resources, or just shared experiences. I really appreciated all of it.