So if you know about CPAP therapy, you know that it is meant to help you breathe better while you sleep. The goal is that you’d get a nice, full night’s sleep and wake up feeling rested and refreshed.
The reality of it though is quite different. In my case, I don’t know that I have ever awoken feeling refreshed or better than I do without it. I’ve heard of many positive effects that come from using the CPAP, but I’m not entirely sure I’ve experienced any.
When I don’t use it, I wake up feeling awful and when I use it I wake up feeling awful. I can go a bit further and say that many times I even wake up in the middle of the night because the pressure points caused by the mask make my face hurt. I’ll go to sleep and after a few hours it’s like my face gets fatigued from using it and I wake up in pain. Sometimes I take it off altogether and other times I try to adjust it for some relief.
I’ve been using a CPAP for years now. Apparently, there are health benefits that are not always “visible” or felt. I suppose that it may be helping me in some way that I can’t perceive. The one major benefit to my home life is that my wife and I can sleep in the same bed. Though that hasn’t necessarily improved other aspects of our relationship, at least neither of us ends up having to sleep on the sofa, and that’s a plus I suppose?
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