Tim Malone.id.au

I’m so tired. I have generally been tired for a number of years now, and earlier this year it suddenly got worse – to a point where I needed a day off work to sleep. I decided to do something about it – I went to my GP, got referred to a sleep specialist, made an appointment with the sleep specialist, waited a month for the appointment, got booked in for a sleep test, waited a month for the sleep test, had the sleep test, waited a month for the followup, and then ended up borrowing a CPAP machine and mask from the sleep clinic to try it out to see if it made any difference. Yeah, it’s all a bit of a long winded process.

I haven’t really put much effort into it. I was allowed the CPAP machine for a month (it was actually due back last week, but I still have it) and I was given a mask for a weekend. It worked well – but a weekend isn’t really long enough to see results. Having to take the mask back, I borrowed the same type of mask from the CPAP shop across the road from the sleep clinic (which was also due back last week, and I still have it). This mask though… seemed to be a little different. It had an air hole which I didn’t remember being on the other mask, and, well, air came out of it. That usually wouldn’t be a problem except for the fact that the noise kept me awake. So I took the mask back, they made some adjustments and tested it on their own machine, and it was quiet. I then took it back home and it was still noisy!

So that little frustration, combined with the general tiredness I have, caused me to just put the mask down and stop using the machine. Annoying, because now I really should be taking it all back and I still don’t really know if using the machine is going to make a difference or not. I have an appointment with the sleep doctor next week to discuss it…at which point I was supposed to be giving him feedback on how I’m feeling so he can recommend whether or not I should shell out one-and-a-half grand to buy my own equipment!

Oh the joys of trying to fix problems that take ages to fix and require motivation to continue. No wonder I still have wonky teeth after having braces for a number of years.

Anyway, last week I suddenly started feeling alot tired again – and the only thing I can think of is that daylight saving started! Looking back on my calendar to my doctor’s appointment earlier in the year, on the day when I suddenly felt very tired… I find it was on the 29^th March, four days after daylight saving ended!

Perhaps one hour really does make the difference…