My Spouse Has Sleep Apnea and Now We Both Need CPAPs

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea 7 years ago. How do I remember it was 7 years ago? It was the first time I slept away from our new house, which we had bought just a few weeks earlier.

Tuning out the sounds around me

Although my CPAP machine was not noisy, I had to start wearing earplugs because of the normal noise of cars going by, dogs barking, the air conditioning/furnace coming on, etc. The more years that went by, the harder it was for me to sleep. Personally, I get the best sleep when there's absolutely no light in the room or noise of any kind.

My husband's snoring was adding to the noise

I already needed to wear a sleep mask just to keep the light out, and now earplugs! This noise didn't seem to bother my husband. He slept right through it most nights. And usually, if it did wake him up, he would just roll over onto his side and go right back to sleep. On really bad noise nights, he would do the rolling over thing maybe 3 or 4 times a night.

Mind you, my CPAP machine is very quiet, but my husband's snoring was getting really wild at times. I resorted to the earplugs!

Encouraging my husband to get a sleep study

My husband and I had many discussions about sleep apnea. He finally decided to talk with his primary care provider about getting a sleep study. Unfortunately, COVID-19 happened shortly after, so the sleep study was put on hold. That was discouraging.

Over the last couple of years, I would literally check to make sure he was still breathing. But to be honest, since I haven't been able to use my CPAP because of the noxious fumes it was giving off, for the last few months, both of us have been taking turns checking to make sure the other one is still breathing.

Powering through the home sleep study

His sleep study finally happened! It was a home sleep study because that's the one that works best with his schedule right now. His job hours are strange – he works spring and fall – sometimes that's 18 hours a day. Of course, lucky for me... he is laid off all winter.

After getting himself all hooked up and laid down, unfortunately, he did a lot of tossing and turning for the first few minutes. It was driving me up a wall! Trying to get in his normal sleep position would cause a sensor to go off; this was very frustrating, especially since he was extremely tired.

We both have sleep apnea and need CPAP machines

My husband received a message from his primary care provider. She had already ordered him a CPAP machine but didn't know how long it would take to receive it because of the CPAP recall.

We were correct... it turns out he does have sleep apnea!

I find this very interesting that both of us will be using CPAP machines! I sure do hope his machine and my replacement are both extremely quiet.

Can you relate to Sally? Do you sleep with a partner who snores? Do you use a CPAP and have a partner who uses one too? Share with us in the comments below!