Dang nab it..........

[Big Guy]

For the last three nights, I've not been using my CPAP. I've been sleeping great. I'm determined to get back on it tonight. 

I thought that by posting this, it will make me more motivated to do it. 

[Deborah K.]

It's a bad habit to get into.  Remind yourself that your health will be better if you stick with it.  

[Big Guy]

It's a bad habit to get into.  Remind yourself that your health will be better if you stick with it.  

I'm scheduled to have a Catheter Ablation done the 19th of this month. I'm anxious to see if it has any effect on my Sleep Apnea. 

And, I will be back on my CPAP tonight. 

[DaveL]

Big guy I fall asleep in front of the tv
Last weekend I cheated. Caught a Power Nap. Woke up rested after 2 hours sleep

Checked my machine. I’d used a p30i mask. No chin strap. Sure was a good sleep


AHI was 26.0.

DaveL

[Big Guy]

If I happen to nap, I don't gear up with my CPAP equipment. My naps are only an hour or so.

[Sleeprider]

I doubt the ablation will impact your CPAP therapy in any way, but not using CPAP could make you higher risk for AFib. https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-...-connected

[DaveL]

Hi Big Guy,

I'm amazed that I can't predict how good my sleep is. I could probably stop therapy and feel fine.

I'm delighted I'm aging. After all, what's the alternative?

I became a heart patient. The cardiologist recommended his therapy; open heart surgery.

[Deborah K.]

My husband had a double ablation surgery.  One side of his heart had Atrial Flutter and the other had Atrial Fibrillation.  The surgery was successful, but it did not change his need for a pap machine.  His AHI is often 0.something nowadays, and we are very happy with that!  He never achieved that with his Philips bilevel, and is doing worlds better on his ResMed Vauto.

Maybe you'll have better results.  Alan had an original AHI in the high nineties, so things may be different for you.  Good luck!  

[srlevine1]

I doubt the ablation will impact  your CPAP therapy in any way, but not using CPAP could make you higher risk for AFib. https://www.michiganmedicine.org/health-lab/sleep-apnea-and-atrial-fibrillation-how-theyre-connected

Michigan has a hidden gem when it comes ro afib, pacing, and electrophysiology. A true pioneer in the field. 

The 2019 Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology Award Goes to: Dr. Fred Morady

There were many highlights during last month’s Heart Rhythm 2019, the Heart Rhythm Society’s 40th Annual Heart Rhythm Scientific Sessions in San Francisco. However, one of the best moments was the recognition of Dr. Fred Morady for the Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology award.

Early on, Dr. Morady was on a trajectory for an academic cardiology career, spending his college time in the research lab of Dr. Jeremy Swan (of the Swan-Ganz catheter). He completed his training with Dr. Mel Scheinman in 1980 at the University of California, San Francisco. After a brief stay on faculty there, he moved in the mid 1980s to the University of Michigan, where he became the director of cardiac electrophysiology. Since then, he has made the highest impact possible on nearly every aspect of cardiac electrophysiology, including the basic understanding of arrhythmias, syncope, cardiac arrest, programmed electrical stimulation, and techniques for catheter ablation.

A quick search on PubMed (https://bit.ly/2W2YKkN) reveals 647 peer-reviewed papers. But more important are the lessons that we all regularly learn from him, as he sets the example on a daily basis for what it means to be a successful academic clinical cardiac electrophysiologist. For example:

• Always give the patient hope and consider options others have not.
  
• Establish a culture of clinical investigation. Consider every patient for a clinical trial.
  
• Communicate with the referring physician immediately after the procedure is completed.
  
• Don’t waste time. There is no need to be in a rush, but do not waste a minute. Fred is as efficient as it gets — when he is not doing a procedure, he is either seeing a patient in clinic, or working on a manuscript. No time is wasted. And when he’s done, he goes home to be with his family.
  
• Keep it simple. Insert the fewest number of catheters and take the least amount of time needed to successfully complete each case.
  
• Continuously be thinking of randomized trial ideas. When a tough case is presented to Fred, and the rest of the group is frustrated by the lack of published data to help make a decision, Fred views this as an opportunity to study the problem with a randomized trial.
  
• Do not get bogged down with policies, procedures, protocols, and administrative tasks. Progress is successful resolution of the medical problem, or a paper accepted for publication. Process is not progress.
  
• Do not procrastinate. When Fred is given a manuscript draft, he returns it fully edited the following morning.
  
• Recognize early new ideas that have potential.
  
• As soon as Fred saw the seminal work from the Bordeaux group in the late 1990s related to ablation of pulmonary vein triggers of atrial fibrillation, he immediately saw that this would change our field, and quickly started performing and studying ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation.
  

Good leaders lead by example. There are few people in any field who are able to lead by example on so many different fronts — fellow education, procedural prowess, meaningful and applicable clinical research, and faculty mentorship. No one who has ever spent a meaningful amount of time professionally with Fred has found a flaw. Recognizing Dr. Fred Morady with the Pioneer in Cardiac Pacing and Electrophysiology award was well deserved and inevitable.

[Big Guy]

I'm hoping that a successful Catheter Ablation will at least make me feel more energetic. It's not like I'm dragging myself around, but I do like to take a power nap at about 11 am or so. It usually only lasts an hour. 

I don't feel any of the symptoms of AFIB like some people do. I can be in an AFIB mode and not even know it. Anyways, I won't know until it's been done. 

Last night, I showered and shaved and I only got about 1.5 hours of CPAP use before I got up and took my mask off. It was itching me like crazy. I think I shaved too close again and my skin was irritated. Gonna try shaving in the mornings after sleeping, and see if that helps. 

Once the mask was off and I was back in bed, I slept just fine.