My struggle with sleep apnea

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Ryan Padgett
  • 22nd Airlift Squadron

TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – I'm 36 years old, an Airman, a noncommissioned officer, an aviator, a husband and the father of a little girl. I also have Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Before my OSA was treated, it was a dangerous and merciless creature that endangered all other aspects of who I am.

For those of you that don't know, OSA is a medical condition where a person’s airway muscles relax during sleep, causing them to collapse until the person is woken by the lack of oxygen, preventing them from getting restorative sleep. Instead of sleeping all night, a person takes a series of dozens, if not hundreds, of mini naps. Since being treated for it two years ago, I've been able to take back the things OSA was stealing from me.

For me, it all started with snoring. Today, I can proudly say I've tamed the beast and my OSA is more of a companion. It stays happily in its cage, and other than occasional bad days, it keeps to itself and is no longer ruining my life. I hope after sharing my story, people who may be affected by OSA, seek help for their conditions. I also hope they are able to reclaim the joys in their lives that OSA may be keeping from them.

I'm so blessed to have such a caring wife. She overlooks a lot of my faults, but if something worries her, she'll let me know. For years she lovingly chided me about how I always complained about being tired (Symptom no.1: Experiencing constant fatigue no matter how much rest a person gets). She mentioned that I snored a lot (Symptom no.2). Honestly, prior to overcoming my OSA, several years had passed since I woke up feeling well rested. I was only able to sleep for about five hours a night and when I awoke, I was tired, unable to get back to sleep and I would often drag my way through the work day.

I felt like I had a fog in my head and found it close to impossible to concentrate and remember things. At the end of the day, I would go to bed exhausted and start the process all over again. My doctor also warned me that my blood pressure was getting high enough to be concerning (Symptom no.3: High blood pressure).

Sleep apnea had a tremendous impact on my life. Along with struggling to get adequate rest and make it through the work day, I dropped out of my four-year degree program after failing a class because I simply couldn't focus on the most basic homework. At home, I was an emotional roller coaster. I was always tired so getting me to do anything, whether it was chores around the house or something fun was a challenge. Additionally, I was constantly hungry, did not work out regularly and gained weight. My fitness scores suffered.

I knew something was seriously wrong, but I was still trying to fix it on my own. In 2015, my wife said two words that changed my life forever, “I’m pregnant.” Lack of sleep, not only had the short term effects I'd been having, but it also causes heart disease and can lead to diabetes. In other words, it could kill me. No matter what, I was determined to not leave my wife without a husband or the little girl growing in my wife's belly without a father.

That realization was all the motivation I needed to schedule an appointment with my doctor. I told him my symptoms and was scheduled for a sleep test. I spent an uncomfortable night in a room that resembled a hotel room with a bundle of sensors connected to my head and body. Technicians watched me as I slept. A couple weeks later, I learned I had OSA, which is easily treated with a Constant Positive Air Pressure therapy machine.

The machine I was issued was about the size of a personal speaker or small lunchbox, was very quiet, and featured a tiny nose pillow and stretchable headset. After 15 minutes of instruction, I was ready to use the machine at home.

The first night I slept wearing the mask it took about 30 minutes to get comfortable, but as soon as I found my position, I fell asleep. I slept for seven hours straight. When I woke up, I cried. For the first time in nearly a decade, the fog was gone. It was like waking up from an eight-year nightmare. I went to work that day, talked with friends without struggling to remember what we were talking about, worked through the entire day without being tired and came home with energy to spare.

I also started to perform better at work. I was able to react, make smart decisions and communicate much better with my fellow crewmembers. I even found a calling working with a team at the 60th Medical Group called "Expanding the Boundaries." The group works to test, evaluate and advocate streamlining the equipment and processes we have in place to get Airmen with OSA back into the fight faster and more mobile than ever.

We even submitted a Phoenix Spark innovation for a discrete, worldwide-deployable kit, so Airmen with OSA can deploy to austere locations with equipment and provisions to continue their treatment anywhere in the world, without needing constant access to A/C power. Just this past year, we presented our findings in Germany at the NATO Ramstein Aerospace Medicine Conference.

It took a few weeks for my body to fully recover from the effects of not getting restful sleep for so long, but now I'm happier, I'm working out again and my fitness score has improved by eight points. I'm also now back to flying operations and my blood pressure has gone down to a healthy range again. Most importantly, when I get home now, I have energy to play with my little girl, a very energetic three-year-old.

I want to thank the Expanding the Boundaries team, who were also the professionals who helped me get my life back. I also have to thank my wife, Krisha and our daughter Annabelle, because their lives were the inspiration to take my first step to be where I am today.

If my story in any way sounds like something you may be dealing with, take that critical first step and call your doctor. Do it for your family, your children, your Airmen and do it for yourself.