At the start of the year, I got a smartring. Mainly to track my steps, exercise, and stress levels, but also to keep better track at how I was doing in terms of time spent sleeping, and whatever fun fucking stats the ring may entertain me with.

I noticed early on that I regularly get high-stress events in my sleep, which I initially chalked up to my vivid dreams and nightmares. Sometimes sleeping feels like my subconscious is doing its level best to create a Sharknado/Halloween/Event Horizon fusion sequence that is weird and distressing.

However, recently browsing a smart device sub, I saw someone mention having high stress events while sleeping and someone else suggesting they check their O2 stats at the time of the stress events, because it could be a sign of sleep apnea.

I checked mine and...yes, my O2 being between 88-94% is probably unideal.

After scoping out the craptacular options for sleep specialists that my insurance will cover, I decided to go with Blue Sleep because they had the highest reviews I could find overall and a lot of their complaints appeared to be by people who are idiots and didn't pay attention to any of the disclosures or process. I scheduled a telehealth call for later that day.

It was short, but I felt SO FUCKING SEEN & HEARD by the woman who saw me. As soon as I said "Perimenopause" she nodded her her vigorously and told me that peri and apnea go together like the evil version of PB&J. She asked me when I thought I started developing peri, and I said "35", as that's when I suspect it started, and she nodded again, just being understanding and empathetic instead of being skeptical and an asshole.

By the end of the appointment, I was holding back tears. Tears of gratitude for someone just fucking listening to me, validating me, not looking doubtful, bored, or impatient about my stupid fake lady problems holding them up from having an appointment with a much smarter, more worth of help dude.

My at-home sleep testing device (sort of a smartring on steroids) is due to be delivered on Tuesday, and hopefully in a few weeks, I'll be diagnosed and on the way to getting a treatment that helps. And hopefully THAT will mean that even after 8 hours of sleep, I no longer feel like a bear yanked out of hibernation one week in when I wake up.

It was just so nice to be treated as an intelligent person who needs help. And y'all, if you always wake up feeling like shit, please remember to look up sleep apnea symptoms and get it checked out, because it does have the potential to completely change your life if you have it and get treatment for it.

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