2nd day of cpap use..some questions????

[Kantou]

I recently had a sleep study numbers were high stoped breathing 85 times an hour over 400 times during my session...the doctor made me go the next day to be titrated for a mask my oxygen level was in the 60% range went as low as 40 % anyways would love to know how other peoples scores were as he set my sleep pressure at 13 but first night in lab was ok said they kept me over 90% all night...second night at home I slept for 9 hours but had some very weird nightmares plus my elbow joint was acheing so bad it woke me up dont know what caused that but never had that before!! so far I can feel much more energy as I used to be so tired all the time...this has been just 2 days so I hope it will get better plus my bp is a little lower....any support or advice I sure could use.....thanks

[LinkC]

OK, I think you are towards the high end of "medium" as far as titrated numbers. (I was 95 AHI {apnea hypopnea index} and prescribed pressure is 16.)

My first night with CPAP, I dreamed also, but mine was a pleasant one. I, like you, felt much better the next day. Didn't notice any muscle/joint pains. Could that be from sleeping in a different position that affected your elbow?

It sounds to me like your experience so far is pretty typical. And yes, you will continue to feel better and better over time. Some report six months or so to level out.

(Oh! You WILL get to the point you can sleep well with that piece of plastic hanging off your face, too!)

Just keep at it. You didn't GET your symptoms overnight. It takes a while to lose them.

You're off to a great start...

[Kantou]

Thanks Linkc I do need encourage ment wouldnt have minded if the dream was me and cindy Crawford on a desert Island but maybe that one will happen tonight.lol....I might habe been laying my arm over the edge of the bed to explain the elbow joint pain if it happens more I will tell the doctor....so far so good!!!!!!

[jnk]

I recently had a sleep study numbers were high stoped breathing 85 times an hour over 400 times during my session...the doctor made me go the next day to be titrated for a mask my oxygen level was in the 60% range went as low as 40 % anyways would love to know how other peoples scores were as he set my sleep pressure at 13 but first night in lab was ok said they kept me over 90% all night...second night at home I slept for 9 hours but had some very weird nightmares plus my elbow joint was acheing so bad it woke me up dont know what caused that but never had that before!! so far I can feel much more energy as I used to be so tired all the time...this has been just 2 days so I hope it will get better plus my bp is a little lower....any support or advice I sure could use.....thanks

They call your numbers "moderate-to-severe," but 85 AHI is severe, really. CPAP should help you a lot. You found this forum, so you're doing great! Doctor made a good call getting you set up quick. Sounds like you responded well. It is normal to have nightmares for a while as you start getting some effective dream-sleep. You may have even gotten into some deep sleep, if your elbow is aching from your sleeping on it.

Be forewarned that many of us seem to feel almost dangerously good for a few weeks then hit a slump for a few weeks or more before the body settles into steady progress of feeling better. That makes sense, because you/we have a lot of healing to do. And even good changes in our body are a form of stress.

After looking through the topmost post, "Where a CPAP Newbie Should Start," look at the top of your screen for the yellow lightbulb that says "our wisdom" under it. Clicking there is a good place to start gathering information. Hanging around this board, running searches in the "Search . . ." box, and asking questions about things not found either place is the right thing to do. So glad you spoke up and hope you keep speaking up.

It helps people help you when you figure out what equipment you have and put that in your profile in text format so that it shows up under your posts.

Welcome.

jeff

[LinkC]

The "Cindy" dream comes as a reward after 6-months of diligent CPAP use. But you have to submit compliance data to the dreamweaver in triplicate.

(It's worth it!)

[jnk]

Any updates on how it is going for you, Kantou? Anything we can help further with?

[alnhwrd]

Kantou,

You are doing fine! I would agree with Link that your elbow is probably aching because you are sleeping on it. I think it was the first week on CPAP that I woke up with my arm dead asleep for the first time in years, because for the first time in ages I had slept soundly enough to remain in one place long enough for that to happen. Pre-cpap i just thrashed around all night so nothing went to sleep. The dream thing should even out as well. With 85 interuptions an hour your brain hasn't been able to get to that deep REM sleep it needs, so now that it can it is going a bit overboard. After a year+ on CPAP my dreams, when I remember them, are positively boring now. The key now is sticking with it, and like JNK says, don't let anything derail you. Good Luck!

[spitintheocean]

I completed my sleep study on February 23 and was told the detailed results would be forwarded to my doctor for review; nevertheless I was provided with a prescription that showed my lowest SaO2 reading was 56% and the sleep technicians advised my readings were in the sixties before they woke me up to put me on a xPAP unit. A week ago I acquired a Resmed Autostart II from the DME. The prescribed pressure setting was 16.

Readings from the last couple of nights (last night's numbers first):
Usage: 7.35 hours - 7.15 hours
Pressure 17.8 - 16.6
Leak Rate .20 L/s - .20
AI .10 - .20
HI 6.8 - 4.7
AHI 6.9 - 4.9

Autoset 12 - 18 (Originally set by the DME to 10 - 20)

I'm returning to the DME today to swap out my current mask, a Respironics Comfort Gel FFM for a Mirage Quattro FFM in an attempt to drive down that mask leakage rate, which should have a positive contribution to my AHI.

[SharkBait]

I completed my sleep study on February 23 and was told the detailed results would be forwarded to my doctor for review; nevertheless I was provided with a prescription that showed my lowest SaO2 reading was 56% and the sleep technicians advised my readings were in the sixties before they woke me up to put me on a xPAP unit. A week ago I acquired a Resmed Autostart II from the DME. The prescribed pressure setting was 16.

Readings from the last couple of nights (last night's numbers first):
Usage: 7.35 hours - 7.15 hours
Pressure 17.8 - 16.6
Leak Rate .20 L/s - .20
AI .10 - .20
HI 6.8 - 4.7
AHI 6.9 - 4.9

Autoset 12 - 18 (Originally set by the DME to 10 - 20)

I'm returning to the DME today to swap out my current mask, a Respironics Comfort Gel FFM for a Mirage Quattro FFM in an attempt to drive down that mask leakage rate, which should have a positive contribution to my AHI.

These numbers looks great!

Over 7 hours therapy per night is an AWESOME start.

Leak Rates are a tad on the high side, but you're addressing that.

AI - Wow
HI - I'm told that Resmeds report about double the true HI, so you're around 3.4 and 2.4 if you buy that...
AHI - Your adjusted AHI would be 3.5 and 2.5 based on the above.

Any way you slice it, that's effective therapy. How do you feel? Not everyone immediately feels better to help reinforce that they are more healthy by not spending all night fighting for survival, but hopefully you're feeling some effects...

You should feel better based on oxygen alone. If you don't feel any better, perhaps the oxygen saturation levels need to be measured some more. My doctor was appalled that I was going down to 80% saturation and was impressing on me how dangerous that is...

[Kantou]

thanks guys my 4 day use is 31 hours got a big pimple or sore where mask goes around my nose but the dreams have stoped and I am feeling alot better so things are looking pretty good I do notice when i get up my front upper teeth feel a little sore from pressure of the nose piece.. 54 years old and still getting zits....OH MY!

[jnk]

thanks guys my 4 day use is 31 hours got a big pimple or sore where mask goes around my nose but the dreams have stoped and I am feeling alot better so things are looking pretty good I do notice when i get up my front upper teeth feel a little sore from pressure of the nose piece.. 54 years old and still getting zits....OH MY!

Good to hear back from you. Hang in there. The mistake most of us make at first is having our mask too tight. You may not be doing that. But then again you might. (I did.) So just throwing that out there.

Any problem you might have is one someone else here has had once and found a solution for. So don't forget about us!

jeff

[spitintheocean]

I have snored for years and simply brushed off complaints from my wife or kids as good natured ribbing. It was a rite of passage like getting a middle-aged spare tire or glasses. But for the past five years or more I have not been getting a good night's sleep. The chronic exhaustion has contributed to a significant weight gain and together posed serious quality of life issues. I found myself barely able to stay awake while driving, routinely drifting off in the afternoons at my desk, and even during meetings in which I was a lead.

I found that I had to have a "nap" when I got home from work that was really a 2 to 3 hour sleep which seemed to give me more rest than any nighttime sleep wherein I would wake every hour or so and have to get up to use the washroom. Conversely, while watching a show or movie on television I would drift asleep and it was almost a game for daughter's to catch me while I denied being asleep. For someone who has always prided their own intellectual capabilities, it was getting more difficult to substitute knowledge and experience for general mental alertness.

Since I started a week ago, I immediately stopped waking up every hour to vist the washroom which is a huge relief, unfortunately I am still awakened two or three times a night to address leaking air mask issues ........ Here's hoping a slimmer profile than the Comfort Gel will result in less torquing against the pillow as I move my head around at night.

But I should clarify about my sleep duration. After the very first night's use I didn't feel a need to "nap" in the afternoon (5:00 - 7:00) so I stopped for the first couple of days but found myself completely out of sorts because I didn't really know what to do with myself; it was kind of like having a drink after work to erase the day's aggravations and the missus continued with her nap. So I have since gone back to my own "nap", get up around 7:00 to 7:30, stay up until midnight, and then sleep until 6:00 AM. So that seven plus hours of therapy is actually split up by choice ..... for now.

After only a week of therapy I couldn't claim to be full of bliss and vinegar, but I no longer feel tired while driving the car to and from work; I'm actually on top of the plot lines for any television that I'm watching, and don't feel as apathetic at work as I was only a couple of weeks ago. Another few weeks of this and I might even get off my derriere and start to exercise again.

[DoriC]

I think you're going in the right direction with swapping for a Quattro (or UltraMirage, hubby's mask). We found out rather quickly that any mask with "comfort" in it's name was anything but. It seems a lot of DMEs routinely try to push the ComfortGels first, they must be more cost-effective for them.

[DoriC]

I think you're going in the right direction with swapping for a Quattro (or UltraMirage, hubby's mask). We found out rather quickly that any mask with "comfort" in it's name was anything but. It seems a lot of DMEs routinely try to push the ComfortGels first, they must be more cost-effective for them.

[elader]

Be forewarned that many of us seem to feel almost dangerously good for a few weeks then hit a slump for a few weeks or more before the body settles into steady progress of feeling better. That makes sense, because you/we have a lot of healing to do. And even good changes in our body are a form of stress.

jeff

How true this observation is. I was euphoric for a couple of weeks and then crashed like Captain Sully. It took weeks of patience and frustration to move forward after that. Nights of hating the mask, hating it all, but refusing to give up. That period really sucked.