Pressure too high?

[LSAT]

I don't think a maximum pressure of 11 is enough.
It's hitting 11 and possibly wanting to go higher.

+1

[ChicagoGranny]

I don't have a stellar life that I can't wait to get to

Get out and do something. Make some friends. Invite a neighbor to go to a local cafe for breakfast or lunch (pay both bills). Or a coffee shop or ice cream parlor.

Join the Y and do light workouts. Get out in the sun. Walk a few blocks from your house. Drive downtown and walk around and see what is new.

Start going to church.

Go to a high school or minor league baseball game.

Lots of options.

I assume you are retired. Are you living like a hermit?

[Noctuary]

I don't have a stellar life that I can't wait to get to

Get out and do something. Make some friends. Invite a neighbor to go to a local cafe for breakfast or lunch (pay both bills). Or a coffee shop or ice cream parlor.

Join the Y and do light workouts. Get out in the sun. Walk a few blocks from your house. Drive downtown and walk around and see what is new.

Start going to church.

Go to a high school or minor league baseball game.

Lots of options.

I assume you are retired. Are you living like a hermit?

I'm not retired and I have to save my energy to go to work.

[Noctuary]

Last night I got 4 hours of sleep. I woke up and managed to fall asleep again, but not for long.

[ChicagoGranny]

I'm not retired and I have to save my energy to go to work.

from 9:00am to 10:17AM you laid in bed

What hours are you working?

[robysue]

I'm not retired and I have to save my energy to go to work.

from 9:00am to 10:17AM you laid in bed

What hours are you working?

In a different thread Noctuary said he works an evening shift job and gets home (as I recall) by around midnight.

[Noctuary]

I'm not retired and I have to save my energy to go to work.

from 9:00am to 10:17AM you laid in bed

What hours are you working?

4 PM - 1:30 AM

[Noctuary]

I had begun taking vitamin D, but only 800 IU. I will stop that.

[Jay Aitchsee]

I had begun taking vitamin D, but only 800 IU. I will stop that.

Why? Do you know your serum D3 level? Current thinking is it should be around 50ng/ml.
Personally, I think if taken, it should be taken in the morning or when you get up rather than before you go to bed to more closely align with the time you would normally get it from the sun. There have been some reports, purely anecdotal as far as I know, of Vitamin D disturbing sleep if taken in the evening.

[Noctuary]

I had begun taking vitamin D, but only 800 IU. I will stop that.

Why? Do you know your serum D3 level? Current thinking is it should be around 50ng/ml.
Personally, I think if taken, it should be taken in the morning or when you get up rather than before you go to bed to more closely align with the time you would normally get it from the sun. There have been some reports, purely anecdotal as far as I know, of Vitamin D disturbing sleep if taken in the evening.

I've been taking it in the morning. I was tested last week, but I don't have the results yet.

[robysue]

Attitude, sleep hygiene, etc. make no difference for me. But thank you for your post.

Noctuary,

You keep telling me what doesn't work. And your posts are full of hopelessness. As in they read as though you have given up and you wake up expecting to feel bad every single day. And then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

My question: How do you know these things do not work? And how would you know if something was partially working?

Let's try to start with the very basics:

You say,

I want to try to feel good.

It's important to realize that "feel good" as a short term goal right now is both overly vague and overly ambitious. Every day that you wake up and you don't "feel good", that's all you focus on. But focusing on "I slept bad and I feel lousy" is making you feel even worse and it's making it harder for you to see any small progress you happen to be making towards the goal of eventually feeling good on most days.

So let's start trying to pin down what your goals for CPAP therapy actually are. What exactly does "feel good" mean to you? And how would you measure progress being made towards the ultimate goal of feeling good?

And let's try to tease out what you think you need to have happen in order to stand a chance of "feeling good" on more days than not.

1) What is your work schedule? (I know from previous posts you work evenings or nights, but I need it clarified.) Do you enjoy your job? Do you get any satisfaction out of your job?

2) Given your work schedule, what is your idea of the ideal sleep schedule for you? In other words, if everything was wonderful and you were feeling great, when would you go to bed? When would you get up? And could you keep that sleep schedule in place on your days off as well as the days that you work?

3) What exactly needs to change in terms of how you feel during your regular "wake hours"? Try to separate this out from the fact that you think the lousy sleep is the root cause for now.

• A) Right now are you dealing with way too much fatigue during your wake hours? In other words, are you dragging around because you're physically tired, but you are not overly sleepy? When fatigue is the problem, you typically don't fall asleep when you're sitting quietly, but you also don't have much energy to get up and do things that require some physical activity---such as housework, laundry, yard work, exercise, whatever.
  
  B) Or are you dealing with way too much sleepiness during your wake hours? In other words, do you find yourself dozing off when you want to be awake? Do you find it hard to stay awake during a tv show or movie that you want to watch? Are you afraid of falling asleep while driving? Are you yawning all the time? Is it hard to concentrate on mental tasks because of brain fog and feeling like you're not fully awake?
  
  C) Or are you dealing with too much moodiness (for lack of a better word)? In other words, are you down, sad, blue, and/or depressed most of the time you are awake? Are there things you used to enjoy doing that you no longer find any pleasure in doing? Do you feel hopeless most of the time? Is it hard to find things to feel happy about? Is it hard to do things you need to do because there's a part of your mind that keeps asking, "What's the point? It's not going to make any difference anyway?"
  
  D) Which of the above three problems is the biggest problem that contributes to how lousy you feel during the daytime?

4) What factors other than lack of sleep might play a role in making you feel lousy during the day? Do often have headaches? allergy problems? muscle soreness? other pain issues? Do you have other known medical issues even if they're minor? How's your weight? How's your diet? How's your social life in a broad sense? In other words, do you have at least a small network of family or friends that can provide you with some emotional support and a chance to have some fun?

Once you are better able to articulate what your goal of "feel good" actually entails, then it will be time to figure out some achievable short term, achievable goals that will start moving you towards your long term goal. And once your short term, achievable goals are articulated, you may also be able to figure out a way of tracking your progress so that you can see that you are not just spinning your wheels and never getting anywhere in terms of reaching your long term goal of "feeling good."

[Noctuary]

1) What is your work schedule? (I know from previous posts you work evenings or nights, but I need it clarified.) Do you enjoy your job? Do you get any satisfaction out of your job?

I hate my job. Too many people now; its like working days.

2) Given your work schedule, what is your idea of the ideal sleep schedule for you? In other words, if everything was wonderful and you were feeling great, when would you go to bed? When would you get up? And could you keep that sleep schedule in place on your days off as well as the days that you work?

Nothing would change. I would keep to the same schedule that worked for me nineteen years.

3) What exactly needs to change in terms of how you feel during your regular "wake hours"? Try to separate this out from the fact that you think the lousy sleep is the root cause for now.

Getting enough sleep is the only thing that needs to change. And lousy sleep is the root cause.

A) Right now are you dealing with way too much fatigue during your wake hours? In other words, are you dragging around because you're physically tired, but you are not overly sleepy? When fatigue is the problem, you typically don't fall asleep when you're sitting quietly, but you also don't have much energy to get up and do things that require some physical activity---such as housework, laundry, yard work, exercise, whatever.

B) Or are you dealing with way too much sleepiness during your wake hours? In other words, do you find yourself dozing off when you want to be awake? Do you find it hard to stay awake during a tv show or movie that you want to watch? Are you afraid of falling asleep while driving? Are you yawning all the time? Is it hard to concentrate on mental tasks because of brain fog and feeling like you're not fully awake?

Its sleepiness now. It was fatigue before. Mostly a lot of yawning. I have no trouble staying awake.

C) Or are you dealing with too much moodiness (for lack of a better word)? In other words, are you down, sad, blue, and/or depressed most of the time you are awake? Are there things you used to enjoy doing that you no longer find any pleasure in doing? Do you feel hopeless most of the time? Is it hard to find things to feel happy about? Is it hard to do things you need to do because there's a part of your mind that keeps asking, "What's the point? It's not going to make any difference anyway?"

I've always been depressed; but for most of my life I slept well anyway. Now it seems the flesh in my throat chokes off air; that is the only difference now.

4) What factors other than lack of sleep might play a role in making you feel lousy during the day? Do often have headaches? allergy problems? muscle soreness? other pain issues? Do you have other known medical issues even if they're minor? How's your weight? How's your diet? How's your social life in a broad sense? In other words, do you have at least a small network of family or friends that can provide you with some emotional support and a chance to have some fun?

Its only the sleep thing. I have lost at least 12 lbs. the past few weeks, and I intend to lose more. No real social life; I'm not a people person (shocking).

Once you are better able to articulate what your goal of "feel good" actually entails, then it will be time to figure out some achievable short term, achievable goals that will start moving you towards your long term goal. And once your short term, achievable goals are articulated, you may also be able to figure out a way of tracking your progress so that you can see that you are not just spinning your wheels and never getting anywhere in terms of reaching your long term goal of "feeling good."

Two more hours of sleep today and I would probably feel great. At least its Friday.

[palerider]

Personally, I think if (vitamin d) taken, it should be taken in the morning or when you get up rather than before you go to bed to more closely align with the time you would normally get it from the sun. There have been some reports, purely anecdotal as far as I know, of Vitamin D disturbing sleep if taken in the evening.

I share that view, I read something recently about some research that indicated that vitamin d was involved in helping regulate the circadian rhythms, and since your skin produces it with exposure to sunlight, it makes sense that levels would be higher in the daytime than at night.... so I started taking mine in the morning. I can't say that it's helped, .... but it certainly hasn't hurt.

[Julie]

I wonder if you've had a real cardiac work-up recently (have not read or remembered all your posts)? Because cardiac problems (of which symptoms can overlap apnea ones) together with depression, which I believe you have (whether or not you're so used to it to know the difference at this point), whatever the reason, is well known to accompany cardiac problems... whichever came first. I would make a real point to your MD about thorough testing, whatever happens with your sleep problems (just because you believe sleep is the big problem doesn't rule out cardiac trouble or address depression). And while a late shift might have been manageable when you were younger, it may well have taken a toll on your body and it may be time to change it - it's also a known and serious problem with sleep for anyone on shift work regardless of OSA or anything else. I'm not at all sure raising your pressure now is the right thing to do. I think you've lost perspective on what's happening, want to blame it all on sleep, but need to get some professional help.

[ChicagoGranny]

I have lost at least 12 lbs. the past few weeks, and I intend to lose more.

Well that could be signs of a turnaround in your life.

What have you done to lose that weight? What are you planning to do to lose more?