CPAP and Depression

[ajack]

I can attest to this. It has been hard for me to accept that this is part of my life. I am a big guy, but not super overweight. I see other people that appear to have worse health than me, and it makes me feel bad that at only age 27, I need to have a cpap. the truth is, there are million of people that remain undiagnosed and may not have developed symptoms. I was one of them. I don't know how long I had apnea (hypopneas in my case) because I didn't feel the body fatigue until recently and it could have been affecting me since my early 20's considering my snoring. The good news is I am taking control of my health at a young age and as I continue to eat healthier, drink less alcohol (outta college mode mindset) and work out, my body is thanking me. I continue to dwell on not feeling like a million bucks most days, but I am coming to terms with the patience that therapy requires to work. I don't compare myself to other these days, but rather try to be grateful I have been given an opportunity to become healthier and happier. It takes time. I hope you continue to stay positive, as I try to remain positive about my new life routine with CPAP. The nice thing is knowing this forum exists, with knowledgeable people who care about others in their shoes.

If you have done the low calorie always hungry diet and failed, driven back to food like we all do. Have a look at low carb.
I would cut the Sugars: including fruit/juice. Cut Starches: including breads, pasta, rice, potato etc. Eat lots of low carb vegetables, salad, moderate protein and add healthy fats..

This gives a simple overview to how it works for me. The more carbs I eat, the more carbs I want. They don’t give up easy and it’s biochemical
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEayi6I ... D8&index=6

more info on low carb
http://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

what to expect the first week, besides being hungry for the first 2 days, then it stops
https://www.verywell.com/getting-throug ... ek-2242037

you may not need to go this low, but it will help you see what a meal plan is.
http://au.atkins.com/new-atkins/the-pro ... ction.html

The hardest part is overcoming the low fat dogma for the last 40 years.
https://www.verywell.com/how-to-overcom ... ia-2242208

[Wulfman...]

I don't like that word.
It was a political party in Germany (National Socialist German Workers' Party)........sort of like the Democrats.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party

See if you can find another word to replace it.

https://www.quora.com/In-the-phrase-gra ... place-Nazi


Den

.

[M3T4LLik4]

I was supporting a friend and that's all.

Yes, it was obvious that was ALL.

I can't believe trolls exist on a CPAP forum. What a sad day

[ajack]

You guys are going to be busy for a while on the internet. Grammar Nazi is common use
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grammar_Nazi

For your own sanity, you may need to sux it up and move on.

[Wulfman...]

You guys are going to be busy for a while on the internet. Grammar Nazi is common use
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/grammar_Nazi

For your own sanity, you may need to sux it up and move on.

I'm aware of that.
Lots of "words" have been commonly used over the decades and centuries. Many of them are no longer acceptable or became politically incorrect. Doesn't make it right to use them anyway. Overuse of this one diminishes (or desensitizes) what happened during the holocaust.
But, in a comparative sense, Stalin and Mao killed many more than Hitler. Planned Parenthood may be in the running, too.

https://i1.wp.com/memolition.com/wp-con ... 1_1280.jpg


Den

.

[FeelingAwake]

Wow this post took a turn ...

I will just ignore the bad comments. But I do have to say that for about 5 minutes I was really pissed off.. I spill my guts out on the page and the first response is that I am an asshole for responding to an old post I thought was new..

My only point was that those starting CPAP.. MAY experience depression.. The CPAP didn't cause my several week depression.. I CAUSED IT by not seeking help with my health sooner.. By ignoring obvious signs of my failing health, I let my entire life fall into disarray..

When I think back to just 2009 and 2010, and the amount of work I would get done around the house. A nice garden, and put up a deck and a green house and kept the lawn cut and the pool clean.. The last 3 probably 4 years I've let the garden go to hell. I still plant it, but it quickly gets over run.. The pool is usually just barely passable for use most summers, etc.....

Looking back across those 4 years from my now awake position is very depressing... And for a few weeks I really let it get to me... I got another 7.5 hours last night and I stayed on my back I think the entire night... I feel brimming again with energy... I made it through 2 hours of my martial arts last night and felt really good....

The point of my post is to let others know that waking up can be a little traumatizing. Just be prepared if that happens to you.. For younger people it might not be as big a deal.. But I am nearing 50 and I just wasted so many years of my life....

But I am looking forward not back... I have adjusted to the CPAP machine... My nose must be building up callouses because the nose pillows don't hurt much anymore.. Thanks to the advice of many posters I made adjustments that worked great.


Thank you for this board and thank you for the continued advice.

[gregoryjames]

Wow this post took a turn ...

I will just ignore the bad comments. But I do have to say that for about 5 minutes I was really pissed off.. I spill my guts out on the page and the first response is that I am an asshole for responding to an old post I thought was new..

My only point was that those starting CPAP.. MAY experience depression.. The CPAP didn't cause my several week depression.. I CAUSED IT by not seeking help with my health sooner.. By ignoring obvious signs of my failing health, I let my entire life fall into disarray..

When I think back to just 2009 and 2010, and the amount of work I would get done around the house. A nice garden, and put up a deck and a green house and kept the lawn cut and the pool clean.. The last 3 probably 4 years I've let the garden go to hell. I still plant it, but it quickly gets over run.. The pool is usually just barely passable for use most summers, etc.....

Looking back across those 4 years from my now awake position is very depressing... And for a few weeks I really let it get to me... I got another 7.5 hours last night and I stayed on my back I think the entire night... I feel brimming again with energy... I made it through 2 hours of my martial arts last night and felt really good....

The point of my post is to let others know that waking up can be a little traumatizing. Just be prepared if that happens to you.. For younger people it might not be as big a deal.. But I am nearing 50 and I just wasted so many years of my life....

But I am looking forward not back... I have adjusted to the CPAP machine... My nose must be building up callouses because the nose pillows don't hurt much anymore.. Thanks to the advice of many posters I made adjustments that worked great.


Thank you for this board and thank you for the continued advice.

As a newbie this experience (only a bit more than a week into my APAP therapy), I appreciate these comments to know that it is important to continue on no matter what. That loss of sleep and feeling tired creeps up on people slowly over time. If we would have just immediately gone from feeling 100% to feeling 30% we would have instantly noticed.. instead it was a slow decline 100%, 99%, 98%, etc over a long time.

I was in the same boat. When I went to the sleep doctor I was 100% sure I did not have this - I did not "really" feel tired during the day. After just a week, I notice A HUGE difference in my energy level. I am UP an hour earlier than normal in the morning ( I mean, no way I can continue to lay in bed as no chance of going back to sleep as not tired) and can go all day feeling really good in comparison to just a couple weeks ago. And I thought I was "normal" a couple weeks ago.

Thanks again (ignore the haters.. every board seems to have them and I really do not even think they know how bad that can be as many will turn away from a supportive board like this that can make a difference in their treatment support).

Have a wonderful week! Good luck with that pool this summer! ( Wish I had one in my yard!)

[M3T4LLik4]

I don't like that word.
It was a political party in Germany (National Socialist German Workers' Party)........sort of like the Democrats.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party

See if you can find another word to replace it.

https://www.quora.com/In-the-phrase-gra ... place-Nazi


Den

.

Let's keep politics out of the boards

[DreamStalker]

I don't like that word.
It was a political party in Germany (National Socialist German Workers' Party)........sort of like the Democrats.......

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_Party

See if you can find another word to replace it.

https://www.quora.com/In-the-phrase-gra ... place-Nazi


Den

.

There are lots of words I don't like either. For example I would hate being called granny and I would find it somewhat offensive if called such a name. However, if each and everyone of us is allowed to impose speech restrictions on everyone else just because we are or might be easily offended .... then all we have left is to act on our emotions -- and that would likely lead to a planetary depopulation of our species ... which some might also find offensive.

The whole politically correct/incorrect movement is out of control IMO (ie. removing confederate symbols, renaming sports teams, etc.). Rather than training ourselves not to say certain words or use certain symbols (heck some people are offended by my avatar ), I personally think it would be better to train myself not to get so wound up about someone else's freedom of expression and instead learn to cherish such a freedom .... but that's just me and I wouldn't want to impose such nasty thoughts on anybody else as I might be called a Nazi or just an old nasty granny.


But back to the thread topic ....

A key thing to remember is that OSA is often associated with a cascade of other health conditions like the metabolic syndrome trinity of cardiac disease, diabetes, and obesity ... all of which have hormonal dysregulation (which may be associated with depression) as their root cause. With CPAP therapy, some of us will awaken to other conditions which have been masked by the OSA symptoms ... in other words, CPAP therapy for some of us is only the very beginning of our journey to optimal health. This forum is indeed complete with all kinds of people but more importantly, it is one of the best knowledge base forums on almost any topic that I have ever come across. Perhaps it has something to do with CPAP users who want to succeed having greater perseverance to improve the quality of what remains of their lives?

So my advice to the newbies is to overlook the off topic discussions until you have gleaned and implemented the extensive forum knowledge that optimizes your health to a level you are satisfied with. I myself went through a 6-month discovery phase absorbing all kinds of information about my health when I first joined (w/o getting too distracted with the off-topic non-health discussions). Then I went through a sharing phase where I shared all my trials, experiments, and successes regarding everything CPAP (I still remember the very first day I got my first AHI of zero ). The last phase has been more complex and has consisted of further research and discussions of non-CPAP related health issues (like nutrition and fitness) as well as getting involved in some of the off topic non-health issue discussions that sometimes go off in all different kinds of tangents. This really is a very unique forum or you wouldn't have so many old-timers sticking around for so long.

[gregoryjames]

So my advice to the newbies is to overlook the off topic discussions until you have gleaned and implemented the extensive forum knowledge that optimizes your health to a level you are satisfied with. I myself went through a 6-month discovery phase absorbing all kinds of information about my health when I first joined (w/o getting too distracted with the off-topic non-health discussions). Then I went through a sharing phase where I shared all my trials, experiments, and successes regarding everything CPAP (I still remember the very first day I got my first AHI of zero ). The last phase has been more complex and has consisted of further research and discussions of non-CPAP related health issues (like nutrition and fitness) as well as getting involved in some of the off topic non-health issue discussions that sometimes go off in all different kinds of tangents. This really is a very unique forum or you wouldn't have so many old-timers sticking around for so long.

Thank you for those words!

[esel]

Wow this post took a turn ...


Thank you for this board and thank you for the continued advice.

Hi FeelingAwake,

Don't worry, and actually once you have red a few more posts you will realize why some here act this way. And you will further realize how good they can be on other posts.

There always will be good and bad nights. To hear your success story sure will make some jealousy. And reading some of the OT (off topic) political fights will turn some posts into it (insider). Just try to ignore the OT in between and go on. THis is an amazing family.

Regarding depression there are over 800 posts topics referring it, 17 this year. Others are mingled with anxiety and insomnia.
Have you seen viewtopic/t61785/Especially-for-newly-d ... hange.html

Most depression however are not a matter of weeks. It takes months for medical treatment to have any effect some times years to recover.

As to the "grammar nazi" expression I do feel bad, terrible even! as early on in school (in Switzerland) I was responsible for the second world war. My parents are Germans, they lived through it. Only much later when I heard a nasty "joke" I could let go.
"My grand-father too died in Auschwitz ! ... He fell from the watchtower ! Ha Ha Ha ...

[chunkyfrog]

My husband's parents were kidnapped by Nazis in their early teens, and shipped to Germany for slave labor.
The term "Nazi", used in any casual context, was most offensive to my mother in law, and is reasonably so to many.
Alternatives: The name "vigilante" has a distinctly American ring to it.
I am also fond of the word "pest", and find it appropriately inane. Grammar pest, spelling vigilante.
Some of the smartest people have poor language and social skills.
We miss much by letting these flaws blind us to their wisdom.