Did you start cpap well but then felt benefits slide away ?

The only times I feel things starting to slide are when I don't get enough sleep. I found out through all this, that I need at least seven hours of sleep per night. An average of 7 1/2 hrs. is even better and what I try to maintain.

Den

I am confident that there is a connection between thyroid level and CPAP use. I have been taking thyroid medication for 25 years, pretty much at the same dose. This fall when I had my annual physical, my thyroid level was too low and I was prescribed an increased dosage. This is also when I started CPAP. I went back for recheck of thyroid level after 2 months and now I was out-of-range in the other direction! I believe it was the CPAP therapy. While I still struggle with mask management somewhat, I have definitely improved my well-being. I exercise regularly, have lost 15 pounds, and have experienced improved mood and energy. In addition, my aches and pains when sleeping, as well as the frequent morning head aches have disappeared. Pretty good considering my average ahi is around 6.0.

I am rapidly approaching three years on xpap. I feel so much better. I cannot sleep without the mask, I felt like utter crap the few times I have fallen asleep without wearing it. (That might actually be a good thing, since I have forgotten just how awful it felt to be jolted awake every couple of minutes, the awful headaches and tiredness, and the feeling of suffocation.) My one wish is that I had been diagnosed and gone on treatment much sooner. My general health would have been improved, I think.

To those who are struggling, hang in there. But if you haven't improved after six to nine months on xpap, either a return visit to your doc for further examination, or perhaps a new doc, is in order. Your initial titration might have been off, or there may be other health issues that are blocking your progress. At the least, have a full physical with comprehensive lab work. That often reveals underlying problems or at least give the doc and you an indication as to where they should be looking further.

My $0.02 - the first few weeks of my therapy were almost unbelievable. I felt FANTASTIC. Then, things seemed to "settle down" after a few weeks. My interpretation is that I had adjusted to the feelings of regular, sufficient sleep, and no longer related to that as a cause for euphoria, but as "normal."

Just another opinion for the mix!

My split night study (tested and titrated in same night because stats went mid-80s) yielded a headache (mask sitting on sinuses) AND more focus and clarity than I had had on awakening in many many years!! Even with the headache, and a long day, I was more focused and productive mentally. CPAP makes a positive difference!!

If I fall asleep without mask, I get a very rude illustration of how much better I feel WITH CPAP.
(I never plan to go without....sometimes I don't realize how tired I am in the evening... and have a few hour unintended snooze)

I feel more a block to better benefits at the moment because of insomnia patterns, and decades of staying up late -- likely because I was SURE to NOT be spunky/functioning/productive in the morning, so staying up and getting something done was often a better choice, in a weird way. I am still working on breaking this habit since I have identified it as part of my insomnia issues.

Right now, I am struggling with very early morning apneas 10-20 seconds, sometimes several.....and if they are in the hour or so before I get up for the day, I am very groggy/irritible/.... Similiar to the past, but nowhere near the magnitude!! This is more pronounced during certain parts of my monthly cycle, and sleep doc and I have not yet determined how to best address. He wants to make sure centrals are not an issue (were not on the night of study). Even with these episodes, my AI numbers are very low...bad night is AHI or around 4 with ai under 2. I know these are great "numbers", but when I have these numbers I feel like crap....
I have been luck with first mask working very well, and straight leak lines (essentially zero). I've adjusted easily and well to the tech/psychological aspects of treatment, and pressure has been tolerable, even when the APAP inches it to to 13 on occasion....

Also, more prone to these episodes when I have pushed bed time into the wee hours rather than the target of when I am yawning a storm between 10 and 11pm (yes, I push right through the yawns to a second wind without realizing I am doing it... very ingrained!!)

So, for me, CPAP benefits are *not* sliding away.....my baseline feeling/functioning is evolbing and very slowly improving.... so I almost forget how truly bad I used to feel.

WIth CPAP, I do have some more energy and focus --- which I must learn to trust and use --- to address other issues that have and do contribute to the less than spectacular functioning I experience in several areas. CPAP can't singlehandedly fix everything, not is the fix fast.....

I would LOVE spectacular..... but I have been dealing with this alone/untreated for 30+ years; I am very thankful to be getting treatment now, effective and evolving, and I will do the time and work to get function I have been robbed of for all these years.

J

I've been on cpap 9 Mo's. when I came out of the hospital from getting my sleep test-I almost ran all the way to my truck. Now-I don't even want to walk to the other end of the house. I notice if I can get to bed earlier I feel better. When I stay up till 11-11:30pm and get up at 6 or 7am I feel tired. I can't seem to get my mask leak #'s down, not sure how tight to tighten my mask, or how much is too tight? Right now my therapy "Sucks" but in the beginning I felt Awesome... Larry.

Yeah there is no consistency. A good night is welcome. Bad nights, mostly. But a bad night on xpap is better than nothing.
We are all dying, some of just faster.

Mopheus wrote:Yeah there is no consistency. A good night is welcome. Bad nights, mostly. But a bad night on xpap is better than nothing.
We are all dying, some of just faster.

Sorry its so bad for you; it is for me too. Its been ruinous.

Mopheus wrote:Yeah there is no consistency. A good night is welcome. Bad nights, mostly. But a bad night on xpap is better than nothing.
We are all dying, some of just faster.

FYI.....This original post is from 2009