One month and much worse than before cpap

[gertrude]

I've been using my APAP (Resmed 9 Auto) for a little more than one month -- all night every night. I keep waiting to feel better and instead have a number of new symptoms that seem -- from reading this list -- to be associated with untreated apnea. The brain fog is horrible. A little better now than in the first two weeks of using the apap, but I never experienced anything like this before beginning the therapy. And I seem to get more irritable with each passing day. Along with these problems, I not feeling any better. I didn't have trouble with being sleepy, but I was often exhausted and that hasn't changed. I'm having real trouble understanding what is going on. Seems as if things are going in the wrong direction. Has anyone else had a similar reaction to cpap or apap therapy?

[macewa]

Gertrude,

I'm also somewhat of a newbie and I was worse the first three months of treatment due to doctors neglect and having me at settings that were ridiculous causing me to have worse apena than I did in my sleep study. It has taken a while, but I'm slowly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

I will ask, like the vets here do, if you would be so kind as to go into the control panel up at the top of this page and register adding information about your equipment: machine, humidifier, mask, etc. What are your settings. More people can help you if you give them more information to work with.

Thanks and welcome

I've been using my APAP (Resmed 9 Auto) for a little more than one month -- all night every night. I keep waiting to feel better and instead have a number of new symptoms that seem -- from reading this list -- to be associated with untreated apnea. The brain fog is horrible. A little better now than in the first two weeks of using the apap, but I never experienced anything like this before beginning the therapy. And I seem to get more irritable with each passing day. Along with these problems, I not feeling any better. I didn't have trouble with being sleepy, but I was often exhausted and that hasn't changed. I'm having real trouble understanding what is going on. Seems as if things are going in the wrong direction. Has anyone else had a similar reaction to cpap or apap therapy?

[MaxDarkside]

Others that know more than I will likely chime-in, but ...

1) List your equipment in your profile, using text.
2) Your machine is data capable if it is a ResMed S9 AutoSET, so get SleepyHead and learn all the super information they both give you and make sure your therapy is effective (or make it so)
3) It may take numerous months to rid your "brain fog", it took me probably 4-5 months and I found out that part of it was medication (simply Excedrin) and too much caffeine too late in the day. I have more brain fog to blow away, there may be other causes for you, and for me. I may have very slight narcolepsy.
4) After effective sleep apnea treatment, other issues may expose themselves (remain). You may need to discuss this with your sleep doctor.
5) You may need more information about the quality of sleep. I got a pulse-oximeter to make sure I'm not "de-satting" during remaining apneas. I also got a Zeo so I can get a rough idea of my sleep stages (wake, REM, deep, light).
6) Try not to be disappointed, or down, hang in there, because a good attitude leads to success.

My 2 cents.

[Pugsy]

Let's get the software going and see what the reports show first of all. Make sure nothing is glaringly wrong there that needs to be improved upon.

You can use SleepyHead with your machine....I have all that information in links in my signature line.

ResScan you can get here if you wish but you may find SleepyHead a bit easier to manage.
http://www.resmed.com/int/assets/html/s ... c=patients
And a tutorial on how to mange ResScan
http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/

[gertrude]

Thanks for all your encouragement and advice. I downloaded the ResScan software last night, but couldn't get any detailed data. Every time I tried to use that tab in the software, I got a message saying that "detailed data is not available." So there must have been a problem with the download from the card. I'll try again with sleepyhead tonight. But has anyone else had this data problem?

Had an appointment with the doctor today, who didn't have any explanations to offer about my cognitive problems or irritability (both started with using cpap). She said the settings are controlling the apneas (Autoset 5 -15) and I am mostly running at around 6. No unusual problems with leaks. My AHI has been consistently below 4. If I understood her correctly, the problems (and my lack of any improvement in tiredness) are due to waking up because I have not adjusted to the mask and cpap, and then after I wake, I have insomnia.

I came home with nose pillows to try instead of the nasal mask -- to give the open red sore on my nose time to heal. I didn't choose the nasal pillows initially because they felt like something huge & swollen in my nose, but it appears that the guy at the DME gave me a large size to try, when I need extra small. The nasal mask doesn't feel as if it is digging into my nose, but I sweat into it and that must have lead to an infection.

So I'm going to keep at it another month. The perseverence of those who share on this list serve helped me to decide that. One night at a time . . . .

Thanks.

[Julie]

Any chance you just might be mouth breathing when you're asleep, and losing all the cpap air that way - it will amount to not get much treatment at all, and if you think it could be a factor (none of us like the possibility but a lot of us end up having to face it) you probably should consider trying full face masks like the Quattro or others - at least try using tape for a couple of nights to see if it makes a difference.

[DavidCarolina]

A dirty little secret:

you can buy like i did an oxygen concentrator and "oxygenate" yourself at various times during the day. This reduces anxiety in me, and possibly
brain fog in others.

Of course, do your research, and probably smart to get a scrip. I bought mine off craigs list for 250 from a licensed supplier, but he never asked for
my scrip. So im legal, but im basically self treating.

Ive come to dislike physicians anyway and find most of them unkowledgeable.

If you get one dont get the portable 02 that have to be charged. Get the stand alone machine.

I get on it a couple times a day as needed, and i use it when awaken anxious at 2 am to oxygenate myself. Slightly unorthodox.

[Pugsy]

I downloaded the ResScan software last night, but couldn't get any detailed data. Every time I tried to use that tab in the software, I got a message saying that "detailed data is not available." So there must have been a problem with the download from the card. I'll try again with sleepyhead tonight. But has anyone else had this data problem?

If you use SleepyHead nothing special needs to be done and you all detailed data that is on the SD card.
Only 1 weeks of detailed data is stored on the SD card though...ResMed overwrites the oldest detailed data. So you won't see details older than a week with your first download.

ResScan's default download option is for summary data only ...so no detailed data. You have to tell it prior to the download that you want the summary and full detailed data right at the download screen. You can also set it so the default is then all detailed data.
Here at this screen.

[noSLEEPforYOU]

Hello Gertrude
I experienced a lot of weird feelings before and after treatment. I have been on the hose for a little over four months and some days are better than others.
I am currently working 12 hour days then coming home to weed the garden. I still experience brain fog and memory issues. But how would I know what is normal aging vs damage done by sleep apnea. I constantly challenge myself and my memory. I will write a list of fifteen or twenty items then test how many I can remember the following day. To my surprise I typically remember twenty. Some memory issues are bothersome I set things down and can't find them. I never had that problem. I guess your mind works behind the scene.
I have read articles claiming that it could take years to recover from the damage done by low oxygen levels. I doubt I will ever get back to normal, the damage is done.
I use brain games to try to stimulate the dormant cells. There are some online sights dedicated to maintaining and rehabilitating aging minds.
I still have occasional dizziness, brain fog, memory issues, fatigue and even balance issues.
Before having sleep apnea I probably never noticed problems, even if they were present. When we realize that we have a problem we become over sensitized by possible minute problems associated with aging.
One thing I definitely learned is that you have to be your own advocate, demand that the doctors test. I would have five years less damage if I demanded the doctor test me!