OT?? The flu and its rather dramatic affect on my AHI

Folks,

I've come down with a nasty case of the spring flu. Went in to the PCP's office to wrangle out a prescription for dealing with a very severe cough today. This is clearly the sickest I've been since starting CPAP back in Sept. 2010.

And this flu has done a real number on both my insomnia and my AHI. Consider Sunday night's SH graphs:


And Monday's was even worse:

This is the first time since starting PAP in Sep. 2010 that I've had an AHI close to 10. And those great big gaps in the wave flow? That's where I was sitting in bed wide awake wondering if I should get up, but feeling too rotten to get up and feeling too rotten to get to sleep. So I read for a while in bed. (About the only time I ever allow myself to read in bed is when I'm sick with the flu and can't get to sleep anyway.)

On both nights, I was able to get to sleep ok at the beginning of the night by waiting until I couldn't keep my eyes open. But about an hour into the night, I woke up coughing extremely hard with a lot of aerophagia. And a sense of not being able to breath---regardless of whether I had my nasal pillows on or not. As is obvious from the gaps in the wave flow, it took a very, very long time for me to get settled down enough and sleepy enough to try to go back to sleep. And last night I believe hubby brought me a sudafed sometime near the beginning of the really long wake that starts around 4:40AM

Tonight I'm taking hubby's suggestion and dragging Kaa down to the living room and sleeping in the recliner. Hopefully that will minimize the horrible coughing, along with the generic tessalon pearls (cough medicine) and some Nyquil, also suggested by the PA who saw me. And that, in turn, should finally let me get some sleep so I can get over this dang flu bug.

So for now, out goes all the discipline on sleep hygiene: Until this thing runs its course, I intend to fall asleep when I can't keep my eyes open; read in bed when I'm awake and waiting to get sleepy; and not use the alarm clock to get up.

and definately get as much sleep as possible... it'll help you get better faster.

Feel better soon! My sleep is ALWAYS disrupted when I'm sick, but I must say that with a ff mask it's much better on CPAP than without. CPAP really helps my asthmatic irritated lungs.

Can I send you some chicken soup...?

I guess it's a good thing that body parts can't jump out of a computer screen b/c I know I'd be hit over the head. However, if I was as sick as you are, Robysue, I'd be wherever I felt the most comfortable... in bed, on a couch, chair, etc., without my machine - unless, of course, I actually felt much better with it. For me, trying to keep it on with my nose dripping and coughing like crazy would be torture. Thank God my health is pretty good... maybe that makes the difference.

I'd be sipping chicken soup and cough syrup and resting as much as possible... so that after the worst passed I could start using the machine again.

Sending chicken soup and wishing you a speedy recovery!

I have a tendency towards sinusitis, unfortunately. I had sinus probs before CPAP btw, CPAP did not cause the sinus probs. Whenever I get a flareup or any kind of cold for that matter, my pressures spike and my AHI goes up. On my S8 APAP the AHI expecially goes up. It all makes sense though, your nose gets stuffed up, so you get NAR (Nasal Airway Resistance) and usually your throat gets inflamed and swollen some, so your airway narrows even more than normal.

Mine always goes back down once the cold or sinus flareup goes away

Well, between the recliner, the Nyquil, and the Tessalon I was able to get a bit of badly needed sleep last night. Still feeling really rotten this morning. Still feeling feverish and super congested this morning. And it's a long day for me and I can't call in sick because I'm giving tests in the classes I'm teaching.

The AHI was still elevated for me, but no longer hideously elevated---last night the AHI = 2.76, with the events being split almost 50-50 between OAs and Hs. Still lots of RERAs too. And it's not at all clear how many of these events occurred while I was awake.

The insomnia was marginally better in one way: The longest "wake" time was only about 30 minutes instead of an hour. But the tossing and turning was still pretty severe and I kept waking up just enough to realize the stomach was not comfortable or the nose was not comfortable. And after dealing with the problem, I was often too awake to quickly fall back asleep. Rainout caused by my own exhalations was a huge issue last night, and I'm not sure why.

I am still recovering from a nasty flu and have much sympathy for you.

Here is my mom's recipe for cough syrup - roughly equal parts of honey, lemon juice and bourbon. This mixture can be sipped to soothe coughs and sore throats, added to hot water for a tea to relieve stopped up noses, or added to ice and water for a fever reliever. It may also relax you a bit in the process, or something to that effect. No prescription necessary - take as needed.

No idea what it will do for AHI though.

Catnapper - Joanie

Ugh, well, I guess it's better to be GIVING the finals rather than TAKING them when you feel so rotten! My eldest is heading into her first college term finals. She's doing OK in calculus, it's chemistry that has her knees knocking. Be kind to your poor freshman students!

Hang in there, it sounds like you're on the mend, though it might be VERY slow from here. Do you have a chance to take it easy once the finals are given, or do you have to push to get the grades in on time?

Ugh! Think I'll go get another flu shot. Hope you are soon feeling tons better, robysue.

Suz

Glad you're feeling a bit better RobySue. I hope you make a rapid and full recovery.

I am just recovering from a Sinusitus infection. It is seriously not fun, especially on CPAP.