Poll: Length of time on xPAP before feeling 90-100% restored

It took me about two months, primarily because I was struggling with leaks with my first two masks. Finally I ditched my DME and ordered an Airfit P10 from our hosts, and I've never looked back. My leaks dropped to virtually zero, and My AHI began to creep down. Now, as I approach one year, I'm averaging an AHI of around 2.3—mostly sleep-wake junk near the end of the night.

I'd like to add that it's not a miracle cure; it won't reverse the effects of aging or compensate for poor sleep habits. it won't make my 37-year-old body and brain perform like they did when I was 25. What it has done is made it so I do not fall asleep on the couch every night and wake up feeling tireder than when I went to sleep. And I'll take that.

The Latinist wrote:It took me about two months, primarily because I was struggling with leaks with my first two masks. Finally I ditched my DME and ordered an Airfit P10 from our hosts, and I've never looked back. My leaks dropped to virtually zero, and My AHI began to creep down. Now, as I approach one year, I'm averaging an AHI of around 2.3—mostly sleep-wake junk near the end of the night.

I'd like to add that it's not a miracle cure; it won't reverse the effects of aging or compensate for poor sleep habits. it won't make my 37-year-old body and brain perform like they did when I was 25. What it has done is made it so I do not fall asleep on the couch every night and wake up feeling tireder than when I went to sleep. And I'll take that.

At 25 and w/o treatment, I rarely felt as good as I do now but with treatment.

tan wrote:At 25 and w/o treatment, I rarely felt as good as I do now but with treatment.

Ah, I should have mentioned that at 25 I did not have OSA. I was tested around that time because I snored like a jet airplane and I had a family history of OSA, but my polysomnogram was negative at that time.

Now, as ever, your mileage may vary.
YMMV

At best XPAP, slows down aging to almost normal levels. The more years we have been damaged by sleep apnea, the less we see the gain as return to normal. What we do get for our trouble, is a chance to continue to finish our lives without causing more damage to our health. If it be known I probably had Sleep apnea 25 years before it was dianosed, after what turned out to be a second heart attack. Now we use XPAP with O2 faithfully, glad to live with what I have left, trying to make the most of it. Restoration would be nice, but I'll settle for waking up every morning. Jim

I definitely agree with Jim. I used to think that if cpap didn't "cure" all my sleep woes and the reports were good, that there had to be something else wrong with me. (And there could be, which is why I've looked into a few.) But, according to my sleep doc, that's not necessarily so. If you were undiagnosed for a long time, you may never feel great when you wake up. BUT you reduce heart problems, blood pressure, and other serious issues so you can stay alive a lot longer and have fewer health issues along the way. That's worth it to me, even if I never feel great when I wake up. I like Jim's line, "Restoration would be nice, but I'll setting for waking up every morning."

I just started my APAP therapy 5 weeks ago. So I won't vote now because I'm still pretty tired and can't hike up a mountain without feeling exhausted for 2 days afterwards. However, my high blood pressure is dropping quite nicely, my migraines are diminished, I'm more patient with my children, I can keep up with my housework a little better, my depression is gone and I do feel a little more energetic at times. I can't wait to see what else is going to happen when I get my "real" machine (instead of a loaner) and a mask that fits/suits me better. I really wish it was a switch that I could flip and that I didn't have to "wait" for the results. But alas, here I am, living and breathing and I just have to be compliant and a patient patient!

This poll tells exactly what? ... It takes from 1 to 18+ months to feel restored.

Ok, so I am one of those who felt incredible after the first night on my CPAP machine. However, I am far from feeling 100%. I am going to have some tests in a few weeks, but I am concerned that my sleep apnea/hypopnea may have caused some permanent effects.

LSAT wrote:This poll tells exactly what? ... It takes from 1 to 18+ months to feel restored.

It was helpful to me to re-set expectations. I thought I would be 'brand new' after one month... Also, I appreciated the capsule narratives folks shared because it provided some real life context.

I'm no statistician and this isn't a very rigorous survey, but it is interesting that there are groups of folks that self-report feeling 'restored' at different time points; most of those who feel 'restored' seem to get there by month 12.

Also, there is a large group of folks (about half of the respondents) that don't feel '90-100% restored', and many of this group have been on xPAP for 18+ months.

Thank you to all who chimed in.