How long until you started feeling better?

I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and am doing my cpap titration study tomorrow night. I am interested in how long it took once you got your machine to start feeling better? I understand that it will be different for everyone but just trying to get a general idea. The thought of not being absolutely exhausted all the time makes me so excited!

this has been asked many time here ... there is no real answer to that question
Different for everyone

Read this :

viewtopic/t103364/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... er#p971232

Melanndoll wrote:I have been diagnosed with sleep apnea and am doing my cpap titration study tomorrow night. I am interested in how long it took once you got your machine to start feeling better? I understand that it will be different for everyone but just trying to get a general idea. The thought of not being absolutely exhausted all the time makes me so excited!

Some of the factors are "how long you've had OSA" and "how soon you can get your therapy optimized".

For a few, it can be immediate. For others, it can be gradually and in stages.......and can take months. I sort of had some of both. I noticed some positive results within a relatively short period, like not having so much daytime sleepiness. But, other things took longer.


Den

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I've had sporadic improvements as well. Not much good til I started changing settings on my own...since then, things like "mandatory 30 minute power nap" have cut waaay back.
Last anyone knew, I was up to around 6-7 cm of pressure. I'm currently at 11 after a slow climb. Just because they say one setting will work, doesn't mean it will.

Tatooed Lady wrote: Just because they say one setting will work, doesn't mean it will.

wise words.

PR and TL have got that right. If people take the time to study and take responsibility for their condition there wouldn’t be a 60% failure rate.

Pesser wrote:PR and TL have got that right. If people take the time to study and take responsibility for their condition there wouldn’t be a 60% failure rate.

we're doing our best to put a crimp in that failure rate

As you can see from the other answers given on this board there isn't an answer.

I do recommend this though.

1. Ask your doctor how long he or she thinks it will take.

2. Very critically, ask how long you should wait before seeing him or her if you aren't feeling better.

3. Also, critically, ask him or her that if at that time recommended you aren't feeling better, will you be seeing him/her or a nurse.

Accountability for outcomes isn't generally very good in the sleep medicine profession.

With all due respect Sleepy, that would be an ideal situation - that your doctor has a clue at all about any of it (especially equipment and software), that the nurse or tech have a clue, etc. etc. Unfortunately way too many do not - they write scripts for the default pressure settings rather than what you actually need, and then say you've 'failed' Cpap when things don't work out, or send you to ENT's who want to do pointless and traumatic surgery, rather than any of them suggesting to just tweak your settings 1-2 points higher - at which time if you do it yourself and feel great they take offense at you for having dared to enhance your own health experience! I know how cynical this sounds, and I'm not saying all docs or others are no good, but it's really important to keep an open mind and start out with software, so you can see for yourself what might have been responsible for your not feeling great one week, and then learning how to fix it. This forum will likely be the most helpful place you can visit and learn from, so good that you found it, and good luck with all.

I had my "ah-ha morning" around day 19. I have never seen a sleep doctor. Talked to one once. He was looking at me funny. Guess I should have put my tazer away.

Sheriff

Julie I am inclined to agree with you though I don't know about some of the things you say.

However, I think the first step for accountability is to ask for accountability. For new patient the answers could be very informative as to future performance of their sleep doctor and the sleep center. In larger town there might be multiple choices.

Also, for a beginning patient it might be useful to ask these questions to screen out some doctors.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea after I became afraid I was going to fall asleep while driving. The result of my sleep study was an AHI of 6.3. They called this "mild" sleep apnea. While I was thinking I would not want it any higher than that. The doctor prescribe a CPAP at 7 cm H20 pressure setting.

Short version: 106 days and counting.

Long version:
Day 1: I am irritable. I woke up with a headache and at times I am confused. My head feels foggy and at times I am unable to complete a thought. At times it feels like I could just go to sleep. The last several weeks have been like this.

Day 5: Today I feel better than I have for sometime, AHI 0.9.

Day 12: Something was way off last night, AHI was 3.8. It seems all of the old symptoms are coming back.

Day 13: AHI at 2.5. I felt so bad I took the machine back to the dme and they said the machine is doing what it is suppose to do: "keeping my AHI below 5". My thoughts were if the machine was working I would not have any Events at all.

Day 89: I finally got to the sleep doctor. He gave me a prescription for an APAP 20 cmH2O / 5 cmH2O.

Day 98: I joined this forum and learned from the good people here what I should do to improve my lot.

Day 102: The sleep doctor agreed to change the 5 cmH2O to 7 cmH2O.

Day 106: The Sleepyhead data and the wise members of this forum are both telling me to raise the lower pressure 8 cmH2O. And to keep raising it until my hypopnea is under control. This is my plan.

It took me 98 days before I surrendered myself with these good people. You are all ready way ahead of where I was. Good Luck with your upcoming adventure and stay close to these people.

Hi - considering your sleep test, you really almost don't qualify for Cpap, but... if you slept on your back for the test and/or normally sleep like that, I would be very surprised if you didn't have some events - back sleeping provokes them, but if you can sleep on your side (if necessary with something behind you to keep you there for at least a couple of nights) and then see what your AHI is, you might see that at worst you have "positional' apnea, i.e. it only appears when you've slept on your back. And to check into that you need SleepyHead software (free here- see first note on main pg - Pugsy's Tutorial). Once you've done a few nights, let us (and your MD) know the results.

As well, you have a nasal mask, and unless you absolutely know for sure that you don't ever sleep with your mouth open even at 3-4 a.m, I'd consider that you might be losing Cpap air that way - which won't matter if you end up not needing Cpap at all (there are many other medical reasons you could be tired), but if you do continue with Cpap, then you'd want to look into a full face mask.