A much needed forum

[GReeNeYe]

First off, I'd like to thank everyone here for this forum. I have found a lot of usefull info here, hats off to all of you.

I have had SA for years and did nothing about it, nearly crashing my car many times, falling asleep at work and just being a walking zombie for years. I've been on the Cpap theropy now about two months and not only has my work performance increased, blood pressure is down and i can drive now without getting drowsey. Overall I am a new person

The sleep study tech said I was the worst case of SA he had seen in years, my breathing stopped almost 100 times per hour and i went untreated for almost 7 years.

I would like to join in here and help anyway i can and also ask questions.

again thank you all

[bdp522]

Welcome!! We would love for you to join in! The more the merrier. You will find so much information here it will make your head spin. Everyone here is helpful and caring. Ask all the questions you want and do tell us about any positive experiences you've had too.

Brenda

[rested gal]

Hi Green, welcome to the forum. Glad you've got your treatment going well and that you're doing so much better.

[GReeNeYe]

ty everyone

[AdmiralCougar]

Welcome Greeneye

The sleep study tech said I was the worst case of SA he had seen in years, my breathing stopped almost 100 times per hour and i went untreated for almost 7 years.

We are totally in the same boat. I scared my sleep tech with my over 150/hour events. I hope I feel as good after 2 months of treatment. Day 3 and counting.

[birdshell]

Greeneye, you are more than welcome. We hopefully will have some answers, and the variety of them is sometimes the best part!

I would like to point out that the quick, "That titration was the best sleep of my life," experience is not the experience of most of us. Believe me, we wish it was! It can take a long time to re-pay that sleep debt and, as in your case, many of us have worked a long, long time to acquire it.

Hang in there, and please jump right in. We LOVE to post, can you not tell?

[GReeNeYe]

lol birdshell,


admiralcougar you will feel better very soon. my first sleep with a cpap was like i went to heaven! with me it took a couple of weeks for me to feel back to normal. i guess it depends on how long you have gone without good sleep

[birdshell]

Thanks, Greeneye!

It also depends upon what type(s) of sleep disorders one has and the effectiveness of the treatment. At least for me, hearing that ANYONE had had an overnight success meant that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I would have the same "best sleep of my life" experience OVERNIGHT.

Of course, that didn't happen as I said above. However, my improvement was slow, subtle, and significant. It required self-evaluation every few weeks (or months...it hasn't been years yet!) to keep me thinking that there had been progress.

To anyone who HAS had that "Overnight Wonder" this might seem a bit backward. However, we need to know that quality sleep and its effects are not based on merit, at least once one is compliant.

[DannyB]

Greeneye, I couldn't agree more. This is a great place!

[RosemaryB]

Welcome, GreenEye!!!!

I am overwhelmingly grateful for the wonderful people on this forum. I feel like they are helping save lives every day. Plus, they are often very funny!

I'm glad to hear that you are doing so well. I'm 3 1/2 months into treatment and it just keeps getting better with each month. It's amazing to look around and feel like the world is now in 3-D and technicolor. Like I was living in a shadow world before.

[LukeIamYourFather]

Welcome Greeneye,

I too am relatively new here. Like you, (and many others - I have learned from reading this forum), I had OSA for many years. I put off doing anything about it because I had only heard stories that left me with the impression that surgery was the only treatment, and that the surgery was very painful and had a high failure rate.

It seems the pain and failure part of that tale is correct, but I do not ever remember hearing about CPAP until I read about it on a forum. Oddly enough, it was not a sleep disorder forum, but a forum dedicated to Glock pistols!!

After reading that thread on the gun forum, I started "Googling" CPAP and found this forum. I was quite surprised to learn so many people had SA, and greatful that the folks here are willing to share their experience. I only wish I had heard about this years ago....

[AdmiralCougar]

admiralcougar you will feel better very soon. my first sleep with a cpap was like i went to heaven! with me it took a couple of weeks for me to feel back to normal. i guess it depends on how long you have gone without good sleep

Each day has been different so far but overall I seem to feel a little better already not much mind, and definitely not like after my sleep study I might of still be a bit tired after my sleep study but I felt allot better. Of course I ended up being on the machine from 2am-almost 1pm so almost 11 hours on the machine at the lab. The lab didn't think it was safe for me to leave and drive home at 7am when my sleep study was over... I was so tired. I was finally able to convince them to let me leave, but I probably was still tired enough that I shouldn't of driven home, but the replacement tech that came on when my night tech went home gave me creepy vibes so I wanted out of there. Sure wish I could get close to that many hours of sleep at home each night.... My average so far is just over 5 hours/night *sigh* stupid responsibilities... Of course the AHI at the sleep study while on the machine was also AHI=8, and at home my average AHI has gone from Tuesday Day 1: AHI=58.0 Day 2: AHI=53.3 Day 3: AHI=48.6 Day 4: AHI=37.0 (last night). It keeps dropping but boy that sure seems high compared to the sleep lab.