I'm trying to be patient, but.....

Will I EVER feel rested? I've been on CPAP for 3 1/2 weeks so far. When I first started using it, that darned hose kept getting in my way and waking me up. I've bought a hose system which has now made the hose a non-issue for me. The mask was bothersome since I was a stomach sleeper and it would dig into my face from the pressure of the pillow against it. So I wasn't getting very good sleep the first week or two. I chalked that up to not being used to having the equipment strapped on my face. I have also purchased pads for the cheek straps which made a big difference. Now that those issues have been cleared up for almost two weeks, I'm able to sleep with barely noticing I even have the mask on. But yet I'm still waking up feeling completely exhausted, and being very tired all day long. I have worn the mask all night every night since getting it. Now that the mask and hose don't bother me anymore, shouldn't I be starting to feel at least some relief and more rested? Honestly, I don't feel any different than I did before I started treatment. I feel like a zombie all the time, I can't keep my eyes open at work and have to close my office door during lunchtime and rest (I don't really fall asleep, but I'm not fully awake either). I know it can take a while for your body to "catch up" on your sleep, but I would hope that by now I'd feel even a little more rested.

If you are leaking pressure or if your pressure is not set correctly, then your treatment may not be working. Do you have the software?

Can you give us an idea of your prescribed pressure, and/or efficacy data?

proudaunt wrote:Will I EVER feel rested? I've been on CPAP for 3 1/2 weeks so far. When I first started using it, that darned hose kept getting in my way and waking me up. I've bought a hose system which has now made the hose a non-issue for me. The mask was bothersome since I was a stomach sleeper and it would dig into my face from the pressure of the pillow against it. So I wasn't getting very good sleep the first week or two. I chalked that up to not being used to having the equipment strapped on my face. I have also purchased pads for the cheek straps which made a big difference. Now that those issues have been cleared up for almost two weeks, I'm able to sleep with barely noticing I even have the mask on. But yet I'm still waking up feeling completely exhausted, and being very tired all day long. I have worn the mask all night every night since getting it. Now that the mask and hose don't bother me anymore, shouldn't I be starting to feel at least some relief and more rested? Honestly, I don't feel any different than I did before I started treatment. I feel like a zombie all the time, I can't keep my eyes open at work and have to close my office door during lunchtime and rest (I don't really fall asleep, but I'm not fully awake either). I know it can take a while for your body to "catch up" on your sleep, but I would hope that by now I'd feel even a little more rested.

I felt better right away after starting treatment but others take a long time to feel rested. You are right to be patient so keep up your treatment and remain patient. If things don't improve in a few weeks ask your sleep doctor what might be the problem. I'm betting things will start to improve for you.

DreamStalker wrote:If you are leaking pressure or if your pressure is not set correctly, then your treatment may not be working. Do you have the software?

Can you give us an idea of your prescribed pressure, and/or efficacy data?

My prescribed pressure is set for 10-20. I haven't met with the sleep dr since my initial sleep study, I have an appointment with him on the 15th of this month. He put me right on the cpap following my study, even before meeting with me. I'm guessing my numbers were pretty bad. His office said I had "very severe sleep apnea" and that my oxygen levels dropped to 63%. Therefore, I have no numbers and no data at all as of yet. I have to go to the DME next week with my data card so she can download the data for the dr prior to my visit, so I haven't yet purchased the software and card reader for my own use. I'm afraid of erasing all the data before they see it. My DME originally set my machine pressure at 5-15, but after my second sleep study (using the cpap), the doctor ordered it to be raised to 10-20.

proudaunt wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:If you are leaking pressure or if your pressure is not set correctly, then your treatment may not be working. Do you have the software?

Can you give us an idea of your prescribed pressure, and/or efficacy data?

My prescribed pressure is set for 10-20. I haven't met with the sleep dr since my initial sleep study, I have an appointment with him on the 15th of this month. He put me right on the cpap following my study, even before meeting with me. I'm guessing my numbers were pretty bad. His office said I had "very severe sleep apnea" and that my oxygen levels dropped to 63%. Therefore, I have no numbers and no data at all as of yet. I have to go to the DME next week with my data card so she can download the data for the dr prior to my visit, so I haven't yet purchased the software and card reader for my own use. I'm afraid of erasing all the data before they see it. My DME originally set my machine pressure at 5-15, but after my second sleep study (using the cpap), the doctor ordered it to be raised to 10-20.

You may be leaking the pressure out your mouth with the nasal mask you have. You can look at your data from the LED menu yourself without erasing any data. Press and hold both left and right buttons at same time for a few seconds and LED menu will show you data (if smart data is turned on within clinician menu).

If smart data is turned off, you can turn on by entering clinician menu. Some instructions on how to get into the clinician menu here:
http://www.cpap-supply.com/Articles.asp?ID=130

DreamStalker wrote:

proudaunt wrote:

DreamStalker wrote:If you are leaking pressure or if your pressure is not set correctly, then your treatment may not be working. Do you have the software?

Can you give us an idea of your prescribed pressure, and/or efficacy data?

My prescribed pressure is set for 10-20. I haven't met with the sleep dr since my initial sleep study, I have an appointment with him on the 15th of this month. He put me right on the cpap following my study, even before meeting with me. I'm guessing my numbers were pretty bad. His office said I had "very severe sleep apnea" and that my oxygen levels dropped to 63%. Therefore, I have no numbers and no data at all as of yet. I have to go to the DME next week with my data card so she can download the data for the dr prior to my visit, so I haven't yet purchased the software and card reader for my own use. I'm afraid of erasing all the data before they see it. My DME originally set my machine pressure at 5-15, but after my second sleep study (using the cpap), the doctor ordered it to be raised to 10-20.

You may be leaking the pressure out your mouth with the nasal mask you have. You can look at your data from the LED menu yourself without erasing any data. Press and hold both left and right buttons at same time for a few seconds and LED menu will show you data (if smart data is turned on within clinician menu).

If smart data is turned off, you can turn on by entering clinician menu. Some instructions on how to get into the clinician menu here:
http://www.cpap-supply.com/Articles.asp?ID=130

Thanks, Dream. I will give that a try.

Your early cpap experience is the course of many. Sounds like you're doing due diligence and conquering your issues one by one. Lest you you be frustrated from what seems to you to be too much time passing, consider that if you are going to count time, start counting after the major issues are resolved, as that is when your rest will more likely be... uh... restful.

Just wondering out loud... How do your numbers look? What about leaks? How close to your titrated pressure is the lower end of your pressure range? How many hours of sleep are you getting each night? If all those things are satisfactory, and time keeps passing with no improvement, you may want to investigate possible contirbutors non OSA related, like limb movements during sleep, medication side effects, thyroid, diabetes, anemia. But my personal opinion is it's still a bit soon for all that unless you have indicators in addition to daytime sleepiness that something else is going on with you. Recovery from untreated apnea can be somewhat contingent on the severity and longevity of the disorder and the resulting damage to the body and mind (or lack thereof). And on getting adequate hours (even preferably more during early recovery).

I've been thru the sleeping on my lunch break at work kind of sleepiness, so I know how being so compromised complicates life. Hopefully you will soon be reaping the benefits of your continued efforts to give yourself the full advantages of successful cpap treatment.

Kathy

kteague wrote:Your early cpap experience is the course of many. Sounds like you're doing due diligence and conquering your issues one by one. Lest you you be frustrated from what seems to you to be too much time passing, consider that if you are going to count time, start counting after the major issues are resolved, as that is when your rest will more likely be... uh... restful.

Just wondering out loud... How do your numbers look? What about leaks? How close to your titrated pressure is the lower end of your pressure range? How many hours of sleep are you getting each night? If all those things are satisfactory, and time keeps passing with no improvement, you may want to investigate possible contirbutors non OSA related, like limb movements during sleep, medication side effects, thyroid, diabetes, anemia. But my personal opinion is it's still a bit soon for all that unless you have indicators in addition to daytime sleepiness that something else is going on with you. Recovery from untreated apnea can be somewhat contingent on the severity and longevity of the disorder and the resulting damage to the body and mind (or lack thereof). And on getting adequate hours (even preferably more during early recovery).

I've been thru the sleeping on my lunch break at work kind of sleepiness, so I know how being so compromised complicates life. Hopefully you will soon be reaping the benefits of your continued efforts to give yourself the full advantages of successful cpap treatment.

Kathy

I will get the full report on my numbers next week when I see the DME, I will post them then. During my sleep study, there were no indications of restless leg syndrome, or other abnormal limb movements. I do have a thyroid condition (hypothyroidism) and have been taking medication for that for several years now. I know it will happen eventually, but I can't wait to feel "normal" again.

Thanks for the tip, DreamStalker. I didn't know about those buttons and getting the data. Here are the numbers it gave me:

Summary Data
Therapy Hours: 170
Blower Hours: 170.9
Total Sessions: 24

Apn-Hyp Index
7 day average: AHI 2.8
30 day average: AHI 2.7

System Leak
7 day average: 31.9
30 day average: 33.8

90% pressure
7 day average: 12.6 CMh2o
30 day average: 12.4 CMh2o

Therapy Usage
7 day average: 7:18
30 day average: 7:06

I'm sure these numbers will make sense to all of you, but to me? Not so much.

Even after 11 hours of sleep last night, on and off, I'm still feeling like I'm in a fog today.

kteague (Kathy) wrote:
How do your numbers look? What about leaks? How close to your titrated pressure is the lower end of your pressure range? How many hours of sleep are you getting each night? If all those things are satisfactory, and time keeps passing with no improvement, you may want to investigate possible contirbutors non OSA related, like limb movements during sleep, medication side effects, thyroid, diabetes, anemia. But my personal opinion is it's still a bit soon for all that unless you have indicators in addition to daytime sleepiness that something else is going on with you.

Proudaunt,
I agree with Kathy that you need to know your numbers. I'd suggest you call the sleep lab office and tell them you'd like to pick up a copy of your "complete sleep lab records". Did they titrate you? That would be good to know. It is valuable to know from your most recent post that your 90% pressure is running about 12.5 cm H2O on your Auto. That means that 90% of the time you slept, the CPAP pressure you needed was 12.5. (My 90% pressure matches my Titration Study pressure closely). So it would be interesting to see what pressure you were "titrated" at during your Titration Sleep Study if you had one (usually it is done during a second Sleep Study).

Your AHI number (Apnea-Hypopnea Index is the av. number of Apneas + Hypopneas per hour) is less than 5, so that is "good" but it is only a cumulative average on your LED reading. That's where Software comes in since you can follow your DAILY numbers as you make adjustments to see what's working. When I say "good" that assumes that you are feeling well, which you are not. So, you really need software to see your DAILY numbers and "tweak" your pressure settings (the veterans here can teach you to do that) to get Apnea & Hypopnea numbers as close to zero as possible. (I have not attained that, but I do get c. 3.5 AHI consistently along with feeling great).

Hopefully, the more seasoned veterans will confirm this and give you additional information.

Best wishes,
Joy