are you fully recovered after CPAP or still tired?Poll pleas

I am just curious about the percentage of full recovery, half recovery or no improvement with CPAP treatment.

I know people who are recovered might not feel interested in this poll, but please guys you help us understand the depth of our situations (those who are not fully recovered) and see if there is serious shortage of the so called "best available treatment for Apnea"

in my last post about checking out what kind of mask most people who are still tired use, I noticed that relatively speaking it had a large views, so may be there are failure of CPAP treatment out there much more that we expect.

Thanks for participation

I am just now one month into my treatment and still feel tired. But I'm not giving up hope!

in no way I am hinting to give up hope or give up on CPAP, I am just thinking that CPAP might still need something extra with it, some adjustment, some more care in applying from the medical professionals , ..etc

also people who are still tired are a bid reluctant to stand their ground infront of their doctor or their sleep lab thinking that this is only their issues but most other patients out there are fully recovered

I've been on CPAP since late this February.

I feel great and totally think it's working. I sleep through the night most nights without night sweats, and I feel wonderful when I wake. I don't have that dangerous tired driving that I had before. My blood pressure has gone from bodrerline high to my usual low. I love waking in the morning feeling calm and comfortable instead of the adrenalin rush and negativity I used to wake with. I have had ZERO episodes of gastroesophageal reflux on CPAP. My asthma is under great control. My nose is clear and I can smell everything again (a blessing and a curse!).

All that said, I'm still tired. Not sleepy tired but physically tired. I still enjoy napping when I can (weekends) and I'm always happy to go to sleep (I was tired before CPAP, too, but not happy to go to sleep because it didn't feel so great). This despite the fact that I'm getting more restful and regular sleep than I did in the 20 years before CPAP.

I don't really know what "fully recovered" means. I've aged a lot since what I now realize as the symptoms of OSA became apparent, and I'm a LOT heavier, so it's more work to haul this body around. I'm not sure a "full recovery" in my case is possible, but I sure as heck feel much better than I did before CPAP. If this is all I get from it, it's quite enough.

recovery is gauged according to sense of tiredness during the day
complete recovery means you are not feeling tired during the day, you don'r feel like taking a nap, your case is incomplete recovery in my opinion. a nap after enough hours of night time sleep means your night time sleep is not enough in quality

I know it might be a lot of factors other than apnea, but this is the catagory that we need to further investigate -tired or partially tired after CPAP

Anyone who is still tired: I would strongly urge you to get software and card reader for your machine and get it adjusted to your optimal pressure. Try APAP, or straight CPAP, or different mask, or up/down on the pressure. It's really important to get it adjusted right or yes you will still feel tired. If I'd stuck with the prescribed pressure I'm sure I'd still be tired now!! Also, check into any other health issues. I had another health issue which was unrelated to sleep disorders and since working on that I feel so much better. I still have issues with insomnia, and when that happens I feel tired, but if I get a minimum of 7 hours of sleep with my CPAP I feel spectacular during the day and get a lot done. But it was over a year into my CPAP therapy before I was able to get everything adjusted and get other health issues worked on. So you just have to keep at it.

williamco wrote:also people who are still tired are a bid reluctant to stand their ground infront of their doctor or their sleep lab thinking that this is only their issues but most other patients out there are fully recovered

I'm sorry, but this is just not true. I'm one of those still tired. I have no trouble standing my ground, and in fact, my doctors are bending over backwards to help me. My PCP has told me he will write me a prescription exactly as I want it. How can he be more helpful than that?

The trouble is not that I'm not standing my ground with my doctor, the trouble is that WE DON'T KNOW why I'm still tired. I've made some improvments in my fatigue by changing some other factors totally unrelated to sleep and SDB. SDB is not the only cause of fatigue. I can't just fix this problem by maximizing my PAP therapy. I'm sure as heck going to try to get the most out of it, but I know for a fact that that won't cure me 100%.

I still feel tired and sleepy to different degrees each day, but I realize that there are probably other issues going on that could be contributors (other sleep issues as well as other non-sleep issues). But I never wake up gasping for air or with a racing heart, so that's enough to keep me on the machine even if I'm not getting the refreshing sleep I'd hoped for before starting therapy. (No insurance right now and no finances mean no additional sleep studies to look for any other possible sleep issues.)

There are many other issues in a person's life (medical and otherwise) that could be contributing to still feeling tired and sleepy even with effective PAP therapy. My numbers are great, leaks are within limits. The few times I've tweaked the pressure a bit for a while, it made no difference in how I felt. There are more non-cpap things I could be doing that would probably help that I just haven't become disciplined enough yet to do, so part of the problem is with me, as well as other issues.

Pam

I pretty much feel great, now.

I feel much better now after 5 weeks, especially in the mornings.
I still think I would sleep better without the hose if I didn't need it as I toss and turn a lot, and the exhaust from the Swift FX keeps hitting the bedding.

I had eight fabulous months after beginning CPAP. Life was great. Now I have rheumatoid arthritis and fatigue is very much a facet of the disease as well as the medications that fight the disease, so I am not as perky as I was during the first eight months. Before starting CPAP I might as well have been in the grave, though--it was that bad. If I was having to deal with the RA without the CPAP, I don't think I would be doing as well as I am. For most people there are lots of other issues that cause tiredness, and it takes time to sort everything out.

please exclude tiredness that is conclusively caused by other causes. we need to assess the efficacy of CPAP in eliminating tiredness that is cause by apnea

williamco wrote:I am just curious about the percentage of full recovery, half recovery or no improvement with CPAP treatment.

I know people who are recovered might not feel interested in this poll, but please guys you help us understand the depth of our situations (those who are not fully recovered) and see if there is serious shortage of the so called "best available treatment for Apnea"

in my last post about checking out what kind of mask most people who are still tired use, I noticed that relatively speaking it had a large views, so may be there are failure of CPAP treatment out there much more that we expect.

Thanks for participation

Why the "one month" ?

How about fully recovered and feeling 100% the day after CPAP started ? Add my vote for that choice.

williamco wrote:please exclude tiredness that is conclusively caused by other causes. we need to assess the efficacy of CPAP in eliminating tiredness that is cause by apnea

Well, what if we don't know what the cause is? I've seen improvements in my level of energy from doing things with CPAP therapy as well as making changes in other areas.

You presume that we all know what the entire road to health looks like. Some of us don't. I don't know, and my doctors don't know, either. Nobody is withholding information from me, I am not stubborn or refusing to try something, WE JUST DON'T KNOW what all of my problems are! I'm pretty sure some of them are still related to SDB that has not yet been fully treated, but I was also surprised earlier this spring when I began taking a medication for my lungs that improved my energy level. What if part of my problem is an undiagnosed metabolic thing? There are just so many reasons why people could be tired, and I can't just divide up my fatigue into the apnea part and the rest.

I bet that might be true for a lot of people.

LoQ wrote:

williamco wrote:please exclude tiredness that is conclusively caused by other causes. we need to assess the efficacy of CPAP in eliminating tiredness that is cause by apnea

Well, what if we don't know what the cause is? I've seen improvements in my level of energy from doing things with CPAP therapy as well as making changes in other areas.

You presume that we all know what the entire road to health looks like. Some of us don't. I don't know, and my doctors don't know, either. Nobody is withholding information from me, I am not stubborn or refusing to try something, WE JUST DON'T KNOW what all of my problems are! I'm pretty sure some of them are still related to SDB that has not yet been fully treated, but I was also surprised earlier this spring when I began taking a medication for my lungs that improved my energy level. What if part of my problem is an undiagnosed metabolic thing? There are just so many reasons why people could be tired, and I can't just divide up my fatigue into the apnea part and the rest.

I bet that might be true for a lot of people.

I agree.