Successful CPAP - Still Extremely Tired

[jagstyles]

So I recently made the switch to the Resmed P10 Nasal Pillow mask and it changed my life in the sense that I no longer have mask leaks, ahi is below 2 on a regular basis and my resmed shows virtually 100 scores across the board.

The problem I'm having is that I'm still extremely exhausted on most days. The only medication I take regularly is avapro to keep my blood pressure in check.

Im wondering if there's something I might be missing? I have noticed that often times I wake up with dry mouth but with AHI readings below 2 and no mask leaks being reported, would that be possible if I was leaking air through my mouth?

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Wulfman...]

So I recently made the switch to the Resmed P10 Nasal Pillow mask and it changed my life in the sense that I no longer have mask leaks, ahi is below 2 on a regular basis and my resmed shows virtually 100 scores across the board.

The problem I'm having is that I'm still extremely exhausted on most days. The only medication I take regularly is avapro to keep my blood pressure in check.

Im wondering if there's something I might be missing? I have noticed that often times I wake up with dry mouth but with AHI readings below 2 and no mask leaks being reported, would that be possible if I was leaking air through my mouth?

Any feedback or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks

Please read.

viewtopic/t172378/Sticky--Newbies-PLEAS ... STING.html

The information (or lack thereof) you provided is meaningless to us.
You need to get some software like Sleepyhead (or ResScan) to monitor your therapy.........
The "MyResMed" is virtually worthless.


Den

.

[Pugsy]

Tiredness is a common side effect for avapro.

Dry mouth can happen from any number of reasons including mouth breathing but it doesn't always mean that a person is having massive prolonged mouth breathing. Just a little mouth breathing can dry out the mouth.
If you were having massive mouth breathing leaks to the point of it impacting the machine's ability to record, respond or accuracy...it would show up in the leak reports. A leak is a leak no matter where it is coming from.

Use available software to see exactly what the leak graphs are showing.

[jagstyles]

Please read.

viewtopic/t172378/Sticky--Newbies-PLEAS ... STING.html

The information (or lack thereof) you provided is meaningless to us.
You need to get some software like Sleepyhead (or ResScan) to monitor your therapy.........
The "MyResMed" is virtually worthless.

Den

Wowsa, who peed in your cereal this morning? That said, you're right, information I provided is very limited. I did review my sleepy head numbers and graphs and they essentially confirm that I average less than 2.0 for Ahi and nothing in the groahs I've seen are significant cause for concern. I'm getting consistently 7-8 hours of sleep now and for the most part uninterrupted.

I may consult with my doctor about Avapro and perhaps consider switching meds to see if there's any improvement.

Thanks

[jagstyles]

Tiredness is a common side effect for avapro.

Dry mouth can happen from any number of reasons including mouth breathing but it doesn't always mean that a person is having massive prolonged mouth breathing. Just a little mouth breathing can dry out the mouth.
If you were having massive mouth breathing leaks to the point of it impacting the machine's ability to record, respond or accuracy...it would show up in the leak reports. A leak is a leak no matter where it is coming from.

Use available software to see exactly what the leak graphs are showing.

Thanks for the reply. I'm going to followup with my MD to see if perhaps it warrants trying a different blood pressure mediation.

If I understand the other part of your post correctly, if I was breathing through my mouth a lot throughout the night it should show up in my leak numbers somewhere? So if leak rate is low and Ahi is low, could be that dry mouth has nothing to do with mouth breathing?

Thanks again, appreciate it

[Pugsy]

if I was breathing through my mouth a lot throughout the night it should show up in my leak numbers somewhere?

Correct.

So if leak rate is low and Ahi is low, could be that dry mouth has nothing to do with mouth breathing?

Correct again.

It might also be that you did just as little bit of mouth breathing and it dried out the mouth but wasn't bad enough to really impact therapy.

I happened to have a chance to document known mouth breathing. I woke up one morning and was mouth breathing. Not a huge tornado out the mouth kind of mouth breathing but a gentle breathing. I decided to just keep doing it for a little while just so I could actually see what the leak graph looked like. See the image below. I circled the known mouth breathing time. The change it showed in the leak graph was minimal. Well within the machine's ability to compensate...and yes, I had dry mouth.
So the moral of this story is that not all mouth breathing is seriously impacting therapy and people should look at the leak graph before worrying about how much mouth breathing they may or may not be doing and how it may or may not be affecting therapy.

[Mark55]

Hopefully you will find the reason behind your extreme tiredness, but if not, don't be discouraged towards your treatment. I too still find myself very tired with totally successful CPAP treatment.

I have taken Cozaar, and its generic version for many years. It is the same class of drug that Avapro is (ARB), and I never used to have this fatigue even taking the meds. Of course that doesn't mean 'you' are not having a reaction to 'your' meds.

My doc seems to think my tiredness is caused by my chronic back/neck pain, and my refusal to take pain meds short of the occasional ibuprofen, or prednisone. I have had all kinds of medical testing done, as well as blood work, and nothing of any consequence shows up.

Sometimes things remain a mystery, and we learn to deal with the hand we've been dealt. I still use my CPAP though, knowing that it is helping to keep my heart as healthy as possible, regardless of whether I feel any different, or not.

Good luck!

[djams]

I did review my sleepy head numbers and graphs...

You or me reviewing our graphs isn't the same thing as the gurus doing it. Post a couple - let them have a shot at it.

[tisket]

I've had some problems with dry mouth waking me up in the last several months.

I recently discovered that Allegra (and all antihistamines) cause dry mouth. During the day I don't notice it because I am always sipping water or a diet soda. But at night...I realized it wasn't mouth breathing when I had trouble falling asleep and was just laying there for awhile....and got dry mouth! While breathing through my nose!

[palerider]

I did review my sleepy head numbers and graphs and they essentially confirm that I average less than 2.0 for Ahi

Less than 2 is what I usually feel is 'good enough'... if mine's over 2, I feel it the next day, but don't feel much difference between 0 and 2...

[zoocrewphoto]

I did review my sleepy head numbers and graphs...

You or me reviewing our graphs isn't the same thing as the gurus doing it. Post a couple - let them have a shot at it.

Very true. The experienced people can see things in the graphs that may not be obvious to the rest of us. If you want help, please post the graphs. The numbers really don't give the context.

[jagstyles]

Thanks everyone, these are all helpful responses and I'm going to keep at it and consult back with my family doctor as well just to see if anything else could possibly be the culprit. Had another great sleep last night with AHI readings below 2 with very little mask leak. I'll review the graphs again to check for mouth breathing as I woke up with an extremely dry mouth again this morning and still feeling tired. Thanks again!