Pre-CPAP Days

[Alabama Girl]

Hello Everyone!

I have enjoyed browsing through the threads. There's a wealth of information there. My CPAP lingo is not very good, so please forgive me. My search for help was brought on by falling asleep while driving to work. I have had this problem off & on for at least 5 years. Other times my doctor & I concluded that it was the sleeping medicine I take & reduced it. That took care of it after adjusting, but it may have been a short episode anyway. So, I ended up at a sleep clinic on July 2 for a consultation, then on July 6 for a sleep study "hookup"! I didn't talk to the doctor re: the results; one of the staff told me basic information & that I have to come in again for another study. I requested she fax my report to my job, which she did. I will list some of the data at the end of this post.

I am having mixed feelings about using a CPAP machine. Most of the time I am excited that there is hope for me to feel much better & not be tired all the time. Other times I feel anxious about it & think I will have a hard time sleeping with it. I think it may "freak me out" to wake up to such an apparatus on me. I guess I am getting cold feet! Is this something that very many people feel?

Diagnosis: OSA with AHI/RDI 23 events per hour
Sleep efficiency of 74.2%
REM sleep: never got there
Lowest oxygen saturation of 79%
Average length of apnea 24 seconds --- the longest was 73 seconds

Will you guys please put this data together & analyze it. Also, compare to your numbers.

[katcw]

Yes, lots of folks feel that way in anticipation. And for some of us, it takes a long time to see real results from the therapy. But hang in there -- it *will* make a huge difference in your life. Keep checking this board, ask questions, get the help you need to get going -- you are among friends who have been where you are.

[BlackSpinner]

Diagnosis: OSA with AHI/RDI 23 events per hour
Sleep efficiency of 74.2%
REM sleep: never got there
Lowest oxygen saturation of 79%
Average length of apnea 24 seconds --- the longest was 73 seconds

Basically your brain and other organs are getting only 75% of the oxygen you need many times at night.

23 times per hour something is happening to your breathing- sometimes you stop breathing for up 73 seconds - try this right now - hold your breath for over a minute.

You never got into dream state so you are probably heading for a psychotic moments (dreaming keeps us sane)

You have the choice of going on CPAP and regaining your mental abilities and many extra hours of quality time each day or writing your will (make it a living one because dementia will shortly follow)
CPAP has no negative side effects for most people - it won't make you drowsy, give you anal leakage, cancer, 4 hour erections or any of those things they say really really fast in commercials for drugs.

[ricochetv1]

Diagnosis: OSA with AHI/RDI 23 events per hour
Sleep efficiency of 74.2%
REM sleep: never got there
Lowest oxygen saturation of 79%
Average length of apnea 24 seconds --- the longest was 73 seconds

Basically your brain and other organs are getting only 75% of the oxygen you need many times at night.

23 times per hour something is happening to your breathing- sometimes you stop breathing for up 73 seconds - try this right now - hold your breath for over a minute.

You never got into dream state so you are probably heading for a psychotic moments (dreaming keeps us sane)

You have the choice of going on CPAP and regaining your mental abilities and many extra hours of quality time each day or writing your will (make it a living one because dementia will shortly follow)
CPAP has no negative side effects for most people - it won't make you drowsy, give you anal leakage, cancer, 4 hour erections or any of those things they say really really fast in commercials for drugs.

Wait a minute! My wife was looking forward to those 4 hour erections!

[drubin007]

[/quote]

Wait a minute! My wife was looking forward to those 4 hour erections![/quote]

crazy world we live in... mine is still waiting for the anal leakage!

[twokatmew]

CPAP has no negative side effects for most people - it won't make you drowsy, give you anal leakage, cancer, 4 hour erections or any of those things they say really really fast in commercials for drugs.

Heheheh, Black Spinner, you make me want to fire up the CPAP right now!

[Alabama Girl]

OK, guys! While I appreciate your humor, I'd like to get back to the subject. For example, is it normal with OSA not to go into REM sleep? How does 73 seconds compare to your longest apnea? Etc., etc.

Thanks for your replies.

[ricochetv1]

I don't know about my longest (I'd have to read my study reports again) but I know my O2 saturation cratered at 71% during my 1st study, which was w/out titration.

[BlackSpinner]

is it normal with OSA not to go into REM sleep?

Yes. REM sleep requires deep relaxation. Your brain knows if this happens you die. Usually you will get your apneas as you relax deeply into sleep just before you get to REM stage, so you wake up just enough to get you out of it and breathing.

So you never actually get deeply asleep each AI or HI is a little wake up call- so basically you are getting 23 wake up calls per hour - a healthy sleep cycle is 90 minutes un interrupted sleep including REM. You need 8.5 hours of those 90 minute cycles to refresh all your body.

[Alabama Girl]

Thank you for your further replies.

So, once I am on CPAP, will I go into REM?

[BlackSpinner]

So, once I am on CPAP, will I go into REM?

Yes eventually, when your brain believes you aren't going to die. For some people it may take a month or so according to my doctor. Like your internal "men in black" are standing on guard to keep you breathing - they aren't going off duty until they are sure your not in any danger!

[Julie]

Hi, just want to sort of qualify something here - and that is that I think an awful lot of us, if not the majority (certainly never took a poll do not get 8.5 hrs sleep a night, but do manage to do just fine on what we do get (6,7 hrs). If you routinely were to get no more than 5 - 5.5, then I would be concerned, but while 8.5 may be some kind of ideal number, don't worry if you don't get that. Also, many of us never get to REM during the test - in fact many of us don't even get much sleep at all, but somehow the techs and machines are able to come up with a fair picture of what we do get because they are able to come up with a number for prescriptions. Read a little more.. don't let someone's "absolutes" worry you (except for things that really do matter, like not covering, allowing to be covered, the CO2 vent on your mask, or its connection to the hose), but there are very few of those.

[LaurieJ31981]

When I went to my sleep study, I was scared to death about the CPAP. However when I found out I was having 113 apneas an hour, and my oxygen dropped to 68%, I quickly got used to it!

Of course at first it was a struggle to keep it on... 2 hours at a time, I'd wake up feeling suffocated, just like I did during Titration. But that 2 hours soon became 4, then 6, and when I finally made it to 8... I was excited. Now I don't even consider falling asleep without my mask. It's just part of my sleeping routine and most of the time I forget it's even on lol.

I sleep for hours on one side, I NEVER did that, I'd even sit up most of the night because I was so uncomfortable. Then i'd be exhausted at work, to the point where I was dosing off at my desk. Now 6 weeks later, I have not once dosed off... whether at work, or laying in bed reading or watching a movie.

Everyone has issues with the thought of something on your face... But you'll get used to it, and have a dramatic change.

Good luck

[kteague]

To varying degrees everyone who has been diagnosed with OSA will likely find some commonalities due to criteria for diagnosis. My oxygen dropped in the 70s also, had little to no REM in multiple studies. My longest event was 58 seconds, and that thought is unnerving to me, especially with my mother and her mother both having strokes, and knowing this increases my risk. My sleep efficiency in several studies ranged from 49% to 79%.

I didn't do well in my early adjusting to cpap. Didn't have the support and followup I needed then. Often woke up with my mask beside me on the bed, or woke up "freaked out" and took the mask off. At some point things got tweaked to where they were working as needed and it didn't all feel so foreign any more, and I quit taking the mask off in my sleep or waking up freaked out. I knew I had to do this or continue to spiral downhill, and in time I welcomed the security of knowing I would not be repeatedly suffocating in my sleep. Some say they take to this like a duck to water. I was more like a cat to water, but hey, you do what you've gotta do, right?!

It will be interesting to see if your titration study shows an increase in REM sleep, but the more used to the equipment you get, the more likely you'll get better, longer, and more restorative sleep. Best wishes.

Kathy