The "Undead" or proper rehab of a zombie!

[bwell]

I am only on Day 3 of my new apap machine and sleepweaver mask and am shocked, dazzled, ecstatic about the results! I'm hoping the improvements will continue but was hoping I could compare some notes with all of you.....

I started with a regular CPAP just a over month ago with a pressure level of 10 and a Mirage Swift LT nasal pillows. Saw some improvement in my day to day but had two big rounds with deep chest coughs, headaches and lovely symptoms alleviated by Mucinex and OTC pain relief. After all the great advice here, I upgraded by machine, got the software, pulse oximeter, etc. etc.

FOR YEARS I have been suffering from severe anemia and a collection of fatiguing conditions...nothing awful by themselves but as a group of symptoms left me very low energy and struggling if a real effort was necessary. Travel was a nightmare - most days I felt like I was recovering from a Tequila filled celebration the night before and stuck with hauling a load of bricks to the furthest terminal in the airport....... been loading up on triple expressos in the morning to power me to lunch just to make it..

Been working for past 5 years to tweak, tune, isolate what to do after earning this body from a stress filled lifestyle.... First stop was iron, then thyroid treatment that helped quite a bit over the past two years but until recently I had plateaued with any real improvement in how I operated daily. I had heard of sleep apnea, knew that I snored and that being roly-poly wasn't helping but I really did not suspect or minimally comprehend how big a contributor apnea has been to my sad, weak condition. Some days, carrying my laptop to the car was all I could manage... Doctor initially saw some major drops in oxygen (few down to 60's) on the oximeter which prompted her to have me start oxygen...then I migrated to basic cpap before being better educated by this forum.

Who knew that years of sleep deprivation could make me feel so weak and yet my expensive hormone doctor and internist never asked me about my sleep quality. I really was clueless until my fabulous new Doctor pursued it.... go figure. I have at least a 100 books on lifestyle, supplements, anything to improve my situation here and the closest I got to this on my own was a book called Lights Out that talked about melantonin and circadian cycle issues with too much artificial light exposure.

Yesterday, I noticed I had a lot more energy and but this morning, my feet felt LIGHTER and it took so little effort to navigate through my day....what an improvement!!!! The readings on the apap look good (AHI 0 .3 and only 3 events last night - I think I've got that right). Odd thing is I have been yawning and yawning for two days....I don't really feel that tired (few spells but usually I am ready for a nap when I get home from work) in spite of the yawning.... anyone else experienced this?

A good friend who is deep into herbs, holistic living tells me these are healing crisis' (chest colds and yawning) while my body recalibrates itself. All I know is I can't believe how much better I'm feeling...answer to my prayers. Turning 54 tomorrow and feeling a whole lot better about it!!!!

Cheers
bwell

[Janknitz]

Welcome back to the land of the living BWell! You're getting great results from your therapy. Keep up the good work!

[sandster]

Thanks. I would have agree with all you shared. I am 5 days into my reconnection with a PAP machine. I realized the first morning that I was yawning and stretching--I haven't really done either upon waking in any recent memory, or many years and man does it feel good. It is nice to make it through the day without nodding off even for a nano second. I feel more present for my life and I didn't really understand how much I was even missing until this weekend.