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

[blueboxer]

Elena, there's no way to tell if you were mis-diagnosed or simply given the wrong machine and/or wrong settings. But your results are so opposite to those of just about everyone else there is ground for suspicion. If your technician, doctor and insurance company will stand for it, perhaps you should consider going back to square one and seeking a recalibration.

Have you ruled out everything like a blockage, excessive leakage, and such with your mask, or a machine that through some defect isn't delivering the goods?

Do check it out.

And for sleepyrae: this morning I woke up around seven, full of spit and vinegar, but too early - needed another hour's sleep. But my mask was being leaky and noisy, so I shut it off - and got up 90 minutes later feeling totally blah. Thinking back, it isn't the first time it's happened either.

Any comments on keeping the mask on till you're ready to get out of bed?

[nobrown01]

Before cpap, I feel way better. But after having it, my style of life becomes different. If its not really intended to go cpap, I wouldn't do it.

[Cindy Lou Who]

It took three months for get rid of the bone aching exhaustion and brain fog. After six months of Apap I still feel tired sometimes. I can honestly say it's because I don't get enough sleep. Need 8 to 9 hours a night, but only get 6 to 7 hours for five nights a week.

[auntlala]

had to work on some issues recently so i should say - "when all factors are good i sleep well and feel good - when changes are needed i go back to sleeping like crap and feeling the same".

[robysue]

I'm six weeks into CPAP therapy.

I had to vote in that tiny minority that says "things are worse than before CPAP."

But I'm unusual: I was totally asympotomatic in the daytime before my diagnosis. And now I'm exhausted and sleepy all day long. However, I'm no longer as severely exhausted and tired as I was during the first 2 1/2 weeks on CPAP. So I remain steadfastly hopeful that one day I'll move up into at least the category that corresponds to "I feel no worse than I did starting CPAP."

Cheers,
robysue

[xenablue]

I'm only 3 weeks into therapy, so probably don't qualify, but ....

I'm still just as tired during my waking hours, and get tired earlier in the evening than before CPAP, which makes me think I need more sleep time.
I do feel better in the morning - not so sluggish, brain seems clearer.
Hubby commented that I don't seem so crabby lately
The single biggest revelation is that in more than 50yrs, I'm finally no longer getting up at least once a night for a bathroom run. Even if I wake up to wrestle with 'the contraption', I don't have the need to head for the bathroom. This has been every night except one when I drank water right up until I went to bed. This is truly amazing as I have chronic kidney disease.

Cheers,
Xena

[elena88]

now Im going in month ten, with still being worse after cpap.

(I cant afford another sleep test out of pocket) I do pretty well with my s nine data and oximeter graphs though..


so robysue, I sure think there is a correlation between people who had no daytime sleepiness before cpap, and how they feel afterward..

you and I feel worse, but you hang in there.. I bet you will feel better, I bet you will.. it works for almost everyone..

That being said, I slept like a baby last night, I woke up what you would say was "refreshed" amazing! I felt so good! Of course I didnt sleep with
my apap, or I would have felt like total crap this morning.. but, what it has done for me was shown me HOW TO SLEEP properly! I can sleep thru the
night, not waking up ever two hours to pee, I can sleep and dream, yes I dream! (never on apap though) every time I dont use it, I wake up from
a dream.. so the apap showed me never to sleep on my back, and I am doing so much better I can hardly believe it..

I dont wake up refreshed with apap, nor do I ever wake up from a dream while using it.. .. but now I know a good sleep from a unhealthy bad sleep..

I wish they had a catagory and a name for people with severe osa who never exhibited the usual symptoms of osa.... there must be a zillion of them out there
who are being overlooked.. maybe they need to rethink what the "typical symptoms" have been.. I think the number one symptom would be insomnia.

[Guest]

my biggest problem has always been feeling very tired and/or groggy when I have to wake up and get out of bed. I may awaken at a certain time but i am certainly not rested. many people have stated that they feel so rested and energized first thing in the morning when they begin CPAP therapy--that is the feeling i'm looking for. most of the time once I am up and moving i am not tired enough during the day to fall asleep but often feel 'dragged out' or 'worn down' as opposed to sleepy.

don't know if anybody else is experiencing this same scenario. i am sleeping better all in all in the past six weeks of CPAP therapy but still have problems when i wake up after 2-2 1/2 hrs sleep and can't fall back to sleep again--like last night. some nights i can fall asleep again easily.

i do agree with those who say it is dependent upon individual factors other that apnea. i was diagnosed with clinical depression over 15 years ago and have been on both prozac and wellbutrin (now only wellbutrin) which are considered 'energizing' anti=depressants. Many of my PCPs would initially think these drugs were my problem with sleep but i actually sleep somewhat better when I take them. for a long time we were working on a treatment plan that would eventually resolve my sleep problems, since sleep problems are generally connected with depression. But after so many years it was obvious my sleep problems weren't going away with treatment for depression.

i have tried using more sedating type anti-depressants (such as deseryl or one of the tricyclics) at night in small doses, since these meds tend to have the side effect of drowsiness. I have tried sleep meds ranging from the old-time restoril to ambien, lunesta, rozarem...nothing worked for more than several days. A doctor 10 years ago suggested the sleep study but i balked at it then, didn't want to deal with it and wanted to keep trying other alternatives. But it was affecting my life so much, just having to get up and go to work or even getting up on weekends and do something with myself was becoming harder and harder.

One comment i got from a doctor was that most people with sleep apnea don't realize they are waking up from these episodes so my waking up out of a dead sleep, having very vivid and bizarre dreams, was not usually the way it worked. but the night i had my first study w/o mask i was very tired and actually slept 90% of the eight hours yet I stopped breathing 77 times, the vast majority of times during REM sleep. I didn't get up the following morning time groggy or completely exhausted the morning after but i was not rested nor energized to any extent.

i'm going to keep trying. it has been improving with some bumps in the road. but i am not giving up!

[kbobtn]

I'm in the "cured after the first night" category, and have been treated for almost 14 months. Have had some mask issues to work through, but definitely worth the effort.

[bootz]

I'm usually not satisifed with my CPAP therapy, but I feel much worse if I don't use it.

[Big S]

Hmmmm, certainly getting more sleep. Rhythm in golf swing has improved. Golf buddies sometimes call me Tiger, but most of the time just "Boomer". I think CPAP has added 20 - 50 yards on my drives. I used to use tv to fall asleep in front of, now it just moves too slow and I feel like I'm going to vaporize if I remain in front of it too long. I now am getting things done, getting engaged in activities around me, talk too much and sometimes wonder what I could have accomplished if I have gotten out of denial over 25 years ago. I feel like I've been awakened from a very long sleep. The healing has definitely begun!

[zipit555]

Big S..........you bring up something I have not thought about before. Improved golf game via CPAP. Well heck...........now I know it's going to all be worth it! I'll take an extra 20-50 yards any day.

I am only a few weeks into therapy and don't feel any worse but not sure I feel any better yet. Seems you just have to stick with it (which I am determined to do) and eventually it will kick in. Is it fair to say that weeks to months is a good average before CPAP seems to make people feel better? ( I know some feel it immediately and some never feel better but that seems to be a decent grab a$$ guesstimate on my part from comments I have seen on the forum here)

[Air Force Retired]

I have only used my "new" machine for one night, but I used my wife's machine for several weeks before getting my new machine. I have noted that I seem to sleep "better" and feel that I feel "better" when I get out of bed. I know that I am still waking up many times through the night but I believe this is because I change sides many times due to arthritis in my hips. I know when I change sides but go right back to a sound sleep. At this point, I will not cast a vote either way as I don't think I have been on the program long enought to really give a valid opinion.

[freshair]

I can give a valid opinion---feel almost 30 yrs younger---sorta )
It has made a BIG difference in my life style --awake and asleep--I love it !

[SnoozyQ]

I think I'm stuck between the same and worse. My daytime symptoms have somewhat gotten worse, but I sleep better.
Before CPAP, I had problems falling asleep and staying asleep. I would wake every couple of hours, from an unsound sleep. I can say that is no longer an issue. But I do not feel any better when I wake up. I still have awful daytime sleepiness and had to actually get under medical protection for missing so much work. There are days that I sleep all night (mask on) and CAN NOT drag myself from bed...and then I sleep for hours again (mask on). I'm still sleepy and unfocused at work, I'm still drowsy driving, and I HAVE to nap during the weekend. If I make myself get out and about, by the time I get home, I feel like I've have to sleep right then. Otherwise, I will just skip the activity, so I can sleep early enough in the day to "have an evening".

So basically, my sleep has been repaired, but I have yet to follow.