1.5 Weeks on CPAP

[ov10mech]

According to sleepyhead my AHI was less than 1 last two nights and never below a 2 since starting. From what I read, that's great. My study showed about 30 AHI. I can't say I feel any better and I can't seem to sleep for more than 5 hours anymore. I wake up at 0430 or so. I still feel tired like I want to go back to bed. I have to take Ambien as well to get to sleep both before and now with the CPAP.

So, besides numbers looking better from a technology perspective I actually don't feel any better during the day and get tired sooner. Around 8pm I want to go to bed but force myself to stay up since I know I am going to wake too early. Any thoughts on this or is it just more time needed? I am 40 years old and in pretty good shape otherwise. Wife says I don't toss and turn and keep her up. Thats a good thing.

[jencat824]

Welcome!
You sound like you are doing great on CPAP. Don't expect dramatic change right away. After all, your sleep has probably been disrupted for quite some time, maybe even years. As you progress in your treatment, you may feel better, results differ as each one of us is unique. You will probably want to get the software downloaded so you can track your progress via your machines results.
Good luck,
Jen

[ov10mech]

First let me correct original post. My sleep study in the suspine position where I sleep now with CPAP was 63 . I am an IT geek so already was curious about SD card and found the sleepyhead software. I have been looking at it every day. I even made an adjustment to my machine to lower the pressure. Doing so lowered my AHI under 1.0 from near 2. I am glad there are forums like this. I could not imagine having to wait for a 30 day follow up appt. I am going to bring my doctor the data!

[Slartybartfast]

Although traditional wisdom here has it that you will feel better after getting on the hose, that's not the case for a LOT of people. Don't assume that your fatigue and difficulty sleeping 7 hours at a stretch is/was entirely caused by your sleep apnea. It might be that there is some other cause and the sleep apnea was incidental. In my case the transformation was immediate and dramatic. But I seem to be in the minority on this board.

For what it's worth, I have found that walking in the late afternoon (after work) for about an hour every day does wonders for my ability to sleep each night, and I find that I sleep much more soundly on days when I have walked.

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

For me the effect that PAP treatment had was just like Slartybarfast "immediate and dramatic". As Jen and Slarty stated that is not the norm for most hose heads. Imagine taking a cast off of your badly broken leg after just 7 - 10 days of wearing it and going for a nice jog down the street. It probably wouldn't go real well on the jog as it can take quite some time to heal a badly broken leg. Well, our ability to sleep properly, no matter if we want to face it or not, is broken! All the damage done to our bodies from untreated Sleep Apnea will take time to heal, sometimes due to other non-Sleep Apnea related issues, it will take a lot of time. For some it may never heal perfectly, just like the badly broken leg in where we could always walk with a limp, even after it is considered healed. Our sleep may never be perfect again, but it can certainly be improved upon with hard work and lots of patience. IMO, PAP therapy is a lot like a tool box that only has one adjustable wrench in it. You may be able to fix some things with it, but it is still only one tool and one tool will never be able to fix everything, no matter how hard we try or want it to.

I try to always remind myself that treating Sleep Apnea is never a sprint but a journey, and for some of us a life long journey.

John

[ov10mech]

Thanks for the replies!

[JO'M]

I look at it this way. It too a long time for my body to get this way. Years of undiagnosed OSA (10 +), years of low oxygen, years of low quality sleep, spin off health issues. I figure it will take awhile for things to get back on track. I try to look for the little things that have changed and look at those as steps along the pathway.

[Tino2You]

Hi Ov10Mech,

Welcome to the forum. Your numbers look great! Congrats. A couple of thoughts about waking up tired. As Slarty mentioned, look everywhere for things what will go bump in the night. For me it is caffeine. If I have even a bit of it after noon, I will not sleep well. It is in more than tea and coffee. Chocolate, "energy drinks", some sodas.

Also take care changing pressures. Give the treatment a while (couple of weeks) to stabilize before changing things. Look for trends. As the old adage goes, "One point does make a line".

Keep on doing what you are doing and the results will happen.

-tino

[archangle]

Well, you had apnea for many years. It may take you a while to readjust. I think most people get better right away if the treatment stops their apnea, but the happy pappers don't go searching and find our board.

I sometimes think stopping apnea may be like stopping smoking, drinking, caffeine, or some illegal or prescription drugs. Even if it's the right thing to do, you might feel bad for a while before your body readjusts and you feel better.

Also, don't put too much faith in low AHI meaning things are perfect. I find I have to increase my minimum pressure above where my APAP wants to set it in order to feel my best. Sometimes it takes some tinkering.

[Andesgal]

Hi, I've been using an APAP machine for 1.5 weeks now also I only have a mild apnea with an AHI of 13.1, and they were mostly Hypopnias. I don't snore, I'm a woman, I'm only slightly over weight, I don't drink or smoke, and I've been very healthy all of my life---until the last few months when I started feeling exhausted all the time. I never felt like falling asleep, and I never took naps. But I would wake up from sleeping 5-6 hours and feel like I really hadn't slept at all. And I started having breathing issues during the day--I would sometimes get out of breath just talking or reading to my children, so that I had to stop.

After many medical tests, all of which came back normal (GREAT NEWS...and BAD NEWS...what is causing it?) my doctor suggested I do a sleep test. I was quite sure I didn't have sleep apnea---but it turns out I do. My doctor suggested I try a CPAP machine....the day we picked it up I really struggled with it--I could not come to grips with having to use a machine to sleep the rest of my life. I was angry! I was upset! I didn't want marks on my face, I didn't want to look like a clown and talk like Darth Vader--I didn't want to lose talk time with my husband at night...I was VERY NEGATIVE.

I've always been a very light sleeper. I like to have my own pillows, if the bed is too hard I probably won't sleep well and I use a sound conditioner that makes a white noise wherever I sleep to not be bothered by unusual noises. I figured there was NO WAY that I would ever sleep with a mask and a hose attached to me. In fact, for my sleep test I didn't sleep the first 4 hours, so finally the tech came in and I took some Tylenol PM to help me sleep--the doctor told me I slept the worst of any patient he's ever had....

So, I was completely shocked that I slept for 6 hours the first night, and although I woke up about once an hour, I went right back to sleep! AND, to top if off, I've slept GREAT since then! I am AMAZED! Before CPAP I was waking up feeling tense and tired--I NEVER had that delicious, relaxed feeling of just wanting to stay in bed a little longer. Now I'm sleeping over 8 hours a night (5-6 was my average before) and as soon as I have had the mask on a few minutes my body just starts to relax and I fall asleep easily. I absolutely cannot believe it! I LOVE my CPAP machine! I still get tired during the day but I have much more energy than before CPAP--every couple of days it seems like I have a little bit more--but now I look forward to going to bed, EVEN THOUGH I have to wear the mask and be attached to a machine with a tube!

If you had told me that I would sleep like a baby with a CPAP machine I would NEVER have believed it! I didn't think I would sleep at all. We still aren't sure how much my breathing problem during the day is related to the apnea--but I think we'll know in a few more weeks--either I will continue to improve during the day or not...but so far, so good! I am THANKFUL for the machine! I hope this is an encouragement to those of you who read this who have just been diagnosed....it may not happen this way for you, and you may find your adjustment harder than I have, BUT IT IS POSSIBLE.

I live in Quito, Ecuador and they just started offering Sleep Studies and equipment here for which I am thankful--I use a Resmed s9 Autoset with humidifier and climate hose, and I like the Mirage nasal mask, although I'd like to get a Swift FX too. I don't have any trouble with leaking, thankfully! And I've now gotten the mask seemingly adjusted correctly--it stays on without leaking and doesn't usually leave marks (once in awhile it does). My apnea AHI with CPAP use now averages about 1.2.