2 Weeks on APAP - So far so good!

[jujubee]

Hi, I'm a little over two weeks into APAP and I think I'm adjusting pretty well. The biggest difference I notice is that I am no longer up to use the restroom 4 or 5 times a night. That's Great! I was hoping that I would finally get 7 or 8 hours of sleep but no such luck. I still only get 5 most nights. I was able to access the SleepyHead program and am facinated by the information it gives. I do have some questions on reading some of the graphs. I used the snipping tool and saved the screen as jpg format but when I tried to bring it here I failed. I think I might have sent it to google plus for all of my friends and family to see. Oh well. Help? Thanks

[cosmo]

Congrats! Are you still tired after 5 hours? If not, maybe thats all you need. I could do 10-12 hours of sleep easily before cpap. Now, 8 hours is all I need.

[jujubee]

Yes, I am still tired. I never have trouble falling asleep, but wake up at 4:00 or so and cannot go back to sleep. I took Ambien for two years and had a rough time getting off. I don't want do that again. I heard there is a time released melatonin available. I may try that.

[Pugsy]

You have to host the screen shots of your reports on some sort of photo hosting web site.

We talk about it here in this thread. I have used Photobucket for years but you can use any hosting site.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=81072&p=737779#p737779

[qmx]

I had the same experience. Prior to cpap, I was getting up anywhere from 3-7 times per night to urinate. Since the very 1st night of cpap, I'm only getting up 1 time per night, sometimes not until 5:30 or 6:30 in the morning. Also, My PVC's (Skipped heart beats) have stopped. Also, my regular daytime indigestion and frequent nighttime GERD (gastroesophageal reflux) is all but GONE! All of this, to my surprise is supported in the literature. BOTTOM LINE --- A person's body functions are COMPLETELY SCREWED UP when they have untreated OSA (severe in my case). I had only recently realized how exhausted I was and how much the lack of sleep was effecting my life. I have probably had sleep apnea for 15-20 years. On cpap now for about 7 weeks-- and it has been life-changing for me. Take Care, DEAN

[jweeks]

Yes, I am still tired. I never have trouble falling asleep, but wake up at 4:00 or so and cannot go back to sleep. I took Ambien for two years and had a rough time getting off. I don't want do that again. I heard there is a time released melatonin available. I may try that.

Jujubee,

Believe it or not, this could be a good sign. Your brain has had to learn to get used to functioning without sleep. Now, with APAP, you suddenly are sleeping. It doesn't know what to do with all this sleep. After a few hours, it is happy with getting more sleep than it has gotten at any time over the past few years, so it is done. Time to get up and leave the cave to go hunting. It is going to take some time to unlearn all the old bad coping mechanisms, and relearn all over again how to sleep.

I know that I struggled with this. It took me about 6 months to get over it. Then again, I hadn't slept well for 15 years, so I was pretty much a basket case. The best strategy I came up with was to get up rather than staying in bed awake. I found that music was helpful, especially concert videos. Avoid any exercise (don't want to get your body going), avoid food (don't want to get your metabolism ramped up), and avoid computer displays (don't want to shine light into your eyes messing up your light/dark rhythms).

BTW, the bathroom effect is great. Going far less at night is a sign of dramatically improved sleep. The bathroom signal is your brain trying to wake you up to get you upright so it can get some oxygen, which was being triggered by your apnea. All that did for you was to put a lot of extra stress on your kidneys, something you really don't need. Chalk this up as a huge victory for your treatment and future health.

-john-

[jujubee]

Wow it worked! Thank you everyone for your kind and encouraging words! More questions to come!

16 days of CPAP Data, between 12/21/2012 and 1/5/2013
Details Most Recent Last 7 Days Last 30 Days Last 6 months Last Year
AHI 1.98 2.89 2.64 2.64 2.64
Hours per Night 06:03 05:39 05:39 05:39 05:39
Average Pressure 7.27 7.29 7.12 7.12 7.12
95% Pressure 8.92 8.90 8.88 8.88 8.88
Average Leaks 1.13 0.38 0.39 0.39 0.39
95% Leaks 8.95 7.20 7.20 7.20 7.20

Changes to Prescription Settings
First Last Days AHI Machine Mode Pr. Rel. Min Pres. Max Pres.
12/21/2012 1/5/2013 16 2.64 ResMed Auto EPR x3 5.00 9.00

[jweeks]

Average Pressure 7.27 7.29 7.12 7.12 7.12
95% Pressure 8.92 8.90 8.88 8.88 8.88
Average Leaks 1.13 0.38 0.39 0.39 0.39

Jujubee,

When you talk to your respiratory tech or sleep doctor next, ask them about fine-tuning your pressure. You are having 95% pressures that are close to your max pressure. Also, your minimum pressure looks a little low. I suspect that once you are having events, the machine takes too long to ramp up to treatment pressure. Since your average is at 7, and your 95% is close to 9, you might want to consider setting it at 7 or 8 minimum and maybe 11 max.

Otherwise, your AHI looks good, however, you already knew that because you have been seeing positive results.

-john-

[jujubee]

Hi John, I was wondering the same thing. The interesting thing is the original script was cpap set at a pressure of 6. It was only after several phone calls and a hand delivered letter to my dr. that he prescribed APAP pressure 5 to 9. If I had settled for the cpap I might not have known I needed more pressure. I'm afraid to speak too soon but I just had a 7 hr and a 6 hour night of sleep. I sure hope that continues. Thanks for your help. JuJubee