New User - Positive Results

[Snowwhite999]

Thanks to all who post here. Not to sound like a broken record, but this forum has been a fantastic resource for me since my diagnosis in early April.

I had been experiencing daytime sleepiness - not debilitating, but annoying - and EXTREME snoring for several years. My poor wife took to wearing earplugs when she didn't kick me out. I finally agreed to bite the bullet and get a sleep study. My insurance was great about it: $40 copay for initial consult, $0 out of pocket for sleep study.

I had my split sleep study on April 3. My untreated AHI in the first half of the test was 133 (they said they would come in at 2am if necessary; I told them that the smart money was on an earlier time.) and O2 sats periodically dropped to as low as 65% which is not good. The tech came in at 1am and said they couldn't stand it any more. They tried both a nasal mask and nasal pillows; I opted for pillows. Was titrated the rest of the night and got up at 6:30; AHI for the second half of the test averaged about 20, but it did start higher and drop as they increased the pressure. The tech wouldn't give anything away about results, but said that they went from 0 to 'hurricane' to find an effective pressure and to expect a call from the Dr. soon. Got the call 2 days later and had an appointment with my DME 1 week after my study. Was prescribed a PR 760 (BiFlex, 18 EPAP, 22 IPAP) with humidifier along with the same nasal pillows that I used for my test, the F&P Opus 360.

Started using the machine that night (4/16) and have used it every night since, for an average of about 7 1/2 hours per night. I have not snored since 4/16 and my sleepiness issues are gone completely (only 1 nap in 30 days, haven't fallen asleep watching TV or a movie at all). I won't say that I felt some sort of lightning bolt of energy that corresponded to the beginning of my xPAP therapy. I still wake up a few times a night as I re-position myself and adjust the mask accordingly to deal with small leaks. That said, I haven't gotten up to use the bathroom at all (down from 1-3 events per night) and I am falling asleep faster, usually in 5-7 minutes according to my wife. A also spend a major portion of the night on my back, which I haven't been able to do for years due to the snoring. I definitely feel better. I've attached my Sleepyhead info for the most recent night that I have downloaded from my card (the snore at the beginning was me doing a big sniff to try and clear a nostril). The numbers are pretty good I think. My 30-day AHI is just under 0.50, and RERAs are almost non-existent.





I feel very lucky that I took to this therapy so easily and completely. I haven't had any of the "throw the headgear against the wall" episodes that I read about on this forum so frequently. I have no complaints about my quality of sleep, my mask is reasonably comfortable, the machine maintenance seems pretty minimal and decrease in fatigue makes me glad that I started this and I am happy to continue.

[Sheriff Buford]

Looks as though you had it slightly easier than I did, but you aren't far off. Congratulations! I know a lot of folks would KILL to have your success. My wife ran out of the bedroom, but has come back... thanks to good cpap therapy. Work on your leaks. Looks as though you are a definite success story.

Sheriff

[Pugsy]

Congratulations. Looks like you are one of those lucky ones who take to having the alien strapped to your face like a duck to water. Everything's looking good and you are noticing some improvements.

BTW that lightening bolt of energy...been 4 years now and I have maybe had it a half a dozen times.
We don't all get it. In fact most of us just gradually start feeling better and there is no night vs day in regards to how we feel.
I wills say this though. While I still don't wake up feeling like running a marathon ....at least I don't wake up feeling like I just ran one and at the end of it was run over by a bus too.

There's so much more to getting good restorative sleep than slapping a mask on and blowing the air compressor up our noses and coming away with nice low AHI and having that bolt of energy that we read about others having.
Often we have other little things that also affect how we feel the next day and the machine can't fix stuff unrelated to sleep apnea. It just can't do it.
My own personal demon is arthritis and the associated discomfort levels with it. Movement in bed hurts and wakes me up.
Staying in one position in bed hurts and wakes me up. Damned if I do and damned if I don't sort of thing.
Others take meds that mess with how they feel the next day or even mess with the restorative powers of sleep.
Still others have other issues going on the mess with how they feel.

One day you will have a chance (or need to) sleep without the machine one night and then you will get a real clear picture of just how bad you used to feel. I did this last summer...went on a trip and forgot my long hose and didn't realize it until too late so I had to sleep one night without the machine..first time in 3 years that I have done that. I got a rude wake up call as to just how bad things were without it. I may not feel like superwoman yet but I know it is a whole lot better than without the machine.

[Snowwhite999]

Thanks Sheriff.

I really don't worry much about leaks. They are mostly small (I've never gotten a night with a "Large Leak" indicator warning) and variable. Some nights the line is really flat, other nights it's a little spiky. I figure that as long as I don't get the large leak warning I'll be OK. I really think that it's counterproductive for me to try to micro-manage this process unless there is a measurable benefit. In the end, if I let the machine worry about it, it's one less thing for me to worry about until there is something that I need to worry about.

[Pugsy]

Large leak territory on the PR S1 60 series machine is somewhere upwards of 80 L/min (that top leak line for total leak in SleepyHead)...so you have lots of room before you get close to that large leak territory line.
SleepyHead tends to make mountains out of mole hills when the scale is zoomed in like it is with your leaks.
Using Encore software they wouldn't look nearly like those mountains.

ResMed S9 users have a different leak scale that they go by and what is normal and not bad looking on a Respironics report will look absolutely horrible for S9 users but it's an apples to oranges comparison. It can't really be anywhere near accurate comparison. Respironics machine users have a LOT more room before large leak territory looms on the horizon.

You had 2 or 3 little blips upwards on your leak line..not a big deal at all unless the leaks themselves are causing you to wake often. Certainly well within the machine's ability to compensate.