Update on HUBBY

[robysue]

Hubby started CPAP 9 nights ago tonight for his mild apnea, which was triggering some real noticeable symptoms during the daytime and evening time. He drove to NJ today to visit his mother and brother, and I'm happy to say, he took the CPAP with him. And I'm up late because the first night we're apart is always a bit difficult for me to get to sleep.

So far, hubby seems to be pretty much a duck in terms of CPAP use: He has no trouble falling asleep and very little problems staying asleep with the mask on his nose. (He tends to wake up briefly when I come to bed.) He's averaging between 7 and 8 hours of sleep with the mask most nights. He has NOT had any of the aerophagia problems that I've had to deal with (thank God). And so far there's been no signs of insomnia. And so far he's feeling at least a little less sleepy during the daytime and early evening hours.

Until last night, hubby had managed to keep the mask on all night long every night. But tree pollen has started here in Buffalo and both of us have allergies to it. Last night hubby was pretty congested when he went to bed at 11:15 and put the mask on. He woke up (before I came to bed) at 1:45 and needed to blow his nose really bad. He thought it was a whole lot later (as in he thought it was about an hour before he was going to get up) and so after blowing his nose, he decided (for the first time since starting PAP) to go back to sleep without the mask because his nose was just so congested. When I came to bed at 3:00 I noticed he didn't have his mask on and woke him up and fussed at him. He hemmed and hawed about it for a few minutes until I pointed out that it was still the middle of the night, and he agreed to put it back on. I went to the bathroom to finish getting ready for bed and when I came back he was asleep with the mask on his nose. And he kept it on the rest of the night.

In terms of how hubby is feeling, he's not quite one of those people who really inspires envy in the rest of us by feeling fantastic from day one. But hubby is not falling asleep as early in front of the TV, even he's still wiped out by 10:30 or 11:00 and there is a 30 minute show he'd really like to watch that comes on at 11:00, but he can't stay awake for it---most likely because he gets up by 6:30-7:00 on most days. And that's without an alarm clock. And with PAP he seems to be gravitating to a "morning" schedule because he's getting out of bed at 6:30 or 7:00 because he's waking up feeling rested---as opposed to waking up at 5:30 or 6:00 with a full bladder and having a tough time getting back to sleep, so what's the point of staying in bed any longer? Oddly enough on Sunday night he actually stayed awake all the way to 1:00 am with me watching a rerun of Burn Notice that comes on at midnight, but he woke up at 6:30 on Monday morning ready to get up. Needless to say, by the end of Monday, he was feeling pretty wiped out with only 5 1/2 hours of sleep. So hubby understands there's been some improvement in terms of sleepiness. Hubby has been less irritable this week than in the last several months as well.

But unfortunately, hubby is experiencing a lot knee, hip and shoulder pain these days, and that pain is wiping him out. Inflammation is a major issue in all three joints. He had hoped that with CPAP that some of the pain might get better since my hand and foot pain disappeared after being on PAP for 5 months. (Hubby can't help but notice that eliminating the hand and foot pain remains the main thing that PAP does for me.) Why hubby thought his pain would quickly disappear once he started PAP is beyond me: We have had numerous conversations about reasonable expectations about PAP both before and after he started PAP. I do think that as he continues to use PAP some of his inflammation issues may start to get better, but I also think it will take time.

Ironically, both of us injured our left knee injuries in the fall; I also injured by back in the fall, and hubby somehow messed up his right shoulder. And so both hubby and I have been in PT since December. And we've had a bit of "friendly" competition on who's knee will get better soonest. My knee won by a long shot: Hubby's been through more PT for his knee than mine needed. And he's now had a series of three lubricant shots, which haven't done much good (yet). And his knee pain is still is still severe enough that he's bothered by it on most days.

In other words hubby is just not healing as fast as he used to many years ago, but I do seem to heal pretty fast and pretty completely ever since being on PAP: The PT who worked on my MCL injury two years ago was both pleased and surprised at how fast and how completely that injury healed. The OT who worked on my broken pinky was also pleased at how well my pinky came back from a very severe break and while the speed of the pinky recovery was not as fast as the MCL, the pinky fracture was a very serious fracture, while the MCL was only a moderate MCL injury. And so I think Hubby is a bit jealous of how fast I seem to heal in terms of injuries ever since I started PAP.

[Sheriff Buford]

Your husband is lucky to have you as a spouse! I obtained successful therapy thru trial and error, as probably you did. What caught my attention is that you folks seem to be night owls!

Best Wishes, Sheriff

[Madalot]

Thanks for the update, Robysue. I'm very glad that he has you to help him.

[123.Shawn T.W.]

My wife is kinda the same ... she pointed to the mask she wanted, and it has worked!

She puts the mask on, and goes to sleep!

She feels more awake/better!

She always now has an AHI of less than 0.2! Most of the time 0.00!

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Me, I'm the exact opposite! (The "T" in my middle name stands for "Trouble"!)

[jencat824]

Robysue,

My hubby started CPAP Dec 2012 & also was the 'duck to water' kind of guy. He eventually felt loads better, but it takes time (sleep debt & all that). Until very recently he's had to deal with leak problems, but finally found his 'perfect' mask. He has to get up at 4:00am for work, so if he woke at 3:00 for him that's almost morning. I'm so glad you posted his progress, its nice to know other CPAPers are leading a spouse thru this journey. I've been on CPAP 14 years & he's seen with me bad, worse & worser, so I'm surprised he actually wanted a sleep test. He just felt so tired all the time, I didn't nag, because I never thought he would agree to CPAP, but he really shocked me. He is just about 100% compliant. Only time he takes mask off is if he wakes within an hour or so of getting up & is congested, he will remove the mask. For congestion he's tried all the usual tricks, & likes my old fashioned Vicks stick best. He uses it too much, but it works & keeps him on CPAP, so I'm not going to complain.

I'm so glad your hubby is doing well with his CPAP. As for the pain, I had a lot of pain when I first started CPAP & found out it was because I was laying still all night, usually in the same position. I just slept so soundly for the first time in my life that my body got achy & all my arthritic joints were just screaming at me when I woke. Only remedy I know for this is time. I had a Dr. who put me on loads of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs & that trick has caused me to go into kidney failure. I found out about the kidney failure about 3 yrs ago, I'm a stage 3. I would be cautious about him taking too much prescription anti-inflammatory drugs. Occasional Advil or Aleve won't hurt, but if a Dr. wants to heavily dose him to rid him of the pain, think twice about that, there can be consequences.

I hope your hubby continues to do well.

Jen

[robysue]

I had a Dr. who put me on loads of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs & that trick has caused me to go into kidney failure. I found out about the kidney failure about 3 yrs ago, I'm a stage 3. I would be cautious about him taking too much prescription anti-inflammatory drugs. Occasional Advil or Aleve won't hurt, but if a Dr. wants to heavily dose him to rid him of the pain, think twice about that, there can be consequences.

Hubby's mother has severe osteoarthritis and has had serious pain issues for a couple of decades. So there's some family knowledge about over doing the NSAIDs. So far, hubby is on nothing more than "ibuprophen as needed", but hubby is worried enough about too many NSAIDs to take as much ibuprophen as he could take. That said, as often as not, he does take 400mg of ibuprophen almost every day. He is seldom willing to take a second dose regardless of how much pain he's in. And sometimes he really ought to take something because he starts favoring this leg or that hip and starts to walk like Groucho Marx, which is most definitely NOT good for his back pain.

[prion]

So far, hubby is on nothing more than "ibuprophen as needed", but hubby is worried enough about too many NSAIDs to take as much ibuprophen as he could take. That said, as often as not, he does take 400mg of ibuprophen almost every day. He is seldom willing to take a second dose regardless of how much pain he's in. And sometimes he really ought to take something because he starts favoring this leg or that hip and starts to walk like Groucho Marx, which is most definitely NOT good for his back pain.[/quote]

I take 800mg ibuprofen per day with an occasional vicoprofen. Opiate cause many centrals in me if taken too close to bedtime though. Most of the time
I don't need them. It took me a while to connect the central apneas to those pills, but I'm absolutely sure of the connection

[jencat824]

I was on 800mg Ibuprofen along with 800mg Salsalate & Celebrex, I don't remember Celebrex dosage I think 200mg, but I know what it did to me was push me over the kidney 'edge'. I was told by 2nd rheumatologist that a person should not be on MORE THAN ONE NSAID at a time. That is what caused my kidney damage. She says that taking 800mg of Ibuprofen would have been OK, but she likes to recommend that lowest dose possible of any NSAID, Ibuprofen included. She also said a 1/2 dose of Celebrex would have been best in my case, that the 'layering' the first rheumy did was overkill.

I just warn anyone taking NSAID's to be careful. My mother-in-law started dialysis about 2 yrs ago & I see what is involved in dialysis. Needless to say, I don't want to go down that road! I don't take any NSAIDS, but am a pain management patient, wearing a patch. My PM closely monitors my bloodwork, as does my rheumy, my family Dr., my nephrologist & others along the way. I know the damage is done, I just like to warn others. If I could go back, I should have researched & known that 'layering' NSAIDS is playing with fire.

Hope that clarify's my statement about NSAIDS, I didn't mean to scare anyone, just a bit of education.

Jen

[robysue]

Jen,

I understand exactly where you are coming from. A lot of people out there think that taking OTC NSAIDs on a daily basis don't have any potential risks or downsides. And as your history points out, that's just not the case. Overall NSAIDs are pretty safe drugs, but that doesn't mean you can't run into problems if you are taking the max dose day after day for very long periods of time.

As I said, MIL has been dealing with serious osteoarthritis for years. She does take Celebrix and several years back when there was the big Celebrix scare, her PCP took her off it and tried replacing it with several different NSAIDs (sequentially, not all at the same time.) But each NSAID she tried didn't relieve as much pain as the Celebrix. So eventually her PCP put her back on it, but with some pretty strong warnings about what to do and not do. MIL is one to follow instructions carefully AND research her meds pretty thoroughly, so she takes those warnings from her PCP pretty seriously. As a consequence, she's had no serious problems with it.

Hubby, her son, dislikes taking any medicine pretty intensely. His PCP has told him to take 400mg of Ibuprophen as needed for pain up to 3 times a day (6 hours apart) if needed. He's not on any other pain meds (for the knee or anything else.) His PCP and PT have both tried to tell him that managing the pain so that he doesn't excessively favor the knee (or hip) and start walking like Groucho is also important. When the pain was pretty bad at one point this winter, his PCP reminded hubby that tag-teaming two different NSAIDs was not a good idea, but that if hubby really needed something between the doses of ibuprophen, he could tag-team tylenol with the ibuprophen. Hubby has done that on some very rare occasions. But most of the time, hubby simply won't take but one 400mg dose of ibuprophen per day, even when he could really benefit from a second dose about 6-8 hours after that first dose.

[jencat824]

Robysue,

I agree with you, to avoid bodily damage that could be caused by walking like 'Groucho', another 400mg shouldn't hurt anything. If he's not 'layering' with another drug, that should be OK. Sounds like your hubby is somewhat like mine...shall we say stubborn?