recovery of mental abilities

[glass]

Hi,
Was diagnosed with severe apnea (AHi 60) in November and got a CPAP around the middle of November. I have worked in software for 20 years and had noticed that I was "getting old" and slowing down and finally that even when I saw the path to a solution, found a big block in my mind at starting to implement it. Went to work for for a large company for one job (before the diagnosis) and when I got there, found the project I had accepted the offer for was cancelled and got bounced twice into another group where the technologies were a horrible mismatch. Tried to make it work, and felt optimistic when the OSA diagnosis came in that the mental blocks would go away. Well, been on cpap for 2 months now. No problem with convincing myself to use it. The first month was great, now it's more of a struggle. The sleeping in the day is gone completely, some of the old mental functioning has returned, but I still am not picking up the different technology as quickly as I (or my boss) would like and that's always been easy for me before. Told him about the diagnosis, but he clearly doesn't want to hear about it. In fact he's rarely around and evidently still thinks I fall asleep (I don't), and keeps telling me to drink more coffee. So, how long have people found it takes to recover mentally (focus and concentration) after starting therapy? I've tried researching it, but other than scary studies with pictures of brains that have lost cells and limited recovery - not much out there.

I'm unsure whether my continued poor performance is still related to the damage I did before therapy or if it's due to a lack of interest in the technology or the fact that we have a really poorly managed group. I find step type progress in getting back problem solving capabilities, but not fast enough. The disappearing job is a longer commute than I like, so I'm looking again (sigh) for something closer that has the technologies I like and want. At a crossroads since the current company is pretty good with health insurance and employee support (though I haven't really tried HR - I might this week) and there's a slight worry that a new company, even though it's a more appropriate job, might be courting final failure in this field.

[chunkyfrog]

It took me a few months to get up to speed at work, mentally.
It took maybe a little longer physically.

[Bill44133]

Every one is different.. I have been on this therapy now for 22 months and I notice a difference each month that goes by. I still don't feel 100% to what I once was...
but at least it is getting there. My neurologist was pretty bleak when I asked her the same question.


I wish you well...

[Krelvin]

Everyone will respond differently, the best you can do is get the best sleep therapy you can and hope that other things will follow.

[Guest1]

Hi,
Was diagnosed with severe apnea (AHi 60) in November and got a CPAP around the middle of November. I have worked in software for 20 years and had noticed that I was "getting old" and slowing down and finally that even when I saw the path to a solution, found a big block in my mind at starting to implement it. Went to work for for a large company for one job (before the diagnosis) and when I got there, found the project I had accepted the offer for was cancelled and got bounced twice into another group where the technologies were a horrible mismatch. Tried to make it work, and felt optimistic when the OSA diagnosis came in that the mental blocks would go away. Well, been on cpap for 2 months now. No problem with convincing myself to use it. The first month was great, now it's more of a struggle. The sleeping in the day is gone completely, some of the old mental functioning has returned, but I still am not picking up the different technology as quickly as I (or my boss) would like and that's always been easy for me before. Told him about the diagnosis, but he clearly doesn't want to hear about it. In fact he's rarely around and evidently still thinks I fall asleep (I don't), and keeps telling me to drink more coffee. So, how long have people found it takes to recover mentally (focus and concentration) after starting therapy? I've tried researching it, but other than scary studies with pictures of brains that have lost cells and limited recovery - not much out there.

I'm unsure whether my continued poor performance is still related to the damage I did before therapy or if it's due to a lack of interest in the technology or the fact that we have a really poorly managed group. I find step type progress in getting back problem solving capabilities, but not fast enough. The disappearing job is a longer commute than I like, so I'm looking again (sigh) for something closer that has the technologies I like and want. At a crossroads since the current company is pretty good with health insurance and employee support (though I haven't really tried HR - I might this week) and there's a slight worry that a new company, even though it's a more appropriate job, might be courting final failure in this field.

My situation is very very similar to yours. I have been in Software/IT services for the last 16 years - mainly in Product Management and Product Marketing functions. Over the last 4 years, I had trouble planning and implementing anything at all. But mental blocks were still there. I had my task list in hand but I had trouble initiating tasks. Things I could initiate and complete in a day in 2005 were taking me months to do.

Due to a chance meeting with a friend who is also a sleep medicine doctor, I got a home sleep study done in Sept 2014. Came out to 77/hr, severe OSA. Got on a APAP soon and have been on it for 125 days now. First, I got comfortable with cpap in 2 weeks. Got leaks and AHI under 1.0 on most days within 1 month. The daytime sleepiness went away soon. Started waking up on my own. I started having focused moments and feeling of zen calm while earlier, I used to have an annoying feeling in my head all the time.

But slowly, the focus is coming back, the executive function and planning is coming back (I am 4 months into it). I recently started completing my tasks in spurts. Its not consistent still but I can feel a difference definitely. You should read up on OSA, CPAP and Executive function on Pubmed and in sleep magazine. Of all I have read there, I can summarize it as: You will get back 90% of it by 6 month mark (of consistent 100% compliance with CPAP for all sleep+naps). You will get back 99%+ by 12 months.

Another thing I would suggest is you get your blood work done to make sure everything is in "optimized" range. Definitely get your Vitamin D and B12 levels checked besides all the usual panels (lipid, kidney, liver, glucose, A1c etc).

So hang in there. And good luck to you.

[amenite]

... but I still am not picking up the different technology as quickly as I (or my boss) would like and that's always been easy for me before. Told him about the diagnosis, but he clearly doesn't want to hear about it. In fact he's rarely around and evidently still thinks I fall asleep (I don't), and keeps telling me to drink more coffee. ...

You don't need more coffee, you need a new boss.

[BlackSpinner]

Same situation, IT, falling asleep, hard to grasp new tech stuff (security, encryption, web stuff) Diagnosed as severe (56% O2 levels). It took more then 2 months. At 2 months I was awake and coding better and speaking French more fluently, but at 4 months suddenly all that encryption/stuff stuff was suddenly making sense and I whipped out the project that had been dragging for months (then it dragged on for more months for company political reasons)

[herefishy]

Think the main decision you have to make is whether you want to continue in your present job. Your mental faculties should continue to improve, but it depends on whether you want to work there.