What are the benefits?

TIGMONSTER68 · Post by **TIGMONSTER68** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:51 am

Hello,
I'm a new "user". Only 2 nights on the mask ....I hate it, I feel a lot like the guest that said "why me". So would some of you be able to tell me some of the benefits I will be reaping from being compliant? I know they won't show up so soon, maybe you have some timeframes to look forward to or something.....I'd like to know what to look forward to...if anything....
Didn't have a very good second night last night, I kept it on most of the night, 9-5, but I tossed and turned ALL night and feel like I didn't get any sleep.... woke up at 5 for a bathroom break, took the mask off and still couldn't sleep until I got up at 7. Needless to say I wil try again tonight....I get kind of "anxious" with it on before I fall asleep.....like I am laboring to breath or can't breathe.....I'm hoping that will pass.
Enjoy your day!
Jodie

bdp522 · Post by **bdp522** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:05 am

Once you are 100% compliant, using the mask and machine every time you sleep, for the entire time you sleep, it can still take time to see results. Every time you sleep without it you lose the benefits of it. Most seem to adjust in about 4-6 weeks. Some sooner, some much longer.
Do you use the ramp? Is it set too low? Try wearing the mask during the day while reading or watching TV. It helps you get used to it easier.
Benefits for me are; More energy, clearer thinking, less aches and pains, Watching an entire movie with out falling asleep, less grouchy, waking in the morning ready to face the day from the moment I get out of bed.

Brenda

ILevine · Post by **ILevine** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:11 am

It gets better. I am on week 5 . I still try ignoring going to bed. I avoid the bedroom until I am exhausted. Each week it gets better. You get used to the mask, hose, and air pressure. Hang in there. The first week is the worst and each week there after gets easier..

TIGMONSTER68 · Post by **TIGMONSTER68** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:13 am

Brenda

I don't know anything about the machine itself or what "ramp" is.....I just turn it on. the RT set it all up for me and I really have no idea about any of it until I go to see my Sleep Doc in 3 weeks with my card in hand!
What is the ramp?

I'm hoping to get rid of the tiredness, and the aches and pains....I feel so OLD, and I just want to feel better and continue enjoying my life instead of it being a chore! I'm 39 and feel like I would think I would feel at 79 and I don't want to feel like this anymore.

My doc never talked to me about pressures or settings or any of that, but in the future I hope to get more educated.....but right now, I kinow my machine has an on/off switch....and that's about it.

Jodie

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:13 am

Only other benefit(s) I would add to Brenda's is that it helps prevent stroke and heart attack, reduces stress on your body's organs by eliminating hypoxia, and promotes a longer quality of life ... unless you don't consider living longer a benefit.

ILevine · Post by **ILevine** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:17 am

My cpap has a function button called "ramp" that starts the pressure at 4 and slowly raises it to the set pressure amounts. You will hear a lot of talk on this site about numbers. If you have questions call the person or company you got your machine from. They should be able to answer your questions.

tomjax · Post by **tomjax** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:19 am

Tig,

Maybe it would help you to go back and read several pages of postings to help you get up to speed.

The answers to most of your questions are there.

You will find many here to help you.

TIGMONSTER68 · Post by **TIGMONSTER68** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 8:58 am

Thanks for the info...I have been reading this site for 2 weeks now and I have learned a lot, but also there is a lot of stats that if I don't have software for my machine, I have no idea what any of it is or what they are talking about. I'm pretty sure I have a ramp because it's an auto that I have and it starts at 4 when I turn it on and if I wake up during the night I look at it and it says different numbers....I saw as high as 9.4 ....I think it is set to go from 4-18? Anyway, I'm sorry if I sound like an idiot, but eventually I will learn all the mumbo jumbo. I don't think my doc was very helpful in explaining everything but I'm hoping when I return in 3 weeks I'll get the readout and she'll explain it all to me.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 9:20 am

Your "laboring to breathe" is most likely caused by having your minimum pressure on your machine set at 4 ... it is too low ... the RT messed up ... you need it at 6 or higher.

SleepGuy · Post by **SleepGuy** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:26 am

Tig, I've been on cpap for 4 years and it certainly gets easier over time, especially when your body adjusts to the sensation of exhaling against the back pressure. That was a good moment for me. Exhalation on your equipment will honestly start feel like breathing out without the equipment--you won't feel the back pressure.

The more I learn about apnea the less worried I am about mere sleep disruption and the more worried I get about the results of low blood oxygen and the release of panic hormones all night, like brain damage (mine is permanent I'm afraid!), high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes (low blood oxygen really messes with the normal insulin processes that happen at night), etc. I was well on my way to diabetes until I got on the hose. OSA is a lot more than a sleeping disorder--it's a breathing disorder that does all kinds of bad things to your body.

So therapy is definitely worth it--do whatever you can to keep at it until you've got it figured out. It'll come. Stick with it. It's worth the price!

WearyOne · Post by **WearyOne** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 12:43 pm

Hang in there, stick with it!

Also, as someone else mentioned, 4 is most likely too low! At my sleep study, I almost panicked with they put it at 4 to start and she quickly raised it to 5. After I got home with it and figured out how to change stuff myself, I raised it to 6. Starting on 4, even 5 was too low for me and I felt like I was hyperventilating (might have been).

I used ramp starting at 6 and my cpap pressure was 9 (it's now 8.5). Ramp is when the machine starts at a lower rate than your therapeutic rate and slowly increases over a set period of time. The thought behind it being that it would help you get to sleep easier and you would be asleep before it reached maximum pressure. I don't know if this feature is on apap machines or not. Mine's a cpap. I used ramp for about two weeks or less and then found I did better without it.

Could you post what machine and mask you're currently using?

Pam

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:28 pm

i've been on cpap for six months now...
i stopped using the ramp right away because i felt like i was starving for air...my pressure is so low, only 6, so i didn't really need it...some people do find it helpful though, especially at higher pressures...
i'm still waiting for the results i often read about, like waking up feeling rested, having energy, some people even feel the difference like night and day...not me, not yet...but...
i no longer nap during the day, whereas before i couldn't get through the day without napping, and my "naps" were sometimes 2 or 3 hours long...
i can keep going from morning till night some days, whereas before i couldn't do much more than work my 6 hours at my job and go home and lay around till bedtime...
i only go to the bathroom once during the night, instead of my usual 3 or 4 times, and sometimes i don't even get up the one time
i no longer wake up with my heart pounding so hard it hurt, gasping for air and shaking...
i no longer have nightmares which i used to have at least 3-4 times/week...
my snoring no longer keeps my husband and kids awake...
i can get through a movie in the evening with my family, whereas before, my kids would say, "hey mom, want to come watch a movie through your eyelids?"
i no longer fall asleep at the movies, which was a huge embarrassment for my family and myself (snoring, gasping, choking at the cineplex...not so funny)
because of cpap, i found out i had a severely deviated septum...had that fixed and no longer take OTC allergy meds which i took every day of my life since i was 11; no longer have stuffy nose, sneezing fits, sinus pain...
i no longer have heartburn every single day...now just once in a while and not as bad...
i feel like my emotions aren't so close to the surface, like i'm less irritable and more able to cope...
i know that my therapy is benefitting everyone that i love, not just me, and that i won't drop dead from a stroke or heart attack that i could have prevented...
i guess that's it, for now...the rest will come...it took me 40 years to get into this crappy condition, i'm sure i won't completely recover overnight...
best of luck to you, hope you start to see benefits very soon
sharon1965

goose · Post by **goose** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:49 pm

I would echo Sharon1965's comments as well....

We are an instant gratification society and most of us want an instant result from anything we try. It doesn't necessarily work that way.
It took me 57 years to get here, and I'm sure I'm not going to fix it over night. It's all a process that takes stick to itness....It's not easy -- I think most of us here would totally agree with that.
Myself -- I was sooooooooo looking forward to the treatment because I'm just tired of being tired. The morning after my titration test I felt like a million dollars, and figured as soon as I got my machine I'd feel the same......
WRONG!!!!! Little by little I'm feeling better....

Get a copy of your PSG report(s) and try to understand what the numbers are and mean. If you've been reading the forum for a couple weeks I'm sure you've got a ton of information. Sometimes it's like drinking from a firehose, but just go over it again and sooner or later it'll gel....I was here 6 weeks before I got my machine, so I went to the titration and the DME well armed.

Regarding the laboring for breath -- I would echo the others and suggest you call your DME, ask what the low range of pressure was they set up and if it's not 6 or 7 have them set it to that -- tell them you are gasping for air like there isn't enough.....they should be smart enough to figure that out.

But like everyone else I would say -- Stick with it. You will get used to it and you will feel better!!!!!

Good luck and please, let us all know how you're doing!!!!

cheers
goose

jennmary · Post by **jennmary** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 11:06 pm

My machine starts at 6....and that is as low as I can go without feeling like I am suffocating.

I have been doing this for almost 2 months now. It flew by. Today my boss was raving about me. I took on the project of redoing the entire file room (district attorneys office, 50000 cases for each year and 4 years worth of cases in the file room). First time in 15 years that the file room was in order and everything organized. It took a few weeks and 8 hours a day of very physical labor. But I did it.

2 months ago I was written up and almost fired. I was so tired and missing so much work that my desk was a mess and none of my work was getting done. I was ready to start job hunting. CPAP has given me the energy to get my life back. I am not 100% better yet...but I am alive again. I can take my child to the park. I cook dinner every night. I go to work and get my work done. I have even had energy to go for walks a few times a week. I can brush my hair before work....and get dressed on weekends. My under eye bags are gone and I almost look my age again.

I look at me now and me 2 months ago....and it is night and day. I honestly think that had I kept going the way I was I would not have seen my 30th birthday. That sounds dramatic....but I fell asleep while driving, I used diet pills and soda to keep me awake, at very high doses. I even started combining that with double doses of nodoz in order to get through my work day. I had alerady had 2 incidents of deep vein thrombosis in my legs. Luckily it was just my legs and we caught them before they traveled up. I was headed to deaths door....and my daughter to a life in foster care.

CPAP has given me not only the chance at a long life....but also the wish for a long life.

I am still tired in the mornings. I still have to force myself to get up, but I am not a morning person.

It takes time...but it does get better. I am not going to run a marathon any time soon. But that was never my goal. I got to go to my godsons 7th bday party, I havent gone to one of his bdays since he turned 3. My 2 year old got her first trip to the park. Those may seem like small things to some people. To me they are the reason I keep doing this. I feel like a huge boulder has been lifted off me. I know it will only get better. '

To tell the truth....I hardly even notice or feel the mask anymore. And I wear a full face mask.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 7:21 am

Does anyone know what the numbers are that define hypoxia? My desaturation rate was 90% which doesn't seem very low considering some I've seen are in the 70's.
Thanks

DreamStalker wrote:Only other benefit(s) I would add to Brenda's is that it helps prevent stroke and heart attack, reduces stress on your body's organs by eliminating hypoxia, and promotes a longer quality of life ... unless you don't consider living longer a benefit.

What are the benefits?

What are the benefits?

Tigmonster

Tomjax, etc.....