AHI is 0.5 this week but still tired !

[cowboyJoe]

First of all I couldn't have made it this far without everyone's help on this forum. I started in July with the hose and mask. I've been working with the hybrid for about half of the last 4 months. With all of the ideas I could find here I've tweaked it until my AHI is down to 0.5 all of this week. I average 7 to 8 hours each night with regular times. I have consistenly been below 5 since starting. That's all the good stuff, I'm still tired and falling asleep at my desk at work. I'm not going to give up yet but I know the treatment is an individual thing and one size dosn't fit all. I don't have anyother medical issues that need addressed, so I will just hope that in time I can get energy and life back that I used to have.
Thanks again for everyone that contributes this part of their lives to help and encourage all of us hose heads!

[Wulfman]

First of all I couldn't have made it this far without everyone's help on this forum. I started in July with the hose and mask. I've been working with the hybrid for about half of the last 4 months. With all of the ideas I could find here I've tweaked it until my AHI is down to 0.5 all of this week. I average 7 to 8 hours each night with regular times. I have consistenly been below 5 since starting. That's all the good stuff, I'm still tired and falling asleep at my desk at work. I'm not going to give up yet but I know the treatment is an individual thing and one size dosn't fit all. I don't have anyother medical issues that need addressed, so I will just hope that in time I can get energy and life back that I used to have.
Thanks again for everyone that contributes this part of their lives to help and encourage all of us hose heads!

Other than the "falling asleep at my desk at work", the rest doesn't really surprise me. You are probably still repaying your "sleep debt". You body is probably enjoying the good sleep. (and lots of us have been through the same thing in various ways)

On the other hand......have you had an overnight pulse-oximetry study done? If you're still having low oxygen readings, that would be something that your doctor needs to know about.

Den

[billbolton]

I don't have any other medical issues that need addressed

Perhaps you do, CPAP only treats OSA! There may be something else that was previously being masked by OSA.

You need to talk to your sleep physician about your experience, and the Sp02 review mentioned above is probably a worthwhile crosscheck.

Cheers,

Bill

[TerryB]

Are you awakening on your own and feeling ready to get up after 7 or 8 hours? Perhaps its just a question of getting a little more sleep by getting an earlier start each night.

TerryB

[Suz-E-Q]

I spent a lot of time recently reading about sleep issues and sleep deprivation. It appears that they are suggesting that infinite sleep deprivation isn't realistic. But that we max out at 20 hours. Still that 20 hours needs to be made up. Typically adults need to sleep 7 to 8 hours per night. SO if that is what you are getting you really aren't even repaying the sleep debt. The reco. that I saw multiple times on the web was to take a week or so off and let yourself sleep when ever you want to. Sleep as long as you want and as frequently as you want and they suggested that by the end of the week you will automatically get back on a regular 7 to 8 hour rythm naturally and feel completely rested.

Then again, I have been talking about a colleague of mine that is in the same place, he has been on CPAP for 6+ months and is still exhausted and his doc said that he thinks sometimes it isn't just about throat geometry etc. but thinks there is a brain sleep center issue for some folks too. I couldn't tell ya about any of this being true or not true, just what I have been reading and hearing about.

Then there is narcaolepsy which isn't necessarily always linked to apnea but is sometimes. Another colleague of mine was explaining his sleep issue with not ever really being able to wake up (no apnea or difficulty with sleeping). They did a sleep study with him where he slept through the night (for 8 hours) and in the morning they woke him for 30 minutes and let him fall back to sleep, let him sleep for an hour and woke him again and kept him up for 30 min and then let him go back to sleep again...and continued to cycle like this. Eventually your latency of sleep onset should continue to get longer and longer...but his averaged out to 5 min and 11 seconds for the entire time of the study. He told me an onset latency of 5 minutes in this type of study is diagnosed as Narcolepsy. We compared notes on how each of us felt prior to treatment and the symptoms were just about identical. Foggy brain, difficulty focusing, difficulty staying awake in front of the computer and in meetings, ect. COuld you also have narcolepsy?

Again, this was just from a recent conversation and I might have some of the specifics wrong, but it might be something to think about?

Good luck.

[kteague]

Just another two cents...

Are you on any meds that cause tiredness? (I read up on mine and 3 of them have it listed as a side effect - no wonder I don't feel energetic!)

When you say you have no other health issues, you're saying that you've been tested specifically for all the most common (diabetes, anemia, thyroid)?

It is not unusual for Periodic Limb Movements to manifest after being treated for OSA. Frequent OSA arousals can be enough to prevent PLMs, and cpap treatment can then allow the movements to express themselves.

That's all I've got. Sure hope you find solutions that help you have better days.

Kathy

[cowboyJoe]

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I am scheduled for a followup with the sleep doc on 11/26 and I will mention the Sp02 review. Mean while I do find that the more sleep per/night I get I do seem to do better the next day. I have been forcing myself to get to sleep by 9:00 pm to get up at 5:30 AM. This extra sleep for the last two weeks made some difference over this weekend as I didn't need to nap during the day. Hopefully I will progressively see more results from this. I am averaging 8 plus hours now instead of 6 plus.
I'm taking Nexium for GERD, which I've been treating for as long as I can remember. All symptoms are controlled with it as long as I don't eat somthing I shouldn't. I do have a chronic rhinitis issue which I feel has contributed to OSA. Allergy tests don't show a sevre enough reaction to anything for shots. I've had deviated septum, turbinade reduction 20 years ago. So I just had the somonoplasty of the turbinades last Wenesday. I've been on Afrin since July trying to get the Xpap treatment to work. But I hope this microwave of the turbinades will get me off afrin. I've tried nasal steroids (Nasacort and others), which weren't effective just left me with no sense of smell. I have taken alot of Phsudafed to deal with the congestion and to wean myself off of afrin at times and know how late in the day I can take it so I can still sleep(it really wires me for sleeping).
I've been tested for all of the other causes, as kteague had mentioned with nothing else showing up.
Suz-E-Q's discussion of sleep issues is very interesting. I know that I have never been a "morning" person like my wife who bound out of bed talking a hundred miles an hour. I took me 20 years of marriage to get her to stop that ! I think I've always had sleep issues even as a youngster not being able to wake up enough to use the bathroom, even through my teens. A common thread in lots of disscusions here and others I work with that use xpap seem to be alergy/sinus issues.
The xpap did relieve the brain fog quite soon after starting, and also some edema of the lower ankles at the end of the day so not all news is bad !
I have found that I am an extremley light sleeper ! I really didn't know this until tring to use the mask. I do have to use ear plugs every night to keep asleep. At least for the first 4 hours I do stay asleep until the one bathroom trip I have to make, then depending how much physical excersise I've had the day before I might not wake up one or two more times just to look at the clock.
Well I'm rambling on now so thanks again for all help and everyones attention to detail that is takes to treat this issue correctly.

Joe

[Wulfman]

Go up to the Search function (above) and do a search on "Afrin".....it'll probably scare the Hell outta ya. From my reading of the posts about it, that's BAD stuff and will get you hooked on it (in a couple of usages)......and will only make the problem worse.

Den

[Suz-E-Q]

Asked my Sleep Doc about how to use xPAP when I have a head cold and he said, use something like Afrin for 2 days....but no more than 2 days. Afrin and those like it are extremely addictive. So you definitely what to see what you can do to get off of it....