First month of cpap - The Full Story

[redback]

Hi folks,
Thanks to every contributor. I have found this forum absolutely invaluable.

I have now been on cpap for 4 weeks. Here is a list of the differences I have noted:

GOOD
------
I am not tired at night. I can watch tv, read or listen to music and I just dont get the urge to doze off.
My appetite is enormous. A few people have reported this. I havent gained any weight.
I wake up without fuzzy-brain syndrome. No sore throat, no slight headache and no hungover feeling. This for me is a biggy.
My concentration is better. I am more attentive in meetings.
My resting heartrate in the gym is lower. I can monitor my heartrate on the cross-trainer I use. After warm up I had a heartrate of around 120, now its 110.
After 15 minutes my heartrate still goes up to around 135 but it comes down to 110 much quicker than it did before cpap.
My recovery between exercises is quicker and my heartrate drops down to around 110. Prior to cpap it mostly stuck around 125 and very slowly came down.
I am dreaming again. Last night I had a weird, weird dream of being a WWE wrestler. It was so vivid it was scary.

BAD
---
I find that sometimes I feel a bit stuffy in the morning. I am experimenting with the humidity setting to try to resolve this.
I am still experimenting with the straps to avoid red marks or depressions on my face.
It took me ages to find a sleeping position which works for me. I experimented with pillows and posture and eventually found that lying on my side with a small pillow works best for me.
I have found a few muscular aches when I wake up. I suspect this is due to deep sleeping in the same position for a whole night.

Neither
--------
My first pee after I wake up is enormous.


My consultant warned me that it could take several months to fully adjust to cpap. My body has had poor sleep for years and now it has to adjust to having proper sleep.
Onward and upward.

[Janknitz]

You're doing great--you have the right attitude and you can expect to knock out those "bads" with some more tweaking.

You might want to try a tempurpedic mattress pad to relieve some of the pressure from your sleeping position.

As far as the pee, I suspect it's either because a) you are no longer getting up at night to go, or b) you are no longer mouth breathing (I was a horrible mouth breather before CPAP) and therefore losing some fluid volume that way. It doesn't seem like it should be enough to make a difference, but it is. Either way, both are "good" things.

[LinkC]

Way to go!

Dunno what your pressure is, but if it's reasonably high, you may find you'll either have strap marks or leaks. Above 15, marks are almost inevitable. Ya gotta cinch down more to keep the air inside the mask.

[harry33]

ap-ply face cream before sleep

[redback]

Hi guys,
Thanks for the replies. To answer a few points.

My pressure is only 10. It was 8 after the sleep study but the technician told me that some people sleep much more soundly at home so the pressure may have to be increased. My sister-in-law told me she heard me snoring at home so I emailed the technician who called me back. We reset the pressure to 10 and all is now groovy. I dont have the straps tight but I think I sleep with my face on its side so the weight of my head is on the straps, hence the depressions. Anyway, its a minor issue and the marks are gone within an hour.

I have looked at getting that tempur mattress but they are a bit expensive. A married-couple who are friends of mine speak very highly of theirs.

I tried face cream and that failed miserably. I found that my mask slid all over my face. Now I wash my face before going to bed and thats helped. Go figure.

Thanks again for all contributions. This forum has been a source of information and inspiration for me before and after starting cpap.

[elena88]

oh all you need are little strap pads for your face.. here ya go..
http://strapsoftie.com/

or padacheek.com

no marks ever again, help make the mask fit better too!

glad to hear things are going well..

elena

[redback]

Thanks elena, I will investigate.

Cheers.

[redback]

Stayed at my brothers house last night. I woke up due to water running into my nose.
A bit of investigation showed that the room was very humid, the walls were actually damp.
His air conditioning had stopped during the night and for some reason this led to condensation building up in my hose.
My Fisher Paykel 600 has automatic stuff which should compensate for a sudden increase in humidity.

Anyway, the AC came back on and all is well.

My energy levels are still high, I feel refreshed every morning, I am exercising a lot more and I havent taken a paracetemol or a decongestant since I started cpap.

Onward and upward.

George

[atab]

Redback, I also experienced your negatives at the beginning. I think they are normal and as time passes you will get used to CPAP and these will go away. It took me about 3 months to be comfortable with CPAP.

- Atab

[redback]

hi atab,
I am quite comfortable with my cpap now. Its just that new things seem to pop up unexpectedly and I have something new to cope with.
For example, I get up at 5am for work. I have changed my routine so I go for a little nap when I get home from work around 3PM. I only sleep for about 20 minutes.
I am finding that I seem to sleep very deeply as I wake up feeling the muscles on one side of my body ache a little. I feel very refreshed after my nap and I usually
go to the gym or out for a walk in 40C heat.
I am losing weight, my appetite is still enormous and I feel energised.

Long may this continue.

George