6 Days on CPAP

[TiredTooLong]

It's been 6 nights. AHI=1.5. Getting along well with equipment.

But the big surprise is...Today I have so much energy. Besides work, I went back to the gym. did 45 minutes of weights and 30 minutes on the elliptical. It used to be that when I get home from work I could hardly muster the energy to get out of the car. I was going to bed by 8pm. It's 8:30pm and I still have the energy. WOW!!!

[JohnO]

Nice to read! It helps give hope. I may be starting down this path, and I read of so many problems, it is good to read some success stories.

[Lizistired]

That's great! Not many feel such a dramatic improvement. Now get on with your life and enjoy it.
Xpap doesn't need to be a hobby or an obsession if it's working.
If you have problems, we'll be here.

[Sloop]

Nice to read! It helps give hope. I may be starting down this path, and I read of so many problems, it is good to read some success stories.

CPAP therapy is all about attitude. If you approach it with the right attitude, it will work for you. It is something like giving up smoking. If you truly are ready, it is quite easy.

I was so sick with OSA twenty years ago that my very first night was fantastic. I got to sleep inside of 5 minutes and slept for 8 hours. But it was 8 hours of QUALITY sleep, not the 9-10 hours of essentially no sleep that had plagued me for about 5 years prior to that.

AND this was all back in the relatively early days of CPAP therapy. The advancements today in machines and masks is simply incredible.

For twenty years I have been 100% compliant. I never have missed a night or even a nap. I sleep like a baby. I traveled the world and lugged my old heavy machine with me wherever I went. LIFE IS GOOD!

But again -- let me emphasize -- it is attitude that makes the difference. If you approach this therapy negatively, then you will have a tough row to hoe.

[49er]

Nice to read! It helps give hope. I may be starting down this path, and I read of so many problems, it is good to read some success stories.

CPAP therapy is all about attitude. If you approach it with the right attitude, it will work for you. It is something like giving up smoking. If you truly are ready, it is quite easy.

I was so sick with OSA twenty years ago that my very first night was fantastic. I got to sleep inside of 5 minutes and slept for 8 hours. But it was 8 hours of QUALITY sleep, not the 9-10 hours of essentially no sleep that had plagued me for about 5 years prior to that.

AND this was all back in the relatively early days of CPAP therapy. The advancements today in machines and masks is simply incredible.

For twenty years I have been 100% compliant. I never have missed a night or even a nap. I sleep like a baby. I traveled the world and lugged my old heavy machine with me wherever I went. LIFE IS GOOD!

But again -- let me emphasize -- it is attitude that makes the difference. If you approach this therapy negatively, then you will have a tough row to hoe.

Sloop,

With all due respect, while I don't disagree that having a positive attitude helps, there is alot more to the story regarding successful cpap treatment. When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, I could hardly wait to start it. I didn't care about vanity or anything like that.

Unfortunately, my body had another ideas such as the machine causing more severely fragmented sleep to the point where using the machine has mostly caused me to be non functional in general than when I didn't use it. By the way, the doctor who was featured on the apnea radio program that Jan referred us to (thanks by the way) has said this can happen although unfortunately, he wasn't in a position to elaborate.

It is a long story but the most I have been able to sleep on the machine has been 4 hours at a time and that was just one time. I have had a few other blocks of 3 hours. I haven't given up but if attitude made the difference, I would be sleeping like the 8 hours a day as you are after I initially started 6 months ago.

Also, as someone who had quick success, it is easy to say attitude is the difference when many people haven't been as fortunate.

I also want to caution you on saying something is easy when everyone's experience is different. You don't know what people are dealing with that may make their adjustment more difficult.

Finally, I know you were speaking generally and didn't mean this as a criticism of anyone individually. But as one who has greatly struggled, I wanted to point out there is more to successful cpap treatment than just having a good attitude.

49er

[49er]

It's been 6 nights. AHI=1.5. Getting along well with equipment.

But the big surprise is...Today I have so much energy. Besides work, I went back to the gym. did 45 minutes of weights and 30 minutes on the elliptical. It used to be that when I get home from work I could hardly muster the energy to get out of the car. I was going to bed by 8pm. It's 8:30pm and I still have the energy. WOW!!!

That is great to hear. Congratulations.

49er

[Mary Z]

TiredTooLong, congratulations! I'll bet you're 100% compliant and have good sleep hygiene for such good results this quick. Anyone can get a machine, but not everyone takes to it like you did. Good work.

[Sloop]

Sloop,

With all due respect, while I don't disagree that having a positive attitude helps, there is alot more to the story regarding successful cpap treatment. When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, I could hardly wait to start it. I didn't care about vanity or anything like that.

Unfortunately, my body had another ideas such as the machine causing more severely fragmented sleep to the point where using the machine has mostly caused me to be non functional in general than when I didn't use it. By the way, the doctor who was featured on the apnea radio program that Jan referred us to (thanks by the way) has said this can happen although unfortunately, he wasn't in a position to elaborate.

It is a long story but the most I have been able to sleep on the machine has been 4 hours at a time and that was just one time. I have had a few other blocks of 3 hours. I haven't given up but if attitude made the difference, I would be sleeping like the 8 hours a day as you are after I initially started 6 months ago.

Also, as someone who had quick success, it is easy to say attitude is the difference when many people haven't been as fortunate.

I also want to caution you on saying something is easy when everyone's experience is different. You don't know what people are dealing with that may make their adjustment more difficult.

Finally, I know you were speaking generally and didn't mean this as a criticism of anyone individually. But as one who has greatly struggled, I wanted to point out there is more to successful cpap treatment than just having a good attitude.

49er

Well I truly feel sorry that you have not achieved success. I think that you fall into a relatively low percentile -- those that have a positive attitude AND fail with this therapy. But I appreciate that there are a number of folks like you who have some barrier to the therapy.

Again -- I have been around this field for many years and participated on many OSA forums. IMO, attitude is the single biggest factor in achieving success -- but obviously it is not all black and white.

I have no idea how to advise you to overcome whatever is causing your difficulty. Perhaps venturing out to a new sleep lab and doctors? I am not sure how you would be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, but -- at least in the past -- top medical universities (like UVA) had excellent reputations for treating sleep disorders. I think there is a lot of spin off sleep labs that have cropped up over the years that may not be top quality.

Good luck in your venture.

[TiredTooLong]

TiredTooLong, congratulations! I'll bet you're 100% compliant and have good sleep hygiene for such good results this quick. Anyone can get a machine, but not everyone takes to it like you did. Good work.

I started out sleeping 10 hours a day. I'm a mouth breather but during the titration they used a nose mask so that's what I'm using and am able to keep my mouth closed at night. Last night was 8 hours of good sleep. Use the mask the entire night. Prior to CPAP my AHI was 64.2 and not about 1.2.

In my case I do believe it is attitude. I have fibromyalgia and have had it for 30 years. I used to travel for my job. I pushed through it to keep working. Had to take pain pills to get on a plane. I decided that it would not win. So when my energy waned I still got my job done (no more travel - different job), however my social life did suffer. I decided that the CPAP was going to make me feel great and its working.

[drog]

Nice to read! It helps give hope. I may be starting down this path, and I read of so many problems, it is good to read some success stories.

CPAP therapy is all about attitude. If you approach it with the right attitude, it will work for you. It is something like giving up smoking. If you truly are ready, it is quite easy.

I was so sick with OSA twenty years ago that my very first night was fantastic. I got to sleep inside of 5 minutes and slept for 8 hours. But it was 8 hours of QUALITY sleep, not the 9-10 hours of essentially no sleep that had plagued me for about 5 years prior to that.

AND this was all back in the relatively early days of CPAP therapy. The advancements today in machines and masks is simply incredible.

For twenty years I have been 100% compliant. I never have missed a night or even a nap. I sleep like a baby. I traveled the world and lugged my old heavy machine with me wherever I went. LIFE IS GOOD!

But again -- let me emphasize -- it is attitude that makes the difference. If you approach this therapy negatively, then you will have a tough row to hoe.

Sloop,

With all due respect, while I don't disagree that having a positive attitude helps, there is alot more to the story regarding successful cpap treatment. When I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, I could hardly wait to start it. I didn't care about vanity or anything like that.

Unfortunately, my body had another ideas such as the machine causing more severely fragmented sleep to the point where using the machine has mostly caused me to be non functional in general than when I didn't use it. By the way, the doctor who was featured on the apnea radio program that Jan referred us to (thanks by the way) has said this can happen although unfortunately, he wasn't in a position to elaborate.

It is a long story but the most I have been able to sleep on the machine has been 4 hours at a time and that was just one time. I have had a few other blocks of 3 hours. I haven't given up but if attitude made the difference, I would be sleeping like the 8 hours a day as you are after I initially started 6 months ago.

Also, as someone who had quick success, it is easy to say attitude is the difference when many people haven't been as fortunate.

I also want to caution you on saying something is easy when everyone's experience is different. You don't know what people are dealing with that may make their adjustment more difficult.

Finally, I know you were speaking generally and didn't mean this as a criticism of anyone individually. But as one who has greatly struggled, I wanted to point out there is more to successful cpap treatment than just having a good attitude.

49er

It took me three tries and I'm still not perfect with the machine, but I do feel I am getting there. Attitude helps you keep trying. If you don't want to use the machine, you simply won't.

What has worked for me is trying different masks (I found nasal pillows were the most comfortable), setting EPR (on ResMed) to 1 or 2 (depends on how stuffed up I am), and clipping the hose to the pocket of my t-shirt. I do have allergies and use Flonaise, Claritin on occasion, and have air purifiers (which help if you get quality machine that has enough power for your room -- 6 air exchanges an hour are recommended for allergy sufferers, AHAM ratings are irrelevant as are room sizing recommendations from manufacturers). Washing my sheets multiple times a week helps as well (and I had to kick my dog out of my bed).

[Sheriff Buford]

I believe if you do have a good attitude and desire, you will eventually be successful. If someone can experience a one great night of sleep and wake up refreshed, it will be entice them to work thru any issues to continue success. I know many folks here are struggling, but I do know eventually good therapy will "kick in" if they keep at it.

Sheriff

[49er]

Sloop,

If attitude was the biggest factor to achieving success, a family member should have failed big time as this person despises using the cpap machine. But as far as I know, there have been no struggles like the ones I have had.

Again, I would caution you not to form premature judgments. As I keep saying on this forum, you don't know what a person is going through other than what that he/she posts on here. So I really don't think you can make judgments based on what people post on a forum.

Also, I think you and any other forum member who thinks that people who have failed at cpap treatment just need to improve their attitude would do well to heed the advice of Dr. Aaron Morse, a sleep physician, who said on a podcast that failure to adept to cpap treatment is not a character flaw.

I have no idea how to advise you to overcome whatever is causing your difficulty. Perhaps venturing out to a new sleep lab and doctors? I am not sure how you would be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, but -- at least in the past -- top medical universities (like UVA) had excellent reputations for treating sleep disorders. I think there is a lot of spin off sleep labs that have cropped up over the years that may not be top quality.

Thanks, I am on Sleep doctor number two. Not sure about him so I am going to give it more time.

Drog, I am waiting for the Amara Mask to come out as it looks like it is light which I feel is the problem with the Mirage Quattro that I currently use. When I wake up, it feels heavy on my face. Unfortunately, loosening the straps causes leaks even with the Pad A Check mask liner I am using.

Unfortunately, I am limited to full face mask as I have chronic nasal congestion. I suspect I have some type of blockage since nasal rinsing has not helped. Water barely comes out.

Even when I tried Afrin out of curiosity, it did nothing.

Nasonex caused insomnia so I suspect Flonase would do the same thing.

I might give the air purifier a try.

Due to not having health insurance, any type of surgery to correct the problem is not an option.

Sheriff, Dr. Park has talked about how many patients tried like heck to make CPAP work and just didn't succeed. They couldn't have all had a bad attitude. Just saying.

49er

PS - Apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread. Rereading your post again is a great reminder as to why I keep trying to use my machine in spite of my struggles. I want to come home and have that energy you talk about.

[zoocrewphoto]

Well I truly feel sorry that you have not achieved success. I think that you fall into a relatively low percentile -- those that have a positive attitude AND fail with this therapy. But I appreciate that there are a number of folks like you who have some barrier to the therapy.

I think very few people with bad attitudes will have success, but I think there are lots of people that have good attitudes and do not have success. It's required, but only one part of the equation. For example, my mom. She has used cpap for over 15 years. She used it steadily for many years before quitting for a time and then getting restarted a couple years ago. Then quit for a time and restarted again about 10 weeks ago, when I got started.

When the doctor asked her last week, have you ever felt better with cpap treatment, she said no. She kept at it, tried lots of masks, and never felt any better. The masks hurt her nose, and she never felt better, yet she kept trying. Why didn't it help her feel better? Probably because there was no data to see if it was actually working. When I had her use my machine for half a night, it clearly showed that her current prescription was not successful. Her ahi was down, but she was still having long events.

Hopefully, now, with real data, an auto setting, and a doctor who cares about successful treatment, she can finally feel what it is like to have success. She has already mastered sleeping with a machine and mask. And her current mask is better than all the old ones. She does have leaks sometimes, but no pain on her nose.

I really believe that people who get a bad sleep study and/or bad doctor, are doomed unless they find a forum like this. without help, they could be stuck with a prescription that is not adjusted correctly for them.

[TiredTooLong]

I started this thread as a positive about my first days on CPAP and unfortunately it has turned into a heated discussion. I am sad about this because I think that people with positive experiences don't get heard enough. But that's life. If someone has something negative to say, they will shout it to the world. But if someone has a positive experience don't often share.

[Sheriff Buford]

I started this thread as a positive about my first days on CPAP and unfortunately it has turned into a heated discussion. I am sad about this because I think that people with positive experiences don't get heard enough. But that's life. If someone has something negative to say, they will shout it to the world. But if someone has a positive experience don't often share.

Agree...