From the time you started, to noticing life improvements

[markk]

For the first couple months, other than some decrease in sleepiness while driving, I really didn't notice a thing. For me, it was more like 4 months before I noticed signficant changes to attitude, energy level, etc. And those are not dramatic, just better. I can drive now, for several hours without fighting sleepiness, assuming I get enough sleep the night before.

Part of my issues were that I started BP medications about 3 months before I started using the cpap, and they caused all kinds of grief, from excessive coughing to an absolute inability to sustain any exertion, ED, incredibly tired and sore muscles after the smallest exertion (I used think a mile walk was just a start, then after I started, I couldn't go .2 miles without stopping to rest a while), and mostly just overall easy exhaustion.

I suspect if I could get off the meds, that I'd be 100x better, but for now, anyway, it took several months to be signficantly improved, in my overall living.

Now, I'm having trouble sleeping enough at night, I'm waking up before I should, then not going back to sleep, but I think that's stress related.

How about you all?

[MaxDarkside]

It has certainly been a process for me. I'm now at 9 months and still improving. I felt funny the first week or few, I felt bad-good as I was adjusting and sleeping long hours making up for lost time, then the arrhythmias started fading (almost gone now), and my mental abilities started returning over weeks and months but I had grog. I had for a while to take sleep aids at night and stimulants during the day but now I've completely gotten off both, other than coffee in the AM. I'm "clean" of all chemicals related to sleep (have prescriptions for high blood pressure and cholesterol tho) and I can now function reasonably well during the day, still some grog yet, but it's tolerable (barely). I'm not sure I'll get back to where I was mentally but I do have some times where I can really perform. Onward and Upward !

[snuginarug]

My first week (I can't remember the exact day) I woke up one morning and most of my edema was gone. It had progressed right up my thighs as time went on and I didn't realize it until that magical day when it was almost completely gone. In its absence I noticed its presence for so long in the past. It was very good I experienced that right off because it did not happen again for weeks. But memory of that beautiful edema-free feeling kept me motivated for 2 years when my therapy was not optimal and I had huge problems tolerating the mask. Now my edema is almost gone almost all the time.

Other effects I felt right away were: no more zombie feeling, being able to sit a computer without falling asleep, more alert while driving, improvement of memory. Before cpap I felt like a zombie. While I was adjusting to cpap (slowly and poorly) I felt like a cranky 3 year old in need of a nap, because my mask horrors prevented me from getting more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. But an ALERT 3 year old. Now that my treatment is optimal, I frequently feel like wonder woman in the mornings. I no longer need afternoon naps. My quality of life has gone up 100%.

It took me two years to get adjusted (thanks to an incompetent doctor) but it was sooo worth it. If you feel discouraged, keep working at it. It will save your life in the long run. It lowers your risk of just about everything under the sun.

Keeping a diary helps provide encouragement when adjustment is difficult. Jotting down the improvements, small though they may be, provides motivation to continue.

[robysue]

For me, the first three to four months of PAPing were a living hell. In spite of wonderful numbers and sleeping all night, every night with the mask, my daytime functioning plummeted and I was feeling substantially worse than before I started PAP. I also developed a severe case of insomnia during that time. Once I started CBT for the insomnia, the next several months were long, slow slog in getting my daytime functioning back up to where I'd been before starting CPAP. But by about 15 months into therapy, I was clearly feeling better physically and (finally) beginning to function better than I had in the last couple of years prior to my diagnosis.

[BlackSpinner]

The first morning life seemed brighter and I wasn't at tired in the evening. But it took about a month or more for things to really turn around.

[Mundy]

Thanks, snuginarug for suggesting keeping a journal of progress. I wake up so sluggish in the morning that I sometimes feel the CPAP isn't working. When I saw my Dr one month in, I scored much better on the test they do asking about how tired one is in different circumstances (don't remember the name of the test). When progress is slow, it can be hard to recognize that progress is being made. Things will only get better from here!

[chunkyfrog]

At first the nightmares and morning headaches vanished-immediately.
After that the rest just sneaked up on me.
I found that I could walk farther and faster, and think quicker and more clearly.
My grouchy self is retired for now.

[Cindy Lou Who]

markk, Welcome to the forum. It took 3 months to notice consistent and significant change in functioning at work and in life! My blood oxygen was 82 and 83% in home studies with 137 hyponeas.
In the first month there were 3 separate days where there wasn't brain fog. Only then, with the contrast, could I fully feel and understand what I'd been missing and how brain groggy I'd been: how I'd struggled to find a word, miss-named items so often, and forgot where I'd put things so often (at work and home), I was scared sh*tless that I had early onset Alzheimer's, and was afraid I would get fired.
Now after consistent improvement with leg/foot pain the sensory nerves there have almost completely regenerated....who would have thought that a little less O2 at night would cause that much havoc.
No more temper tantrums!!!!! No more constant irritation!!!!! No more feeling like I had lost it and going insane!!!!
Now I can have a messed up night's sleep and not be a witch the next day.
Hang in there and stick with your therapy... It's sooo important to your mental and physical health.
Keep us posted as to how you are doing....we care and are here to help,
Cindy

[wilsonintexas]

I hope that I am out of the ordinary.

For me 100 days today and feeling worse than ever.

BUT I seem to be fighting the exceptional case. ...... I started off with centrals during my first study, and my DR warned that it may take a while. ..... I have had to fail cpap.... That took a month to fail, a week to get the DR top schedule the bipap titration, and the BIPAP also failed..... several weeks to prove, a week to get a home test..... That is where I am now.... waiting for an ASV Titration........ the DR does not want to do that on an auto setting..... But I am missing the window to do an ASV titration......I have to go to my daughters wedding, so I will not get ASV titrated until the middle of Sept....... or I could miss my daughters wedding....

Again, I think I am at the end of the curve..... It is only taking this long, because of the insurance. They want proof that I need the expensive 5K machine. I understand, but wish that it were quicker. It is also limited by a slow response from the DR....

I looked to switch, but so far 2 sleep centers and my DME all say that for complex cases, he is the best...... and I do have a very complex case.....

I fully expect that even when i get he centrals under control, I will start the 3 month clock to getting use to the machine.... I understand and expect that ASV will be much different than both CPAP or BIPAP.

[Pugsy]

Once I got my pressures tweaked and AHI reduced (about 2 weeks) I saw immediate improvement in a couple of areas.
No more killer headaches every morning and no more getting up every hour all night long to pee with a full bladder.
The other stuff...energy...less daytime sleepiness...whatever...was much more subtle and took several months.
But it wasn't so much from OSA though. It was more from fragmented sleep and short hours of sleep due to things totally unrelated to OSA or machine or mask use.

Everyone is different and each individual is going to have their own time table along with possibly of having other issues that coexist with OSA that the machine simply can't fix.

[KEQ5]

About a weekend. After the first few nights, I found myself no longer needing to nap in the middle of the afternoon in order to not feel like a zombie. By the end of the first week, I was feeling productive and non-cranky.

It's been up/down since then. If I get a good 5-6 hours, then I'm good to go all day and don't start slowing down until bedtime. If I had mask issues or other problems, then I'm a bit slow that day and might have to nap.

But I had an easy time adjusting to the mask and I don't mind the 10-15 cm pressure range.

[AHI15]

For me, the first three to four months of PAPing were a living hell. In spite of wonderful numbers and sleeping all night, every night with the mask, my daytime functioning plummeted and I was feeling substantially worse than before I started PAP. I also developed a severe case of insomnia during that time. Once I started CBT for the insomnia, the next several months were long, slow slog in getting my daytime functioning back up to where I'd been before starting CPAP. But by about 15 months into therapy, I was clearly feeling better physically and (finally) beginning to function better than I had in the last couple of years prior to my diagnosis.

Wowie, your story is an interesting one. I just hope I can stay employed long enough to reap the benefits.