want to share success story

thimarine · Post by **thimarine** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:18 pm

I"m 8 months into cpap now. My AHI is now 1.0. About two weeks ago I started sleeping through the night. I quit "hitting the wall" around 5;00 p.m. every day, by BP meds have been cut to 1/8 of what they were and I am supposed to try 30 days w/o any and to monitor my bp. My glucose is down 10 points, trigycerides are normal for the first time in 15 years, my 02 level is in the high 90's and I've lost 10 pounds. Amazingly, this all seemed to come together in the last 3 to 4 weeks. I just noticed I had to go an extra notch on my belt and everything was looser. In fact, every number is great. I am especially proud of the LDL at 57. I've never been below 100.

Without the help I received from everyone here (especially Rested Gal and GoofProof), I don't know where I would be. I haven't felt this good in years. I'm looking forward to going under 1.0. Stumbling onto this forum one dark day when I was depressed about cpap was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Thank you, thank you , thank you.

sharon1965 · Post by **sharon1965** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:26 pm

thimarine
congratulations! what a great story...so glad you found your way here
thanks for sharing...gives others hope
wishing you continued success...
sharon1965

RipVW · Post by **RipVW** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 2:32 pm

What a great story. Congratulations, thimarine!

Hooray for cpaptalk.com--I don't know where I'd be without it (probably continuing as I did before I found it, using my machine without therapy reports, without therapy, and with no noticeable results!).

Ted

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:01 pm

WTG, thimarine!

Thanks for the update. Your story of determination when it looked like "what's the use" and your good outcome will help others who've been struggling with cpap and wondering if it will ever help.

So happy to hear your good news!

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 3:56 pm

thimarine wrote:I"m 8 months into cpap now. My AHI is now 1.0. About two weeks ago I started sleeping through the night. I quit "hitting the wall" around 5;00 p.m. every day, by BP meds have been cut to 1/8 of what they were and I am supposed to try 30 days w/o any and to monitor my bp. My glucose is down 10 points, trigycerides are normal for the first time in 15 years, my 02 level is in the high 90's and I've lost 10 pounds. Amazingly, this all seemed to come together in the last 3 to 4 weeks. I just noticed I had to go an extra notch on my belt and everything was looser. In fact, every number is great. I am especially proud of the LDL at 57. I've never been below 100.

Without the help I received from everyone here (especially Rested Gal and GoofProof), I don't know where I would be. I haven't felt this good in years. I'm looking forward to going under 1.0. Stumbling onto this forum one dark day when I was depressed about cpap was one of the best things that ever happened to me.

Thank you, thank you , thank you.

Congratulations!
I seem to remember your FIRST post/thread here, too.

viewtopic.php?p=177100&highlight=#177100

Best wishes for continued good therapy.

Den

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 4:43 pm

Congratulations, Thimarine!

I've been on cpap for just over 3 months and still having some struggles so it's especially great to hear that you've noticed bigger improvements after more time!

Thanks for sharing that!

Mindy

Treesap · Post by **Treesap** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 6:47 pm

AWESOME news Thimarine!

Did you change your diet since going on CPAP therapy? How did you get your blood levels in check?

I'm particularly interested in triglycerides. That's the only ailment I have next to be overweight.

I'm interested in how you dropped weight too.

thimarine · Post by **thimarine** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:18 pm

Treesap--- I didn't change my diet. A doctor friend of mine explained the whole cortisol thing to me and how lack of adequate sleep and stress combined cause the body to store fat cells. Interestingly, though I eat less. I used to be a compulsive snacker and no longer am. I eat less at meals. I eat the same things, just less. And, for some reason, I don't crave sweets like I used to. I think I got a rush from the carbs before and the energy they gave me. This all came together in the past month or so. I don't know if there is some line that everyone has to get past to get better or if it's universal. All I know is that it just came together finally.

I take crestor (10 mg). I had been taking lipitor at twice the dosage. I'm also prescribed 6,000 mg of fish oil in capsules (2k 3x/day). But, I'd been taking fish oil and cholesterol medicine for the past 10 years and never got below 300 on the trigycerides. I also take zetia but was taking that prior to cpap also. So, the only significant change was cpap. The kidney tests and liver enzyme tests also improved post cpap also. More oxygen to those organs? My guess.

DreamStalker · Post by **DreamStalker** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:23 pm

Oh yes ... oxygen ... it does a body good.

Congrats!

mindy · Post by **mindy** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 7:35 pm

Dreamstalker .... I'm getting dizzy looking at your amazing moving image! I haven't gotten seasick as of yet......

Mindy

Captain_Midnight · Post by **Captain_Midnight** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 9:13 pm

T-Marine

Excellent report!

Do you mind a few questions? I'd love to know what your earlier AHI were, what your autopap pressure range might be, and also what is your 90% press.

And, while I'm prying, do you correlate sleeping through the night with your excellent results.

BTW, after a 1.5 yrs on CPAP, my cardio bloods went from near-concern levels to below average cardio risk. Exercise, fish oil, CPAP, and cutting out excessive carbs all combined to do the trick.

Now, I'm experimenting w autopap, and early results are most promising.

Again, super success story. Should be required reading for those reluctant to treat (or undergo dx for) OSA.

Regards all -- Tom

.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:16 pm

Captain Midnight:

My avg. 90% ranges from 12.4 to 13.2. My auto cpap was set at 8 to 18 but I found (after getting advice on this forum) that if I set the bottom number closer to my 90% number I could avoid waking up the first time the machine sensed an event. I was awakened every night I went to sleep the first hour. I reset my machine to 9 at the lowest number and I quit waking up. Once I started sleeping through the night, my numbers went down. I do associate sleeping through the night with the lower numbers. However, I have also lost a little weight now, so I don't know if that's a chicken and egg kind of thing.

I don't know what my AHI readings were because the VA wouldn't program my machine to let me know this info and when I asked, they said they couldn't tell me. I learned how to program the machine. I was into my 4th or 5th month by then and my numbers were like 1.8, 1.6. I consistently stayed around 1.4 until I started sleeping through the night. I went to 1.2, 1.1 and now 1.1 over a period of 3 weeks or so. I have to say that before switching to the optilife, I was using a full face mask and had a really high leak rate and poor sleep quality. I also developed a deep hole in the bridge of my nose. I got the nasal pillows, learned about mouth taping and my whole cpap experience changed for the better. I tried the hybrid with every combination possible and could never get it to work. My leak rate right now is 14. At a 80% of 13, I think 30 is acceptable. I should also add that I learned all of this on this forum.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Nov 17, 2007 10:28 pm

Excuse my typing please. That's 90% rate of 13 with leak rate of 14. And my AHI is now 1.0.

And, I don't mind questions at all. I would like to return some of the help I got on this forum. I'm still a novice but I'm learning more every day.

I know I've said this before, but this forum restores one's hope for humanity. I know misery loves company, but I believe the folks on this forum are genuinely kind and helpful just because that's the way they are. We've all got the same affliction, but it's nice to see goodness coming from something negative. I've seen a lot and I'm just overwhelmed by the graciousness of the people who've helped me by answering my questions and sending me information and just giving me encouragement.

Someone on here once said that every tech and sleep doc should be required to read these posts. I agree.

want to share success story

want to share success story

Re: want to share success story

Job well done

success story