This sucks!

[jagjad02]

I am in my first week of using a CPAP. I am 37 and every time I put this mask on I feel like it is the begining to the end. Just makes me feel old and fragile. I just hope it makes a difference soon to justify the shitty feelings.

[Georgio]

Hang in there.....I think most of us felt that way at first....I wouldn't be on the machine if it didn't make such a huge difference in how well I feel......stick around here to get the help and advice you need.....and before long you will be noticing improvements. I'm doing things that I didn't know I would ever be capable of again. Commit to make it work and it will.

Georgio

[FlyingMask]

jagjad,

I too am new to using CPAP by a week. And only a year older. So far it has been helping me wonderfully. My sister (who is 2 years older than I am) has been on it for probably 4 years now. So hang in there. She is very spunky and to me it really doesn't feel like the beginning of the end. I like the saying "you are only as old as you think you are" it is something that my mother in law says quite often. and she still goes plays in the sand, rides snowmachines, and is a really spunky gal.

Good Luck and Welcome. I hope you start to feel better as much as I have been. I actually feel like doing something in the day now instead of staying on the computer and sleeping all day.

[Paul56]

I am in my first week of using a CPAP. I am 37 and every time I put this mask on I feel like it is the begining to the end. Just makes me feel old and fragile. I just hope it makes a difference soon to justify the shitty feelings.

This is the beginning of your new beginning. Welcome to the rest of your well rested life!

[echo]

Welcome to the forum! I'm 31 and have been using the xPAP for 1 year. Wish I had been using it for the last 15!!

It's OK to feel annoyed at the beginning. It takes some time to get used to the whole setup, and to acknowledge that this is not a hospital ventilator, but rather just the opposite - something that will help you become stronger and more alert.

Start with reading everything under "Our Wisdom" at the top of the screen under the yellow light bulb, and in your case I would especially check out the CPAP humor : CPAP Humor and Quotes

And a thread on making the set-up look less 'clinical' : Is there any "attractive" CPAP equipment out there?

Here's an excerpt from the incredible Mike Moran:

Leave it to modern medical science to find a cure funnier than the symptoms. Can you imagine the laughs the doctor got when he pitched this therapy. “Now get this, it involves a pump, a hose, masks and a strap on to improve people’s performance in bed. And here is the best part. This is to stop snoring.” Laugh now, but the same doctor is working on a cure for enlarged prostrate.

I used to think I was pretty good at sleeping, now I go to bed every night knowing I literally suck.

Inflatable mattresses are all the rage now, but I am the first on my block with a sleep number head.

Remember the good old nights where the only leaks you worried about involved a late night stumble into the bathroom.

Sure you may laugh because my wife goes to bed with an inflatable bed partner, but when was the last time you got a prescription from your doctor to get blown?

Think we got it bad, you should see the horse drawn CPAPs the Amish use.

The look on a person’s face is priceless when I tell them I attach my hose to the wall in order to sleep at night.

CPAP - The other way to use silicone to inflate your chest.

According to my wife, with CPAP it’s the first time I had more air going in one end than coming out the other at night.

Though she and the kids sure miss their nightly game of “How many seconds before he starts breathing again?”

At first I was a little amused when she asked me to start calling her Clarisse, but it kind of freaked me out when she got that cinnamon bun hairdo and started referring to my part of the bed as the “Dark Side”.

You know you have adapted well to this therapy when you are happy that your bald spot it there to keep your head gear from slipping.

I guess I should be thrilled that my Apnea is being treated, but now I have to check in to rehab to help cure my silicone addiction. I don’t even want to get into how much money I’ve been sticking up my nose.

How come, instead of the good baseball analogies like “getting to third base” or “hitting a home run”, the only one associated with CPAP is “Rain Out”?

[carbonman]

I am 37 Just makes me feel old and fragile.

02, thanks for the perspective.
I'm 57 and been on the hose for almost 4mths.
I thought I was dying when I went in for the sleep study.
Now, I feel like the clock is running in reverse.

I feel better and better each day.
Didn't happen over night, just a little each day.
My brain is coming back to life.
My body gets stronger w/each night's rest.

So, watch out, because in a few more mths, I'm gon'a be 37 again.

Be patient w/yourself.
We have all been where you are now, you are not alone.
Lots of help here.
Lots of support here.
Lots of options here.
Just ask.

It's your life.
It's my life.

All the best, it's a journey.

[plr66]

Carbonman says it more eloquently, but I would echo that I truly believed I was dying when I finally went to my PCP for help this summer. My cognitive functioning had taken such a nose dive that I also believed might not be able to continue in my profession within a very short time. From the day he got me into a sleep study (immediately) I viewed the whole thing as an opportunity to keep living, and even better, to hopefully begin functioning again. I do think that one must develop a positive frame for the whole process in order to stick with it and benefit from it. Your symptoms might have been less severe. If so, your goals might need to be different than mine--but still important. I encourage you to use these descriptions of really severe symptoms here to help motivate you to not abandon the effort until you reach such a desperate condition. Stay with it, and find ways to make it more pleasant. Shamelessly refer you to a previous thread I posted:
viewtopic/t36273/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=35 ... 21#p311521

[SleepGuy]

My kids would say that it "totally blows." It does, no doubt about it. Give yourself some time for your brain to adjust and you'll experience a significant different. It's like climbing a mountain--the day that you stop consciously noticing the equipment, noise, backpressure, discomfort, etc. because your brain finally reaches the point that it's willing to ignore all of that stuff so you can sleep. It's called equipment desensitization. My version is that the brain is willing to shut out sensory input so we can sleep. It happens normally every night for everyone. When you introduce CPAP, there are so many new and potentially threatening sensory inputs that it takes the brain a while to calm down, relax, and accept it enough to shut it out. You'll get there if you stick with it.

Welcome to the Talking Hospital: viewtopic/t36282/The-Talking-Hospital.html

[goose]

Hey jagjad02,
Welcome to the forum -- you've found a great place for information and help!!!! As others have suggested read read read....learn as much as you can about the affliction and how some of us have dealt with it!!!


Sleepguy's other post about the Talking Hospital is great!!!! So is echo's reference to Mike Moran's stuff, and of course carbonman is his usual eloquent self.

I wish I'd been diagnosed at 37!!!! Sure would have saved me a lot of ailments now.....
It can be a bit weird at first, but it's important to stick with it. You'll get the hang of it and before you know it, you'll be feeling much better. Don't expect miracles!!!! Take any little progress!!! It'll probably just kind of sneak up on you.....you'll just kind of notice one day -- "Hey. I feel pretty darned good today"......

Fill out your profile so we know what kind of "stuff" you have. Perhaps we can come up with some ideas on how to make it a bit better for you (We're all kind of rebelling against the icon version of the equipment profile, so choose text -- it's easier to tell what it is you're selecting)......

Hang in there!!! And by all means, let us know how you're doing!!!!
take care
cheers
goose

[Guest]

Hang in there. As all the above say, rather than the end, this is a new beginning.

You'll start to feel much better, and your thinking will do an about face - CPAP will make you feel energetic and full of life again in the long run - just give it time to repair the past & then move forward.

Welcome to the forum.

[2girlsmom]

Hey, I feel you. I was 30 when diagnosed, had just had my second baby. Really felt way too young to be dealing with apnea. I have accepted it to a degree, it's been a year now but as time goes on I find myself wanting to get healthier and lose this hose if possible. I will use it until someone says I don't need it anymore after a PSG shows I don't have apnea... but it is hard to come to terms with it, I know.

[papdad]

37 ------ Feeling old and fragile ----- give me a break. Just don't know about yougins these days. Just set back and play a little pong and give it time to work --- it will work.
Welcome, this is where the sick people hang out.
Norm

[goose]

Norm, Norm, Norm.......we're not sick. We're afflicted!!!!

Pong?? I'm very thankful for pong. It totally turned me off of any video games. I played right hand against left hand and games would go on and on and on and on.......
Boring!!!!!

cheers
goose

[stacia123]

Hi jagjad. I'm 37 too -- in fact I got the machine the night before my 37th birthday. I've been on it for a month now and I can tell you it's worth it, but it can be a complete pain in the buttocks. Finding a mask and getting it to fit were the hardest parts for me, and I think I'll probably end up with a collection of masks before I'm through. Give it a while to work, it takes trial and patience. We're all in this together - hang in there, ask advice and keep trying. Good luck!

[plr66]

That part about trying to appreciate each little step of progress.....I have been on cpap for 11 weeks, and am still amazed and delighted at how I am now asleep within 15-20 minutes. Incredible! Never in the last 30 years can I remember taking anything less than 60-90 minutes to get to sleep, and then waking 5-6X through the night. Now I fully wake just once in the night. My numbers in the data have been looking good over the past 3 weeks as I have found "MY" mask and the more appropriate pressure.....and I am still looking forward to being able to say "Wow, I feel great this morning!" I know it will come.