How did you get started on CPAP?

[Sergeant Bob]

How I got started on CPAP.


I was dog tired and my eyelids were starting to droop. I swear I hadn't slept for over an hour straight in at least a month and I was fighting a real bad cold. My neck and shoulders had been aching for a months and I'd been taking ALOT of aspirin. I'd delivered my load of molten aluminum to my customer in Sturtevant, Wi and left at 6:15 AM. I made it back down to the Indiana line on I-90 at 7:45 AM or so. I pulled through the toll booth and parked my truck on the shoulder to take a little nap before continuing, then two and a half hours and I'd be home, take some Alka Seltzer Plus and get some sleep. I set my sleep timer for a half hour and layed my pillow against the door and dozed off.

I don't even remember the timer going off, but was awakened by my phone ringing. It was my dispatcher, Lisa. She was wondering where I was, as I was due back in Coldwater in about 30 minutes and they needed to use my truck for another load. I told her my location and that I was taking off right away.

About an hour later the phone rang again. It was Lisa, and I was still sitting at the toll booth. I told her I was hitting the road right away but fell asleep again. A while later I woke up, put the truck in gear and headed for home.

Shortly after I was rolling the phone rang yet again. When I went to answer it, I dropped it on the floor and couldn't find it while driving. I'd wait until I found a safe place to pull over to find the phone and call Lisa back.

I was almost to I-80 when I heard on the CB that there was a big accident blocking the Eastbound lanes of the toll road, so I diverted to I-94 to go around the problem.

It was about that time that everything was starting to get hazy and I was starting to become confused. I was started to get worried. I'd never felt like this before and I knew something was seriously wrong with me. I pulled into the first truckstop and parked it. I found my phone and decided to call Lisa. I knew I should call 911 but in my confusion wasn't sure I'd be able to direct an ambulance to me. My mind felt like it was turning on and off. I knew if I could tell Lisa where I was that she'd take care of me. She called the MI State Police who in turn patched her through to the IN State Police, then the Porter County Sheriff's office. She explained the situation to them and told them where I was. She kept me on the line and kept me talking while I waited. I think she saved my life.

I was still on the phone with her when two Porter County Sheriff cars and an ambulance arrived (I later found out it was dispatched at 3:29 PM!). One of the paramedics asked me if I could get out of the truck on my own and walk to the back of the ambulance (about 10 feet), then sit down on the back floor and they'd take care of everything from there. I sat down on the back step of the ambulance and that is the last thing I remember.

All this happened on Mar 10. I had double pneumonia and was going into Septic Shock, which was causing my organs to shut down. The doctors said when I arrived at E.R. I talked to them for about ten minutes then went into acute respiratory failure ( if Lisa hadn't kept me talking and awake I think it might have happened while I was waiting for the ambulance). I woke up on Mar 16, when I could finally breath on my own after being taken off the respirator. The first thing I remember was when they pulled the catheter out (now that's a waker upper!).

35 years of smoking, bronchitus many times (and probably pneumonia a few of those times), never went to the doctor for it. Just take some cold medicine and it'll be over in a few days. Always felt fine when I got over it (didn't think I was scarring the crap out of my lungs). I always joked about how I'd only go to the doctor if I was dieing. Turns out it was not a joke.

The doctors told me I had two choices. Stop smoking, or die.

The Nicoderm patch works really well.

Oh yeah, my neurologist in the hospital (just one of the many doctors I had) ordered me to have a sleep study before I could go back to work (they can legally stop you from driving a truck if you have OSA), due to the fact my wife told them of the sleep problems I was having. I'm sure glad he did.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP

[TXKajun]

WOW, Sarge! That is one HECK of a story! But a good ending, no? Are you still driving the big rigs? How much better are you feeling?

As for me, nothing quite so dramatic. We moved to SE NM almost 3 years ago from Galveston, TX. I had been feeling tired and out of sorts for about 5 or 6 months and so I started seeing a Dr. here to see if I could get my energy levels up. I went from being a consultant/contract/part-time decide-my-own-hours employee in Galveston to being a full time, 7 AM to 4:30 PM get-up-every-day-get-to-work-on-time employee in NM. I figured it was the getting up early every day doing it. After almost 2 years of going to the Dr. monthly, not only was I not feeling any more energetic, I was snoring so badly that Sweetie was spending most nights in the living room, I had no energy to play with 7 year old Bunny (our son), I was falling asleep at work in front of the computer, falling asleep in the recliner at 6PM watching tv and generally living life as a slug. Finally, last December, I mentioned to my regular Dr. that I suspected I may have sleep apnea. He scheduled a sleep test and yep, AHI of 105, oxygen sat down to 80%, multiple arousals each night. 2 weeks later, I had my prescription and a rental machine. 4 weeks after diagnosis, I had bought a 420e with heated humidifier from cpap.com and the rest, as they say, is history. I'm feeling great (just changed from an UltraMirage FF mask to a DreamFit and doing even better!), energy levels are back, alertness has returned and Sweetie is back in bed! WOO HOO!

This therapy WORKS!!!

[Sergeant Bob]

Hi Kajun! Yes I'm still driving the big rigs. Luckily, I work for a good company and they are working with me to keep me on a schedule wjhich suits me and allows me to get proper rest. My dispatcher, Lisa, even came to see me in the hospital (140 mile trip). What an angel, literally. I'd give her a kidney if she needed it.

Your story is pretty similar to mine (before the hospital stay). I felt tired all the time, had trouble concentrating, got sleepy driving (would stop to take naps). I just thought it was normal, as I'd been that way as long as I could remember.
Now that I'm on CPAP, most of those symptoms are pretty much gone. My mood has improved, my health is better, I have more energy, it doesn't take an hour after I wake up before I am coherent enough to answer a question. Best of all, my marriage is improving (she's an absolute jewel).

Alot of it I owe to this forum for the information I got from reading it (my DME is useless, and about the only thing my first sleep doctor gave me other than the study and prescription, was a big bill).
I have taken charge of my own care and things just keep improving.

[snork1]

My start was not nearly so dramatic!
My wife was complaining about my snoring keeping her awake and since her dad is a surgeon, figured anything could be cured with a snip and a stitch.

Figured how hard could it be to get snoring taken care of?.......

She has STILL not recovered from the shock of me hauling home a pile of hardware that looks like it should reside in the Trauma Unit of a hospital and needs to be worn every night, and I will be stuck with this always.

nooosirrrrreee, that is not going over well at all.

[lola]

That's quite the start to CPAP, Sergeant Bob! Glad you've come out of it OK, though.

I was just a fairly boring slow-burn case - I've snored loudly since I was a little kid, fatigue symptoms and such gradually got worse and worse over time, doctors always told me to exercise more ("What? I already cycle for an hour a day and lift weights!" "Do more!" ), and eventually correlated the symptoms I had with this condition I'd heard about called sleep apnea. It took most of a year to get an appointment for a sleep study and a CPAP prescription , but I ought to be on my way soon.

[Sergeant Bob]

That's quite the start to CPAP, Sergeant Bob! Glad you've come out of it OK, though.

Thank you! Actually, I'm kind of glad it happened, although I certainly wouldn't wqant to go through it again.
It was a life changing event and has made me take my health and relationships (especially with my wife) alot more seriously. I'm still recovering (although I feel better now than I have for years!) and CPAP is making it a whole lot easier. It's alot easier to to get healthy when you are getting proper rest.

I sure hope it all works out for you too.

[Sergeant Bob]

Oops! Double tap!

[rested gal]

Bob, what an excellent account of your terrible experience. Saying I'm happy it has turned out good for you is an understatement! Thank you for sharing such a dramatic story.

[Guest]

My "start" is pretty boring. After moving to a new town and finding a new doctor, my first visit to him resulted in a scheduled sleep study. (Yeah, I reported daytime sleepiness and waking up several times at night to visit the restroom but I never figured this was anything other than "getting old." I was 50 at the time.) Sleep study results were- mild OSA! Prescribed an APAP w/heated humidifier and have been feeling great since!
Guess I have a few more good years left afterall!

[Jan in Colo.]

I don't think anybody can top Sargent Bob's story....but here's mine. I went to the doctor in May complaining of menopause, depression, no energy, just feeling lousy and having no reason for it. After physical exam, she sent me for a uterine ultrasound. THAT showed I needed an emergency hysterectomy for possible cancer (no cancer found Thank God). While in the hospital with that, the nurses would come in the middle of the night to check my oxygen saturation level...and then freak out because it was always in the 50-60% range. The head nurse would rush in to double-check, etc. My lungs work fine because a few deep breaths would bring it right back up to the high 90's.

So when I was discharged, I called my primary care doc and told her to schedule a sleep study for me. I have an AHI of 85.3 with an arousal rate of 77.3 per hour. Periodic leg movement arousal index of 20.2 per hour. And yes, my oxygen saturation rate hovered around 50-60% when I was sleeping. The tech came in and told me "Honey, you're a TRAIN WRECK!"

So I've been on CPAP for one week. Have a Devilbiss something or other set at 9. It has a ramp feature but I feel like I'm suffocating with that, so I just do the 9 cfm from the start. Oh, a Respironics Comfort Lite mask. I'm feeling better but still seem to need a LOT of sleep....hope that gets better when I'm caught up on rest a little more.

The insurance company is currently renting the Devilbiss. Do you think I could wrestle a CPAP with the recording feature out of them? How am I supposed to know if this is working or not?

Jan in Colo.

[WAFlowers]

I'm feeling better but still seem to need a LOT of sleep....hope that gets better when I'm caught up on rest a little more.

Your body is trying to make up for the sleep deficit you've built up. This can take months ... sometimes a full year! My doc suggested that even with my excellent response to treatment that I could expect 3-4 months of recovery from the sleep deficit alone. Even longer to undo the physical damage that's been done.

The insurance company is currently renting the Devilbiss. Do you think I could wrestle a CPAP with the recording feature out of them? How am I supposed to know if this is working or not?

Without data and the software to interpret it, how indeed? .

[ozij]

Jan in Colo.

Jan, you don't metion when you had your hysterectomy.

An otherwise healthy woman might take up to 6 months (six months!) to recover from a hysterectomy, even if her ovaries are not taken out at the same time.

In addition to this, you have been spending about a third of your life at very low oxygen levels - put the two together, and your body's need for sleep is not surprising.

O.

[th]

You will like this one. My brother (who is a doctor) stayed after my father to have a sleep study because he knew he (my father ) had the symptoms of sleep apnea. Sure enough my father had severe sleep apnea. My father is being treated with APAP now for his sleep apnea. 2 years go by my brother stayed after me to have a sleep study since sleep apnea runs in the family and he (my brother) knows I have sleep apnea. Sure enough I had severe sleep apnea. I am being treated with APAP now also. Almost 1 year has gone by, I am asking my brother why he does not go in and be tested since his wife (who is a RN) says he stops breathing throughout the night and snores so loud she cannot stay in the same room. My brother does not want to talk about it and will not go in to be checked or treated. He has told his wife that he knows he has sleep apnea but he will not go in to be check or treated. My brother continues to send patients of his to be checked for sleep apnea but will not go in himself....

[ozij]

Doctors! (sigh) I've go a brother one and a Daddy one, and what can I say?
Doctors!
O.

[WAFlowers]

Physician, heal thyself!