Have you been transformed?

[TammieC]

Maybe its too early to tell only been on it a month or maybe I'm just a bit different but since I've been on this I'm feeling the same if not worse when i get up in the morning I've had one day where i woke up full of energy and since then I'm still having to take naps and now lay around even more due to being exhausted. Maybe its the two jobs and school who knows, also since the machine I've felt worse as in I now have diabetes and for some reason last week I gained 8 lbs yes 8 lbs in one week. I also have trouble breathing all day now like i can't catch my breath some times. Not sure whats going on. I'm still convinced that this will help out more the further i use it. But at this moment I have to say overall I'm worse now than I was before I started the CPaP.

[Marietjie]

Thanks for starting an interesting and important thread.

Very, very good question with alot of success stories from the members.
Eric, can I ask your permission to submit a copy of these very positive stories to my doctors and the Sleep Clinic?
Don't you think it is a good idea if they can make copies and hand it out to newbies that visit their consulting rooms?
Wish I had this much success stories to read when I started 3 years ago. But now is not too late. My health is much better, decreased BP meds and has energy to work all day.

[kteague]

Eric, sorry. Got to reply to Tammie in hopes she can sooner be transformed. But I will add this disclaimer for those who may want to skip the post...

Warning - the following contains material not suitable for those expecting happy stories of transformation.

Tammie, at one month in it is not unusual to not feel significant improvement. Our bodies have some recovering to do, some more than others.

When one is not seeing (feeling) improvement with treatment, along with effectiveness of prescribed treatment, there are some other things to evaluate. Mouth breathing without a full face mask? On any meds known to disrupt sleep architecture? Other health problems ruled out? Any possibility of limb movement issues? And the one nobody wants to hear - are you getting enough sleep so that you are not still adding to your sleep debt nightly? With any other illness, we get doctor's orders to get plenty of rest so our body can use it's energy toward recovery. If we're not even getting enough sleep to meet nightly needs, a marked recovery will likely be an unrealized expectation.

I was one who got worse first instead of better. Two reasons - pressure was too low with no data capable machine to know that. And no understanding of the ramp feature. I fault the misuse of ramp most. It was set on 4, and I felt as if I was suffocating. Although I dropped off to sleep almost instantaneously, I would wake back up in minutes snatching the mask off. Then I'd hit the ramp again, just like I was instructed to do - many times each night. I didn't grasp that I was almost never getting to a therapeutic pressure. Just imagine with a 30 minute ramp for someone who falls asleep quickly means they are essentially unprotected during much of that period. If they wake up and hit ramp just 4 times a night, that's potentially nearly 2 unprotected hours of being susceptible to apneas. My first few months on cpap I thought I would surely die. Raising the ramp pressure and shortening the ramp time, along with a pressure change began my turnaround.

Hope you find what will get you to yours.

Kathy

[lebowski8]

i've only been on CPAP for 8 days... but man, the feeling is incredible!

Now I feel like I can:
- work all day without struggling to keep from nodding-off in front of my students
- drive more than 30 minutes without feeling like I might become a hazard.
- stop drinking 6+ cups of coffee daily (this week i've cut down to 2)
- not waste saturday and sunday afternoon napping
- not waste $9 on movie tickets by passing out during the film

i feel like i'm not in a constant haze. my wit is quicker. i feel more connected to my wife, to my family, to my friends.

i actually feel like now i might be able to accomplish a dream: going to graduate school.

i seriously believe that because I was so so tired all the time, my capacity for work and study was so reduced, that it added 5 years to my time in college-- i could only put up with 9 credit hours a semester because i was dozing off or unable to make class.

[krazykchan]

Thank you for starting this thread. Reading all the success stories gives me hope! I don't want to feel old as mold anymore.

[Georgio]

Yes, transformed is a good way to describe the changes that cpap therapy have made in me. Over a year ago I went to the Dr. because I thought I must be dying. Now, after 5 months of using my Resperoncis M-Series w/ A-Flex, I feel renewed and am more active than in years. It seems I have to energy to do whatever I want and have not even reached a threshold. I can ride the motorcycle, fish, kayak, bicycle, swim, or do yard work all day long!

Imagine how sad it was for people before sleep apnea was understood and cpap therapy wasn't available. If you're diagnosed with apnea, get over any resistance to going on a machine fast, and get on with a new life!

Georgio

[Uncle_Bob]

After 2 months, 2 CPAPs, 2 masks, 2 chinstraps I'll have to say NO

[Leonbergergirl]

No. Diagnosed 15 years ago, discarded therapy as it seemed to make no difference. Recently
re-diagnosed, have been compliant for a year, 10 masks, nasal surgery, changes in pressure,
blah blah, and i feel crappier than ever and have gained thirty pounds. Wake up exhausted, eyes swollen,
strap marks all over face, have stopped exercise due to fatigue...i know, i know.

Regardless of my non-success, the list has been the best thing to happen in a long time. You-all
keep me going and give me hope that some mask, some pressure, some luck will finally prevail.
Leonbergergirl

[raylo]

i've only been on CPAP for 8 days... but man, the feeling is incredible!

Now I feel like I can:
- work all day without struggling to keep from nodding-off in front of my students
- drive more than 30 minutes without feeling like I might become a hazard.
- stop drinking 6+ cups of coffee daily (this week i've cut down to 2)
- not waste saturday and sunday afternoon napping
- not waste $9 on movie tickets by passing out during the film

i feel like i'm not in a constant haze. my wit is quicker. i feel more connected to my wife, to my family, to my friends.

i actually feel like now i might be able to accomplish a dream: going to graduate school.

i seriously believe that because I was so so tired all the time, my capacity for work and study was so reduced, that it added 5 years to my time in college-- i could only put up with 9 credit hours a semester because i was dozing off or unable to make class.

I have been on the hose for about 6 weeks and I am not sure that transformed is quite the word. My benefits in some ways feel subtler that elander's and more like lebowski's. I don't sleep hours extra on the weekends and have been more active (no triathlons yet - but taking more walks with fiance). Less of a couch potato, more breath and a better disposition. I feel like I have a fair amount of sleep debt to pay off andcan find ways to improve my therapy (I hope). But even with sutbler differences in activity, I also would never want to go back to feeling like I used to. I feel less (usually 0) weirdness in chest and extremities, less of that doomed sort of feeling, I am a bit sharper of mind and concentration. MY blood pressure has backed down from bad areas into acceptable areas. I can foresee more gains.

Yesterday morning I woke up and called in sick to work. I told my wife-to-be "I feel pretty much like I did every morning before CPAP." I think that says something.

[bobkat13]

Not quite yet. Some improvement, not lots, though. However, I've thought for a while that my crushing fatigue was a double whammy: OSA PLUS something else. I have hypothyroidism, and although lab tests show that I'm just peachy keen on my dose of Synthroid, I don't think that's true. I'm seeing my endocrinologist on May 8th and am planning to get somewhat "pushy" about the possibility of a more wide ranging series of tests and my desire to try Armour natural thyroid hormone.

[tattooyu]

It has brought me joy (and also Joy on here <g>).

Some of the reasons I am now more joyous every day:

• Panic attacks are virtually gone
• Starting to play guitar again
• A friend said I actual look younger than the last time he saw me 1-2 years ago.
• More energy: for my wife, for my life.
• ...

[Babette]

Oh definitely, I've been transformed. Before therapy I was a 5'6", 225 lb, middle aged brunette woman.

Now I'm a 6'4", blonde, 25 year old man.

Okay, okay....

I'm less overwhelmed by life. I'm less tired. I have the mental agility to see my way through problems far better than I have in the past. I am able to shake off emotional trauma faster. Or at least process trauma in a more rational manner.

I'm still vaguely homicidal before coffee. But so far I have managed to restrain that urge.

It DOES get better. It's subtle in my case.

BTW, I haven't lost weight. My metabolism has ramped up and I'm starving alot, so I'm eating more. And since I have all these ideas and plans and things to do, I'm eating more fast food on the run.

Need to translate that energy into ACTIVTIES instead of just PLANS.

GOOD LUCK!
B.

[lebowski8]

Just want to mention that not everything is roses for me, and not everything is perfect. I don't expect it that way.

I've had a measurable 90% + reduction in AHI... going from 49.0 to 3.1 AHI. It's still not 0. But I don't expect 0 either. But I think its fantastic data-based evidence.

I'm still adjusting to wrestling with the hose at night-- it keeps falling off the bed and yanking at the mask.

I wake up 4-6x nightly blowing air from my mouth (waiting for my chinstrap to be delivered...). It's been comical to my wife.

Twice this week, I've woken up after 4 hours of sleep and it took me 2 hours or so to return to sleep.... Yet, that mid-night awakening has been frequent for me pre-OSA diagnosis, a once or so weekly occurence for maybe the last 7-8 years. Needless to say I've not felt as great on those days, but I've still felt much better than pre-CPAP

I've not brought up GERDS-like symptoms with my doctors just yet. I've had those symptoms off-and-on for 4 or 5 years. I will consult them if symptoms don't resolve after a few more months of CPAP. I like taking care of things slowly, one step at a time. I know myself well enough that i get overwhelmed & frustrated if i try to multi-task too much.

But, maybe I'm optimist. I simply feel so much better than before the therapy.

[alexcue]

Does transforming my relationship with my girlfriend count?

My snoring was absolutely driving her crazy. We tried everything we could think of, but my snoring was just plain wearing her out. I finally made the appointment to have a sleep study done and the rest is history. We both sleep so much better and the stress that it was taking on me was causing other problems that have since disappeared.

Now it's her snoring that bothers me. j/k
She says i don't snore anymore so i guess that problem is "cured".

[Babette]

Slap a mask on her in her sleep. Of course, you'd have to have a second hose, a splitter for your machine, another hose hanger...

LOL,
B.