cpap for 9 days and energy

[fiberfan]

I have been on cpap since last Tuesday. I am adjusting to the mask presence and noise - I rarely hear the machine but I do hear noise from the tubing and mask's vent, particularly when I sleep on my side. My cats are adjusting and their reaction is funny to watch. I love to wake up with a cat sprawled on my side, it isn't happening as much as it did before cpap but am happy it is again happening.

I had noticeable energy today! This afternoon at work I was moving between my desk and an instrument 50-100 ft away. I was zipping back and forth, something I haven't done for several years. It was great! I had forgotten what it felt like to have energy. I am still tired which I know is likely to improve. If it doesn't, I could happily live with my present tiredness combined with energy like this afternoon.

[dave21]

That's good to hear fiberfan!

You will get less tired, it can take weeks for your body to compensate to feel better re-oxygenated. The more compliance (you stay on the machine) the better you will feel. It's strange that before we have the machines we don't know there's a problem as it comes on gradually and isn't like hitting a brick wall, so the tiredness/lathargic feeling gradually comes in and you think nothing of it because that's how you have felt for months (or possibly years).

I remember that I was dosing at my desk when it came to lunch time, now I couldn't even dream of dosing at my desk at lunch time since being on CPAP for 5 years. Looking back though (which you will do much more in a year or more to come) you'll think - oh my god I was so ill.

I remember the first few days of having my machine and I did feel quite a bit better, a week later I felt even better still and the same went on for a few weeks. I felt more alert, I wasn't to the point of almost falling asleep when driving and felt a lot better in myself with more energy.

For OSA - there's still no substiture for losing weight (and I lost 42 pounds a couple of years ago) and that made me feel even better still. I need to get back into that regime again of trying to lose more weight. Even if I returned to a normal size, I doubt I would want to leave my machine because I know how much it has changed my life.

[pdean44]

I did not sleep that well last night nothing to do with cpap i believe. I woke up this morning knowing i got about 4 hours of sleep and still feel better than I used to when I slept longer without the machine.

[bart.willems]

Same here for another noob! I've been on "the machine" for three weeks now and although it took some adjusting I now manage to sleep through the entire night (if I do wake up at 4AM, like I did this morning, I even manage to fall back asleep - another step forward).

It's nice to get up in the morning without having to drag yourself out of bed, and I definitely get more things done both at work and at home. The only negative so far is that I notice that 6hr of sleep really doesn't cut it for me. I got used to a regimen of routinely going to bed at 1AM or 1:30 and get up at 6:30. I now know that it was because I wasn't getting any real sleep anyway so it didn't really make a difference how long (or short) I slept. I really have to go to sleep at 11PM or even earlier now, but that's something that I'm completely unused to.

[dave21]

That's a really good point Bart. 5-10 years ago before I was diagnosed I was a night owl, most nights I would be up until gone midnight and then have to get up at 6am to get ready for the commute to work. I was actually getting more sleep and it was dozing off in the evenings prior to sleeping and that was one of the things i believe that kept me up so late because I would get home from work, have a meal, have a nap, wake up around 11pm and feel that I couldn't go to sleep. I did feel rotten though the next morning when I awoke but it was in my routine.

For the past 5 years I've religiously tried to go to bed around the same time. No matter what you do, it doesn't happen every night but I set myself a hard limit, midnight is too late. Even now with the machine if I go to bed after midnight I don't feel great when I wake up in the morning (lack of sleep) BUT as you say I do feel a lot better than I would have pre-CPAP treatment.

I find myself I need 7-7.5 hours of sleep. I can't go below 6 otherwise I feel tired when I wake up and I certainly can't go beyond 8 as my body just won't let me. Ever since being on CPAP I wake up at least 30 minutes before my alarm goes off, or at very worst if I had a late night and my alarm wakes me up, it's straight out of bed, no rolling around wanting to go back to sleep. It's a great feeling!

[Joe50]

Sounds like you are making great progress.