Diary of a new Sleep Apnean

[okitoki]

DAY 2.

Seems like yesterday was like the first waking moment I had for awhile... the feeling was like having a buzz after 2 cups or more of strong coffee...
my poor GF has a cold, so after work, I went grocery shopping, cooked dinner and prepared the ingredients for the next day's dinner ... even when I got into bed at 9pm, I was not feeling tired or sleepy. Played abit of PS3, watched abit of TV, then tried to sleep.

Surprisingly, I did not fall asleep as fast as I did the first night out with the box... i actually tossed and turned abit, and woke up twice to go to the toilet... plus I was noticing the nasal cushion was leaking abit more this time round when I slept on my side, which I had to adjust a little and start breathing normal again.

Woke up this morning feeling pretty awake and refreshed... but I'm seem to be in the same hole as yesterday around 9:30-10am I would suddenly feel sleepy, but not tired....

Edit:

ok... By around 3-4pm. I had the normal yawning, sleepiness but not to the point of exhaustion. I will find a way to hold my chin up tonight and see if I can stop my mouth opening. I was thinking of a head band or scarf/bandana thingy I bought recently.

my girlfriend did mentioned my mouth was open this morning when I was sleeping...and I was snoring softly... Much much much softer than my normal snore, but none the less, a snore...

[okitoki]

Day 3

Well, another good night of sleep with only woke up once that i know of.

As Day2 I had issues with falling asleep, I decided to stay up abit later going online, and watching TV... didnt sleep till around 11:30pm.

Tried without humidifier at the beginning, and within 20mins, I can feel my nose starting to block up... humidifier on 2, and all is well

As yesterday I had issues with mouth breathing, I used one of my bandana tube that I use for my paintball games... wraped it under my chin to the top of my head... it also give some cover to the mask strap. Worked well, didnt snore the whole night, and funny enough, my GF is actually complaining that my CPAP is loud when Im no longer snoring

I was woken up in the middle of the night with my nasal pillow leaking alot, which I had to quickly turn the RAMP back on down to 5cm... the machine is still set at 5-20cm during the titration trial, so should I leave it as is till i get used to it, or should I start messing with it?

My 90% is still around 9.1 - 9.3cm (I assuming Im reading it correctly)

its 9:30, and Im yawning... woke up alert, but the usual settling in to the office morning routine is still making me sleepy before I wake up totally...

[okitoki]

Day 4
Turned my Min setting from 5cm up to 6cm. turned Flex down from 3 to 2.
Had ok sleep... woke up a few times during the night. First time was because of leak from the nose pillow... readjusted and went back to sleep. Second time was to take bandana tube off my head that was keeping my mouth closed, as it was getting too hot for my ears.

Next day woke up feeling ok, but after lunch time, I felt awful, with a headache developing and starting to feel sleepy after lunch time. My eyes felt like it was under pressure all the time, and my GF said my eyes looked like a panda and my complexion was extremely white. Awful day for Saturday...

Day 5
Had a better sleep. Even though I was tired during the day, I didnt end up sleeping till 12ish... didnt wake up at all during the night, and woke up feeling refreshed. Went to my paintball training, and felt energized at the beginning, but felt winded after running abit... felt gassy and bloated... GF mentioned I was farting abit more than usual?!?

Day 6
Hard night to sleep... Had a slight nose block before bed, and I tried the saline nasal spray, and vicks in a tube... neither help with the nose clear... after trying for 30mins, i gave up and went to sleep without the CPAP on. Woke up in middle of the night, fortunately nose was cleared, so managed to put on the nasal pillow, turned CPAP on, and went right back to sleep.. didnt wake up until this morning and barely heard my alarm going off. Had the humidifier up to 4 trying to see if I can keep my nose clear... but I end up with some rainout.

Felt good this morning, and didnt fall asleep or yawn during my weekly monday morning meeting.


I dont remember dreaming at all during the last 6 days of CPAP...

add 3:40pm: Just received phone call from DME, and my new (new demo) ResMed S8 Auto is on its way should receive it within 2 days

[pdean44]

You will go through a period of paying your sleep debt. I found that my energy levels slowly increased as each week passed. It has been several months now and my wife says she notices how much more energy I have and how much better i seem to be since going on the machine. Your progress sounds very good. Once you have some time under your belt I believe you are going to not believe how much of a difference for the better it has made in your over all energy and health.

Keep up the good work!

[okitoki]

Week 1

Well, its now week one for me. I have to say it has been a relatively good experience for me.

things I have noticed.
- Energy level and my "awake" period is now longer than before... still have time of yawning and sleepiness, but less obvious compared to before.
- sleep is more refreshing... well, more like I can feel I had a long sleep... rather than "what, I slept for 10 hours and I still wake up tired?" that I had before.
- My girlfriend is complaining about my CPAP being loud rather than my snoring
- Even though my mask felt ok at the begining, it still need tweeking to get it just right...
- it sucks to use a CPAP with a blocked nose

I know this is not a quick fix, but a change in life style and need lots of patient... I have ordered and should be receiving my S8 Auto (series 1) today, so cant wait to fire that puppy up

thanks for the support guys for the first week

[sleepmba]

Thanks for sharing Okitoki. Sounds like you are right on track.

[okitoki]

Week 2

This week has been a pretty good week. All my sleeps have been continuos and uninteruppted (mostly)
I have not yet seen my RT yet, as I have 2 more weeks of titration to go. But looking at the display screen, my 90% have been hanging around 9-9.5cm so pretty sure it is a good indication.

The good news is I have picked my S8 Elite and humidifier... tested it out, and seems to be pretty quiet... I installed the software on my laptop, and I have to admit it does have alot of info for me to look at... cant wait till i hose up with it and see how my numbers are looking

I have noted my REMstar is getting abit noisy after only 2 weeks, and when I left it on during the day, it shuts itself off, and I cant seem to turn it back on by pressing the button... I have to actually turn off and on the main power... I guess the moral of the story is to remember to swith it off. The Opus pillow is developing an oldour... even though I was it with mild detergent, and hanging it off to dry during the day... it just have this wet plastic smell.... maybe relating to the rain out I have been having before... but I also hangup my hose to dry too....

Now the most important thing, how do i feel....
Well, I have to admit that waking up is still a hard job... since its a nice sleep, and I hate to get out of a warm bed... However, I may not have the supercharged energy to jump out of bed, but I do feel ok when I get out... not like a stumbling zombie I used to be During the day, I felt pretty alert and awake (most of the time) I stayed up during meetings, and only yawned occasionally during the day... I just started a new job, so staying awake and learning is pretty important right now. I dont snore at all anymore...and my GF confirmed that I sleep with my mouth closed.

One good side affect I have noticed.... Before CPAP, I always wake up with stuffed and runny nose.... ever since I've been on CPAP... I always wake up with a clear nose which is good

unfortunately, last few days, my GF had a bout of gastrol bug, so she has been pretty sick and tired the past few days... so I have been up till late and not sleeping much... but when I do put the hose on my face, i pretty much garantee to fall alseep within 20mins

[nosenabook]

...
Sleep wise, it was easy for me to fall asleep. I did wake up a few times during the night, with 1 time for the toilet, and the rest was because of my cats. Woke up this morning, but sadly, I'm not one of those that wakes up and feels FANTASTIC on the first night. ...
Maybe the second sleep without the CPAP undid the whole night of good sleep? its 9:30am right now, and I'm yawning

Waking up several times a night will keep you from feeling fantastic in the morning, doesn't matter what you woke up for. Maybe your cats were wondering why you were so quiet? Or maybe they need to be somewhere else so you can sleep.
(I don't have cats, can you tell? )

It's been a while since the OP posted, I hope things are going well, and better.

[Phillysnooze]

Interesting thread.

Sleep Apnean? Hmmm. I like the moniker "Hosehead".

[okitoki]

It's been a while since the OP posted, I hope things are going well, and better.

I have been posting daily before, but now it has moved onto the weekly phase otherwise this thread will become too full... and if everything goes well, then I will go monthly, quarterly, half yearly

but the general feeling so far for me is its going well... not a miracle cure, but I am feeling much better and healthier in both body and mind

[okitoki]

Week 3

Well, order a new mask this week... bought a ResMed Swift LT... As I am currently using a F&P small nasal pillow, i was surprised that the Resmed I had to use the regular sized one. found it abit softer than the F&P, but have to admit it took abit of setting up to get the pillow to sit correctly without leak. because of the bulk, I can feel it touching my upper lip... trial it on for about 30mins, and did not leak when ever I moved my head side to side... but I thought I keep using the F&P for now till I return the unit next week at the end of my titration period.

as mentioned in my other thread, I actually dreamed for the first time (in a long time)... and have to admit its refreshing to know I am reaching that REM sleep moment... so hopefully my body is showing sign of improvement... I have measured my blood pressure for the last few days, and have noted its around the 120/70 region so I guess its a good sign. lost about 2 kg without doing much except for sleeping better too

Im readjusted to waking up earlier to get to work alot ealier than before... used to start work at 9 and office is just around the corner, so would wake up at 8.. but now I need to get to work at 7:30 in the city, so have to wake up before 6am... last week was yawning abit after lunch (just before 4pm is the worst) but now its getting better...

Sleep is still good... most nights I would sleep through without waking up... but without looking at my result, I cant say how well im going... all i can gauge by it is how I feel when Im awake. I still have good energy level, and mood swings seems to be easier to control instead of it taking over me.

ONE more week before I get my result from my RT... so after that... get my script from my Doctor, and I will be flying solo myself (with the support of the CPAPtalk community of course )

[mars]

Week 3

Well, order a new mask this week... bought a ResMed Swift LT...

Hi Okitoki

As you know, finding the right mask is time consuming, and can be expensive.

My local DME's charge around $250 - $300 for a mask.

I now get mine from CpapAuction, new, costing around $65 each, airmail cost being $26 for up to 3 masks.

So I can afford to experiment, which otherwise would be more of a problem.

cheers

Mars

[okitoki]

After 1 year

Well, time to drag this old thread out of the box and update my progress

It has been over a year since I found out I have SA, and started my life changing night time activity of a hose head.

I had my ups and downs to be honest... nights that I hated my machine, and times that I wish I had found it sooner.
Biggest issue I had was with getting it comfortable enough to wear my nasal pillow so that I am not aware of it, and getting over the problems of mouth leaks.

I had a quick look at last night's result this morning... AHI of 4.9 which I guess is not too bad? leak rate of 0.46l/sec which I think is bad (based on another post I read), so it has confirmed my mouth leaks is an issue.
Have ordered a F&P 431 to try it and see if it would improve the number, but most importantly, the way I feel when I wake up.

Granted, I havent been getting alot of hours for sleep with average of maybe 5-6hours per night. I do wake up groggy... bright and awake when I get to work, but then by about 10-11 I would get the fog... not as bad where I would want to doze off, but still foggy...

I guess I havent been pro active enough in terms of monitoring and adjusting my treatment... maybe I took it for granted that by getting a machine, it would solve my SA problems... I guess I have lots more to learn

[okitoki]

well, received the 431 yesterday.... tried it on when I received it, and it does seem to fit farely nicely over my nose and mouth with no obvious pressure points.

First thing I noticed was that it is hard to put the mask on with the hose attached. seems like it would be easier to put mask on first, adjust and attached main hose.
next is that it is not that easy to take the mask off... the initial pull line to unclip the mouth piece is not easy, and sometimes it takes a bit of fumbling to take it off... dont know why but felt a slip panic for a second...
also I noticed with the breathing it seems like it was hard to breath out... as if the air is inflow is making it hard to exhale... my low was at 7cm before, but I might have to drop it down.... the auto start doesnt work any more, so I have to manually press the start to get it going (with nose pillow all i do is breath hard and it would start)

Air Leak was not obvious, with the harder breathing out, I was trying to feel for the "exhaust" of the mask, but it seems like it just an out flow from the front of the mask (is this normal?) after getting slightly used to the breathing I managed to sleep pretty well... actually I only slept at 1:30am (as I was fixing my modem and network) and woke up about 5am to go to the toilet... Well, trying to put the mask back on properly after that was near impossible... I kept getting leaks, and everytime I breath out, it makes the "farting" nose... at the end, I didnt sleep using it and woke up at 6:30

havent checked my result... will be interesting to see how it went...

[cflame1]

when you set the mask type to full... then the smart start gets turned off.