are you fully recovered after CPAP or still tired?Poll pleas

[kteague]

Just from personal experience (and from reading here), yes, there are plenty of cpap users who have not been given the information, tools, or support needed that endures until their treatment optimized. It is an issue - we talk about it all the time, it's the whole premise behind this forum. So we continue to inform, commiserate, encourage, support, and dish out straight talk. But once one is getting good numbers and seemingly good sleep over a period of time, at some point it makes sense to turn our investigations toward other matters. I didn't answer the poll because I know my PLMD is my tormentor. Like so many didn't know they had OSA, many don't know they have PLMD either, and that can lead one to erroneously believe their cpap treatment is not successful. But to be honest, even if I didn't have PLMD, unless I eat healthily, consistently control my diabetes, lose the excess weight, and become adequately active, I am gonna feel tired. There is often a cascade of health effects from years of untreated apnea. They all have to be addressed before one can realistically expect to feel anything resembling remarkable. For some just the treatment is enough, but who knows statistically how many that is. I think it is far too complex to be able to do much categorizing of the remaining group of "the tired". About if those tired have optimized their therapy, don't get me started. I'd like to see a movement to ban non data machines.

[kteague]

By the way Elena, my RLS greatly improved too after starting cpap. Wish I could say the same about the PLMD.

[elena88]

Im glad you RLS improved after cpap..

I thought all that burning sensation was from food allergies! Some mornings my husband would have to rub and pat my arms and legs and
that would take care of it, and he would say.. "OK, WHAT did you eat this time?"

It was always a blaming thing, and now, after all these years, I find out it was caused by OSA, so thank goodness I dont get the third degree
in the morning from my husband about THAT...
Now if I have it, he says.. "Ok, did you wear your mask all night last night????"


Im sorry you are struggling so much with PLM, that must be so frustrating!

I just wish we could all curl up and sleep like kittens and puppies! THEY dont have a problem!

[nobody]

Oh, ok you just can't add

At the time you wrote that post there had only been 33 votes total. So that's what? Like 22 people still tired? Out of all CPAP users that's not a lot, heck out of all registered users on this forum that's not a lot(total members 50509)! I agree that many of the people participating on this forum are likely to be new to CPAP and still getting things adjusted so more likely to still be tired.

I'm not sure what the point of your posts are, though? There's no way for you (or anyone) to know the exact reason that someone might be tired. Don't you think it's worth investigating all possibilities? Again, I would start with getting software and card reader and getting the pressure and mask adjusted to the best possible for YOU. Then if you're still tired after getting that taken care of it's time to investigate other possibilities...including psychological!

Where are you getting this 66% number?

only the first option in the poll is complete recovery, all other options are incomplete or no recovery at all
so you look at perectage of first option and the rest are no complete/no recovery- so far it is around 65% having no complete recovery

I agree that this is not a random sample because people who are well treated usually they don't hang around here much, but neverthe less it is showing the size of the problem

[davecpap]

I posted this in Julie's follow-up poll, but I think its important to post it here too:

viewtopic/t54041/Reasons-sleep-is-unsat ... -Poll.html

After a couple weeks of CPAP and still feeling tired during the day, I saw a psychologist. He suggested my being tired was actually depression, and to get out and do stuff. I've forced myself to be active the past week - went to movies, went to some astronomy club meetings, hand washed my cars for the first time, started using exercise bike just 15 mins/day, started taking a geology class at the community college for fun, and it has made a PROFOUND difference. Perhaps more of a difference than my CPAP. I've been sleeping LESS, waking more refreshed now that I have stuff to look forward to.

This was instead of the Provigil suggestion from the sleep doc. I'm shocked what just 15 mins on my Schwinn Airdyne does for my energy levels. Other things I did - pretty sure I was chronically dehydrated, made it a point to drink my 8 glasses of water. I also noticed having mostly protein for breakfast instead of carbs like cereal really helps get me going in the morning - previously, I'd have cheerios w/raisins or banana, and I'd usually be *fighting* to stay awake 30 mins later. Some eggs/sausage instead for breakfast, or a bagel with lots of cream cheese really, really helps.

I put all my faith in the CPAP restoring my energy levels, but it really look a lot of small changes together to see real results - CPAP, mild exercise, staying active, staying hydrated, less carbs & more protein!

[LoQ]

where the heck did you get the idea that I am blaming you or people who are still tired that they haven't worked hard enough or looked carefully enough to figure out the problem.??

Apparently I have missed your point, as have others.

Why don't you try stating it directly?

[williamco]

Like 22 people still tired? Out of all CPAP users that's not a lot,

22 people out of the 33 who were participating at the time, not out of all CPAP users, because not all users have participated.
you calculate percentage not bare numbers. and it is just a sensor to how rampant this problem is

the percentage still holds true through out the time of the poll

other causes other than ineffeciant application of CPAP, Yes it could be

do you want to concider it as a fact that CPAP treatment in all these percentage is a closed chapter /complete perfect therapy and there are other causes in ALL these percentage, well guys, every body analyzes this number the way they want, we don't have to agree on what it means . we don't want to fight while we actually trying to help each other..

[williamco]

Apparently I have missed your point, as have others.

Why don't you try stating it directly?

other than my statement in red that CPAP might still need some extra configuration, tweak, additions, ..etc other than that I really don't know, I wish I knew. this is why I am trying to find out but it is too much resistance here I don't know why

I am not blaming any body. I am one of the unlucky tired people. no one here is trying to sell anything or have any special interest so why the tension or resistance or denial of these facts (relatively too many/high percentage of tired people) I don't know..

[nobody]

Apparently I have missed your point, as have others.

Why don't you try stating it directly?

other than my statement in red that CPAP might still need some extra configuration, tweak, additions, ..etc other than that I really don't know, I wish I knew. this is why I am trying to find out but it is too much resistance here I don't know why

I am not blaming any body. I am one of the unlucky tired people. no one here is trying to sell anything or have any special interest so why the tension or resistance or denial of these facts (relatively too many/high percentage of tired people) I don't know..

The resistance is that I (and maybe others) don't think you're interpreting this logically. At least we seem to be on the same page as far as getting things adjusted goes (I think!). Ok so you are still tired. Have you got software and a card reader?

[LoQ]

I'm gonna have to bow out of the conversation, because I still have no idea what your point is. Everyone who is tired wants to feel more energetic. I hope you find what you need.

[williamco]

Have you got software and a card reader?

yes it is my profile in every post.

may be I am not doing a good job in expressing my points so I will bow out of the conversation also

[nobody]

Have you got software and a card reader?

yes it is my profile in every post.

may be I am not doing a good job in expressing my points so I will bow out of the conversation also

Ok then. Maybe you should try to post some of your results from the software. Maybe people here can take a look at it and give you some suggestions. If your CPAP therapy is actually going well, then I do think you should look into other causes for your tiredness. As others have pointed out, bad sleep is not the only thing that causes day time tiredness. I do hope you can get it resolved!

[WearyOne]

Ok then. Maybe you should try to post some of your results from the software. Maybe people here can take a look at it and give you some suggestions. If your CPAP therapy is actually going well, then I do think you should look into other causes for your tiredness. As others have pointed out, bad sleep is not the only thing that causes day time tiredness. I do hope you can get it resolved!

And there are other things besides OSA that can cause bad sleep. Bad sleep can still be the reason for the tiredness, but poorly-treated OSA is not the only cause of bad sleep.

Maybe the OP is thinking that even with good AHI numbers and good oxygen numbers that pressure would still need to tweaked a little? Now that I think about it, I believe I've read here that different brands of cpap machines have different algorithms in how they work and that some folks do better on one brand of cpap machine than another. I'm not talking about a cpap versus apap versus bipap, etc., but different manufactures of cpap machines.

If doctors treating thyroid disorders are any indication, it might be difficult to get a sleep doc to work with you if your numbers look good. Some thyroid docs don't want to change your thyroid medication if your blood work is "in range," even if you feel rotten. They say, "Well, you're in range, so it must be something else that's causing your problems." Good thyroid docs will listen to the patient and at least make some changes for a while to see if it helps. Maybe changing the pressure for a few weeks on the cpap, even if the numbers ARE good, might be worth it to see if it helps. Might take my own suggestion here!

Had forgotten the, but my reports show I'm still snoring, sometimes a lot, even though AHI is under 1 ALL the time. Raising the pressure a little doesn't really help; in fact, I almost feel worse with it raised. What what would happen if I lowered it? Hmm.

Pam

[torontoCPAPguy]

My situation may be somewhat different than yours.

Nontheless, my main issue prior to CPAP was low blood oxygen saturation when I slept, which shot my blood pressure sky high and awakened me multiple times a night.

I am now using an S9 Auto and sleeping better than ever before, but the results of my fight with H1N1 and almost a month on life support have left me struggling back up the mountain.... slowly getting there (when I left the hospital I could neither walk nor roll over in bed... now I can walk the flying field, malls, roll over in bed and lots more). So, I am getting more and better sleep than ever but probably still not enough of it (will I ever?) so I generally am still somewhat tired and it varies from day to day. Today was one of those days after an unsettled night (we witnessed an aircraft crash yesterday) so we have taken it fairly easy. Tomorrow will likely be a day where we are full of beans, raring to go.

The issue of low blood oxygen saturation and skyrocketing blood pressure are gone and with some good fortune we may not need XPAP forever. Dunno. But I do know that we will live longer and better because of it.

[donnafowler]

If you had read my post carefully, you would have seen the part about having 8 fabulous months after beginning CPAP. Part of my point is that there are underlying issues for many people that feel tired, and many are not lucky enough to figure out what those are! What other things do you do to correct your fatigue? Do you eat properly, get enough exercise, get enough social time, have hobbies and interests, deal with your stress in a productive manner? CPAP is a tool, not a miracle.