Foggy brain, shortness of breath...

[mmiller5373]

I'm a 25 year old male in pretty good shape. I'm roughly 180lbs and about 18% body fat. I work out about 5 days a week and have a pretty active job, so overall, I'm pretty healthy.

When I was 20, I started to notice that I was tired all the time, so I went to see a sleep doctor. I was diagnosed with severe OSA after having the sleep study. The sleep doctor told me I had pretty large tonsils and that it would be a good idea to go and see an ENT to see about getting them removed. He figured that the large tonsils were causing the OSA.

The ENT told me they definitely were large, but that it wasn't a good idea to get them removed unless they were infected or something. I ended up losing my medical insurance due to a lay off, so I just kept on living my life for the next 2 years.

At that point, I skyrocketed to 220lbs and about 32% body fat... so of course, the OSA symptoms worsened. I felt like I could no longer concentrate in class, I had shortness of breath, a foggy brain, some nights I couldn't fall asleep, while other nights I'd fall asleep on my couch, I had severe nasal congestion... the list goes on. I went to see another sleep doctor for a sleep study and found that my OSA had gotten worse. Big surprise. He gave me a CPAP machine and I've been using the machine ever since, but the symptoms never went away. I went back to this doctor several times and all he did was increase the pressure.

So the past year I've worked my tail off and lost a lot of weight due to proper diet and exercise. Like I said, I'm now 180lbs. I'm still using the CPAP machine every night, but when I awake in the morning, I still feel VERY tired. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm fully awake until about 7pm in the night... and then it's hard for me to fall asleep when it's time to go to bed. The other thing about my symptoms is that it’s pretty hard to describe how I feel. Like, I almost feel like I have shortness of breath or that my body is losing oxygen. It’s like my brain isn’t getting enough of something. I never feel 100%. I still feel like I can't concentrate… even small tasks like doing bills can get the best of me. The sleep apnea has even affected my communication skills. Sometimes I forget about what I’m talking about, and I often forget simple words. My nasal congestion feels very severe. Some days I feel like I can’t breathe through my nose at all. There’s nothing up there, it’s just inflammation in the passages. I’ve tried all the OTC allergy medicines, but nothing works.

At this point I don’t know what to do. I use the hybrid mask because I’m a mouth breather.

[Pugsy]

Unfortunately the machine you show in your profile offers zero meaningful data on that SD card, hours of use only.

No way to judge therapy pressure effectiveness. What is the pressure set at?

[archangle]

Are you currently using any OTC nasal sprays?

Try some of the prescription nasal sprays like Astelin.

What is your pressure?

You might consider "Sinus Rinse," a commercially available saline solution for flushing the nostrils.

[Emilia]

Clearly, you aren't getting good therapy from your machine and/or mask, and you can't know which it is or what the problems are since your machine is not capable of providing you efficacy data. If you are now employed and have insurance, can you get your doctor to change your machine to an Auto Cpap -- with full data capabilities? If you don't have insurance, perhaps you can get a Rx from the doctor to buy your own online. There are many available via cpapauction.com, secondwindcpap.com or even a new Intellipap Auto Adjust w/Smart Flex for a good price.

Once you have a fully data capable machine and the software to go with it, you can take control of your therapy and adjust things on your own with our help. You must find out what the problems are to be able to fix them. Even your doc hasn't a clue what the issues are since there is no data from which he can extrapolate that information.

I know how hard all this is when you are sleep deprived and have foggy brain syndrome... We've all been there, done that. You must either navigate this yourself or get a partner/spouse/good friend who has a clear mind to help you. It can be done, and we are here to help you figure it out.

Good luck!! Keep us posted.....

[SleepyT]

Unfortunately the machine you show in your profile offers zero meaningful data on that SD card, hours of use only.

No way to judge therapy pressure effectiveness. What is the pressure set at?

Pugsy is right. Do you suspect you might be suffering leaks somehow? If you think you are not getting enough oxygen...you probably aren't. You might consider a pusle oximeter to see what your oxygen levels are during sleep.

[mmiller5373]

Unfortunately the machine you show in your profile offers zero meaningful data on that SD card, hours of use only.

No way to judge therapy pressure effectiveness. What is the pressure set at?

They started me off at a 7, then went to a 9, then to an 11.

[mmiller5373]

Are you currently using any OTC nasal sprays?

Try some of the prescription nasal sprays like Astelin.

What is your pressure?

You might consider "Sinus Rinse," a commercially available saline solution for flushing the nostrils.

I'm not using any OTC nasal sprays because I've read that you can become dependant on them. My pressure is currently set at an 11. Sinus rinses don't work for me because there's nothing up my nose, it's just inflammation in the passages. When I blow my nose, nothing comes out.

[mmiller5373]

Clearly, you aren't getting good therapy from your machine and/or mask, and you can't know which it is or what the problems are since your machine is not capable of providing you efficacy data. If you are now employed and have insurance, can you get your doctor to change your machine to an Auto Cpap -- with full data capabilities? If you don't have insurance, perhaps you can get a Rx from the doctor to buy your own online. There are many available via cpapauction.com, secondwindcpap.com or even a new Intellipap Auto Adjust w/Smart Flex for a good price.

Once you have a fully data capable machine and the software to go with it, you can take control of your therapy and adjust things on your own with our help. You must find out what the problems are to be able to fix them. Even your doc hasn't a clue what the issues are since there is no data from which he can extrapolate that information.

I know how hard all this is when you are sleep deprived and have foggy brain syndrome... We've all been there, done that. You must either navigate this yourself or get a partner/spouse/good friend who has a clear mind to help you. It can be done, and we are here to help you figure it out.

Good luck!! Keep us posted.....

I do have insurance now. I'm thinking about going to see another doctor for another sleep study. How often should one do a sleep study?

and yes the Foggy brain is impacting every area in my life. It's tough.

[archangle]

I'm not using any OTC nasal sprays because I've read that you can become dependant on them. My pressure is currently set at an 11. Sinus rinses don't work for me because there's nothing up my nose, it's just inflammation in the passages. When I blow my nose, nothing comes out.

Sometimes, even if you don't have gunk up there, a rinse helps because it removes pollen and other allergins, and moisturizes things. Maybe not. The prescription sprays are also worth trying, but you may need to use them for several days before getting any relief.

[Janknitz]

I do have insurance now. I'm thinking about going to see another doctor for another sleep study. How often should one do a sleep study?

Unfortunately, with a data-less machine, the answer is "as often as needed". You could AVOID another sleep study if you had a data capable APAP because that would give enough data to see if there's anything wrong with your therapy that is contributing to your symptoms. Even a data capable CPAP would help. But your machine tells you nothing.

Since you now have insurance, and it isn't the insurance that paid for the brick you got, you might consider getting another sleep study AND another machine (fully data capable APAP). You might be able to swing this because the new insurance company did not pay for your existing machine.

Alternatively, you could rent an APAP for a short period of time to gather data--if you find a good doctor who will work with you on that instead of requiring a full sleep study since that's the way most sleep doctors make their money.

[Thomas F.]

In the sleep study did they report the apnea was worse when sleeping on your back? For now I would suggest sleeping on side or stomach only. I wear a fanny pack with softballs on my lower back to keep from back sleeping. Probably your combination of tonsiles + tongue falling into the airway during REM sleep is the problem. Sometimes you can correct the problem just by sleeping position and not having to use CPAP. Try forcing yourself to sleep on stomach and see how you feel the next day. You are probably getting almost zero level 3 and 4 sleep which is why you feel out if it, absent minded, etc. This happend to me too.

My problem was severe enough that I had surgery. However, just removing tonsiles did not solve apnea. I had to go back on CPAP and struggled until I had another surgery -- hyoid advancement + UPPP and now I have no more problems getting great sleep -- and no CPAP required.

[mikeandtina59]

....

but when I awake in the morning, I still feel VERY tired. Sometimes I don't feel like I'm fully awake until about 7pm in the night...

I also feel very tired in the morning - very foggy - like my brain isn't working right. I don't feel normal until later in the afternoon. This sounds like what you are experiencing, too. I have felt this way for many years, and have been on CPAP for about three weeks. I'm not feeling any better, but am just hoping that it takes awhile for everything to adjust.

Good luck to you!
Tina