Severe sleep apnea people, how did you survive before cpap?

[cosmo]

My testing showed I had mild OSA, AHI of 5.8 (normal is <5). I was dead tired every hour of everyday. My weight is 10-15lbs over. I was barely able to function.

How did people with severe apnea survive? I can't even imagine how I would function daily with higher numbers. I would probably stay in bed all day and wait for them to haul me into the mental institution

[kteague]

Yeah, I read some of the reports on here with number of events, duration of events, desats, etc. and think that there's no way I would have survived that. Barely survived with my moderate-severe classification. The good thing is that with therapeutic treatment, the playing field can be leveled to where the lives of the mild, moderate, and severe are working with the same nightly stats as even those without without OSA.

[Gerald?]

My AHI was 89.

How did I survive? Very poorly.

[squid13]

My Ahi was 51 on my side and 99 on my back and to put it simply my ass was dragging everyday. Cpap has been a life saver for me along with finally getting my Thyroid medication from my Doctor. I had to basically tell him to check my Thyroid and I believe it made him mad when it came back and I was right.

[Denial Dave]

My AHI was 31. I survived on naps.

[Slartybartfast]

Severe OSA doesn't always correspond to feelings of overwhelming daytime sleepiness/brainfog, etc.

When I was diagnosed with 73.4 AHI and oxygen desaturations of as low as 66%, having spent 20% of the time below 80% I felt "normal" and went about my daily job working with a bunch of people way smarter than I am in pharmaceutical research and development, and nobody knew there was a problem. I WAS sick a lot, but even my doctor didn't make the connection. A couple weeks before I was diagnosed I drove my pickup truck with an over-capacity load of antique diesel generator, tablesaw, machine tools, and a bunch of other heavy stuff 1100 miles nonstop for 19 hours, LA to Seattle and I was never even sleepy, thanks to frequent McDonald's ice teas and the use of their Bat-room (as with beer, you don't buy ice tea, you rent it).

But mid-morning after my initial study, I got a phone call from my sleep doc who said he had to see me that day. When I arrived, he said my condition was "life threatening" and he sent me home with a loaner CPAP until I could return for my titration study. The study was uneventful; I slept like a baby. Sleep tech awoke me at 0600 and apologized for waking me, saying I was sleeping so soundly. He said he had all the data he needed by 0200 but decided to let me sleep the rest of the night. Once I got on the hose I noticed a huge change in my alertness level, and I began to recall and understand the repetitive dreams I had had over the years of suffocating, drowning, being buried underground, etc. But even with untreated sleep apnea, I had been able to function normally at work and at home.

So severe OSA doesn't always manifest itself as fatigue and lethargy.

[BlackSpinner]

Severe OSA doesn't always correspond to feelings of overwhelming daytime sleepiness/brainfog, etc.

Once I got on the hose I noticed a huge change in my alertness level, and I began to recall and understand the repetitive dreams I had had over the years of suffocating, drowning, being buried underground, etc. But even with untreated sleep apnea, I had been able to function normally at work and at home.

So severe OSA doesn't always manifest itself as fatigue and lethargy.

Except for the last 4-5 months when I was waiting for appointments (there was a screw up partially my fault) I was "fine" and even then I was function ok at work but slept through every tv show. After I was on the hose for a few weeks I realized I had been quite depressed and not half as intelligent as I could have been. But only after wards did I see just how far down hill I had gotten.

[Slartybartfast]

FWIW, a week or so later, my secretary asked me what had changed. She said I looked younger, like I had just come back from vacation, and that my color was better. She said she had been worried about me, that my face looked so gray.

I remember how my dad looked before he had his first heart attack. He looked gray, too.

[Kitatonic]

I have severe OSA (50) but didn't realize it at all despite being a NP. So many of the symptoms gradually occur, you only notice months later, no nocturia, warm toes (desat 65), no headaches, etc. Survival meant early voluntary retirement for me. Only regret that I did not pursue the loud snoring a decade earlier.

[jencat824]

I was diagnosed 12 yrs ago. About 6 months before diagnosis I fell asleep crossing the Second St bridge going to work, hit a construction truck in the back end. My ins deemed it the fault of the construction crew, since they were missing some sign, or something. I was too scared to tell anyone I knew I fell asleep. I had been having an awful time keeping awake while driving - to work or anywhere else. About a month before diagnosis I was pulled over by a cop. Since I was sitting still at a light, and had fallen asleep I was panicked - though OMG what do they do to a driver for sleeping while driving? I didn't get to find out, since I had forgotten my seat belt. The cop kept trying to get me to stop crying, said he never had someone cry for forgetting a seatbelt. I never told him how grateful I was that a seatbelt ticket was all I got! My family is quite familiar with hearing this anytime someone mentions OSA.

After diagnosis, I recounted these events to my sleep dr, who said I was lucky I didn't kill anyone, and gave me a sound lecture about all the problems OSA can cause. I have Severe OSA along with RLS, PLMD and narcolepsy. It took a couple of years to see full benefits of treatment, but during all the 'beginners' time, I stuck it out, I never gave up. Kept trying to find the right mask, when I found it I paid for it when insurance wouldn't. Never slept without my machine, and I have been compliant all except a few days during a major power outage. After that I bought a generator so that will not happen again.

My point is that a sleeping disorder is DEADLY serious, whether mild or severe, where OSA or otherwise, SLEEP IS NECESSARY for a human to function. When the human does not get adequate sleep (including treatment for sleep disorders), the human does just what a car does when a car is deprived of gas & oil, it ceases to function.

Just my thoughts on the subject,
Jen

[ChrisD]

When I was diagnosed a year ago, it was with a 102 AHI / 119 RDI per hour and oxygen desaturations of as low as 62%.

I was like a zombie, just going through the motions of daily life. I would wake up tired and go to sleep tired. The more I slept the worse I felt. That was the confusing part.

The drive to work was scary, I was almost asleep half the time. I would drive with the windows open and the radio turned up just to stay awake. Every time traffic would stop my eyes would close. I couldn't stop it. A few times I had to slap myself to wake up just finish driving to work. Once I got to work I would drink Coke all day for the caffeine but eventually crash in the afternoon. I hated meetings, I could never keep awake, my head would be bobbing up and down. My co-workers would tease me about it. Sitting at my desk I would micro-nap and wake up with a jolt and throw my mouse across the desk. I had coworkers calling me on the phone to try and wake me up when I would start to snore too loudly. Not fun. Not fun at all.

I’m thankful that I got it the OSA diagnosed before I or someone else got hurt.

[Todzo]

After more than 20 years as a successful broadcast technician I was in shelter where a fellow bunk mate told me what I had. In those days the doctors missed the obvious symptoms 999 times out of 1000 tries.

I guess my answer is "in shelter".

[MaxDarkside]

How did people with severe apnea survive?

I didn't. OK, well, I got up again after I died. I had more in life to do and didn't have time for this "death thing".

[jzap]

I was diagnosed with severe apnea. AHI was 63 and blood sat down into the 60's 80% of the night.

I have been treated for high blood pressure for years by several doctors. They kept piling the medications, one upon the other with only minor success. Each time they would add a new med, I would ask what this one should replace, and it was, "Oh, no, take this with whatever you are taking now..."

When I would complain about drowsiness or tiredness, they would say, "Look here, that's on the list of possible side effects of Lotrel." Frequent bathroom trips at night, "Look here, that's on the list of side effects for Labetalol." Dry mouth, "Toprol"...

So, yes, I was tired all the time, but I thought it was a normal part of taking BP meds that were supposed to be saving my life. I said it was a mistake to take my wife to a doctor appointment where she brought up the fact that I would stop breathing at night. I told them that I was dreaming about snorkeling in the Bahamas, but they sent me for a sleep study anyway.

After my first night on CPAP (at my titration study), miracle of miracles, no dry mouth or bathroom trips. Unlike my diagnostic study, where I went home and slept half the day, after my titration, I stayed up all the next day. So, I'm a bit upset that the doctors hadn't figured out what was going on sooner. I'm glad that my wife was concerned enough to put them on the right track.

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

I could easily pick quotes from almost all of the previous posters to this question as I shared many of the same struggles and symptoms, but honestly, I don't really know how I did survive . For at least the last 15 years before my diagnosis (with the last 5 - 6 years being the most severe) I was dealing with severe snoring, terrible sleep issues, extreme tiredness, but chose to remain in total denial. At the time I had my overnight Sleep Study I had an AHI of 78 and O2 de-saturations to 74%.

The only answer I can try to come up with right now to give some sort of reason that I survived is due to my wife's endless pleading and harassing, my daily Venti (20 oz.) Starbucks coffee (often twice a day), and the never ending grace of God.

My fearful procrastination in seeking medical help and the necessary treatment for something so severe, so very devastating and dangerous to my health, is probably the stupidest thing I have EVER done in my life .

John