Mozart22 wrote:With one month down, I'm gonna give this another 2 months for a total of 3 months. If after 3 months of nightly use
I still feel tired as ever, I'm done with this CPAP stuff. I'm uninsured and paid a lot of money out of pocket for the device, mask, special
pillow, etc. I sincerely hope the next 2 months are much better, but for now it's just one big disappointment.
I can certainly understand why they say a majority of CPAP patients stop using their machine within the first year.
What bothers me the most is how I'm supposed to make a decent living and pay my bills. That's what troubles me.
Life costs money and money usually required a job. I have two degrees and I'm no idiot, but when I struggle a lot to work
20 hours per week, I know for a fact I could not survive working the usual 40 hours per week. Very little energy.
I've read that some people take Nuvigil or Provigil, but it can come with some unpleasant side effects and supposedly it's not
safe to take it everyday for years and years. I really need to find a way to be able to work before I sleep myself to
bankruptcy or eviction for being unable to pay bills. I am very willing to work and pay my own way, I just constantly
drowsy and half awake.
I hear you, I have some of the same concerns. It is really hard to summon motivation to tweak something that isn't helping. I'm almost done a 4-month taper off benzos, and am a few weeks into xPAP, and don't feel any better, and it's very depressing and disheartening. Especially when you need to support yourself.
But it also seems like you are pretty early in this journey. Someone with a trach on another thread said "Overcoming sleep apnea was THE most difficult experience in my whole life. I’ve dedicated the last 5 years treating this disorder and have spent well over $60k treating it. I can finally say with a high degree of certainty that I no longer have a sleep breathing disorder.” That's a worst-case scenario, but this is not something you can fix in a month. Some thoughts:
Your experience suggests that you likely have a multifactorial problem, not just SDB. That sucks, but it doesnt mean you should stop using PAP. If PAP dramatically lowers your AHI & nocturia, then it is helping one part of the problem, and you should continue doing it while you work on other potential issues, not give up on it in 2 months more. You might have insomnia, you could have a comorbid condition (thyroid), you could have mono, who knows. Either way, PAP doesn't cost you any more money to keep using, and it's almost certainly part of the multiple solutions you need for your multiple problems. And for some people it takes months to help.
I recommend doing a lot of reading to find other things you can try. Personally, I really like Dr. Park's book Sleep Interrupted and Dr. Krakow's book Sound Sleep Sound Mind.
I personally have found provigil 1-3 times a week (it's cheap if you get it generic from overseas) to be a big factor that enabled me to work over the past 5-10 years. The side effects are nothing compared to getting fired.
