New Member Mild OSA

[sleeptoomuch]

Hello everyone, I am a 45 year old male just diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, AHI 11. Just wanted to check in. I have been using the cpap now for about three weeks and doing a lot of reading on sleep apnea. I started out with a full face mask because I thought it covered all of the bases. It was a struggle with mask fidgeting, marks on my face, sores,acne breaking out, and leaking at higher pressures. three days ago I started with a true blue nasal mask and it has been much better. I believe I breath through my nose most of the time. i have been able to get comfortable and sleep which is good. I have not noticed any dramatic changes as far as daytime energy yet. So I was wondering, would it be a good idea to continue with cpap even if I dont experience positive changes with energy in the daytime? I do sleep soundly, don't get up in the middle of the night at all since using cpap, and have been told I don't snore. Before cpap I experienced daytime tiredness, not so much sleepiness. No matter how many hours I slept, I would not feel refreshed. I did function and carry on though. I am on auto pressure to find a good pressure for me. I think it is 5-15 or maybe 20. Thanks ahead of time for any responses.

[spanielman]

Stay with it regardless. I have been a "hose nose" for about 2 and a half years and I will tell anyone that at first I was not impressed. I still have some small periods of time when I appear to not sleep as well as I would like. But, all in all it is very worth it. Stay with it, every night. Persevere through and you will be richly rewarded. My reward took several months to "kick in" but now I will not sleep without my mask.

Jim
Georgia

[Sheriff Buford]

I agree... three weeks ain't gonna do it... I think your body is still adjusting to the therapy. At first, mask shopping is normal. What are your leak rates?

Sheriff

[phoebe368]

Yes stay with it. Central sleep apnea often develops after first using cpap, after sleep apnea surgery and after tracheostomy surgery. The brain must become accustomed to the difference in airflow. It took me about 4 months to see a difference.

[Pugsy]

Have your check your leak rate to make sure that leaks aren't compromising therapy?
Do you have the software so you can see for sure what is going on?

[jweeks]

So I was wondering, would it be a good idea to continue with cpap even if I dont experience positive changes with energy in the daytime?

Hi,

Did you have any oxygen desaturations listed on your sleep study? For example, my 02 levels dropped until the mid-60% range at times before I started CPAP. That is like sleeping with a plastic bag over my head and suffocating. Each time the brain gets starved of oxygen, it causes brain damage. If you accumulate that damage over a number of years, it can really become an impairment. Similar thinks happen to your heart and other major organs. In addition, if your sleep efficiency was low, that means you probably were not getting a lot of REM sleep. That affects your memory over time and makes it a lot harder to solve problems or learn new things. Finally, you mention that you haven't been getting up as much. Were you getting up to go to the bathroom? If so, excessive going to the bathroom at night can burn out your kidneys. Those are essential for life, so you don't want to damage them. These are all good reasons to keep using the machine.

-john-

[sleepy54482]

I was in a similar situation. Extremely tired, memory issues, mood problems. My sleep study said I had mild apnea. Like you I did not notice an immediate relief. This is quite typical for patients with mild apnea. It took me three months just to adjust to sleeping with the infernal contraption strapped to my face. However, six years later I am absolutely compliant and things are much better. Stick with it...it is absolutely worth it. By the way.....you CANNOT burn out your kidneys by peeing at night. That is complete nonsense.....the urine is already in your bladder. If you need to pee....do it

Good luck!

[Pugsy]

While we are unlikely to burn out or kidneys with untreated apnea over working them unnecessarily can't be good on them.
It's a well known fact that nocturia (need to pee frequently during the night) can be a symptom of sleep apnea and the cessation of the nocturia is a well known indication that the cpap therapy has helped.
The stress hormone secreted by the heart is call Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP).
So not only are the kidneys working extra hard...so is the heart and that isn't good either. There is so much more to effective cpap therapy than just the elusive miracle of feeling like superman during the day. Often the miracle just slips up on a person and they never really notice a marked change in daytime feeling. Even if a person never feels like superman the fact that nocturia goes away is one clue that the cpap therapy is at least greatly reducing the apnea events.
Often the not feeling the "miracle" can also be related to something else...not always related solely to sleep apnea.


http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-dis ... nation.htm

How Apnea Causes Nocturia

Umlauf explains that during episodes of sleep apnea, the soft structures in the throat relax and close off the airway, setting into motion a chain of physiological events. "Oxygen decreases, carbon dioxide increases, the blood becomes more acidic, the heart rate drops and blood vessels in the lung constrict," says Umlauf. "The body is alerted that something is very wrong. The sleeper must wake enough to reopen the airway. By this time, the heart is racing and experiences a false signal of fluid overload. The heart excretes a hormone-like protein that tells the body to get rid of sodium and water, resulting in nocturia."