First Week - Done

[lytepole]

Well, week one on CPAP is done. I've felt worse physically and emotionally this last week than I have in a very long time. Plus today, I look like a complete zombie due to dark circles under my eyes. Good thing its October so I can pretend its part of my Halloween costume. I suppose I should just be glad that I was able to wear the mask 7-8 hours each night without going crazy.

I know I'm in the adjustment phase, and its not my intention to quit. Just had to vent.

I've tried three masks and have gone back to the original in my equipment list below. For whatever reason, despite LOVING the headgear, the Swift FX Nano just irritated my skin around my nose so much, and I was having problems with leaks when I moved around.

Here's to a better week two!

Sleepyhead charts from last night (ignore the last hour - I was trying to go back to sleep for a bit and never really totally got back to sleep) Anything exciting in there? My leak rate was a little wonky around 2:45, but I still had a smiley face on mask fit this morning.

Thanks!

[Pugsy]

Nothing of great excitement from what I see.
The leak increase that you are talking about is still within acceptable limits.
Your AHI...remove that last cluster while you were awake and maybe that first cluster if you were awake then and it would be even less but even with them included is within acceptable limits.
Could you grab a screen shot of the flow limitation graph...let's take a peak at it. Might be something useful there.

You can change that leak rate y axis so it isn't fixed with that 120 L/min mark and get a floating graph that will show the leak line better. I think by just double clicking over by where the y and x (vertical and horizontal) lines meet in that lower left corner. Makes for a better picture of the leak line and auto adjusts to whatever the maximum leak happened to be.

How is your overall sleep quality? Are you waking often? If so, any idea why and is this something new or has it been going on long before cpap therapy began?
Do you take any meds even OTC stuff? If so, what?

[lytepole]

Thanks for looking, Pugsy!

For meds, I'm the one on Patanase, Singulair, Nasonex, Naturethroid, etc... I know there are some potentials there for drowziness. Also working with supplements and shots to get help with my vitamin deficiencies.

I am still waking up a few times a night, but last night was better. I seem to often still wake up in a panic sometime between 4-5:30 am, but I didn't last night - this is not new to CPAP, but I'd love to make it go away. Often, when I wake up at that time, I'm going through the list of things I'm behind on for my clients, which has been getting even longer this week due to exhaustion levels at an all new high and productivity at an all new low. I put a screen shot of what that panic usually looks like in Sleepyhead, and it does look like I'm having some events around those panic moments. What can't say for sure is if the event comes before or after I wake up panicked. On 10/6, I don't remember looking at my clock until about 5 am, but the events were before that. So, I'm left wondering if the chicken or the egg came first.

Hubby has been sleeping in the guest room the last two nights as he is working weird hours this week, so that may have helped my sleeping last night.

I know I need to be patient while my body and mind adjust, but if there is anything I can do to speed up the process, I want to do it

Here is a different view of the Leaks and the Flow Limit:




Also, this is what a normal wake up in panic mode looks like in Sleepyhead:

[Pugsy]

Flow limitation graph isn't exciting.

Thanks for reminding me about the meds. Now I remember I asked you that question before. I figured I probably did as that's what I usually do but was too lazy to go back and reread your prior threads.

What time do you take your various meds? Any of them in the evening that could be taken in the AM instead?
Is one of your problems asthma?

Yes, some of them have a "may cause drowsiness" sticker but they also might have an agitation/anxiety side effect. That sort of side effect tends to cause a bit of sleep maintenance insomnia.
Asthma meds tend to do that a bit because they tend to act like a bit of speed does on the body...wire us up a little bit.
Singulair lists "sleep disturbances" but I couldn't find out exactly what kind of disturbance they were talking about.
Any thyroid med can cause a bit of "nervousness" which is always a red flag for potentially causing sleep problems and in particular insomnia. If your thyroid levels themselves bounce around a lot that could also make any insomnia issues more problematic...and when a person has trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep there's some sort of insomnia going on.

Your fractured sleep will obviously have a major impact on how you feel during the day.
The panic or anxiety feelings...I don't see anything hugely alarming on this report that might point to maybe big cluster of events that got by the defenses and caused maybe a big drop in oxygen or something like that.

Could simply be part of the usual adjustment to sleeping with the alien on our face but while we don't expect major improvement over night we sure don't expect to feel worse with cpap therapy. That's a real bummer to fix the sleep apnea stuff and feel worse by doing it.
You might talk this over with your doctor (do you have a follow up visit scheduled) to see if he has any ideas.
I hesitate to suggest sleep aids (even OTC) with the meds you are using and possibility of asthma until you run it by your doctor. While I don't think there would be any great problem in this situation I think running this by your doctor would be in order.

I am not surprised that you have difficulty getting back to sleep after a panic/anxiety attack....your body probably got a good dose of adrenalin from whatever caused the initial problem and adrenalin is speed in nature's purest form. Guaranteed pretty much to get you good and wired up and not be able to sleep.

So you get the standard speech...give it time (like you have a choice if you want to treat the apnea) but do get with your doctor sooner than later about your issues. You shouldn't have to feel like death warmed over and be ready for Halloween 3 weeks early with the eye makeup. It's probably not one single thing that is the culprit but most likely a combination of a lot of little things adding up to make a big problem when one by itself might not have been that problematic.

[raftergirl]

You may want to try aromatherapy. I'm trying the Pur-Sleep products and I've found them helpful. I get to sleep quicker using the Calm scent. I can't seem to find the Pur-Sleep website, but it explains about desensitization to cpap by using aromatherapy. If you already have some essential oils you like, try a little on a cotton ball placed next to the air intake on your machine. See if this helps at all. Make sure the scent is not overwhelming, just a light fragrance in your mask to help you relax.

Anyone know why the Pur-Sleep website has disappeared?

[lytepole]

All my meds are primarily for allergies, including the Singulair. With the pollen count down for the year, I may just ask my allergist if its safe to go off for now, and I suspect I will get the answer of yes. Would be interesting to see how that went as a test anyway. I honestly feel like all the allergy treatments I'm on are probably for untreated OSA symptoms I was having (mainly headaches which I attributed to allergies).

I'll get my 30 day appt scheduled with my sleep doc. Also have a follow up with my PCP in early November.

Thanks for the help!

[lytepole]

You may want to try aromatherapy. I'm trying the Pur-Sleep products and I've found them helpful. I get to sleep quicker using the Calm scent.

Great idea raftergirl! I'm up for trying anything these days.

[Pugsy]

Anyone know why the Pur-Sleep website has disappeared?

It's still there or was just now.
http://pur-sleep.com/shop/form-fit-cpap-pillow.html/
http://pur-sleep.com/
and the aroma therapy products
http://pur-sleep.com/shop/cpap-desensitization.html

refills and different aromas
http://pur-sleep.com/shop/aromatic-refills.html
hadn't been there in a while as I usually just get them from cpap.com but I see Rosa and Paradise are something I haven't tried and I have always preferred floral to the minty aroma...so I am off to order those 2 and try them out.

You don't have to use the discs...they are handy but not critical.
A few drops on a cotton ball placed on something to protect the nightstand from the oil works just as well.

I love this stuff myself.

[raftergirl]

Thanks Pugsy. Not sure why I wasn't finding it? So far I have just tried the sinus starter pack with Clear and Calm scents. The Clear is nice if I'm stuffy. I wasn't sure if I liked Calm at first. It's kind of earthy. But I've found it really relaxing. Anything that can help me relax and sleep better with the cpap is a good thing. I work in a hospital that has a very active integrative medicine program. We use aromatherapy a lot to help our patients relax and recover.

[Pugsy]

Great idea raftergirl! I'm up for trying anything these days.

It is a good idea and worth trying if you like aromatherapy stuff and I sure do.
I just ordered the Rosa, Paradise and Creme (which I guess is vanilla)... love florals..unsure how I will like the Creme but it sounds good. Don't normally care for the food type of aromas though I know a lot of people do. They just make me hungry. His Black cherry was real nice though. The chocolate made me want to go get a big Hersey's bar.

I have found that the Pur-Sleep oils are stronger than the other essential oils I have tried in the past that I got in stores.
A little bit of the Pur Sleep oils goes a lot further and lasts a lot longer in terms of the aroma during the night than the others I have tried.
Some of the others barely make it long enough to get me to sleep and a bit weak in the aroma department despite putting it right up against the filter area. With the Pur Sleep oils I have to be careful and not put too much oil on the disc/or cotton ball (whichever I happen to be using at the time) or I have to put the disc quite a bit away from the air intake at the filter.