Irish Newbie

Hi All. I just found this site and have found it more informative that my GP or consultant. I had my sleep studies in Feb and had my Cpap delivered the day before yesterday. I have used it last night and the night before and I am so tired!!!!! I am at work and was working yesterday evening also and would love to have a doze. Usually I feel tired to some degree but this is a lot worse. I use a Remflex auto with cflex and a respironics comfortgel mask.
I have woken many times in the last 2 nights and mostly due to the machine pressure being increased and leaking into my eyes. I know its early days and i intend to persist but I think i just wanted to see if this is all normal.....

Gerry

Hello Gerry, and welcome to Hosewhead World.
1) Do you know what your titrated pressure (from the sleep study) was?
2) Do you know what the minimum and maximum pressure setting are on your APAP?
3) Have you tried a good nasal pillow mask?


The APAP is probably raising the pressure to compensate for a large leak, and that is making the problem worse. You may need to narrow the APAP's pressure range, and of course, fix the mask, or get another one..

I am also a newbie, having used CPAP for about a month. Things were good at first, but I have had some of the same problems you report. My sleep doc and his staff are very helpful, though. Some of the things that have come up are:

> GPs often don't know enough about sleep medicine to make the right choices. I was mis-diagnosed as not having OSA at all, years ago by a GP. My current sleep doc looked at those old results and concluded the GP was wrong and I should been on CPAP for the last 7 years.

> If you have OSA, you probably haven't slept right in years. You body is re-adjusting to being able to sleep and breathe at the same time. It takes some adjustment time.

> Initial titrations and prescriptions are apparently not perfect even when done by experts. Settings and equipment may have to be adjusted as you go along in cooperation with a sleep doc.

> My sleep doc also diagnosed me with restless leg syndrome, RLS, which commonly accompanies OSA. This can be a big factor in nighttime wake ups. He put me on Requip, which I initially have had trouble with. I am learning that the timing of taking the Requip before bedtime makes a big difference. Taking it two hours before sleep can get a different result than taking it one hour before.

Bottom line: Get a good, board certified, sleep doc. Accept no substitutes! Then work with him. Follow his advice, but then keep noticing and reporting problems and symptoms and get the adjustments made. XPAP treatment is a big hassle to endure. Eduring it with less than perfect settings, meds and other procedures is ridiculous.

I am relatively new to cpap as well, five weeks into it. I had the exact same thing, I thought it was so ironic that being treated for my tiredness from lack of sleep, was making it worse!

But it was a different kind of tired, it felt like exhaustion from being up and down frequently to adjust mask, etc. At the same time, I must have been getting better sleep when I was sleeping, so certain areas of my waking life were already improving! esp. concentration, and being able to perform tasks without forgetting where I was.

Now, I am getting mask fit and comfort under control and actually sleeping with mask on until dawn. It was only three - four hours total at first.

Thank u all, this is so amazing, to hear things I am experiencing reflected back at me. Like you say winknblinknnod, already I notice the tiredness is different.... I find it hard to explain, not as exhausted??? feels more natural....?
As with you Mando, I had Labrynthitis 9 years ago, followed by what the Docs called ME, both the vertigo and the "ME" have recurred a number of times a year ever since, but some of the symtoms are so similar to Apnea that I am wondering if it has been this all along, cos all that works when I have gotten these attacks in the past is about 2 - 3 days of bed rest!!!! Perhaps was exhaustion all along??????
Gerry

Gerry,

Stick with it! I think everyone experiences some sort of adjustment period with this thing. There is a lot of tinkering and adjusting, but when you start to see the changes... even if they are small... it will be worth it.

I too have noticed little things like mental clarity (even through the yawns), and fewer headaches and body aches. The best part is that I now look forward to sleeping. I also look forward how much better I will feel in the coming months and years.

Good luck!

Shelley

It's a long journey but as you relate you are already feeling the difference. There are a folks who like the Comfort Classic and have made it work for them but it was my first mask and impossible to stop the leaks on. It set me back 2 years actually until I finally started up again and got to try nasal pillows - Swift first, others later. IMHO Resmed Activa, FP Flexifit/s are much more effective nasal interfaces but everyone is different. Don't waste too much time attempting to make that CC work though.

David