Sleep doctor:"Apnea shouldn't make me feel this tired"???

Julie wrote:Hi - I wonder if part of the problem here is that a lot of us are somewhat older than you and have been here long enough to let everything hang out - we're used to sharing things that anywhere else would be considered way too personal (or yucky or seemingly trivial) and so when a newbie comes along we want to help, and end up wanting all the details of your history looking for clues. And then sound know-it-all and righteous about our replies. Please don't take it personally - we're nerds, jerks, dorks half the time and half asleep the rest of it, but we mean well and your story is a challenge for us. We're not being nosy or prurient but eager, and just want to help. If there's anything at all, silly or small as it might sound, that you think could add to your story to expedite feeling better, tell us (and we won't tell anyone else ) but it might lead to a bell going off for someone that could help you. And I hope we don't act too 'smart' about answers.

Hi Julie,

As one who has experienced similar type issues to Benz42428, I greatly appreciate your post. Yes, it is fantastic that people on this board are so willing to help.

But I would remind folks, that just because someone is greatly struggling, please don't assume that they they have a bad attitude and that every problem experienced is due to poor problem solving skills. Many times, the answer isn't immediately obvious and requires alot of thought about previous situations which is exhausting when you are already in a sleep deprived state.

For example, figuring out why you can only stay asleep on the machine for a couple of hours can be due to a million reasons. It isn't an issue of simply setting the number of hours you want to sleep on the machine for the night as one poster seemed to imply Boy that would be nice by the way

Anyway, hopefully, Benz42428 can sort through his issues and eventually become a success story.

49er

...my previous insurance wouldn't even allow me to try different masks and if I were to buy them all out of my own pocket I would probably not have enough money to buy textbooks and other necessary things...

benz42428, that reminds me of my college days and PRIORITIES. The GI Bill after WWII paid for some of my college tuition and gave me $75 (that would be today the equivalent of $903) toward books and another $75 for living expenses. Not nearly enough for those expenses, so I had to make up my mind, did I want to par-teee and squeak through, or did I want to make A's? I chose the later and worked 37 hours a week plus took 23 semester-hours of courses each semester. PRIORITIES. In your case, if I had to choose between buying books or my health, I would choose the latter in a heart beat and hold off on school until I had my health in order.

The other thing your recent response reminded of is listening to what a doctor has to say. Many, many years ago we thought doctors were god-like and took their advice to heart. In recent years I and my family have had to deal with some very serious and prolonged health issues. As a result I've had to interact with many doctors. I've found *many* of them are simply driven by money ("Come back to see me in 3 months and we'll so how you've done"). Also, I've found many of them flat out lied to us. Many never tell you about undesirable side effects, even when you ask ("Let's get rid of the cancer first, then we'll deal with the problems caused by the treatment"). So I always recommend a person should seek a second (or third or fourth) opinion when facing a serious medical issue. Then there are the doctors who are play-acting, claiming to be an expert on a specialty when they know virtually nothing about it. I've been to three who claimed to be sleep disorder specialists, but when I showed them my ResScan and SleepyHead graphs, they obviously knew nothing about them, had no idea if my therapy was accomplishing anything and did not offer any changes (such as changes in pressure settings). They were just faking it.

So, I recommend you not base your treatment on what just one doctor says. Your health is too important.