I am new too!!!!!

I had my sleep tests done a few weeks ago and now have my machine and equipment. I have used the machine for about 7 nights now and am not real impressed. I am still tired. Last night I turned the humidity up from 3.0 to 4.0 and that seemed to make a big difference in the discomfort my nasal passages were feeling. I made sure my mask was a bit more snug and ran my tubing up over my head instead of leaving it hanging from the front of my nose. I woke up a couple times and my mouth was still dry, but not so dry as it has been. ( even though I am keeping my mouth closed rather than gasping for air unbeknownst to me before this diagnosis) I am so tired of being tired I guess I was hoping for a quicker result.
As I have been reading this I see that it takes time and commitment to really get this to work. I am willing to give it my best try. I have 2 grandchildren I am raising, they are almost 17 and I need to sleep to keep up with them. I know my attitude could be better although I go out of my way to make sure I am not grumpy with them. That is not the kind of role model I want to be.
I retired about 5 yrs ago and I didn't have this problem then. It just sort of crept up on me. I never would have guessed it could be this until I talked to my doctor. What a surprise.
Anyway thanks again for those who choose to be here for those of us who are new. I want to learn from your example.

Granny23

Welcome to the community. I find people who begin xPAP therapy tend to fall into one of these 4 groups:

People whose therapy is not initially effective. They can't sleep with the machine yet, they have large leaks, they open their mouth with a nasal mask, the pressure is set to far off, their sleep is disrupted by the pressure, etc. This category need to work through the process of adapting the machine to them and themselves to the machine before the effect of the therapy can be evaluated. Once they work out the issues they move to one of the remaining categories.

Then there are the people who take to it like a duck to water. The mask fits right, the machine is dialed in, they don't have trouble sleeping with it on, they feel great after the first night or two, and they are just thrilled with everything.

Many fall into one of the two remaining categories. Sleep apnea can cause physiological changes and damage that build up over time and take time to return to normal after the apna is treated. These people don't feel noticeably better any particular day. They start feeling a little bit better a little bit at a time, and they only notice the difference when something makes the it obvious. One recent example here didn't think the therapy was making a difference until he had to sleep without it for a few nights while the DME exchanged his machine and he couldn't believe how awful he felt when it was gone. The improvement happened so gradually that he hadn't noticed.

The last category is the toughest. For some people sleep apnea is one of several co-existent medical issues affecting their quality of life. Removing the effects of untreated sleep apnea makes it easier to detect and treat the other issues that remain, but treating the OSA by itself doesn't significantly improve their quality of life. That doesn't make treating the OSA any less important, but it is highly discouraging to conquer a major medical issue only to see the payoff pushed off into the distance after one or more future issues are also conquered.

Hi, welcome to the forum. Quick question - how do you know you're not opening your mouth when asleep?

djhall wrote:Welcome to the community. I find people who begin xPAP therapy tend to fall into one of these 4 groups:

People whose therapy is not initially effective. They can't sleep with the machine yet, they have large leaks, they open their mouth with a nasal mask, the pressure is set to far off, their sleep is disrupted by the pressure, etc. This category need to work through the process of adapting the machine to them and themselves to the machine before the effect of the therapy can be evaluated. Once they work out the issues they move to one of the remaining categories.

Then there are the people who take to it like a duck to water. The mask fits right, the machine is dialed in, they don't have trouble sleeping with it on, they feel great after the first night or two, and they are just thrilled with everything.

Many fall into one of the two remaining categories. Sleep apnea can cause physiological changes and damage that build up over time and take time to return to normal after the apna is treated. These people don't feel noticeably better any particular day. They start feeling a little bit better a little bit at a time, and they only notice the difference when something makes the it obvious. One recent example here didn't think the therapy was making a difference until he had to sleep without it for a few nights while the DME exchanged his machine and he couldn't believe how awful he felt when it was gone. The improvement happened so gradually that he hadn't noticed.

The last category is the toughest. For some people sleep apnea is one of several co-existent medical issues affecting their quality of life. Removing the effects of untreated sleep apnea makes it easier to detect and treat the other issues that remain, but treating the OSA by itself doesn't significantly improve their quality of life. That doesn't make treating the OSA any less important, but it is highly discouraging to conquer a major medical issue only to see the payoff pushed off into the distance after one or more future issues are also conquered.

Great explanation! Have you added it to one of the stickies for new people? I think that would be very good for new people to get a realistic idea of the transition from feeling like crap to feeling better. I had an awesome first night at the sleep study, but once home, it was more of the subtle changes that I did notice, but not as fast as that first night. Some of the things I didn't even know were related, so I didn't realize at first that they were improving.