what has happened to me

41 year old male here. I have 4 daughters and a son. In May of 2014 I was experiencing some electrical heart issues that led to an ablation. I later went to a sleep study and was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea with hyponea. My over all breathing was stopping 105.6 time per hour with oxygen saturation dropping to 75 percent. One thing that stood out in this hole thing was the Dr. told me he felt bad for me because I didnt know how long I may had this. Now I am in a state of mind and depression of wondering if this has caused damage in my life physically and affected my ability of being a father and husband for the last 20 years. Im not class A father, but I do have some regrets and outbursts and depression that I have experienced over the years, but just associated them to raising kids. Things I said that I look back on now as Ive been on my cpap machine and say to myself what in the world was I thinking or saying. Has this affected me overall? Has this caused these problems or can it cause emotional problems. Ive basically been told this is my diagnosis, you need this machine, you will feel your like your getting your life back in 6 months. What has the long term effects of this caused on my body and mind?

cichyb wrote:41 year old male here. I have 4 daughters and a son. In May of 2014 I was experiencing some electrical heart issues that led to an ablation. I later went to a sleep study and was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea with hyponea. My over all breathing was stopping 105.6 time per hour with oxygen saturation dropping to 75 percent. One thing that stood out in this hole thing was the Dr. told me he felt bad for me because I didnt know how long I may had this. Now I am in a state of mind and depression of wondering if this has caused damage in my life physically and affected my ability of being a father and husband for the last 20 years. Im not class A father, but I do have some regrets and outbursts and depression that I have experienced over the years, but just associated them to raising kids. Things I said that I look back on now as Ive been on my cpap machine and say to myself what in the world was I thinking or saying. Has this affected me overall? Has this caused these problems or can it cause emotional problems. Ive basically been told this is my diagnosis, you need this machine, you will feel your like your getting your life back in 6 months. What has the long term effects of this caused on my body and mind?

Take 15 minutes and review this youtube video it will help you understand what is going on with you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gie2dhqP2c

This video put the whole thing in perspective for me, and I was able to show this to my family and friends so that they could understand what is happening.

I wish you well

Great video and thank you , but has anyone been experiencing what Im going through?

A lot of us can relate to various parts of your story. We had a discussion going some time back about the toll untreated apnea has taken on our lives -- I'll see if I can track it down for you. Meantime why don't you register here and let's see how your PAP therapy is going so that you can move forward with hope. It's fair that you're grieving but you don't want to get stuck in depression.

Many of us have not been our good selves for a long time before getting on cpap.
Apnea does that to us.
The important thing is to look forward, fix what we can, and let what was in the past --stay in the past.

thank you all for everthing.

cichyb wrote:Great video and thank you , but has anyone been experiencing what Im going through?

Of course. In various ways, we all were debilitated by our sleep apnea. That's partially what led us to seek answers to what was wrong.......and we found out. The sooner you accept the therapy and all that goes with it, the better off you'll be. It's "baby steps"......one night at a time. Some day you look back and months and years have zipped by.
Personally, I was relieved to find out what was wrong and how easy the therapy would be.


Den

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Treating cpap sure helped things in my world in many ways but you have to be careful to not blame absolutely everything on the OSA. I believe depression will improve but you might need more than cpap eventually.

You are being treated for this disabling condition so you are taking responsibility. You are headed in a good direction and things will improve greatly but it won't magically mean your life will be great and that everyone will forgive you for things.

Knowing how OSA contributed is a good motivator for sticking to the therapy and making sure it works. Wishing you all the best. I hope you will register your gear and stick around. I may not have stuck with it if not for the people on this forum.

I can't find that old thread. In the thread people were sharing some of the ways that untreated apnea had affected their lives, everything from lost careers to damaged relationships and more. You are not alone. If you stick around here for a while you'll read many of these stories as they come up all the time especially when an exhausted overwhelmed newly diagnosed person first joins the forum.

When did you start on cpap? What equipment are you using and how are you doing with the therapy?

So I'm also new, and have been living on this forum for the last 3 weeks. My symptoms are getting milder but still prevalent as I'm on week 4 of CPAP. Also my depression came out of nowhere but coincided with my body finally feeling effects from sleep deprivation. It's a lot to absorb, I plan on learning as much as i can. These people on here have treated me great and answered questions that I just had to get answered.

Started cpap therapy on october 17th of 2014 after months of a complete cardio work up from holter monitor to ablation, then finally sleep study. Mt machine is a Resmed Airsense 10 with humidifier. It ramps up for 20 mins starting at 7 going up to 16. nasal pillows, which im thinking of getting a nasal mask.

Chichyb, i think it's good to try different masks until you find the right one.

If you go to the user control panel in the upper left you can enter your equipment to make it easier for members to help you.

The stories on here tell of all kinds of havoc untreated sleep apnea has caused with cognition, health, mood, personality, relationships, jobs - you name it. The good thing is that your loved ones will now have a chance to know the best you that you can be at this point in your life. Yes, it is sad to think that things could have gotten better sooner. It is reasonable to expect that the times to come are going to be better than times past. Have you seen the thread at the top of the forum with 34 pages of success stories? Maybe reading some of those will help you be optimistic about your future. You are in the company of many who have grieved "the lost years" and moved on into a state of gratitude for those things restored. Best wishes going forward.

Consider this - apnea may well have made you feel lousy a lot of the time for years, affected your work and home life, parenting, etc., but your own personality, genes, behavioural models etc. have also made a big difference as with anyone else, depression or not, so focusing on what conditions caused which symptoms is not going to help at this time (maybe later on, when you can work with a therapist to sort things), but right now getting apnea under control should be your first goal, because the sooner that's done, the sooner you can begin to think more rationally and see things for what they are, and are not. And you can't change history in any case, just present the best self you can going forward.

cichyb- At 41 years old you are still a young man. Your job and obligation to you and your family is first make sure that your therapy is optimized download the software that is available to make sure your therapy is correct. You stopped breathing 105 times In 1 hour. There is only 60 minutes in an hour. Of course not breathing and sleeping at the same time has done damage to your mental and physical wellbeing.

I stopped breathing 140 times in 1 hour so mine was worse, and I know how you feel. I will give you the advice that my Neurologist gave me. She said with AHI of 140 that I was lucky to be alive. Your body was under stress for a long time and it is going to take some time to heal, but it will heal. Concentrate on getting your therapy correct and above all get some rest you have been missing for so long you are a very sick man. She told me to slow down…. although I felt better almost immediately.

Looking back on my now almost 21 month journey to recovery on CPAP therapy the best advice was to slow down. The mess that I created over the years of not sleeping was not created overnight and it will not correct itself over night either. The longer time you have to heal the better for you and all concerned in more ways than one.