Newbie worries

I am new to the CPAP world. Diagnosed last week as having severe sleep apnea with an AHI of 30, I started on my cpap machine two nights ago. I never even suspected I had sleep apnea, and I was stunned when my sleep study said otherwise. (That is another story.) I am 66. Since I never suspected I had it, my concern and anxiety now are over how long have I had this? One year? Five years? Ten? Twenty???? And with that thought comes the anxiety that if I have had it for years, how damaged is my heart???? This thought along with the comment my sleep doc said about my having 4 times the risk for stroke and a heart attack has me very overwhelmed. I have done a lot of reading the past few days and constantly read that undiagnosed sleep apnea leads to early death. Early death? At 66, i guess that makes me on the doorstep of early death. I am also overweight (but have low blood pressure and normal cholesterol). In a week's time, I feel my world is very scary. So I guess my questions are--1) does cpap therapy help reverse any heart damage? 2) Can I get my heart assessed? should I? 3) Am I overly concerned?

First, welcome, and second, read what you wrote as ... "UMtreated sleep apnea damages hearts". Not sure how much reversal is possible with Cpap, but being on it can assure you of much better odds going forward. How damaged you might already be is up to your MD to look into... we obviously have no way of doing that... BUT, you are among thousands of people with the same diagnosis (many very young) and the fact you made it this far is good news, as is the fact you now have a way to treat things from now on. It is true many of us have probably had some degree of apnea for decades, but there's no real way to prove it now, and one thing that could be in your favor might be that for whatever reason menopause seems to be one trigger for many, at least in the sense that it brings things to light - and you haven't been past it that long I imagine... in other words you don't know that you've had apnea forever at all (and being overweight if anything is now believed to be a result of apnea, rather than a cause).

In any case, we can help you going forward with suggestions about the best type of machine, mask, tracking software, etc. etc. and it would be a good idea to ask your MD to write a script for an Apap (auto. Cpap) because it will allow you to benefit from the software (the one most use here... it's free and provides lots more info than the minimal type machines display on their screens). Also, Apaps give you more leeway to tweak pressures if software shows the need - something Cpaps don't have... i.e. Apaps can be set to Cpap mode, but Cpaps only do Cpap... and you want more than 'compliance' (hrs of use for insce. co's) info.

Read some of the stuff at the top of the pg under the lightbulb, and in the 'Announcements" til you are even in a place to know what questions to ask, and please come back (to this thread please) with questions. And don't worry - doesn't help anything!

Oh, please register as a member as you'll have more options re things, plus if you fill in your profile (when the time comes) with the full name/model of your machine, mask, pressures, etc. that'll all appear under your notes auto. when you post so we can know what you're dealing with (to help advise) and you won't have to add it each time. You can do all that once you have a machine. The profile's under Control Panel (tiny blue writing) under the main logo on the left.

Mimay wrote:I am new to the CPAP world. Diagnosed last week as having severe sleep apnea with an AHI of 30, I started on my cpap machine two nights ago. I never even suspected I had sleep apnea, and I was stunned when my sleep study said otherwise. (That is another story.) I am 66. Since I never suspected I had it, my concern and anxiety now are over how long have I had this? One year? Five years? Ten? Twenty???? And with that thought comes the anxiety that if I have had it for years, how damaged is my heart???? This thought along with the comment my sleep doc said about my having 4 times the risk for stroke and a heart attack has me very overwhelmed. I have done a lot of reading the past few days and constantly read that undiagnosed sleep apnea leads to early death. Early death? At 66, i guess that makes me on the doorstep of early death. I am also overweight (but have low blood pressure and normal cholesterol). In a week's time, I feel my world is very scary. So I guess my questions are--1) does cpap therapy help reverse any heart damage? 2) Can I get my heart assessed? should I? 3) Am I overly concerned?

You have one less thing to worry about, being found dead in bed from Sleep Apnea, (after you get your treatment optimized), you still get to worry on the next thing that will cause your demise. Time to cut out double cheeseburgers and cheese fries, no way, i'll find something easier to quit. Jim







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