CPAPtalk.com

Also sorry to say without CPAP there is a chance you will die young and alone, because for many of untreated we get progressively emotionally distraught... angry and/or anxious and/or depressed, in fact I would say my divorce may have been closely related to the side effects of untreated apnea, and in fact now, a year later I am 3 months into one of the best relationships of my life.

I am learning all about these things in some intensive research NIcholasJ and thank you for the input. At least I'm beginning to understand the severity of it - although for myself, concerned about the number of hours of sleep required versus what I can actually do. On a daily basis, I schedule 6 hours for sleep each day and stick with going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, of course it doesn't always work.

I will be picking up my machine today and I am finding it easier to resort to old habits instead of stressing about this I am adopting the attitude of "This is what must happen, just do it and don't think about it". When stress starts getting to me as I allowed it to this weekend, worse things can happen than having a machine breathe for me at night.

Rebamom wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:25 am

worse things can happen than having a machine breathe for me at night.

Common misunderstanding about what cpap does. Unless you have central apnea and need a very special machine these machines (cpaps/apaps) don't breathe for you at all. All they do is push a little air into the airway so that the airway remains open and when you breathe the air can get to the lungs.
You are still doing the breathing yourself. All the machine is doing is making sure the airway is open so the air can move into your lungs when you take in a breath on your own. The machine doesn't/can't force anything. You are still the one doing the breathing.

Rebamom wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 13, 2018 10:25 am

I am learning all about these things in some intensive research NIcholasJ and thank you for the input. At least I'm beginning to understand the severity of it - although for myself, concerned about the number of hours of sleep required versus what I can actually do. On a daily basis, I schedule 6 hours for sleep each day and stick with going to bed and getting up at the same time every day, of course it doesn't always work.

I will be picking up my machine today and I am finding it easier to resort to old habits instead of stressing about this I am adopting the attitude of "This is what must happen, just do it and don't think about it". When stress starts getting to me as I allowed it to this weekend, worse things can happen than having a machine breathe for me at night.

Yes there are definitely worse things, and who knows, maybe this worry is all about the emotional disregulation as a result of apnea. a year from now you could be feeling way better, and for me at least I felt better immediately after starting it( and way better now) , I think it depends on how severe the oxygen depravation is at the beginning. Of course more sleep is better, but I'm not so sure why doctors are so focused on the sleep part. Your brain not being damaged and your body not being overloaded by Carbon dioxide poisoning and the resultant oxidant overloads are a huge plus in my book.

Thank you both Nicholas and Pugsby - especially on the clarification. I really did have a misconception on that, probably a few other things as well. I am hoping that when I go today I will have an opportunity to ask a couple questions, and maybe even know what my test results were even though it's been a year.

Congratulations on finding this forum and having the courage to ask for help. Many people here have the same concerns or have already dealt with them. Most of us don't want to use the machine, but after realizing the benefits we wish we would have had started treatment a lot sooner in life.

Treating sleep apnea can help tremendously with anxiety. I'm still somewhat dumbfounded by how many physical and mental health problems stem from poor sleep. It affects our nervous system which controls every part of our body. You may find that other things resolve themselves once you get adequate rest. Life's challenges are also a lot easier to deal with when your rested.

Your knowledge will grow and your concerns will become less when you take an active role in learning about sleep apnea and fine tuning your therapy. Your lucky, because you've already started that process. Many people are suffering and still undiagnosed. Eventually you'll get things dialed in and become comfortable with it. Looking forward, there are many positive things that come with xpap therapy. I believe you will do well once you get familiar.

Thanks Rob! I plan to make it work, along with diet and exercise to maybe one day cure my case anyway.

I find it amazing that everyone discusses how much better they and I will feel - I never felt bad. Sure I was tired, I was working full time, caretaker and trying to start my own business - who wouldn't be, lol! I start every day (except the last couple due to stress/worry) full of energy, smiling and I usually dance a little jig for my employees. So if I am going to feel better - curious what kind of dance will I be doing in the future!

I took the home study because my doctor asked me to, never said one word to me about a possible condition, just I honestly believe, he needed an excuse to get more money from insurance - I'm never sick! I took it, they called and sent me to the lab for that test - I was called, told it was bad, needed this, yada yada and to date have never spoken to a sleep doctor, etc. This is why I always do my own research and can make informed decisions. Do I want this - No. Will I do this - Yes. Will I continue looking for more answers - Most Certainly!

Well part of it for me was that I didn't realize anything was particularly wrong until it got really bad. things were slowly getting worse year over year... I chalked it up to getting older and being overweight. After CPAP, my energy level was crazy... I was finding out I was doing things with my kids without running out of energy etc... I had been a spoony (look it up if you don't know) without realizing it.

It was the same for me. I was getting pretty tired and run down over the years and figured I was working too hard, pushing myself to the limit and getting older. Then things took a sudden dip. Turned out I had apnea.

Apnea sneaks up on you. It gets worse over a long period of time and you don't notice the change. Chances are you don't know what you are missing right now. The amount of change with therapy is different for everyone. It was significant for me when my machine pressure was finally set to the right levels, many thanks to the forum members.

Thank you both Nicholas and Rob!

Machine is picked up and when I get the nerve, I'll head to bed (soon probably). The therapist answered quite a bit for me which helped. So have a great night!

Just to give you a heads up, it can sometimes take months to get things dialed in so your comfortable with everything and your getting good sleep. Our bodies take a while to heal. For some people it goes faster though. They adapt quicker, maybe are healthier, really get active in figuring out what works for them and they ask the right questions. I hope things go quick for you.

Rob K wrote: ↑

Tue Mar 13, 2018 8:26 pm

Just to give you a heads up, it can sometimes take months to get things dialed in so your comfortable with everything and your getting good sleep. Our bodies take a while to heal. For some people it goes faster though. They adapt quicker, maybe are healthier, really get active in figuring out what works for them and they ask the right questions. I hope things go quick for you.

Absolutely right. Remember, we're here to help. Best of luck tonight!

And understand - because you mentioned in two notes - you are highly unlikely to be 'cured'. Apnea does not get cured... it's a condition, like diabetes or poor vision that if you deal with it well, allows you to more or less go on as normal, but it won't be cured as in gone away for good, at least not anytime soon without a radical tech change.

Thank you guys!

So I survived the first night. Took me over an hour to fall asleep compared to my normal two minutes but I stuck with it. Managed to keep it on most of the night until a little before 3 (5.12 hours), at which point I did remove it so I could catch the last hour of sleep without having to think about it.

1. I found myself trying to breathe faster to keep up with the flow of air. I'm sure it's probably normal, but I think that's why it took so long to fall asleep.

2. Yes very dry mouth this morning, actually I feel dry all over as I didn't even have to go to the bathroom when I got up.

3. I am tired though, not quite the level of perk I normally wake up with, and I know that will change with time.

My question is even though the booklet says not to, I'm wondering if it's okay to put lotion or vaseline on my face to keep it from getting so dry?

Oh, before I forget - although I'm not ready to deal with family, I did tell my partner - now I won't have to cancel our vacation together.

Congrats on telling! They're probably happy to know they won't have to worry about your not waking up, or waking with symptoms! Good for you for making it most of the night.

If you put cream/lotion/Vaseline on, the mask will slide around - not a good idea, but there are fixes for all that - try using it during the day instead to at least help recover for now, and try using Lansinoh (for nursing mothers actually) as it helps.

Are you using the humidifier? At what setting? And was the water all gone in the am? Remind us what mask you use - you may well need another one that lets you mouth breathe without losing therapy air.