Please Delete This Post

I am a bit older than you but also have ADD and messed about with stimulant meds and am working on CPAP now to see if there’s anything that will help me with fatigue/brain fog. I would say to keep pursuing the CPAP. Like you I am relatively young, thin, don’t snore, and was told that I didn’t need a sleep study, that “something else” was driving my fatigue. “Luckily” I got a sleep study finally because the military was afraid of narcolepsy. I don’t have narcolepsy, but do have mild OSA. The links between OSA and cognitive function are well established and it’s also known that poor sleep can exacerbate ADD issues.

That said, even if OSA isn’t causing your fatigue/brain fog, it’s something to be dealt with for a host of other health reasons. It sounds like you are owing very proactive in self care and doing the basic stuff docs already recommend, so that is awesome by you!

https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-sleep- ... -symptoms/

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/adhd-and-sleep

The only thing I might also suggest is taking to your psychiatrist about the ADD and related meds. They can really mess with your sleep, sometimes good and sometimes not so much. And if you don’t have a psychiatrist, ask your primary doc to refer you. Head meds need to be handled by someone who has experience with them and NOT a gp. Ideally you could find either a sleep doc or psychiatrist that have some experience in dealing with ADD And sleep issues. However, I have been incredibly disappointed by the fact that most of these folks work very much in silos.

Also recognize, ADD also come with a host of co-morbid issues like anxiety/depression that also mess with your sleep. In fact many folks with ADD don’t set enough REM sleep as you describe.

In some circles, ADD is considered to be a sleep related issue and many ADDers also have insomnia/circadian thrum etc issues. In fact, ADD is considered an arousal disorder. I have an issue with fatigue, to the point that they thought I was narcoleptic, but was really my brain checking out because something wasn’t keeping me focused or “aroused”. Check out the articles below for a little more detail. It’s also worth noting that there is some evidence/theory that many folks with ADD might actually be misdiagnosed, and they instead have sleep apnea or other sleep issues.

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/adhd-and-Sleep
https://www.additudemag.com/adhd-sleep- ... -symptoms/

I wrote a whole big post on this thread and then managed to lose it. Doh. The basics:

Yes, pursue PAP plus other assessments.

Insist on a ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset. Every word counts there.

Get yourself set up with Oscar so you can post key data:

https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

Keep posting, ideally in this same thread. Good luck!

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 12:16 am

Worry about the centrals if you start seeing a lot of them after you are on cpap.

What she said.

souldrifter wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 1:17 am

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 12:16 am

Worry about the centrals if you start seeing a lot of them after you are on cpap.

Makes sense, thank you. Just thinking about what might cause it and if centrals are ever reversible.

Stop thinking about it. The primary detriment to sleep is obstructives, where you're fighting for air.

Centrals just mean your body doesn't feel the need to breathe for a few more seconds, that's not anywhere near as disruptive to sleep.

Welcome to the forum. If you are able to do so, I highly recommend you see an ENT about the deviated septum. I had mine repaired over 20 years ago and it made a big difference in my ability to breathe both with and without the machine. Prior to the surgery, I could never breathe through both sides of my nose at the same time, and had frequent sinus infections. Since then, I have had very few sinus infections.

Thanks for the replies so far, means a lot.

Today I was set up with an AirSense 10 Autoset, everything looks great with the machine. It has a fixed pressure setting of 4, I was told that I can’t change it but it feels good. I’m excited to try it out!

For the mask, I decided to go with the Philips Dreamwear Nasal Mask (without pillows) rather than the full face setup. I’m not sure if this was a good idea, however, because as I mentioned previously I almost exclusively breathe out of my mouth. I wanted to give this a try though because I’ve heard that breathing through your nose is much healthier, and I’m thinking that the pressure opening up my nasal passageways might encourage me to do so. I’ve tested it out and I’m optimistic, but this could change after trying it out at night. Does anyone have experience with this? I can easily trade it in for the full face set up at any time within the next month and my insurance will cover it.

I downloaded OSCAR and ResMed myAir. I’m assuming that OSCAR is better/more in-depth, but I haven’t gotten deep into either program yet. I’m going to post my first 1-2 night results in a day or two once I get an SD reader. Please let me know if there are any preferences I should change from the default settings that might be helpful.

souldrifter wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:27 pm

I downloaded OSCAR and ResMed myAir. I’m assuming that OSCAR is better/more in-depth, but I haven’t gotten deep into either program yet. I’m going to post my first 1-2 night results in a day or two once I get an SD reader. Please let me know if there are any preferences I should change from the default settings that might be helpful.

please stick with oscar. my air is just a system of giving you gold stars and encouraging you. oscar will give you real data that you can post here, right HERE in this thread, for the experts to look at and advise you.

almost certainly, your machine will be left with a minimum pressure of 4. this makes it VERY difficult to breath against for most of us. you will want to change that to 6 or even 7 in order to start your therapy off right.

finally, would you be so kind as to stay in this thread for a short while? it makes it easier to keep track of you rather than following you across multiple threads.

good luck!

zonker wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:42 pm

souldrifter wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 8:27 pm

I downloaded OSCAR and ResMed myAir. I’m assuming that OSCAR is better/more in-depth, but I haven’t gotten deep into either program yet. I’m going to post my first 1-2 night results in a day or two once I get an SD reader. Please let me know if there are any preferences I should change from the default settings that might be helpful.

please stick with oscar. my air is just a system of giving you gold stars and encouraging you. oscar will give you real data that you can post here, right HERE in this thread, for the experts to look at and advise you.

almost certainly, your machine will be left with a minimum pressure of 4. this makes it VERY difficult to breath against for most of us. you will want to change that to 6 or even 7 in order to start your therapy off right.

finally, would you be so kind as to stay in this thread for a short while? it makes it easier to keep track of you rather than following you across multiple threads.

good luck!

When you say 6 or 7, I'm assuming you mean the max pressure. I don't believe I can change that on my end, I think that has to be done by the company that issued my machine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make changes easily. I'll figure it out.

And yes, I will definitely stay in this thread for all things related, especially in the beginning

Thanks!

Okie bipap wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 3:42 pm

Welcome to the forum. If you are able to do so, I highly recommend you see an ENT about the deviated septum. I had mine repaired over 20 years ago and it made a big difference in my ability to breathe both with and without the machine. Prior to the surgery, I could never breathe through both sides of my nose at the same time, and had frequent sinus infections. Since then, I have had very few sinus infections.

Thanks for the input. That's definitely something I've been considering. I don't necessarily have blockage but it's much more difficult to consistently breathe out of my nose. I have to be mindful of it.

Did you have to stay off the machine after when healing? How long?

Miss Emerita wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:04 am

I wrote a whole big post on this thread and then managed to lose it. Doh. The basics:

Yes, pursue PAP plus other assessments.

Insist on a ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset. Every word counts there.

Get yourself set up with Oscar so you can post key data:

https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

Keep posting, ideally in this same thread. Good luck!

Much appreciated.

There has been a great deal of discussion here so far and it sounds like you are open to trying to figure out what is going on.

"When you say 6 or 7, I'm assuming you mean the max pressure. I don't believe I can change that on my end, I think that has to be done by the company that issued my machine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make changes easily. I'll figure it out."

This would be 6 or 7 as either a fixed pressure or more ideally a minimum pressure in auto mode with a maximum set at 20. There is no downside to a high max pressure, the machine will titrate the pressure based on your response.


Everyone is different but I will 2nd the sentiment that a pressure setting of 4cmH2O is nowhere near enough for me to breathe through a mask or nasal pillows, even when I am awake. The first thing I did when I was given my first machine, set by Dr order at 5-20 apap, was to get into the clinical settings menus (very, very easy to access) and start kicking the minimum pressure up, I run at 10cmH2O now as my minimum. Less than 7 or 8cmH2O and I feel like I am needing to fight to get air through the mask. Not that I am telling you to change the settings if you want to but you need to be proactive and do what is right for you.

souldrifter wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 10:30 pm

When you say 6 or 7, I'm assuming you mean the max pressure. I don't believe I can change that on my end, I think that has to be done by the company that issued my machine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make changes easily. I'll figure it out.

And yes, I will definitely stay in this thread for all things related, especially in the beginning

Thanks!

He means *MIN* pressure, max should (probably) be at 20, it just works better that way for most people.

And yes, you can easily change things on your end, all you need to do is get the clinical manual, https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

palerider wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:36 pm

souldrifter wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 10:30 pm

When you say 6 or 7, I'm assuming you mean the max pressure. I don't believe I can change that on my end, I think that has to be done by the company that issued my machine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make changes easily. I'll figure it out.

And yes, I will definitely stay in this thread for all things related, especially in the beginning

Thanks!

He means *MIN* pressure, max should (probably) be at 20, it just works better that way for most people.

And yes, you can easily change things on your end, all you need to do is get the clinical manual, https://www.respshop.com/manuals/ResMed ... %20her.pdf

Ahhh I see. That's what I was missing. Appreciate it!

arhdc wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 06, 2020 11:20 pm

There has been a great deal of discussion here so far and it sounds like you are open to trying to figure out what is going on.

"When you say 6 or 7, I'm assuming you mean the max pressure. I don't believe I can change that on my end, I think that has to be done by the company that issued my machine, so I'm not sure how I'm going to make changes easily. I'll figure it out."

This would be 6 or 7 as either a fixed pressure or more ideally a minimum pressure in auto mode with a maximum set at 20. There is no downside to a high max pressure, the machine will titrate the pressure based on your response.


Everyone is different but I will 2nd the sentiment that a pressure setting of 4cmH2O is nowhere near enough for me to breathe through a mask or nasal pillows, even when I am awake. The first thing I did when I was given my first machine, set by Dr order at 5-20 apap, was to get into the clinical settings menus (very, very easy to access) and start kicking the minimum pressure up, I run at 10cmH2O now as my minimum. Less than 7 or 8cmH2O and I feel like I am needing to fight to get air through the mask. Not that I am telling you to change the settings if you want to but you need to be proactive and do what is right for you.

Thanks for the explanation, that clears things up. I think I'll start low tonight and then bump it up over the next few days as needed.

You can make your own changes to your machine it’s not locked you just need to know the handshake go here https://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap- ... tup-manual and request the clinical manual for your machine. The manual will proved more information than the user manual and show you how to make changes