Help! Exhausted! What's gone wrong with my treatment?

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 7:17 pm

In the past few weeks, I've been exhausted, utterly tired. I was attributing this to my insane work schedule plus some travel thrown in. I thought it was burnout. I was too busy/tired even to check my Encore Pro reports. Tonight it felt almost like I'd gone back to pre cpap days. So I finally checked my Encore reports. (I have been too busy/exhausted to check this forum, too.)

Weird stuff. My leakline is still very straight, sometimes perfectly straight, so it's not leaks. My AHI is a bit higher than normal some nights, but still under 3.0 and some nights under 1.0. However, the snores are out of control! Even during my sleep study I didn't snore. Looking over my past year, I normally have only a few snores per night, if any. Now I'm having a snore index of over 20 the majority of the time.

I'm not congested, so I know it's not that. My acid reflux seems to be flaring up a bit, but not painfully so.

Anyone know what would cause this? Might this be why I'm so exhausted? I've worked these hours before and it made me tired, but not like this where I feel I could just die from sheer exhaustion. I can't go on like this.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): Encore Pro, CPAP, AHI, Travel

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:27 pm

Hi Rosemary.

Sorry to hear you're having those feelings, too. There seems to have been a number of people on the forum having those experiences. It could be happening for a number of reasons......but your snore index may indicate that you need a little more pressure (1 - 2 cm). You might try that for a few days to a week or two and see if it has any payoffs. If it doesn't, maybe a blood analysis would be in order.

Den

blarg · Post by **blarg** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:31 pm

Are you having any congestion problems? I've noticed that my machine thinks that nasal gurgling is snoring.

I find when I'm in a snoring and or congested time that I tend to do better with straight CPAP/BiPAP instead of auto, as the auto goes nuts and bumps me around too much.

Anyway, just a thought.

Shadis · Post by **Shadis** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 8:50 pm

Have you been sick recently? My snoring got worse when I had strep, and after it was gone I only marginally got better. And now any time I get any type of sore throat, my snoring is really bad. I don't have any empyrical numbers, but I can tell you that my wife spends more nights on the couch.

Snoredog · Post by **Snoredog** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 9:01 pm

my guess allergies, use the saline rhino rinse or use Claritin D

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:50 am

Thanks, everyone!

Wulfman, I will try raising the pressure a bit and see if that helps. I do set my pressure from 8.5-9.0 (so I can see Flow Limitations), but will try straight cpap for a while just in case that's contributing. Even though I'm not aware of any unusual congestion, I'm also going to try to see about the congestion, too. Blarg and Snoredog, I'll call my doctor and get my allergy medication, since I usually get that in the spring anyway. Shadis, I haven't been sick recently though I was worried that something dire was making me this tired until I saw my Encore Pro report.

Maybe having my work schedule back to 40 hrs/week (I refer to this as "semi-retirement") will help some, too. Or at least I'll have some extra time to try and figure out what's going wrong.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:12 am

Hi Rosemary,
I too would think about congestion - did you see anything in the flow limitations?

You could try 9-9.5 if you still want to see flow limitations.

O.

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:22 pm

ozij wrote:Hi Rosemary,
I too would think about congestion - did you see anything in the flow limitations?

You could try 9-9.5 if you still want to see flow limitations.

O.

I don't have obvious congestion, but perhaps swollen nasal passages or something like that. I called the Dr about getting my antihistimine refilled. Haven't heard back yet. I hope they don't want me to wait weeks for a visit to solve this problem.

Another thing I remembered today is that my regular humidifier water reservoir broke, so I'm using the F&P HC 150, my backup humidifier. That's the only thing that's new. I can't imagine that would be it, but worth a try. I called my DME and wonder of wonders, it looks like my insurance covers it. They are pretty good about shipping it right out. I'm keeping my fingers crossed to get it soon.

I'd like to get a visit with a good ENT who knows about OSA. I never have seen one. I wish I knew how to find a GOOD one.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:27 pm

In the last month I've discovered the my results are better with lower humidity. As a matter of fact - I once of twice forgot to turn it on recently, and slept restlessly because the hose warned air was too dry - but boy did I get low AHI - which is what made me decide to try to lower HH for a while.

O.

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Wed Apr 02, 2008 4:02 am

Ozij, last night I turned the HH all the way down, but my snore index was still over 20 per hour. I'll continue to try that anyway for a few nights. I also raised the pressure by one. I'm going to try it at that setting for a few nights, too.

Today my task is to begin to look for a good ENT. It's hard to remember to do these things when I'm not sleeping right and too busy at work. That's why I'm writing it here.

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:37 pm

Well, the problem seems to have resolved. I was using a F&P HC 150 humidifier because the chamber of the one that comes with my classic remstar broke. I'm not sure why (or even if) this was causing the snores to register, but I got a new chamber for it. Last night I used it. No more snores.

I can't believe that this solved the problem or why the F&P seemed to cause snores. I'm not sure it did, but now the problem is solved.

Perhaps it was a weird quirk in the equipment that coincided with a time of unexplained extreme tiredness like I haven't felt since before starting treatment.

Why changing back to my REMSTAR humidifier would solve the problem is a myster to me. But the software says it's ok. I won't know if I feel more rested until the weekend, since I'm always pretty tired on Thursday night.

I hope that both the tiredness and the equipment problems are solved. I need to be able to work a tiring schedule until the end of this month.

Thanks, everyone for all the help and support. I was feeling panicky when I first posted.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:18 am

The different humidifier entails connecting the hose differently. If your hose was dragging across furniture, or banging on something because of this, the noise might register as snores - Respironics machines have "hearing problems" which make them mistake ambient noise as for snores.

I wish you a restful weekend!

O.

RosemaryB · Post by **RosemaryB** » Sat Apr 05, 2008 8:10 pm

[quote="ozij"]The different humidifier entails connecting the hose differently. If your hose was dragging across furniture, or banging on something because of this, the noise might register as snores - Respironics machines have "hearing problems" which make them mistake ambient noise as for snores.

I wish you a restful weekend!

O.