Is a full recovery too much to ask?

Newbie here. I've been on CPAP for over a year now and I was wondering if I will ever return to normal. I want to feel my fullest energy and capacity some day and it scares me that I may not. Do others recover and eventually live normally if they are compliant?
- Shee

I have not heard of this happening. My future husband has been on a CPAP since 1997.

SheepZzzzz wrote:Newbie here. I've been on CPAP for over a year now and I was wondering if I will ever return to normal. I want to feel my fullest energy and capacity some day and it scares me that I may not. Do others recover and eventually live normally if they are compliant?
- Shee

How do you feel now, now that you've been on cpap for over a year? Do you feel at all full of energy now? Or do you feel somehow lacking in the energy you expected?

I ask these questions because the goal of the treatment is to make you normal again, meaning to make you feel normal. If it isn't doing that, then maybe there's some problem, either with compliance or the treatment itself.

I don't know your health. But if your health is bad, then improving those things (i.e., weight, chloresterol, heart problems, high blood pressure, thyroid problems, diabetes, or others) could go a long way towards minimizing the severity of your OSA or possibly eliminating it altogether. But don't count on it. If you cheat now, or struggle because of problems with the equipment, you're only further endangering your health.

Stick with it. Try and improve other areas of your health. Get checked periodically on your OSA, and who knows. But you will have better peace of mind if you can try and accept this treatment so long as it makes you feel normal. I admit to feeling pretty down when I think of having to wear this thing at night all the time. It is hard to deal with for some, for many, I would expect. But so long as I feel pretty good with this, then I look around at people who have disabilities far worse than this, and I thank my lucky stars that this is all I got. But it's hard, I know.

I really don't know if there have been people who have come off of this completely. I suspect there have been some. I also suspect many have reduced the severity of their OSA so as to maybe cheat every now and then. Maybe others here know of success stories. I don't know.

There's always hope. But remember, you're not alone with this. So keep in touch. Let us know how things are going for you.


Linda

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Sage advise from LDuyer. I do think it is too much to ask for a full recovery. IMHO. I think that the most you can hope for is a vast improvement with treatment. At this point in time anyway. I feel blessed that treatment has given me the results and improvement it has. Am I cured, nope. Do I have days that I fade into the sunset at three in the afternoon, yes. But I FEEL SO MUCH BETTER! My wife does to as I don't keep her up all night snoring. I think this is the best you can expect and if you get more, lucky you!

sheep zzzzzz, personally I won't accept anything less then a full recovery and will keep going back to the dr. until he achieves full recovery I believe it is very possible but everything needs to be just right pressures etc. let your dr. know your not where you need to be in your treatment and make some changes!! I look at it this way if it were high cholesterol you were treating and the medicine wasn't helping you need something different that works for you!!! keep trying and they will get it right sooner or later!! don't give up!!

I am hearing from many people that CPAP didn't help them entirely, that they still are tired, etc. I have a theory. Before we were on CPAP, we were tired. So we didn't do much. We sat around like vegetables:) We probably didn't get out much. We probably ate more. Now we're on CPAP and feeling better, but not all the way better. I think it's because we are accustomed to a sedentary lifestyle and this is why we don't feel 100%. I think we need to work very hard at eating better and getting virorous excercise. Our bodies need a complete workout since being so tired from OSA. This is my theory. Also, I hear from LOTS of people these days that they are tired. Not just people with OSA. My doctor says 8 of 10 people he sees complain of chronic tiredness. I think America is tired because of the way we eat and watch TV!

"I think America is tired because of the way we eat and watch TV! "

DCTom, You may be on to something there.

I have heard a Nutritionist and my chiropractor tell me that the foods we are eating today have less nourishment than they did 50 or even 20 years ago because the soil in which they are grown has become depleted.

I also read recently that in a study done by some agency (FDA?) they found that foods cooked in a microwave lost 70% to 95% of their nutrients, as compared to 40% to 60% loss for foods that were boiled or fried and 28% loss for foods that were steamed.

Sorta makes you wonder.....

- JB

I read an article recently that said just the opposite! It claimed microwaved foods retained the most nutrients and vitamins.

Good heavens, its getting mighty hard to find the truth these days, isn't it......

How To Preserve Vitamins When Cooking
by Sue Gilbert, MS

Q. How much nutrition from food is lost when cooking by microwave? How does this cooking method compare to pressure cooking with steam - in terms of nutritive value? Which is the best method for cooking - which one retains the maximum nutrition?

A. How foods are cooked can have a big impact on its nutrient content. That's because many of its vitamins are sensitive to heat, and air exposure (in particular - vitamin C, the B vitamins and folate.) And, the longer the time and the higher the temperature, the worse it becomes. Then, during the cooking process, the water used for cooking can dissolve and wash away (if the cooking water is tossed out) even more of those vitamins that are water soluble. Therefore, any cooking that minimizes the time, temperature, and amount of water needed will help to preserve the nutrients.

Microwave cooking is one of the best ways to preserve nutrients because it needs minimal water, and the cooking time is very short. Pressure cooking under steam is the next best method because it too minimizes time, and it requires little water. Other methods that are also good to use for the purpose of maximizing nutrient retention are steaming with little water, stir frying, or boil in bag.

Because microwaving and pressure cooking are both good ways to hold in nutrients, I suggest you go ahead and use the method you prefer.

There are a few other tricks you can employ to preserve nutrients. Minimize the surface area of the food you are to cook so that fewer vitamins are exposed to air where they will be destroyed. That means cutting vegetables into bigger pieces. Always cover your pot to hold in steam and thus heat, which will help to reduce cooking time. Use any leftover cooking water for soups, sauces, and stews, or vegetable juice drinks. Eat fruits and vegetables raw whenever possible, or cook until just crisp tender. Use as little water as possible when cooking.

The best way to destroy vitamins is to cook your fruits and vegetables in an open pot of boiling water. Only use that method when you're making a pot of soup and the broth and all will be eaten, and even then, put a lid on it!
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(Although why I'm worrying about this when I just ate a bowl of ice cream, I can't really say.....)

Wish I could find that reference again....

They said that it was always assumed that MW cooking retained the most nutrients because of.... yadda, yadda.....

But when they actually tested the foods cooked in these ways, they were surprised at the depletion caused by MW cooking.

Now, I don't know about you, but I hardly ever "cook" stuff in a MW.

Hahaha... i buy mostly frozen PRE-cooked stuff and just heat it up. Probably much worse than actually cooking it from fresh, doncha think?

- JB

You are soooo right! It's just heat and reheat in my microwave too. The frozen dinner queen!!

(But I did put the ice cream in there for 40 seconds so I could get it out of the container.... I'm pretty sure that constitutes cooking, doesn't it???)

It's looking like I mostly need to diet and exercise hard to find out for sure how much I can feel better. Can't help but suspect I may be one of those who doesn't pull all the way out and get back to normal. I have improvement but nothing like what I would call a recovery. Not even close. The good eating habits and weight are hard for me to manage. Still being so tired and know I'll have to push hard and work with my doctor more too and it took forever to get this far.
-Shee

Gettng back to the main subject.....I think we can and should expect to regain what would be normal energy levels for our age. Most of us have had OSA or Apnea for a number of years, possibly most of our lives without knowing it. That is a lot of sleep deficit. And it is going to take time to regain it.

Certainly we cannot expect to regain the energy we had as 20 year olds. I'll be 60 in a few months and I have always been considered a hard worker, but basically it was my ADD pushing me into getting things done. It didn't keep me from being tired all the time or sleeping well. I've done diet, I've done exercise and I was still tired.

I would think that the earlier we are diagnosed the higher chance of us regaining the energy we used to have. You have to also remember that along with OSA or Apnea come a host of other things that will affect our energy: high cholesterol, heart problems, high blood pressure, high cortisol levels causing weight gain, depression, diabetes, fatigue and loss of restorative sleep. xPAP therapy helps reverse many of these things, but others it cannot only prevent further deterioration. Some effects are quite noticeable early on, others take a while.

Many OSA sufferers have other medical problems like fibromyalgia that complicate things. I have a lot of arthritic problems--bone spurs, bulging and herniated discs that add to my energy level.

Seriously doubt I'll have the energy level of a 40 year old when all is said and done. I'll just settle for feeling good and being able to lead a normal life and stay active.

I had a full recovery for a while, but keep having relapses, and have actually gotten worse. So far none of the medical community has been able to give me an answer -- I know I am fighting the effects of stress, alternate between GERD, diabetes, and sleep problems.

The good news, is that I am compliant on the sleep -- for the longest time the sleep doctor was blaming me, until I finally got a CPAP machine that documented the sleep.

But they still can't figure out how to stop the cycle long enough for me to get better again.

Kathleen, if it has been a year or more since your last sleep study/titration it may simply be a matter of needing higher (or lower) pressure if you are on something besides an APAP. It could also be you might need supplemental oxygen in addition to the CPAP at night.

[quote="Janelle"]Kathleen, if it has been a year or more since your last sleep study/titration it may simply be a matter of needing higher (or lower) pressure if you are on something besides an APAP. It could also be you might need supplemental oxygen in addition to the CPAP at night.

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They've done some oximeter readings and say I'm fine. The compliance software says I'm not having many apnea episodes either.