1st week impressions

I have just completd my first week with CPAP. Thanks to everyone on this site who have answered questions for me and for all the great posts on this site. I don't think I would have made it through the week without the knowledge I have found here. Here is how my first week went: (warning - post is kind of long)

Getting started: After years of my wife and familyi complaining about my snoring, my inability to breath, falling asleep at work and one day falling asleep in rush hour traffice (not good in Dallas), I talked to my doctor who promptly scheduled me a sleep study.

What a nightmare. I thought to myself, how am I supposed to sleep with all these wires hooked up to me and this stupid little microphone shooved up my nose. What did the stufy find? I was asleep in 3.9 minutes and I hit an AHI of 92.5 events an hour. At one point in the night the tech abrubtly woke me up when she burst into the room calling my name. Apparently I had an event that was hitting a critical length.

I had no idea what 92.5 meant. The tech kept saying that she was not a doctor so she could not comment/respond but highly suggested that I start my internet search CPAP, that I made the site's top 10 list (the highest they haver ever seen was a AHI of 103) and she'll see me for the triation.

Well, that sent me home feeling special (sarcasim). But it did tell me and I finally accepted the fact that something was wrong.

So I go back for the triation. Another wonderful experience. I try on and use four diffent devices for about 10 minutes each. The over the nose masks I did not like. Didn't care for the air circulating around my nose. It tickeled. So I setteled on a nose pillow system (not sure what it was, but had a barrel design that set on the nose bridge). Worked great but was a litle sore in the morning. Promptly fell asleep and the next thing I know the tech is in the room again saying its over. I thought I had failed the study or something. She's saying, no it is 6am. Time to get up and go. You mean I slept through the night, never woke up, didn't toss and turn, etc.? I was amazed.

So last Friday the DME calls and says they have my machine ready to go. We do the introductions, etc. and I choose the Swift LT device. Can't wait to get to bed and try it out. My prescribed pressure is 15.

Day 1 (Friday): You've got to be kidding me? This is awlful. Nothing like the study. The machine is louder, I feel like I can't breath at first. I rip the mask off after 3.5 hours. But, not knowing it at the time, it was working. AHI: 3.4

Day 2 (Saturday): I don't want to go to bed. The thing scares and intimidates me. But I force myself. I go to bed at midnight. It takes me 45 minutes to go to sleep and I hit the ramp feature three times. During the night I wake up three times. The next morning my head and nose are very sore. It takes the entire day before the soreness wears off. AHI: 2.1

Day 3 (Sunday): I remember when I was at the DME. We put the device on first and then the chinstrap. Last night I reversed and may have the deivce too tight. I change tonight and loosen the device. I still maintain a seal but the device is now on comfortably. I fall asleep rather quickly and only wake up once during the night. AHI: 2.2

Day 4 (Monday): Been doing a lot of reading on CPAPTALK and other sites today. I found that my device can strap to the head and have the hose go behind me. I sort of remember the DME saying something about that. I wonder if it would work better to get the hose behind me instead of in front of me. I'll try tonight. I still hate this thing though. Only wake up once during the night. AHI: 0.8. But I wake up dizzy. Go all day Tuesday feeling light headed and dizzy.

Day 5 (Tuesday): I still don't like this thing and try to avoid it until the last minute. I feel like I'm sufficating at first. Stay up watching tv until I could fall asleep within seconds. The machine still scares and intimiates me. My wife is getting tired of hearing me talk (complain) about it. Wake up once. AHI: 0.6. I'm still very, very dizzy, nauseous, lightheaded. I wonder if I'm doing something wrong.

Day 6 (Wednesday): Lots and lots of more reading. I see mention that my starting pressure is too low, reason for the sufficating feeling. And my ramp time is too short. I do realize that I'm afraid of the high pressure and I sit in bed worrying that I won't be asleep before the ramp is cycled, causing me not to relax and go to sleep. Nasty little mind game cycle I was putting myself through. So I change my starting pressure from a 4 to 6 and extend the ramp from 20 minuts to 40 minutes. This seemed to work better for me. I could breath at the beginning of ramp and was asleep before the cyclone forces hit. These changes seem to help some. I'm still dizzy though. AHI: 0.6

Day 7 (Thursday): The dizzy feeling is driving me crazy. No one seems to know what it is. Could it be something unrelated to CPAP? I don't know. To test, I don't do CPAP therapy tonight. Very difficult night of sleep. I don't feel as if I rested at all. Wake up the next morning still feeling dizzy. Something is not right. Make an appointment with the doctor.

Day 8 (Friday - last night): So I see the doctor today. I take him my sleep study report, triation report and my reports for the week. I tell him all my symptoms. Is it the CPAP or something else? He says, in his opinion, it is a combination. I do show signs of an infection. That is causing the dizziness. So he prescribes medicine for that (and he was right - meds took care of the problem). He also said that my CPAP pressure was too high. According to the triation study, he would reduce it. He says it looks like 15 was the highest setting you tolerated in the study so they set it at 15. The study, though, shows you have excellenet results as low as 10-12. He suggested I adjust down to 12 for a week. See how it goes and let him know.

So last night is first night at 12. What a difference. I sleep the entire night without waking up (except when the alarm clock went off this morning for work because I forgot to turn it off). I had 8 hours of good sleep and I was very exhausted when I went to bed. After a full day at work, I officiated a swim meet last night. The meet wasn't over until midnight. It was 1am when I got to bed. AHI: 1.2

Maybe it was a good idea to get a second opinion on my prescription. If 12 continues to work for me, it is much more tollerable than 15. When I woke up this morning, I thougt the machine was off...I couldn't feel anything. I open my mouth to check - yep still going.

I think I can live with this.

Wonderful.
That's the kind of post many a newbie will be thankful to read!
O.

Thanks for your journal on the first weeks' therapy. I wonder if everyone starting out should do that? That way they could "see" how it is really going for themselves.

Loved it! Great Idea!

Thanks for posting... your experience and willingness to be an active participant in your treatment will give all the newbies on this forum hope.

A small comment: if you have had severe apnea for some time (from what you have said, it sounds like it), you will have built up a fairly substantial 'sleep debt'. Don't be surprised if you are still sleepy for weeks or even months along in your cpap treatment. The sleep you are getting now is good quality sleep, and your body is going to crave more of what it has been denied for so long. It takes time to pay that debt back to your body, but it sure sounds like you have made an excellent start! Good on ya!

I agree/understand your comment. The tech at the triation study told me to "give it 3 weeks" before you start feeling better. She explained I will be experiencing what she called REM Rebound. I have not had REM for such a long time, the body, when it can get it, will try to get as much as it can and I will probably feel worse at first than I did before CPAP. But after 3 weeks, I will see a huge differnce.

So far, yep, I'm still tired. I'm still very sleepy around 9:00pm. I'm still a little sluggish. BUT - I'm not falling asleep in meetings at work. I'm not drinking 40ozs of Dr Pepper each morning to get going (actually have only had 1 DP in the last week) and I'm not struggeling on the drive home each evening. And my mood/attitude has completely changed.

If that was the only improvement I get, CPAP would be totally worth it. I'm excited to see how much better it gets. I can't wait to have the energy to get up in the mornings and get back to the gym (it has been years) and work this 60 pounds off that I've gained in the last three years.

wow! I'm soooooo happy for you to be able to feel better....

I also wish more people would feel free to post their personal experiences...this seems to encourage more newbies to join in!
Best wishes !

This is such a great post rzr632! It will really help a lot of new forum members to see how they can help themselves by keeping careful track of just how they are feeling and what is happening with their treatment. You've been educating yourself, consulting with your doctor and getting off to a great start in your therapy. You've helped, not only yourself, but a lot of people new to cpap! Greatand thanks for sharing!

Great post! Thanks for sharing your experiance. Sounds like you have a good Dr, I would hang on to him!