OSA and depression...

DreamDiver wrote:

gasp wrote:I started by not putting anything in my mouth that was processed, instead only eating whole foods. I drink pure water (without fluoride or chlorine etc). I take vitamin D, and other supplements that were determined by a blood test my body needs. I never drink soft drinks, caffeine, drink very little alcohol, eat very little simple carbs or sugars, and sweat four to five times a week. This, over years, has reduced my allergies (including chemical sensitivity) to almost zero.

Gasp,

We have similar boats, matey.
Arrrr...

Except I'm addicted to chocolate.

Ahoy matey! Me thinks you a mighty fine gentleman o' fortune by the sounds of it. Avast! Davy Jones' locker would be better than a givin' up chocolate!!

crossfit wrote:dreamdiver - have you been tested for celiac sprue? ... There is a simple blood test but it has a high false negative rate. I would do it first though because the positive rate is accurate.

crossfit,

Thanks for this... I'm familiar with Celiac. I am not sure whether I have it, but I've often suspected. It is not something that seems to show up in my family. If I remember correctly, the blood test is relatively new and can be somewhat inconclusive.

The biggest problem I have with the test is that I would have to eat gluten in order for the test to work. The last time I had deep fried clams - about four years ago, I was sick for over a month. I thought they were corn-meal breaded - they weren't. If it just needs a trace amount, I could probably deal with it. I haven't purposefully eaten gluten in almost 15 years. It just hurts too much.

If you know better, I'll talk with my family doctor promptly to get tested.

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@Gasp,

Arrrr...!

Hello DreamDiver,

Good idea to have the Celiac issue checked. Now back to osa and depression.

You may want to read this information; http://sleeptreatment.com/Stop-the-Merr ... -1068.html.

This is from Dr. Barry Krakow's website. Dr. Krakow has been a contributor to cpaptalk.com.

I would recommend that you read everything on his site starting with the menu on the left side at "Rate Your Sleep" and working down.

Take note of "What if fixing your sleep is actually the antidote to your mental health issues?" and " Astonishingly, some sleep disorders patients' mental health problems disappear once sound sleep is achieved night after night."

Regards,

Rooster

Rooster
There are some pretty scary little articles on that site. I have probably had 25 to 30 years of apnea, only the last 8 yrs have I been on cpap, (at the wrong pressure though). It was only after finding this site this spring, getting a new machine and taking charge of my own therapy that I have finally started to feel some dramatic improvements. More and more its looking like all problems Ive had were sleep related - depression, diabetes, severe memory loss, weight gain. Too bad this info was not available 30 years ago.

Ed

EDBRAD wrote:Rooster
There are some pretty scary little articles on that site. I have probably had 25 to 30 years of apnea, only the last 8 yrs have I been on cpap, (at the wrong pressure though). It was only after finding this site this spring, getting a new machine and taking charge of my own therapy that I have finally started to feel some dramatic improvements. More and more its looking like all problems Ive had were sleep related - depression, diabetes, severe memory loss, weight gain. Too bad this info was not available 30 years ago.

Ed

Rooster's posts on this subject have begun to make me suspect the same. Taking control of therapy is the most important thing.

I bought a PapCap from Pur-Sleep, jacked my pressure up to 11, and went to sleep at 8pm because I only got about 4 hours the night before. These are the results:

I have never had an AHI below 1 for an entire night before. Twice before I've had 0 for the first half of the night. The second half is usually more restless. I don't think I've gotten this much sleep in a very long time.

The gap in the middle is me wishing my wife 'Happy Birthday' at the stroke of midnight. We got up, threw caution to the wind and had champaign and a piece of cake. I bought her an Audrey Hepburn hat, like the one in 'Breakfast at Tiffany's', and we're going out for breakfast. (More like 'Breakfast at a Redneck Joint'. )

Looks like you're getting your settings figured out, too, DreamDiver.

Lookin' good!


Den

[quote="Anonymous"]Rooster
There are some pretty scary little articles on that site. I have probably had 25 to 30 years of apnea, only the last 8 yrs have I been on cpap, (at the wrong pressure though). It was only after finding this site this spring, getting a new machine and taking charge of my own therapy that I have finally started to feel some dramatic improvements. More and more its looking like all problems Ive had were sleep related - depression, diabetes, severe memory loss, weight gain. Too bad this info was not available 30 years ago.

Ed

DreamDiver wrote:[............... jacked my pressure up to 11.........

DD,

Good for you and your wife!

Now may I suggest dropping your pressure to 10 cm and checking the results? If AHI goes up tonight, then take the pressure to 10.5 cm the next night.

You want to find the lowestpressure that will give you results like in the chart you just posted.

Rooster

rooster wrote:DD,

Good for you and your wife!

Now may I suggest dropping your pressure to 10 cm and checking the results? If AHI goes up tonight, then take the pressure to 10.5 cm the next night.

You want to find the lowestpressure that will give you results like in the chart you just posted.

Rooster

Rooster,

Actually, I have been trying 10 for a couple nights. Here are the results:



I have had the pressure at 9 for the last couple months. Two nights ago, I put it up to 10 without much change in AHI. I've tightened the fittings on my mask, so I think I'm getting more reliable results. (A couple months back when I tried 10, my 90% leak rate was probably skewed by improper fit, so readings always seemed to give a higher AHI.) Last night I thought, what might happen, just on the whim if I put it up a notch? So I put it at 11.

I feel so much better today that I think I might continue for a couple nights at 11 and then turn it down half a notch to see what happens.

______ Restaurant Update ______

Back from the restaurant. The name of the place and caused me to prejudge it as somewhat 'red-neckity', but it turned out to be a lot nicer than a 'joint'. Just good home cooking. Excellent food and service. We had fun.

DD, I'm so happy to hear that the PAP CAP and altered settings have made such a significant improvement for you!!!!

You're getting very close to getting an NAII in the mail, too.

Of course, unlike 6ptStar, I have YET to achieve Zero AHI for longer than 27 minutes. I'm working on it!!!!

I've been consistently at 2.1, never over 3, for a year at 10 cm. But now I'm playing with it again.

I hate the playing with it stage... Where's the "THIS WORKS AND I'M FEELING BETTER" stage? Sigh...

LOL,
Babs

11 cm looks great!!!

Have a good weekend.

According to the National Institutes of Health, sleep apnea affects over 12 million people in the U.S. alone. Signs of obstructive sleep apnea include loud snoring, and daytime sleepiness and decreased mental clarity. In obstructive sleep apnea, tissue in the back of the throat blocks the airway during sleep, causing a lack of oxygen, which causes the sleeping person to awaken. Many with sleep apnea find themselves falling asleep during the day, or just feeling like they are in a fog from lack of sleep. Sleep apnea can cause car accidents in those driving while overtired from a night of sleep apnea. OSA affects all age groups but it is a more common, and certainly an unwelcome guest in the elderly. Knowing that about 35 percent of habitual snorers are found to have obstructive sleep apnea, if you are over 60 and you snore, you'll have a 1 in 5 chance that you may have obstructive sleep apnea.”Sleep apnea isn’t simply a noise problem. Snoring is a symptom of a bigger issue. Besides contributing to the overall fatigue of sufferers, there are several serious health complications that are linked to OSA, like hypertension, diabetes, depression, anxiety, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Fatigue can also lower a person’s pain threshold, an important issue for those recovering from surgery, dealing with chronic health issues, or battling cancer. This is especially true if there are other major medical problems that require evaluation and treatment, as these may overshadow OSA ssues.
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Sheik

Wyoming Drug Treatment

sheik1 wrote:According to the National Institutes of Health, sleep apnea affects over 12 million people in the U.S. alone. Signs of obstructive sleep apnea include loud snoring, and daytime sleepiness and decreased mental clarity. In obstructive sleep apnea, tissue in the back of the throat blocks the airway during sleep, causing a lack of oxygen, which causes the sleeping person to awaken. Many with sleep apnea find themselves falling asleep during the day, or just feeling like they are in a fog from lack of sleep. Sleep apnea can cause car accidents in those driving while overtired from a night of sleep apnea. OSA affects all age groups but it is a more common, and certainly an unwelcome guest in the elderly. Knowing that about 35 percent of habitual snorers are found to have obstructive sleep apnea, if you are over 60 and you snore, you'll have a 1 in 5 chance that you may have obstructive sleep apnea.”Sleep apnea isn’t simply a noise problem. Snoring is a symptom of a bigger issue. Besides contributing to the overall fatigue of sufferers, there are several serious health complications that are linked to OSA, like hypertension, diabetes, depression, anxiety, heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Fatigue can also lower a person’s pain threshold, an important issue for those recovering from surgery, dealing with chronic health issues, or battling cancer. This is especially true if there are other major medical problems that require evaluation and treatment, as these may overshadow OSA ssues.
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Sheik

Wyoming Drug Treatment

You're "preaching to the choir" here, pal. We already know all that stuff. You need to get the word out to the rest of the world.

Den

DreamDiver wrote:Between the headaches, the itchiness of the mask, the heat and the constant need to be aware of whether the mask is leaking, there are times in the middle of the night - I'm sure others are familiar with this - when I just want to rip the mask right off my face and just run out of the bedroom. In the last couple months, I've actually had three nights where I've had less than four hours of sleep not just because I couldn't face the mask. I could not sleep. I'd begun to wonder how much of what I'm experiencing is a deeper seated depression.

I can see that I'm having trouble just reading a book, following a conversation, being present to my wife and other people - even finishing chores or making efforts to do things I need to do other than washing and eating. I'm easily tired and out of breath. My AHI is around 3+ on average, and I get between seven and eight hours of sleep each night, so I don't know what's missing. Why the headaches? It's frustrating.

[edit - add] I'm only about 25 pounds overweight and on weightwatchers, and have already lost 20 pounds, so I'm not sure it's about weight.

So I was tapping away at cpaptalk.com when I saw an advertisement on TV for osadepression.com. Basically it's a link to this site:
https://secure1.acuriantrials.com/jsp/sleep_apnea.jsp

Is this worth the while?

Has anyone had experience with this kind of thing?

Be aware that most of the time studies are funded by pharmaceuticals. Of course there are some studies that aren't, but most are. This means they want to try administer a medication and watch for the outcome. If a pharmaceutical study, then they are very selective on who they let join the study to achieve the desired outcome.

In my humble opinion, I don't think studies are the place to get help.

While its nice that people are replying to you, please remember they're not health professionals. They're non-physicians with sleep apnea. People often have just enough information to make themselves dangerous. OSA may contribute to depression. That doesn't mean that your depression has anything to do with your sleep apnea. It may, but it may not.

Go see a doctor. Let them sort it out.