How to exit CPAPTALK

Sleepless on LI wrote:

I am convinced one or two of us maintain our OSA just to justify why we come here so much

(maybe some of us are really cured but won't admit it for similar reasons )

DSM:

Thanks! Love the rationalization. Are your numbers low, too ?

Naw, tonight I am upping the ante to 16cms straight CPAP. Now surely that sounds like a clear cut case of a CPAP junkie

Cheers

DSM

Don't you wish it were truly just a case of addiction, that you were upping your numbers? This is one situation where you can safely assume that's not the case.

I have to say, though, with my AHI being 0.2 and 0.3, and my desire NOT to quit CPAP because of how great I now feel, maybe my point can be argued..

Lori,

Great to hear your numbers are so low. Must admit I haven't made the effort to get software etc:. Am not sure I would have the time to play with it (or worried that it too would consume excessive time )

A week ago my weight shot up in 4 days by 6 lbs, my right foot became inflamed & swollen & some of the effects of xPAP therapy seemed to slip away. At the same time I also noticed that my mask stopped leaking (& squeaking) & whereas it used to be a certainty that 15cms would cause no end of aerophagia & leaks, now I am finding that I sleep all night, wake up fine, no air & no leaks, even as with last night at 16.

During this past 3 weeks I have been getting up at 5:30am & doing 40 min walk so I can't understand why my weight would go up so fast and so far. I believe it is fluid retention (possibly also explaining why my face seals the mask better ?). Am still doing that exercise. Also food intake has not changed in any significant way.

Yesterday at work I felt drowsy on 2 occasions (day before was similar), my wife pointed out that it happened in a small room with inadequate ventilation & in which the airconditioning seems to be not working so not to take that as going backward.

Reason I upped to 16 was to see if that in any way made a difference. It is too early in the day to tell.

I am now wondering how many of us go through a dip in the effectiveness of CPAP after the 1st couple of months - kind of like experiencing a 'CPAPers high' perhaps exaggerated by the stress and combined excitement of it all ?.

Cheers

DSM

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): CPAP, aerophagia

DSM:

I have certainly read what you're talking about as far as people feeling a sort of regression after being on CPAP therapy for a while. But if you're now sleeping through the night with no leaks from your mask, that is a great sign that things should improve again. At least, I would think so.

Regarding the increase in weight, are you eating anything that has salt in it, or more salt intake than normal? Some foods that you wouldn't even think have salt in them are loaded with it, like bagels. When my BP started to be borderline high a couple of years ago, which I think is when my OSA must have started, before putting me on medication for it, my doctor tried to treat it with diet modification and gave me a list of foods to avoid due to high salt content. When I saw bagels, I was shocked. So maybe it is fluid retention and you are not realizing something or things that you're ingesting are full of sodium. Do your rings fit tighter or do your fingers just feel puffy? That shouldn't happen in just four days, the finger puffiness, and probably is a sign of retaining fluids.

My suggestion is to try to drink a massive amount of water over the next few days because if it is water retention, oddly enough, the way to get rid of it is to drink a lot of water to flush it out of you. Sounds kind of ridiculous to drink water to get rid of fluids, but it's true.

Well, good luck on the leak-less mask. Hope it stays that way when the extra few lbs. come off. Can't imagine that small amount of weight making the difference in your mask fitting better, but if you're puffy, it might make sense. In any event, enjoy it while it lasts.

Sleepless on LI wrote:DSM:

<snip>

Regarding the increase in weight, are you eating anything that has salt in it, or more salt intake than normal? Some foods that you wouldn't even think have salt in them are loaded with it, like bagels.

<snip>

My suggestion is to try to drink a massive amount of water over the next few days because if it is water retention, oddly enough, the way to get rid of it is to drink a lot of water to flush it out of you. Sounds kind of ridiculous to drink water to get rid of fluids, but it's true.

Lori,

Thanks for the good advice. I makes sense that something I have been eating has bumped up the sodium intake. I will drink lots of water.

My wife has now asked me to settle on one mode of CPAP as each time I change some setting the machine behaves differently and she gets disturbed by the change. But she has been saying to me that I seem to be getting the smoothest nights sleep she can recall in months. She also says she thinks I am looking pretty fit & alert. This morning at breakfast we again discussed the drowsiness I experienced at work the prior two days & she is quite happy it is a lack of oxygen in this particular room at work. In fact she may be partly right. This room is a lab for doing experiments and developmental work. A few weeks back another department moved their gear in here (I am in it now) & the room as been markedly hotter & thus it is quite probable that the drowsiness was the room & not due to any OSA related sleep problems.

It has felt unusual to get a full night of uniterupted sleep. I guess it must be working as I am waking up without needing my alarm clock - it is pitch black at 5:30 am & it is no effort to get up. In the early morning when I have woken up I have wondered if the machine was even on (but the air & pressure is there all right). It just seems calm compared to when it gets turned on at bedtime. Breathing in the am seems as normal as if there is no mask & machine.


Cheers

DSM

Oh, DSM, great news about realizing the daytime drowsiness is not OSA related and the fact that you wake up early without an alarm. A definite sign that the therapy is taking its hold on you. I, too, now have trouble falling asleep and sleeping late, which I take as a good sign, too. Not that I ever liked waking up early, but having enough energy at an early hour is a great indication that you are getting real rest. And not being able to fall asleep at night, when it used to take me three seconds and I was out, at least for an hour or so, is also an indication that I am full of energy late into the evening.

Isn't it just a wonderful thing when this starts to change your life? That's why I said, I'm not that ready to give it up now. I don't ever want to go back to where I was before my mask and machine. Did I just say that??? Yes, I did!!!

I hope you keep improving as you are. And let me know how you do with the water drinking over the next couple of days. Hope we're onto something here.

Margaret, it sounds like you may need to join CFA (CPAP Forums Anonymous). They have a great 12 step program that will gradually get you off of your CPAP Forum addiction. You have already taken the first and most difficult step which is to admit you have a problem.

Best of luck with beating your CF addiction and God's speed in getting the help you so desperately need.

SnoreNoMore2005

Dsm, i have been on therapy for almost two years , and it took awhile until the mask became a "part" of me at nite. I remember the first time I woke up and also wondered if the machine was on. It was, and I felt elated. And I wear a ff mask. Now i hardly notice it much. But will always have those nites, but even normal ppl have those.

loonlvr wrote:Dsm, i have been on therapy for almost two years , and it took awhile until the mask became a "part" of me at nite. I remember the first time I woke up and also wondered if the machine was on. It was, and I felt elated. And I wear a ff mask. Now i hardly notice it much. But will always have those nites, but even normal ppl have those.

Hi loonlvr,
Yes it really bothered me that the machine seems so quiet in the am. One morning I even checked the cms reading showing on the display, it was correct.
I realise how normal it all is when I switch off the machine & feel the mask shrink & what at first seems like a vaccume.

But it is quite a nice feeling when the mask becomes part of one's face.

Also on Mon I mailed my mold to Dr Sue, I am interested to see if his teethguard will also help me revert to my ACTIVA mask.

Cheers

DSM

viewtopic.php?t=4299

I have created a new thread at the above link to continue the thread re
"am I getting better / am I getting worse - how do I tell ?"

Cheers

DSM

Hey Margaret,

What is even more funny is that you are talking to most of us the "next day" as you are in Australia. Now I know you are NOT getting any sleep.

I am getting a computer at home in September so I will probably be on the boards more also but I don't know if that is such a good idea because some nights I get up around 1:00 a.m. and can't sleep and I have to work the next day. Maybe I should re-think this "home" computer idea.

I finally used the Aussie hose after you and several others told me what to expect when I plugged it in. Two nights now and its wonderful. I am so glad I bought it. Thanks for your help too and GO TAKE A NAP!!!!

Judy

Judy
I only just found your message. I hadn't received any notices that this post was still being updated.

I am so glad that you are having success with the heated hose. I couldn't imagine being without mine, especially as I only have a passover humidifier. Even with the unheated humidifier I was getting "rain", but no more.

You're right, I am half a day ahead of you guys, according to the calendar that is. No advantage unfortunately.

Like so many others on this forum, I am also very happy with the new Swift nasal pillow (although a couple of times I changed to my 407 during the night because I had a scratch on my nose).

I have given myself a curfew of 10.00pm so that I can get the magic 8 hours sleep. I posted some info. on sleep research which you may already have known but was completely new to me here in Oz ("11.00pm to 1.00am" post).

Sleep well & may God bless you
Love from Margaret

Margaret,

So glad you made a good choice for yourself in ordering the Swift. Always happy to hear when it works for someone else .