New and more sleep deprived than ever!

Hello everyone,

Thank you for all your replies! This is a great and large community! It turns out that the sleep center set me up with the wrong DME supplier for my insurance. So, I am going to get a new machine and mask from a new supplier today. I will try some of the suggestions posted here. I feel more informed about about choosing products now.

Thanks again,
Jen

Pugsy wrote:
The DME determined which machine to give you. Based on profit margin. Basic machine costs them less so they make more money. If insurance was involved it was only to verify that you had insurance. The billing code is the same for all machines. I bet the Rx from the doctor stated cpap and heated humidifier at such and such pressure.

Thanks for that information. After I saw it I contacted the DME technician and she said that if a doctor does not prescribe an Elite or better, they send the Escape model. I then contacted my doctor and requested he send in a prescription for the Elite. Just got it today. I feel better knowing I can now monitor my progress.

Thanks,
Chris

I think I saw the others recommend a bit higher pressure and a different machine. And optimism is good. Don't give up. It is hard to get use to this stuff but it is worth it. The cpap works.

Once you get things working, ...
One of the things is sleep debt. You have been lacking sleep and suffering oxygen deprivation for ... 15 years. With the cpap working, the correct settings for the machine, learn to live with the mask, good sleep, it will work but you have this dept to re-pay before you wake up. I have been thinking that it gets worse before it gets better because before you were befuddled with oxygen deprivation and exhaustion from the apnea episodes and could not feel the pain. Now with CPAP working, you have healed enough to feel the pain. You can now feel the pain.

It takes a while for your body and brain to stop expecting the apnea episodes and to start healing the damage done. Sleep Apnea causes adrenaline surges as you gasp for breath and these constant adrenaline rushes wipe you out by morning. You may be going through withdraw from the lack of adrenaline.

For me, it was about 3 months until I "woke up". I had other things that delayed it I think like wrong pressure, wrong mask, bad machine, etc. But you will know that morning when your learn your sleep debt is paid off. You wake up feeling really, really good.

Sleep apnea disturbs your sleep and causes problems with oxygen deprivation, among other things. Even if CPAP fixes the apnea, you can still have poor sleep due to the unfamiliarity with the mask, air pressure, etc. Hopefully, you'll adjust over time.