3 years in and regressing?!

Marking my third anniversary this month. Over that time I have noticed some incremental improvements but never to the degree that I see reflected in some of the forum posts. I am jealous but understant this is not an exact science and that they are multiple variables. Actually in the last six months I have notices a regression. The fog through which i walk during the day has returned. The "having been hit by a truck" upon awaking along with some neck and leg weakness is back. This has all impacted on both personal and professional interactions.

I just visited my sleep doctor who looked at the machine stats and said I appear to be complying, getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night, am down to an average of two serious apneas an hour instead of the 60+ when first diagnosed and no leaks were indicated. He could not explain my increasing physical fatigue and mental fog.

I am taking myriad meds for hypertension which have been increased slightly over the last six months, some of which bear the label "may cause drowsiness". My doctor dismissed those have being responsible. The only other change has been an increase in weight of about 15 pounds.

After a shrug of the shoulders, the doctor could only suggest another sleep study. I was not so sure. My problem with that is why wouldn't the numbers from the machine have reflected some increase in apnea episodes, etc. ? Then maybe a study to determine if pressure increase was warranted would make sense.

My current plan is to try to lose those extra pounds now and see if that makes a difference before another study.

I would be interested in any feedback or suggestions.

Phil (fafner)

If your machine collects data, get a program to monitor your therapy. Also, use an oximeter to measure your blood oxygen.

Fafner wrote:Marking my third anniversary this month. Over that time I have noticed some incremental improvements but never to the degree that I see reflected in some of the forum posts. I am jealous but understant this is not an exact science and that they are multiple variables. Actually in the last six months I have notices a regression. The fog through which i walk during the day has returned. The "having been hit by a truck" upon awaking along with some neck and leg weakness is back. This has all impacted on both personal and professional interactions.

I just visited my sleep doctor who looked at the machine stats and said I appear to be complying, getting 6-7 hours of sleep a night, am down to an average of two serious apneas an hour instead of the 60+ when first diagnosed and no leaks were indicated. He could not explain my increasing physical fatigue and mental fog.

I am taking myriad meds for hypertension which have been increased slightly over the last six months, some of which bear the label "may cause drowsiness". My doctor dismissed those have being responsible. The only other change has been an increase in weight of about 15 pounds.

After a shrug of the shoulders, the doctor could only suggest another sleep study. I was not so sure. My problem with that is why wouldn't the numbers from the machine have reflected some increase in apnea episodes, etc. ? Then maybe a study to determine if pressure increase was warranted would make sense.

My current plan is to try to lose those extra pounds now and see if that makes a difference before another study.

I would be interested in any feedback or suggestions.

Phil (fafner)

Don't you monitor your own sleep data? You could easily do that with your machine.

The first things that come to my mind when I see a post like yours are.......

Look at the profile and see what mask the person is using. Since you have a nasal mask listed in your profile, I suspect that therapy air could be leaking out of your mouth during sleep. Even though you said "no leaks were indicated", what were the leak numbers? Ever wake up with a dry mouth? Do you tape your mouth shut at night? Have you seen actual reports of your nightly data to see the leak line and numbers?

The number of hours of sleep. You're only getting 6 - 7 hours. You may actually need more than that. I know that at some point, I seemed to require more than seven hours.

Medications. Have you actually looked up the medications on the Internet? There are several sites that list them and their adverse effects.

Your AHI isn't THAT low (if it's around 2.0). Maybe another centimeter of pressure might help.

I'd start with the mouth-leakage possibility.......and work from there. Try to determine whether or not that's the problem.


Den