Daytime sleepiness returned after 4 months on CPAP

OK. So I went to the new pulmonlogist. He said to continue using only the nasal mask obviously. He did say not to worry about the hi CA for the time being since the CA has normally been low. There wasn't enough info to go off of for the high reading only on that day. He wants me to use the nasal mask for the next week or 2 and see how I feel. If I don't get better, he wants to do a cat scan of my head, throat and sinus areas. If I don't get better, I'll probably go back sooner. However, I'll keep an eye on the reports for the next few days and I'll see if I feel any more rested. He also said that once you get continous large air leaks like I did for the past week, the other numbers tend to be flawed. So I'll try to keep you all in the loop and wish me luck and good sleep. Chris.

We will keep our fingers crossed for you. Good luck.

Keep us posted, glad you found a mask that works. Good luck. kathy

Whoops! I totally forgot to put the SD card back in the CPAP last night before bed. I brought it with me to ask the doctor if he wanted to copy it and I left it on the dresser before bed. I was so interested in seeing what the numbers were. Damn it! Well at least, I do feel a lot better today. I'm not as sleepy. My muscles are still bothering me, but not as bad as yesterday. Actually, I don't have that really heavy tired feeling that normally comes over me by this time. I'll probably get it later as I know I still need a few days to play catch up.

Also, another thing that the doctor brougtht up that I really didn't link together. I've always had anxiety issues, but they were managable. However, the last year they got a little worse and then they exploded about 6 months ago. This was right around the same time that I was diagnosed with the sleep apnea. I didn't even bring up the anxiety, but he asked me about it. He said that a lot of his patients with severe sleep apnea also had problems with Anxiety. He wasn't sure if the anxiety symptoms made the sleep apnea problems worse or the other way around. He just said to try not to link the 2 together in your head. Once this happens, you get stuck in a spiral and you end up making both worse. So, just a tip for all of you anxiety sufferers like me. Chris.

Oh, another thing. 2 nights ago, when I was using the nasal mask for the first time in a while. I had the problem with the mask fluttering and vibrating on my face. Well, I noticed last night the there is a sliding mechanism built into the mask. You can slide the mask part closer to the headrest. When you slide it, it changes the angle on your face. Its an up/down slide. Up closer towards your forehead or down closer towards your mouth. I fiddled with that last night and the fluttering thing stopped. Another problem solved!

My cpap must have an internal memory card, because this morning when I analyzed the data for last nights sleep, Thursday nights data was on this card as well. I had forgotten to put the sd card back in the cpap before bed on Wednesday night. So, I have been on the nasal mask for 3 nights now. All of the bad numbers have been coming down gradually. Here is the raw numbers instead of the graph so you can see the decline:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday
CA: 13.1 CA: 6.6 CA: 4.8
AHI: 19.2 AHI:10.5 AHI: 7.6
No Large air leaks No Large Air leaks No Large Air leaks
38.3 total air leaks 36.4 total air leaks 31 total air leaks

Today is the first morning where I am actually a little tired upon waking up. Normally I don't feel tired for an hour or 2, but once I get tired, its the horrible major tiredness where you can barely function. I mean, we'll see if that feeling comes back later. Yesterday I posted that I felt great driving in to work. But by 11AM, that bad tired feeling came back. The morning before that the drive in was bad. So I may be seeing a little improvement. Its too early to tell. Unfortunately, I'm being impatient

Whoo Hoo ! Progress! NBD if you forget to put the card in, your machine will store a weeks worth of detailed data. Post some graphs if you can. kathy

OK. here is last nights graph:
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9-17-2011sleepap AM by chrisf220, on Flickr]

That graph certainly looks better. are you feeling better today? Like Pugsy says, I wouldn't go dial winging with those CAs , and maybe things will settle down. One night is not enough data, and you have an apt soon. You got those leaks under controll

I just wrote up this huge message and it failed to post....ggrrrrrrr. Lets try it again. I woke up tired and was tired all day. About 11, I got that real heavy tired feeling. It lasted about 3 hours. Even though my CA is still kind of high, the rest of my numbers were still the best so far. I would have expected to feel better today. Instead, I think I took a step backwards. Also, Most people complain of waking up with a headache in the morning. I always seem to get my headaches in the evening just like the one I have now. Does anyone else get evening headaches? Its kind of late for a nap, but I need to lay down for a while.

Chrisf wrote:I just wrote up this huge message and it failed to post....ggrrrrrrr. Lets try it again. I woke up tired and was tired all day. About 11, I got that real heavy tired feeling. It lasted about 3 hours. Even though my CA is still kind of high, the rest of my numbers were still the best so far. I would have expected to feel better today. Instead, I think I took a step backwards. Also, Most people complain of waking up with a headache in the morning. I always seem to get my headaches in the evening just like the one I have now. Does anyone else get evening headaches? Its kind of late for a nap, but I need to lay down for a while.

My headaches before cpap were always after lunch.

My Central Sleep apneas are higher again today. These numbers have only been going up since I have been using my nasal mask? one of my nostrils is usually always clogged. Could there be some connection between my clogged nose and the CA? Also, My AHI is higher today and I feel less tired. I don't understand all of this. lol Has anyone made the switch from nasal mask to Nasal pillows? They look very interesting. I even saw someone post that there clogged nose will usually unclog itself with the nasal pillows.

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09172011SatNightSunMorn by chrisf220, on Flickr]

Night to night variation is normal, you want to look for trends over say a week or more. It's good you are feeling better and leaks are under control. As for nasal pillows, I like them, you may want to try them. I use use swift fx, and also swift lt . You might try sinus rinse or turning the humidity up or down to help with congestion. kathy