Is this all there is?

Two months ago, I picked up Li'l Facehugger and made room on my nightstand. I had hoped that it would let me just do such simple things as waking up rested, or sleeping through the night. But that isn't happening. Hopefully that will start happening soon. The only time in the past year that I remember actually feeling rested doesn't count; I wasn't when I woke up from a night's sleep, it was when I was recovering from being sedated for a procedure. It could be worse, though. I do resume sleeping after waking up quicker, and I no longer feel the Facehugger's pressure pulses whilst falling asleep (although I can tell they're happening by their sound).

What last night looked like:

Tetragon, please don't give up. I'm a newbie (6 weeks) and can't read your data yet, but one thing I've learned from hanging around here is that everybody's mileage varies on how quickly they feel better. I've read of some here who didn't really perceive a difference for six months or more, and it seems as though a lot of people have to do some tweaking of masks and headgear and such to optimize their treatment.

For me, I'm about where you are - overall, I sleep through the night (which is new for me) and most days I no longer have the total crushing daytime fatigue, but I still feel a need for infinite sleep and don't feel bouncy and energetic yet (and I don't really expect to for a while - It stands to reason that several decades' worth of damage will take time to heal). Depending on how long you had apnea before getting Li'l Facehugger, it may take a while for you too.

Hang in there and I hope that one of the good folks who can read your data will stop by and tell what they see.

Hang in There , it does get better. i can still be fatigued after 8hrs.+
can't imagine what i would feel like without the Vader gear . Therapy Going on 4 years for me now . the folks on this site are a big reason i have stuck with it !

Tetragon,

Keep trying, don't give up! This journey we are all on will probably be life long, with steps forward and steps backward, but together will keep stepping and each day come a little closer to what will eventually become our 'normal'. Life with a hose and a mask is still life, its just a little different... and we chose to live!

John

“Lots of people limit their possibilities by giving up easily. Never tell yourself this is too much for me. It's no use. I can't go on. If you do you're licked, and by your own thinking too. Keep believing and keep on keeping on.”
Norman Vincent Peale

tetragon wrote:Two months ago, I picked up Li'l Facehugger and made room on my nightstand. I had hoped that it would let me just do such simple things as waking up rested, or sleeping through the night. But that isn't happening. Hopefully that will start happening soon. The only time in the past year that I remember actually feeling rested doesn't count; I wasn't when I woke up from a night's sleep, it was when I was recovering from being sedated for a procedure. It could be worse, though. I do resume sleeping after waking up quicker, and I no longer feel the Facehugger's pressure pulses whilst falling asleep (although I can tell they're happening by their sound).

Tetragon... unfortunately what you are looking for usually doesn't happen overnight. I've been on CPAP since early July, and while I do see improvement, that "rested" early morning feeling still hasn't shown up. I'm much less fatigued during the day, wake up less to visit the bathroom, but still wake with headaches and almost never feel like jumping out of bed in the morning. I think this all takes time... very few get it right from the start for various reasons. It's great to be able to read your own data, but working with a sleep specialist you respect helps also. Much good luck in this journey!

tetragon wrote:Two months ago, I picked up Li'l Facehugger and made room on my nightstand. I had hoped that it would let me just do such simple things as waking up rested, or sleeping through the night. But that isn't happening. Hopefully that will start happening soon. The only time in the past year that I remember actually feeling rested doesn't count; I wasn't when I woke up from a night's sleep, it was when I was recovering from being sedated for a procedure. It could be worse, though. I do resume sleeping after waking up quicker, and I no longer feel the Facehugger's pressure pulses whilst falling asleep (although I can tell they're happening by their sound).

You have a really nice leak line there, tetragon.

The only thing that I see as unusual is the rather large number of PPs with nothing else visibly going on. That and the fact that you can hear them (and used to feel them) seems like it could be significant. Have you considered having the machine checked out by the DME just to make sure it's working correctly?

And could you zoom in on a part of the wave form where there are tons of PPs but no events being flagged and post that here? Maybe a close up of the wave form will give some insight into what's going on.

And then it could simply be that you need to keep on plugging on doing what you are doing for several more weeks or months. The sad fact is some of us are unlucky enough to go many months before noticing some small positive changes in how we feel.

robysue wrote: The only thing that I see as unusual is the rather large number of PPs with nothing else visibly going on. That and the fact that you can hear them (and used to feel them) seems like it could be significant. Have you considered having the machine checked out by the DME just to make sure it's working correctly?

When I went to the DME, all they checked was compliance and average leak. You can't hear the difference when a machine changes pressure? Each of the three machines I've slept with so far (at the lab, an S9 Escape, and my current Facehugger) sounds different at different pressures. Then again, at least one tech at the lab referred to me as "the noise-sensitive insomnia".

robysue wrote: And could you zoom in on a part of the wave form where there are tons of PPs but no events being flagged and post that here? Maybe a close up of the wave form will give some insight into what's going on.

I'll get some of those in a bit. Need to drag myself over to a place with proper Internet access first.

And here are a few closeups of the waveform in some of the areas littered with the pulses.

Are you having any trouble using the machine all night every night?

Unfortunately, two months is not enough time in terms of recovery for many people. The important thing is that even if CPAP doesn't make you feel better, at least it stops the damage from progressing. A lot of people do notice improvements after a few months. I noticed I had gotten so used to being tired all the time that even when my body felt better, I still stayed in my "too tired to do anything" pattern even after my body was ready to do more.

I'm not "worried" about it, but your waveforms are interesting. It appears that you simply skip one breath every so often. I wonder if that means anything in particular. Has anyone seen a similar pattern and have any idea what it means? For those with "real" central apneas, is that what they look like?

Keep looking at your data, especially the waveforms, and learning.

Your data is a perfect example of why you need to look at the waveforms. If those "missing" breaths were a little bit longer, the machine would be reporting a lot of clear airway apneas. If you just looked at the CA count, you might panic if you didn't look and see how short they are.

Have you tried experimenting with flex and/or pressure?

archangle wrote:Are you having any trouble using the machine all night every night?

Not right now. Depending upon the weather, I can end up with a prodigious amount of water resting in the pillows and spraying out the vent, though. It's amazing how effective the XS pillows are at gathering water, even when the hose has no visible condensation.

archangle wrote: Have you tried experimenting with flex and/or pressure?

Not at this point. My DME locked the flex setting at CFlex+ 3, and I haven't gotten around to unlocking it. As for pressure, I'm at a fairly low setting of 7, my few experiences at lower settings that I got before disabling ramp told me that I don't like anything lower, and 8 was tried in titration, where it stopped snoring, but 7 was what was selected. I don't know whether it was due to problems at 8 or if I just got more time at 7.

tetragon wrote:My DME locked the flex setting at CFlex+ 3, and I haven't gotten around to unlocking it.

I thought you could always change the number on the Flex, you just couldn't turn it on and off.

By the way, as best as I can tell, you can't unlock that setting at all. There doesn't appear to be any way to go from CFlex or AFlex to NoFlex without going into the clinician's menu.

archangle wrote:

tetragon wrote:My DME locked the flex setting at CFlex+ 3, and I haven't gotten around to unlocking it.

I thought you could always change the number on the Flex, you just couldn't turn it on and off.

By the way, as best as I can tell, you can't unlock that setting at all. There doesn't appear to be any way to go from CFlex or AFlex to NoFlex without going into the clinician's menu.

I can't change the number, or change Flex type, without first going into the clinician's menu. The joys of dealing with "most people find this the most comfortable".

tetragon wrote:

archangle wrote:

tetragon wrote:My DME locked the flex setting at CFlex+ 3, and I haven't gotten around to unlocking it.

I thought you could always change the number on the Flex, you just couldn't turn it on and off.

By the way, as best as I can tell, you can't unlock that setting at all. There doesn't appear to be any way to go from CFlex or AFlex to NoFlex without going into the clinician's menu.

I can't change the number, or change Flex type, without first going into the clinician's menu. The joys of dealing with "most people find this the most comfortable".

Hmmm... Take out the SD card and try changing it. Mine doesn't work that way.

archangle wrote:

tetragon wrote:

archangle wrote:

tetragon wrote:My DME locked the flex setting at CFlex+ 3, and I haven't gotten around to unlocking it.

I thought you could always change the number on the Flex, you just couldn't turn it on and off.

By the way, as best as I can tell, you can't unlock that setting at all. There doesn't appear to be any way to go from CFlex or AFlex to NoFlex without going into the clinician's menu.

I can't change the number, or change Flex type, without first going into the clinician's menu. The joys of dealing with "most people find this the most comfortable".

Hmmm... Take out the SD card and try changing it. Mine doesn't work that way.

Still can't change any setting that relates to Flex. The way Li'l Facehugger is configured, you can't even run any Flex demos, even of the current setting.

Sorry I can't help you with your concern, tetragon.

I noticed that tetragon has a pie chart in his SH report. I would like a pie chart. Is that from an earlier version or later version of SH? Mine is v0.8.6. Or does one just click on something to make it appear?