recovering from ? years of sleep deprivation

I have read a number of stories about recovery times and expecting too much too fast. What can I say I am greedy, I want more quality sleep and I want it now. BUT I feel worse now than I have in months if not years. My treatment numbers are very good, why do I feel like I haven't slept in decades. My head is pounding and I am even more miserable than normal.
I knew it would take some time to recover but I didn't know that I would feel worse.
I am trying to work on my poor eating habits but the depression isn't helping with that.

A few things come to mind first off.
Hours of sleep?
Is the sleep fragmented? Wake up often for any reason?
Meds? What meds do you take (if any) including OTC?
Pounding headache? Wake up with one or does it come on later in the day?
Can you be more specific about "feeling miserable"? Fatigue? Sleepy? (there is a difference)

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When you say your numbers are better, is this just the bullsh*t AHI score, or have you reviewed the wave each morning breath by breath?

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The AHI score and the wave look good. But I start off with severe fatigue and a mild headache which gets much worse. I am getting 6 to 7 hours of sleep and waking at least once that I know of. I don't take any medications and only take fish oil and a multi vitamin.
What I don't understand is how can I possibly feel worse. Back in November I replaced my entire plumbing and heating system staying up until 2AM and leaving for work at 6AM . Now I am gonig to sleep at 9PM with a hose and feel worse.

noSLEEPforYOU wrote:The AHI score and the wave look good. But I start off with severe fatigue and a mild headache which gets much worse. I am getting 6 to 7 hours of sleep and waking at least once that I know of. I don't take any medications and only take fish oil and a multi vitamin.
What I don't understand is how can I possibly feel worse. Back in November I replaced my entire plumbing and heating system staying up until 2AM and leaving for work at 6AM . Now I am gonig to sleep at 9PM with a hose and feel worse.

How long have you been on CPAP? It sounds like you might be still in the adjustment phase. I am too. And I know what you mean about being greedy- I've had a few days since I started therapy (~2weeks ago) when I felt great. Now, I get mad on days when I don't feel great. I wonder what's going on. "Give me back my energy!" comes to mind.

I've found this forum to be really helpful because it's encouraged me to have more patience than I thought would be necessary at first. It seems normal that you might have to go through more than one mask, hose, or machine before getting it right.

If it's been more than a week since you saw your DME person, or your Doc, it might be time to ask them if something could be wrong. I was having really inconsistent results -a few great days, but mostly felt like crap- and found out that my machine wasn't working properly. Got it fixed, and feel great today.

Don't give up!
Good luck!

noSLEEPforYOU wrote:What I don't understand is how can I possibly feel worse.

I could compare it to your first hard weight-training session: your body badly needs the exercise, yet the first few session—done correctly—will feel like you're having a heart attack.

But there maybe something else at play, and I'd say it's important to talk to your sleep doctor, if they feel interested and knowledgeable.

If he's not, dump him / her instantly, and post here how to find a good sleep md.

Keep in mind, you don't need to see that md in person, they can even be in another country.

Sometimes it isn't about the numbers as you have found out. Even an AHI of 0.0 doesn't guarantee us the results we yearn for. Have you discussed this with your doctor so that you can evaluate other possible health issues? Do you think your sleep may be interrupted more than once a night? Fragmented sleep will really mess with the restorative powers of sleep. Have you eliminated the other usual outside forces that mess with how we sleep? Like body aches and pains? Uncomfortable mattress or bed pillow?

Have you had any improvement in any of the usual symptoms of OSA...like nocturia? Anything that might be a slight improvement?

You say extreme fatigue but don't mention being sleepy. Could you sleep if given the chance?

Sometimes it takes a lot of detective work to isolate mitigating factors. I wish it were so simple as slapping on the mask...turning on the machine....getting great numbers and waking up feeling like a new person. Other people have it happen to them and we can't help but wish the same thing for ourselves.

I have had the machine for a week now and only had three successful nights. The other nights I wrestled with leaks and sinus problems. I have to get my wife to shut the TV off so I can try to get 8 hours tonight.
I am sure I have other sleep problems that I'm not aware of. I always felt as if I never went to sleep. I was hoping that I found the problem with sleep apnea.
I haven't been back to the doctor yet, but I spoke to the sleep lab today about trying a different mask
The current mask squeezes my nose so tight that it makes it hard to breath and I feel like I am bot breathing normally. Almost like I am thinking about breathing.

noSLEEPforYOU wrote:The current mask squeezes my nose so tight that it makes it hard to breath

I can't stand any sort of pressure on my nose at all or I get immediate and total congestion. I even have a problem with sunglasses.

Sometimes the least little things will really impact the quality of our sleep. Work on the mask issues...gotta have a mask that has minimal problems. Talk to your doctor about perhaps some over the counter sleep aids or even RX to see if perhaps those might let you sleep a little "deeper" and feel more rested. Experiment with different things to see if anything helps..like bed pillow. I experienced something very similar to your situation but in my case I knew the culprit was pain causing me to have horribly fragmented sleep. I tried various meds to help with the pain...various things to make bed better....got a new bed. No one thing was a miracle worker but adding them all up I finally got some sleep that is minimally fragmented. I also discovered I do much better with 7 to 8 hours of sleep than I do with 6 or 7 hours.

Have the doctor do a more thorough work up to evaluate other possible issues. There are any number of general health issues that have the same symptoms...thyroid, Vit D, low hormones....

I would agree with the advice you have been given. Most people do not feel instantly better after starting pap therapy. I certainly expected instant results and did not get them and I can assure you that I would not have stuck with it if it were not for this forum. After 11 months on xpap I had my thyroid meds adjusted and THEN I began to feel the kind of improvement I had initially hoped for. So it took me a while: I had to figure out which mask was correct for me (and yours may not be) and I had to acclimate to sleeping with stuff on my face, and I had to figure out how to manage the hose....as I got some of those things worked out I began to notice some small and gradual improvement in how I felt. I also had to tweak the pressure which takes time and patience. Even after all that I found myself asking "is this as good as it gets?" But once the thyroid meds were adjusted it began to come together and I started to feel noticeably more rested and more energetic. If you've had OSA for a long time (as many do before diagnosis) your organs have suffered from oxygen deprivation and it takes time for them to recover. so I think you'll need to patiently work through the pap therapy issues and also investigate whether you have other things going on that may be impacting how you feel.

I know that it is a big decision but have you thought about asking your doc about anti-depressants. I finally went to the doc about depression a couple of years ago when my sleep got really bad. (I was in a tornado that occurred in the middle of the night & for a long time I couldn't either get to sleep for worrying or I'd wake up at the time the tornado hit, doc felt I might have some mild ptsd) He started me on 50 mg. of zoloft and that helped some but still was pretty symptomatic so he increased to 100 mg. I nearly cried and he had to tell me, "Lynn that's not a high dose. It has really helped me.

I ran out of medicine and being old and forgetful, it was probably 4 or 5 days before I was able to get it refilled. I was surprised that I really didn't feel depressed. Really thinking when I go back in April, of talking about coming off the zoloft.

Point I'm trying to make, depression can cause tiredness etc and some of the depression you fell may not be totally due to the lack of sleep. JMO. Might help.

noSLEEPforYOU wrote:I have read a number of stories about recovery times and expecting too much too fast. What can I say I am greedy, I want more quality sleep and I want it now. BUT I feel worse now than I have in months if not years. My treatment numbers are very good, why do I feel like I haven't slept in decades. My head is pounding and I am even more miserable than normal.
I knew it would take some time to recover but I didn't know that I would feel worse.
I am trying to work on my poor eating habits but the depression isn't helping with that.

Hi No Sleep for You

You should know that I have only had my c pap for a week so though I have had great results I am not qualified to advise anyone. Your comment about poor eating habits made me think of something though. If I have sugar in the evening or something like popcorn, rice or white bread that is converted quickly to sugar, without fail I will feel lousy in the morning. Last night I had an "I have to have sugar" attack and ate a few squares of chocolate, a couple sour peach rings and two handfuls of jujubes. Well i can now verify that as great as the cpap makes me feel, it does NOT mitigate the effects of sugar before bed. I have a headache and that mild hanover feeling. . I have read before that protein is the best choice before bed.

You had mentioed diet in your post so thought i would throw that in for what it's worth. Treat yourself well and try and make your bedroom a nice cosy place. I recently bought an electric mattress pad which I put on before bed and turn off when i get in. It is a nice feeling particularly because my room is freezing and i would highly recommend it.