Just started CPAP

Hi everyone
I was recently diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea . I have been using the CPAP machine for almost 4 weeks now and I am feeling better than what I was but I'm still so tired , lacking energy and motivation and I still need at least 10 hrs of sleep a night otherwise I can't function . I know that it's working because I can drive a car again but I expected so much more , I still can't get myself going in the mornings I'm still pushing myself. Am I just paying back my sleep debt, will I start to feel great soon ???? I don't know how long I have had sleep apnea for I think probably for at least the last 4 years , the doctors said I was severely depressed hence why it took so long to start on the CPAP

Hello and welcome. There's a good chance you just need more time to feel more benefit from the treatment. That said, I wouldn't want to encourage you to make an assumption and maybe be wrong. It would be helpful if your equipment was listed. Hopefully you have a machine that can report to you how effective your therapy is from night to night. If so, and if you find your treatment is as it should be yet your tiredness and sleepiness continues, there are a few things that are worth looking at.

First, how do you feel the quality of those 10 hours is every night? Do you wake up often or spend much time awake after going to bed? Is your sleep possibly disrupted or are you lethargic due to a medication side effect? Did your sleep study mention any other sleep issues besides sleep apnea? Pain can be another sleep disrupter. There are also medical conditions that can cause some of your symptoms, just to name a few... diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, anemias, and nutritional deficiencies.

Hopefully you'll find that you are just "catching up" which is reasonable since 4 weeks would be a quick recovery from 4 years of untreated OSA. Best wishes.

Hi there
Thanks for replying I guess I just thought I would be bouncing off the walls by know I take stimulants so I thought I would be in overdrive maybe I am still just catching up.
I have a resmed s9 elite with a humidifier and I have a heater tube and I used a over the nose mask.
When I had my sleep study they said I moved around a lot but didn't say that I have restless leg syndrome . I go to see my sleep doc tomorrow to download my sleep data so I guess I will wait and see what they say.
I know I should be patient it's just I have been tired for so long and I don't want to be tired anymore.

What kind of mask do you have - a nasal one or a full face?

If you mouth breathe when asleep you could be losing a lot of the air that way, but with a FF mask (or taping, or at least a chin strap) you can breathe that way without losing therapy... something to think about.

NAT85 wrote:I just thought I would be bouncing off the walls by know I take stimulants so I thought I would be in overdrive maybe I am still just catching up.

Been over 3 years now and I have yet to bounce off the walls. Sorry it doesn't usually work that way. I sure wish it did sometimes. The people that wake up ready to run a marathon...I am totally green with envy..they are very lucky and really in a small minority. I just have to chuckle and say that now at least I don't wake up feeling like I just ran a marathon. There are other more subtle signs of improvement that some people have. For me it was waking up without a killer headache every morning for oxygen starvation...or waking up to pee every hour all night long...or no longer needing to take a nap at 9 AM when I just got up at 7 AM.

There is software that you can use to see the results of your therapy without having to rely on the DME or doctor.
SleepyHead (links in my signature line works great). Be sure when you talk to the doctor tomorrow that they look at more than hours of use. Need to make sure that therapy is optimal and leaks aren't an issue.

Generally first we suggest that the software data gets looked at to make sure that all the potential problems on that end aren't there...then we say yeah, give it time and at the same time we say look at other things which might impact quality of sleep and thus how you feel...like frequent awakenings, meds, pain, insomnia, bed comfort and the list goes on and on. Sometimes it is just a matter of time but if leaks are a problem or something else that might show up on the report that needs to be worked on then if you don't fix it then no amount of time will make it better.

So yes, it does take time but while giving it time do make sure that the therapy is optimal...use the software.
While giving it time step back and take a hard look at any other possible factors that can impact the quality of sleep.
The cpap machine is designed to fix one thing and that is OSA. It doesn't do such a good job on other things that are unrelated to OSA. I sure wish it did....but it doesn't. My main issue is arthritis and general pain...wakes me up often and even though my reports look good on paper...frequent awakenings mess with the overall restorative powers of the sleep stages because I can't get the proper proportions of each sleep stage. So my challenge has been to do what I can to decrease the pain and allow me to sleep with fewer awakenings. You may or may not have other factors that might be messing with the overall quality of the sleep you are getting but do take a look so that you have the best chance of feeling markedly improved sooner.

Nat -- I too had severe OSA -- or I guess I should say that just like an alcoholic I am a recovering apneac , but I've controlled it for two decades. Back when I was first diagnosed, I was one sick puppy from at least 5 years of untreated OSA. I guess I am in the great minority, because after my first night on CPAP, I felt a tremendous difference. I took to CPAP just like a duck to water. Like I said, as I've learned over the years, not many have the success that I did -- which is too bad. Imagine -- not once in 20 years has the CPAP caused even the slightest insomnia. So, the only thing I can suggest for everyone, is to do everything they can to make their sleep hygiene the best it possibly can be. I already discussed on another thread about making the room dark, and plenty of circulation air. I would also splurge on a new mattress set - get one that is so luxurious that you feel like a King being pampered. Mine is just such a set .. and this brings up a funny story:

When I turn the lights out, I immediately realize just how comfortable this mattress set is, and I usually start thinking (I know this is crazy but) about how Bernie Madoff -- who used to have it all in spades -- now will spend the rest of his life on a 3" pad. Nutty, huh? But two minutes later, I am off in la-la land.

Don't exercise too late in the evening -- you want at least 4 hours to cool down and relax before bed. Same thing with meals. Also, try sublingual melatonin. Take it immediately before retiring as it is very fast acting. Buy the 1 mg tabs and take only one or two.

If you have never had your vitamin D level checked, I would do so. It is a simple blood test. If your D is too low you can feel run down and low energy.

RandyJ wrote:If you have never had your vitamin D level checked, I would do so. It is a simple blood test. If your D is too low you can feel run down and low energy.

That's a good suggestion. I know that my family doc is pushing Vitamin D real hard and got me started on it a while back. I take 1000 mg a day of D3.

Hi everyone
I went back to the sleep doc and everything is fine no leaks my apnea is being controlled . Going to the gp this week to get some blood tests done will get my vitamin d checked is there anything you can suggest I get checked for ? I also take some antidepressant both are stimulants so I don't understand why I'm still tired

Hi There---Vit D is a very important Vitamin. I take 5,000 IU per day and you can get that at Hi Health. My doctor suggested it since I was very low on Vit D and felt like crap. The other thing you want to get checked is your Thyroid. It could be Hypo thyroid---under producing so you will still feel run down until you get medicine for that as well.

Hope this helps,
Carrie

NAT85 wrote: I also take some antidepressant both are stimulants so I don't understand why I'm still tired

Almost every anti depressant that I have researched will either mess with sleep with an insomnia side affect or mess with how we feel the next date with a drowsiness, fatigue sort of side effect.

Have you looked online for the possible side effects for the meds you take? Doctors and pharmacists don't always have the entire list of possible side effects in front of them.
I take a pain pill that for most people it causes drowsiness so it comes with a "may cause drowsiness" sticker but there are a few people who it does the opposite and actually has an insomnia side effect..and yep..I am one of those people who it keeps awake. I don't dare take it anywhere near bedtime so I simply can't go to sleep.