Severe sleep apnea people, how did you survive before cpap?

[quote="jzap"]

I have been treated for high blood pressure for years by several doctors. They kept piling the medications, one upon the other with only minor success. Each time they would add a new med, I would ask what this one should replace, and it was, "Oh, no, take this with whatever you are taking now..."[\quote]
I was Dxed with OSA because I went to the clinic to get checked for high blood pressure. The doc started asking how I was sleeping, when I told him he suggested I get a sleep study done.

I have Server OSA I was dxed with a 71 AHI and oxygen level dipping into the 70% range. I am not sure how I was surviving. I was falling asleep a lot at work and even when driving but to me It seemed normal I real didn't think much about it. I had a suspicion I had Sleep Apnea but didn't think it was a big deal.

It was awful. I have only been on CPAP for almost 3 months now and the changes, which I notice a little bit more each day are amazing. My AHI was 137/hr (supine).
I was taking meds for fibromyalgia which I no longer need. December/January have always been particularly bad for me. All I could do was drag myself out of bed, work all day, walk the dog and sleep. I tried exercising daily, and it just made me more tired. The more I slept, the worse I felt, which made me need even more sleep. NOT a good way to live.
I am so glad I finally went for a sleep test. My hubby urged me to go, because apparently, it is not normal to feel more tired when you wake up than you did before you went to bed. Who Knew!?! I have lived my entire life this way.
I was not a snorer, except for when I had a cold. No blood pressure or headaches, or snorting myself awake. Just persistant exhaustion.

In a week I went from AHI 137 to AHI 1 or 2.

I was a bit slow on the uptake here, because hubby has been a CPAP user for several years now, and I could see how his energy improved too. It just never ocurred to me....

BlackSpinner wrote:

patrissimo wrote:One thing to remember is that AHI doesn't necessarily map to subjective experience. Another is that sleep deprivation only kills you slowly. It destroys focus, concentration, and many other mental and physical "edges", but you can still "go through the motions". If you have enough support, and/or a relatively non-demanding life situation, you can survive a long time that way. Untreated SDB is no way to live, but you can live that way.
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Plus in fact sleep deprivation studies show that people will swear up and down that the lack of sleep did not affect them even when the data shows it significantly affect their performance. One of the most interesting facts was that it affect their judgment. Sleep deprived people thought nothing of bombing schools and hospitals, didn't question orders, while they did when not sleep deprived. The military has done a lot of studies on the effects of sleep deprivation.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is known to hurt executive functioning. Actual brain damage. One of the functions hurt is the ability to self monitor. No surprise we do not know how much our performance has changed in spite of the fact we do not feel that it has changed.

In my case I knew my abilities were deeply affected. So where before when it was new job time I simply put up my resume, let it catch the wind and would always ace the interview (I would have one to find each job - and then keep the job many years) now I would go through 32 interviews in three months - no dice. The why that I can see from now is simply that I could not sell what I did not believe in. I could not guarantee success each day. Indeed I could guarantee the opposite.

While living in shelter and becoming aware of the issues and signs of OSA I did some walk around surveys of those in shelter regarding the likely hood that OSA is part of what brought them to be there. My best guess from those surveys was 1/3 of those there for that reason.

ZenaPrincessSnoozer wrote:My AHI was 137/hr (supine).

Holy cow!

I was ready to call it quits at 81. I can't even imagine what life would be like at 137.

ddk wrote:

ZenaPrincessSnoozer wrote:My AHI was 137/hr (supine).

Holy cow!

I was ready to call it quits at 81. I can't even imagine what life would be like at 137.

I read that and thought "That's more than twice a minute!" How could you get any sleep at all? I thought mine was high at 79. More than once a minute. No wonder felt like crap, I was fighting all night to keep breathing.

My untreated AHI was only 13; but I can't imagine sleeping without it.
I hate those headaches and nightmares, dozing off during movies, work or driving. Hate it!

Just like the others, I hadn't had a good night's sleep in about five years. I was falling asleep and tired and out of sorts all the time. I asked my doctor about getting a sleep test and he said "Oh, they'll just tell you to lose weight." Finally, when I jerked awake as my car was headed off the side of the freeway I went and got a sleep test. By then I had retired from my job of over 30 years at the first second I was eligible, because I just couldn't function any more. When I got my cpap I felt 15 years younger. I couldn't do without it, which is why I always have a working backup. Getting a cpap literally saved my life, or, at least it saved my quality of life.

I was diagnosed after a sleep study in September. My AHI was 91.4. Oxygen saturation was 86%, dropping to as low as 58%. I woke up with horrible headaches, couldn't stay awake at ALL if I wasn't making myself busy and even then it was with great effort. I was irritable, had no focus or concentration, had even been known to doze off during conversations. I would get up 6-8 times a night to go to the bathroom. For a long time, I really thought this was normal and it was how everybody felt. It wasn't until I was being treated that I realized how badly I actually felt.

My life has definitely changed and I will never sleep without my BiPAP machine again. Not even for a nap.

LaurieRenz wrote:I would get up 6-8 times a night to go to the bathroom.

Is that a common thing for apnea sufferers? I've also noticed that I no longer get up to go to the bathroom constantly which alone is a great... relief

ddk wrote:

LaurieRenz wrote:I would get up 6-8 times a night to go to the bathroom.

Is that a common thing for apnea sufferers?

Common, yes. Always, no. I believe the theory is that when you have an apnea event of some significance, it puts a stress on your heart of some significance and in some people this causes a release of "ANP" (Atrial natriuretic peptide) from the heart, which in your blood stream causes the kidneys to dump water. I think it suggests significant heart stress due to apnea. It does not happen to me (or didn't).

ddk wrote:

LaurieRenz wrote:I would get up 6-8 times a night to go to the bathroom.

Is that a common thing for apnea sufferers? I've also noticed that I no longer get up to go to the bathroom constantly which alone is a great... relief

Check out this link which gives more information about how Sleep Apnea can cause Nocturia symptoms
http://www.talkaboutsleep.com/sleep-dis ... nation.htm
Also, I did a search for Nocturia on the forum for posts dealing with it. search.php?keywords=nocturia

2 B Sleeping Soundly wrote: Also, I did a search for Nocturia on the forum for posts dealing with it. search.php?keywords=nocturia

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84049
Frequent trips to the bathroom at night, ends with CPAP?

That thread was a good one about pee pee.

I'm not sure how I survived. I can't even say I felt like I was existing. Every day and night felt like a horror story that was getting more and more scary as time passed...I didn't know what was wrong with me...a horrible feeling most of us here probably dealt with too...

kismet210 wrote:I'm not sure how I survived. I can't even say I felt like I was existing. Every day and night felt like a horror story that was getting more and more scary as time passed...I didn't know what was wrong with me...a horrible feeling most of us here probably dealt with too...

Yeah, that was the big thing for me, the not knowing or understanding. I'm fairly certain I have a congenital cause for my OSD and thus have suffered it my whole life because up until someone pointed out that I kept stopping breathing during sleep, I didn't even know anything was wrong with me. I just thought that feeling crappy all day every day was normal for everyone and it made me miserable.

The funny thing is, though, that once I found out, it wasn't a relief. The thought of having to wear this thing for the rest of my life is depressing to say the least. Then again, at least I'll live a little longer with it.