Feeling Worse Extremely Tired

I am a Veteran. I had a sleep test done about three years ago. I started using the machine with a regular mask and feel no difference. I went and got a full face mask and a gin strap yesterday. I slept for about 4 hours. When I woke up this morning I felt the worse I have ever felt since using a CPAP. I am starting to feel somewhat better about 2 hours. Can anyone tell me what is going on. This thing is suppose to help and has never helped me at all. People keep telling me keep using it but if people know how bad I feel when I wake up after using it. I don't sleep well at all.

I'm confused about your post...

Have you been using the CPAP for 3 years?
Did you quit 3 years and are now trying again?
How many nights have you used the machine?
What machine are you using? What mask?
What is your pressure setting?
What did your sleep test show 3 years ago?

Don't expect miracles after 1 night.....It takes some people months.

So what you are saying it is normal when you start using the machine to wake up feeling so tired that you can't do anything for a couple hours ? I did start using the machine and stopped for the reason of feeling worse. [/i]

Welcome to our forum. Sorry you are having problems. Many of us have had similar problems and may have some hint.

Unfortunately, it sometimes takes some tinkering, and the doctors are often practicing assembly line medicine, and don't really look at the problems. Many of them really don't have much experience actually helping patients fix problems.

Please sign up for an ID on the board and fill in what equipment you have. There's a link in my signature line on how to fill in your profile.

Once we know what equipment you have, we may be able to give you some better advice on how to figure out what's wrong. If you have the right kind of CPAP, it will give you sort of a mini sleep test every night and can pinpoint a lot of problems.

Sometimes, even if everything is right, you feel worse at first.

For some people, it's just that your brain takes a while to get used to the alien device clamped over your nose blowing air into you, and you don't sleep deeply.

While you're having apnea before CPAP, your body tries really hard to adjust to being strangled every few minutes through the night. Hormones get out of whack, there is stress, and other changes. Sometimes, when you stop having apneas, your body is still doing all the things it had to do to survive apnea. Your chemical and neurological balance may be all out of whack for a while.

Sometimes, feeling tired may be a good sign. Your body sometimes suffers withdrawal from all the "drugs" your body produces while you're having apnea. Sometimes, it's a bit like withdrawal from some sort of drugs/smoking/alcohol.

You may also not have your CPAP machine set properly.

We may be able to give you advice on all these problems.

Are you having any particular problems while you're trying to sleep with the machine? Difficulty falling asleep, waking up, difficulty breathing, etc.

CharlesG1962 wrote:So what you are saying it is normal when you start using the machine to wake up feeling so tired that you can't do anything for a couple hours ? I did start using the machine and stopped for the reason of feeling worse. [/i]

Hmmmm.....I don't think I said any of that.

LSAT no but I did

Please answer LSAT's questions. Maybe there is something that needs improvement in terms with your therapy and unless we have some idea what is going on we can't offer much help.
No...most people don't feel worse with cpap therapy. Now some unlucky few do feel worse but normally there is some sort of explanation as to why.
First thing we would want to do is try to evaluate the therapy itself to see if it is even optimal. Hopefully you have a machine that gathers useful data so we can see if the therapy is optimal or not. If it is optimal the we start looking for other possible culprits.
Gotta start somewhere though.

arcnangle thanks for your help. I filled in what info I know. test results pressure setting don't know.

Your machine is not showing in your profile. Can you tell us the exact model number? Model number is a 3 digit number on the bottom of the blower unit.

CharlesG1962 wrote:arcnangle thanks for your help. I filled in what info I know. test results pressure setting don't know.

Thanks.

We need to know your machine type. There are some bugs on the board, so maybe you put it in, but it doesn't show up.

Take out the water tank from your humidifier so you don't spill water into the machine and damage it while messing with it.

Then turn over the blower unit and look for a sticker on the bottom. Look for something like "REF 560P". Tell us what it says.

Also, look on the top near the display for something like "REMstar blahblah" and tell us what it says.

remstar pro c flex respironics

system one heated humidifier

ultra mirage full face mask

chin strap

ref 450p

AHI
7 DAY 6.0

30 DAY 6.5

12.0 CM H 2O

IT SHOWS CODE 45 WHAT EVER THAT IS

The model 450 is a full data machine.
SleepyHead works great with it. I have links in my signature line.
Your AHI is a little higher than I would like to see it but before doing any thing it would really help if we could see some detailed reports. Check out both links in my signature as I have some threads explaining how to use the software and post the reports so we can see what is going on.

I downloaded the program and here is the info. This morning when I said I felt worse I mean I was feeling real tired. To tired to even think about driving. When I first started using the machine I did stop Reason felt a lot worse. If the feeling worse is normal then great. Thanks for all the help

CPAP Statistics as of Thursday, October 03, 2013
161 days of CPAP Data, between 1/28/2010 and 10/3/2013
Details Most Recent Last 7 Days Last 30 Days Last 6 months Last Year
AHI 8.36 5.73 6.40 6.80 9.21
RERA Index 0.15 0.90 1.23 1.43 1.40
Hours per Night 06:42 05:05 04:09 03:46 04:22
Pressure 12.00 12.00 12.00 12.00 10.00
Average Total Leaks 58.09 38.24 35.34 37.17 34.87
95% Total Leaks 104.00 62.00 53.00 54.00 50.00

Changes to Prescription Settings
First Last Days AHI FL Machine Mode Pr. Rel. Pressure
8/1/2013 10/3/2013 32 7.09 0.00 PRS1 CPAP C-Flex x2 12.00
8/3/2010 7/31/2013 55 11.30 0.00 PRS1 CPAP C-Flex x1 12.00
1/28/2010 8/2/2010 74 9.16 0.00 PRS1 CPAP C-Flex+ x1 10.00
The above has a threshold which excludes day counts less than 5 from the best/worst highlighting

Machine Information
Brand Model Serial First Use Last Use
Philips Respironics System One RemStar Pro with C-Flex+ (450P) P00370292015A 1/28/2010 10/3/2013