Getting started. How'm I looking?
Hello. I’m just getting started on all this. Figured I should follow the universal advice and register here and share my charts (after, of course, making a small donation ;) )
Tl;dr: Bad daytime sleepiness. Diagnosed with UARS. Been on APAP for about a month. Not really noticing any difference, but being patient. Sharing charts to make sure I’m doing things right.
39 year old male, 6’ 1” 195 lbs. Snorer. I’ve had increasing daytime sleepiness for 10+ years, to the point of nodding off at stop-lights recently. Had two at-home sleep studies over the years: AHI was 6.0 in 2011 and then 1.2 in 2021. Primary doc assumed nothing there due to low AHI. Finally referred to an actual sleep specialist last year. He suspected narcolepsy, so did an in-clinic polysomnography & MSLT. Results of that were:
ECG: NSR with intermittent atrial fibrillation
Min oxygen: 91%
AHI: 0.3
RDI: 18.4
RERAs: 140
“Moderate/loud snoring was appreciated.”
Since this isn’t a narcolepsy board I won’t go into that part unless requested. Long story short, out of 5 naps I had 2 “severe” latency results and 3 “normal” results but didn’t go into REM at all. So I was told there’s no narcolepsy. But even the sleep doc said those results were unusual so I'm not sure what to make of that. But considering the main treatment for that is stimulants, I'm not real interested in pushing against the grain to dig further into that at this point.
The sleep doc said given the low AHI and high RDI he diagnosed me with UARS. Said there’s a good chance that was causing the sleepiness and APAP could help. I’d never heard of UARS. Looking into it I understand there’s some controversy surrounding it, but I’m just happy to have something to go by. Makes sense to me that I haven't gotten great sleep in years due to not breathing well at night.
Using ResMed AirSense 10. The AirFit P10 pillows were the first thing I tried and I took to them right away. I’ve worn it all night, every night since I got it. Plus usually an hour or so nap in the day too. (Due to the excessive sleepiness, my amount of sleep has never been a problem. I tend to sleep 10 hours per day including naps, and could easily do more if life allowed.)
I’m approx 35 days in. Honestly I don’t feel any difference. Maybe a tiny bit more awake here and there, say 5% of the time - i.e. little enough that it could easily be placebo and is a drop in the bucket compared to how tired I am. But I’m committed to using it for the rest of my life because I know I’m sleeping better. I record myself, and I’ve gone from snoring all night to not snoring at all. That alone is worth it. Also oxygen levels are up a bit, and resting heart rate and BP are down a bit with no other lifestyle changes. So I know it’s helping. But starting to get a little discouraged that I’m not having more energy, especially after reading stories about it changing people’s lives overnight. But I know there are also a lot of stories of people saying it took 3-6 months to notice a difference and that it was very gradual. So I’m being patient. I just wanted to share my charts and get some feedback to make sure I’m getting the most out of my PAP therapy. Attached are the last OSCAR screens for the last 3 nights. Let me know if I’m posting the right things! Any feedback is appreciated, and I look forward to learning enough to be able to eventually contribute myself. I'm a pretty data/tech savvy person but at this point these charts are gibberish to me. Thanks!
Tl;dr: Bad daytime sleepiness. Diagnosed with UARS. Been on APAP for about a month. Not really noticing any difference, but being patient. Sharing charts to make sure I’m doing things right.
39 year old male, 6’ 1” 195 lbs. Snorer. I’ve had increasing daytime sleepiness for 10+ years, to the point of nodding off at stop-lights recently. Had two at-home sleep studies over the years: AHI was 6.0 in 2011 and then 1.2 in 2021. Primary doc assumed nothing there due to low AHI. Finally referred to an actual sleep specialist last year. He suspected narcolepsy, so did an in-clinic polysomnography & MSLT. Results of that were:
ECG: NSR with intermittent atrial fibrillation
Min oxygen: 91%
AHI: 0.3
RDI: 18.4
RERAs: 140
“Moderate/loud snoring was appreciated.”
Since this isn’t a narcolepsy board I won’t go into that part unless requested. Long story short, out of 5 naps I had 2 “severe” latency results and 3 “normal” results but didn’t go into REM at all. So I was told there’s no narcolepsy. But even the sleep doc said those results were unusual so I'm not sure what to make of that. But considering the main treatment for that is stimulants, I'm not real interested in pushing against the grain to dig further into that at this point.
The sleep doc said given the low AHI and high RDI he diagnosed me with UARS. Said there’s a good chance that was causing the sleepiness and APAP could help. I’d never heard of UARS. Looking into it I understand there’s some controversy surrounding it, but I’m just happy to have something to go by. Makes sense to me that I haven't gotten great sleep in years due to not breathing well at night.
Using ResMed AirSense 10. The AirFit P10 pillows were the first thing I tried and I took to them right away. I’ve worn it all night, every night since I got it. Plus usually an hour or so nap in the day too. (Due to the excessive sleepiness, my amount of sleep has never been a problem. I tend to sleep 10 hours per day including naps, and could easily do more if life allowed.)
I’m approx 35 days in. Honestly I don’t feel any difference. Maybe a tiny bit more awake here and there, say 5% of the time - i.e. little enough that it could easily be placebo and is a drop in the bucket compared to how tired I am. But I’m committed to using it for the rest of my life because I know I’m sleeping better. I record myself, and I’ve gone from snoring all night to not snoring at all. That alone is worth it. Also oxygen levels are up a bit, and resting heart rate and BP are down a bit with no other lifestyle changes. So I know it’s helping. But starting to get a little discouraged that I’m not having more energy, especially after reading stories about it changing people’s lives overnight. But I know there are also a lot of stories of people saying it took 3-6 months to notice a difference and that it was very gradual. So I’m being patient. I just wanted to share my charts and get some feedback to make sure I’m getting the most out of my PAP therapy. Attached are the last OSCAR screens for the last 3 nights. Let me know if I’m posting the right things! Any feedback is appreciated, and I look forward to learning enough to be able to eventually contribute myself. I'm a pretty data/tech savvy person but at this point these charts are gibberish to me. Thanks!
