[Health] When did you start feeling the benefits?

[darth_vapor]

AHI under 5 for almost 2 weeks, leaks under 8L for the same time... still feel really sleepy during the day. Trying to be patient and not giving up on it......

[AlanE]

Been real slow. Noticed some things but definitely not a great bundle of energy that others claimed. I'm still dialing in the pressures but little by little I see improvements.

[SaldusMiegas]

For me I could tell the day of the titration study that things were going to get better. That was an unpleasant night. Didn't sleep well during titration and didn't feel rested that morning when I left the sleep center. But I also didn't fall asleep in the afternoon.

That hadn't happened in a long time. Most afternoons for as long as I could remember I either took a nap or fought through the feeling that I wished I could take a nap. So this got my attention and from that moment I could not wait until I got my machine which took another week or so that seemed like a month.

Once I got the machine home, beginning with the first day of CPAP therapy I was feeling a difference. The biggest thing was not needing a nap in the afternoon. It was strange to be alert and able to focus in the afternoons.

Around the end of the second week I felt like the general head fog was beginning to lift and I could think more clearly all the time. That was a mixed blessing having to now face all the things staring at me that I wasn't dealing with effectively for quite some time when I was so impaired.

Like some others have reported, from almost the first night I don't get up several times overnight anymore and head for the bathroom (so it's called nocturia, thanks Daria, I had to look that word up and now I have a grown up word for it). I used to think that was what woke me up, but now I believe it was apnea events waking me up and the bathroom was incidental.

In fact I am getting a sense that a bunch of general wellness type of things which I attributed to just getting old are going to improve because of CPAP therapy. For a long time I just did not feel well, "general malaise" my doc called it. I'm hopeful and sensing that this is getting better week by week.

They say what is measured gets improved, and I have been consciously trying to get more sleep now that the software tells me how few hours I have actually been sleeping. From 5-ish to 6-ish felt good. One day I got over 7.5 hours of CPAP and I felt wonderful that day. But that was a luxury I have to figure out how to afford more often.

All that said, here I am about three weeks into therapy and I began to get sleepy in the afternoons again, so I'm working through that now. Maybe not getting enough sleep at night (back down below 6 hours), maybe some other stressors that have popped up in the past week that have me burning the candle at both ends and sacrificing sleep time.

Some strange side effects (may or may not be related to CPAP therapy)... When I have a bad night for air leaks I wake up with the dryest mouth I have ever felt in my life. A lot of times while breathing on the machine, my feet feel weird - sort of tingly-burny. A few neck aches from trying to position my head to avoid air leaks. I seem to get a headache almost every evening which is new with the CPAP therapy. I take a couple of advils or an excedrin and it's gone before bed time. I can live with all of these for the benefits I am getting.

Rabbit across the path ... I made a change from CPAP to auto-adjust to try and improve AHI which was and remains above 5, and that's only been a couple of days. Struggling get air leaks under control and seeing a lot of AHI fluctuations from night to night which might also be stealing my rest. The auto mode seems to have lowered the OAs, but now I have more CAs and unknowns so I don't know if it's really improved. Overall not feeling better and considering going back to straight CPAP. Once I get the air leaks under control maybe I can discern what the unknowns were and figure out a way ahead from there. But that's getting a little off topic.

Back on point about feeling the benefits... still trying to figure this week out. I want week two back again. Have any others hit a plateau or backtracked a little ways into therapy? Anyways, I guess the message is felt the positive effects from day 1, and finding a few weeks into it that sometimes the progress is a little uneven.

But I continue to celebrate small victories. This morning I discovered something silly and cracked myself up over it... which is that after all these years of some days wishing I could just pull the covers over my head and go back to sleep, today I learned that I really can pull the covers over my head and still breath fresh air (because it's piped in like a deep sea diver). So I did and copped a few extra ZZZZs even though the daylight was coming in through the windows. That was sweeeeet.

Saldus Miegas

[leximorph19]

Best feeling was the first time using the CPAP at the sleep study & titration, when I got more than 7 hours of sleep. I couldn't believe I could drive in the afternoon without feeling drowsy.

After a month, I got my machine and started this lifetime therapy at home. The feeling upon waking was a little less spectacular. There is still that little bit of fogginess and occasional bouts of sleepiness.

I think it's because I average 4-5 hours of sleep during week days, and get a few more hours during weekends. So I'm probably getting the benefits from quality of sleep, but not from the quantity. I'm now into the second week and have just sent the compliance reports to the doctor, awaiting further instructions on how I can tweak the settings to improve my therapy.

Two good things though:
- I no longer need to drink coffee before driving home
- I think I lost half an inch of waistline (could be water loss, who knows?)

I hope things will get better. Based on the numerous replies and notes of encouragement in this forum, I'm really hopeful that things will really get better.

[Moriarty]

...
Now I am wondering, when did you start feeling the benefits of using the CPAP??

I know some folks aren't so fortunate but I noticed the benefits from night 1.

[catalina]

Funny I just realised that I havent gotten up to pee in the last two days!! I would average 2-3 times a night!

This morning though I woke up with some water in my mask, I think my humudity at 4 is too high, I will take it down to 2 tonight.

[retired_guy]

Funny I just realised that I havent gotten up to pee in the last two days!! I would average 2-3 times a night!

This morning though I woke up with some water in my mask, I think my humudity at 4 is too high, I will take it down to 2 tonight.

4 to 2? Ummm, maybe try 3.5.

That's a good thing about the pee'ing thing. Provided you did do that later on in the day a few times. Otherwise I might be a little concerned about the water in the mask thing.

[SaldusMiegas]

catalina,

keep going and the good days are gonna feel like this ...

https://www.facebook.com/suzannedellalce...501519829/

Saldus Miegas

[Mark Douglas]

Funny I just realised that I havent gotten up to pee in the last two days!! I would average 2-3 times a night!

This morning though I woke up with some water in my mask, I think my humudity at 4 is too high, I will take it down to 2 tonight.

4 to 2? Ummm, maybe try 3.5.

That's a good thing about the pee'ing thing. Provided you did do that later on in the day a few times. Otherwise I might be a little concerned about the water in the mask thing.

LOL got my morning chuckle!

So far my first night was the very best and every day since has been much better.
Nocturia is a little lower but still up at least twice with three the usual.
Not having GERD at all in the AM or even during the day.
Sinus are not happy but better than prior CPAP and I do live in Sinus Valley Ohio. Even the birds awake coughing.
Biggest issue is SH keeps making snide remarks about major leak rate.
Yesturday restarted amphetamines and didn't get to sleep but 4.5 hrs but did get a closet door hung

I really wish I hadn't been so bullheaded and started this after sleep study in 2011.

[jgonzalez]

Hello everyone, I am new at this, but I am so glad I decided to pursue the sleep study. I saw marked improvement yesterday, following 6.5 hrs. of uninterrupted restful sleep (night 2). Last night wasn't as restful, after I bumped-up humidity from 2 to 3, but I feel fine this morning. I am thinking that I should stick with 2. Any thoughts?