04-15-2018, 02:11 PM
Help [trying to understand data]
Hi all!
Newb here, in desperate need of some advice. Honestly I’ve been at my wits end a few times lately and just reading others’ stories has helped me chill out and realize I’m not alone so I signed up to get some advice on my particular case. I’ll start at the beginning and give a summary to date. My apologies if it turns into a long post.
First off, 36 y.o. Male, in shape, before all of this I was working out daily, running, hiking, biking, lifting, etc.. about 3-4 years ago I noticed my energy level decreasing, but I figured hey I’m not as young as I used to be. Then about 2 years ago it got to the point that I mentioned it to my doctor. Did some blood work and everything came back normal so we decided to keep eye on any changes. Well from there it got worse fast. Extreme fatigue, headaches, visual disturbances, loss of balance and coordination, memory problems achy muscles. It got to the point that I couldn’t read or work out anymore or without feeling dizzy and exhausted. I probably delayed my diagnosis by a good 6-8 months because all of these other symptoms scared the crap out of me and caused me to downplay the fatigue and sleepiness. I think my doc had the right hunch early on, asked me if I had any problems sleeping well and as far as I knew I slept fine. Then he asked if I snore (he was on the right track). I said no, confirmed with my girlfriend who said besides a quick occasional snort, that I'm a silent sleeper.
Over the next few months I spent quite a bit of time and money ruling out this and that. 4 different kinds of allergy medicine followed by antibiotics and steroids to rule out infection or inflamation in sinuses or inner ear, opthamalogist checked eyes twice. MRI of brain. Physical therapy to try to "reset" my inner ear. Meclizine to try and reduce the sensations of motion. Nothing had any effect on my symptoms. my head still feels like a lead weight and I dont know how much longer I can go on like this before I freak the f out. Finally doc circles back around and asks about tiredness again. Says he feels like there could be an issue there even though I feel like my sleep is normal. He orders a at home sleep test and it comes back positive for moderate apnea. Of course, being an at home study it didn't give a lot of detail other than confirming I definitely had apnea. We decide to start treatment with a RESMED AIRSENSE 10 AUTOSET. My insurance has a high deductible so I've been paying for most of this out of my own pocket. I got online and ordered the machine and supplies. Over the couple of days while the machine was in the mail I did quite a bit of research on here and got my hopes up because it seems that most of my symptoms could be caused by my mind and body running on fumes for so long due to lack of real sleep. Maybe I'm close to actually feeling normal again!
I get the machine, hook it up the first night, decide to leave the parameters set on "auto", and I go to bed hopeful with my fingers crossed.
I do remember waking up a couple of times and having to adjust the mask, but other than that, everything was unremarkable and felt pretty much like a normal nights sleep for me. As soon as I woke up the next morning i could tell that I felt just as crappy as any other morning. Tired, not rested, hung over feeling, like my head and body were submersed in something "thick". Like every other recent morning. I felt like crying. My GF woke up and asked how it went and I tried to hide my disappointment by saying I probably needed some time to get used to it, but I felt no better.
Then the scary part. I decided to check the sleep report on the machine. AHI of 42 with 39 centrals! That's bad, right? So after freaking out I calm down and decide I need more data so I start tweaking settings and sleep a couple more nights to see if anything changes. No matter what parameters I change I consistently get between 30-40 events per hour and almost all of them register as central. I got on here friday and researched all night (my body apparently doesnt sleep anyway so why not) and realized that if those numbers are accurate then thats not ok. I can't get ahold of my doc being the weekend, and in a panic was very close to just ordering an AIRCURVE 10ASV just to see what happened to avoid waiting for more tests. I held off because I know I should probably have a real sleep test and talk to my doc, but if I am going to end up buying an expensive ASV anyway then I'd rather do it sooner rather than later to save as much time and money and suffering as I can. The thought of having to wait weeks or months for relief makes me want to bang my head against a wall. I went on a hard 3 mile run this morning in a defiant rage even though I am out of shape from months of doing nothing just to "punish" my body. Pretty sure I'll have some sort of breakdown if I have to wait months more before getting sleep. Shower me with your wisdom! What should my next step be?
Newb here, in desperate need of some advice. Honestly I’ve been at my wits end a few times lately and just reading others’ stories has helped me chill out and realize I’m not alone so I signed up to get some advice on my particular case. I’ll start at the beginning and give a summary to date. My apologies if it turns into a long post.
First off, 36 y.o. Male, in shape, before all of this I was working out daily, running, hiking, biking, lifting, etc.. about 3-4 years ago I noticed my energy level decreasing, but I figured hey I’m not as young as I used to be. Then about 2 years ago it got to the point that I mentioned it to my doctor. Did some blood work and everything came back normal so we decided to keep eye on any changes. Well from there it got worse fast. Extreme fatigue, headaches, visual disturbances, loss of balance and coordination, memory problems achy muscles. It got to the point that I couldn’t read or work out anymore or without feeling dizzy and exhausted. I probably delayed my diagnosis by a good 6-8 months because all of these other symptoms scared the crap out of me and caused me to downplay the fatigue and sleepiness. I think my doc had the right hunch early on, asked me if I had any problems sleeping well and as far as I knew I slept fine. Then he asked if I snore (he was on the right track). I said no, confirmed with my girlfriend who said besides a quick occasional snort, that I'm a silent sleeper.
Over the next few months I spent quite a bit of time and money ruling out this and that. 4 different kinds of allergy medicine followed by antibiotics and steroids to rule out infection or inflamation in sinuses or inner ear, opthamalogist checked eyes twice. MRI of brain. Physical therapy to try to "reset" my inner ear. Meclizine to try and reduce the sensations of motion. Nothing had any effect on my symptoms. my head still feels like a lead weight and I dont know how much longer I can go on like this before I freak the f out. Finally doc circles back around and asks about tiredness again. Says he feels like there could be an issue there even though I feel like my sleep is normal. He orders a at home sleep test and it comes back positive for moderate apnea. Of course, being an at home study it didn't give a lot of detail other than confirming I definitely had apnea. We decide to start treatment with a RESMED AIRSENSE 10 AUTOSET. My insurance has a high deductible so I've been paying for most of this out of my own pocket. I got online and ordered the machine and supplies. Over the couple of days while the machine was in the mail I did quite a bit of research on here and got my hopes up because it seems that most of my symptoms could be caused by my mind and body running on fumes for so long due to lack of real sleep. Maybe I'm close to actually feeling normal again!
I get the machine, hook it up the first night, decide to leave the parameters set on "auto", and I go to bed hopeful with my fingers crossed.
I do remember waking up a couple of times and having to adjust the mask, but other than that, everything was unremarkable and felt pretty much like a normal nights sleep for me. As soon as I woke up the next morning i could tell that I felt just as crappy as any other morning. Tired, not rested, hung over feeling, like my head and body were submersed in something "thick". Like every other recent morning. I felt like crying. My GF woke up and asked how it went and I tried to hide my disappointment by saying I probably needed some time to get used to it, but I felt no better.
Then the scary part. I decided to check the sleep report on the machine. AHI of 42 with 39 centrals! That's bad, right? So after freaking out I calm down and decide I need more data so I start tweaking settings and sleep a couple more nights to see if anything changes. No matter what parameters I change I consistently get between 30-40 events per hour and almost all of them register as central. I got on here friday and researched all night (my body apparently doesnt sleep anyway so why not) and realized that if those numbers are accurate then thats not ok. I can't get ahold of my doc being the weekend, and in a panic was very close to just ordering an AIRCURVE 10ASV just to see what happened to avoid waiting for more tests. I held off because I know I should probably have a real sleep test and talk to my doc, but if I am going to end up buying an expensive ASV anyway then I'd rather do it sooner rather than later to save as much time and money and suffering as I can. The thought of having to wait weeks or months for relief makes me want to bang my head against a wall. I went on a hard 3 mile run this morning in a defiant rage even though I am out of shape from months of doing nothing just to "punish" my body. Pretty sure I'll have some sort of breakdown if I have to wait months more before getting sleep. Shower me with your wisdom! What should my next step be?
