Questions for newly diagnosed

[Schernenk]

I have been struggling with feeling tired for what seems like my entire adult life. When I brought it up my old GP immediately decided to give me a diagnosis of mild depression in my early 20’s with a prescription of something to “help me sleep”. Obviously this didn’t work too well since I don’t believe I suffered from depression (and if any did exist it likely triggered by the tiredness not the other way around.)

Fast forward 20 years, I am now 45 and suffering from some insomnia for the last 5 years. I’d had enough and decided to try CBT-I, 2 months later and I’m frustrated by little to no progress in the quality of sleep I.E. sleeping through the night a lot with high sleep efficiency but still not feeling rested.  

Of my own accord I requested an at home sleep study. Though not experiencing many hallmarks of apnea (no snoring, no discernible gasping, no headaches in the morning) my doctor agreed to rule it out and lo and behold I recorded borderline moderate apnea, with most of events being hypo apnea and an average S02 of 93%. 

This is all new to me and I am cautiously optimistic I have finally gotten to the bottom of that constant feeling of being drained/not rested regardless of how much I “slept” the night before. It is a weird sense of relief that I actually do have some form of apnea. I was getting extremely frustrated and upset that I couldn’t make any progress with my level of feeling rested  regardless of how much effort I put in to, fitness, sleep hygiene, behaviour therapy etc etc etc. 

This is my first post and I’m waiting for a consult to go from here but I just wanted to put feelers out so see if my experience mirrors anyone else’s. 

Also curious, if any of those with mild to moderate apnea, say scores 11-15 events an hour, did you ever have the odd random night pre diagnosis where you felt great the next day and couldn’t quite figure out why?

Sorry, could be the wrong spot for this post. 

Cheers  

[jcp519]

Welcome to the forum!

Its great to hear that you figured out what was causing your chronic tiredness! Hopefully they can get a CPAP in your quickly so you can start to feel better. Sleep apnea is very treatable and with the correct settings you should tolerate treatment well. You're already on the right track by starting to post on here. There are lots of people here who can help you dial in all your settings once you get a device in your hands. Starting treatment can be a life changer, it certainly was for me.

I'm in my mid 20s, pretty fit, skinny and I'm pretty sure that I've dealt with my Sleep apnea since my mid teens at least. Same exact type of story with feeling tired all the time no matter what I did. I had an AHI of 17 in my study and was so relieved to finally find out what was wrong as well. I also used to experience certain days where I would feel great and I think it was probably related to sleep position. Sleeping on my side definitely makes me sleep a little better.

[Deborah K.]

If you are prescribed a pap machine make sure your doctor orders a ResMed machine and asks that nothing else be substituted.  If you have regular apnea he should order a ResMed AirSense 10 Auto Cpap.  ResMed is the best.

[shell2460]

i agree resmed 10 is a great machine and tiredness is fixed with a cpap have faith it will work for you too

[Schernenk]

Thanks for the reply!  Yes I feel a weird sort of excitement that I’ve finally got to the bottom of something that has been plaguing me for a long time, fingers crossed!

I am a side sleeper for the most part but maybe all the stars just aligned in those few nights where I felt good the next day, and trust me they have been few. 

The only thing that worries me is the learning curve of set up and getting used to CPAP. 

My family doctor isn’t super knowledgeable about such things and I haven’t had the opportunity to actually speak with the doctor who interpreted my hole study and I don’t know if I will be given that opportunity so thankfully I found this forum.

---

I am in Canada so I’m not sure how the prescription Process works on a machine but I can afford to purchase out right if I have to so thanks for this info!  I had no idea about the different brands and models until discovering this forum. 

There is an air sense 11 as well? Is it simply the newer version or does it have bells and whistles that are un needed?

Many thank!

[Deborah K.]

Lots of us think the Airsense 10 is better.  It has a larger motor and is quieter.

Don't worry about your settings.  Many good people here will help you choose settings that will work well for you.  You will want to download Oscar, the free reporting service invented by some of the folks on this site, and post reports of your sleep.  This information will help others help you.  If your machine does not contain an SD card, buy a cheap one with no more than 32gb.

Also, it's not weird to be excited.  I got a new machine lately and was very excited.

[Schernenk]

OK, great, thanks again!  I'm going to try and chat with my family doctor this week, but as I said, it really isn't his area of expertise.  My home sleep study came back with 11.1 events (73 hypo apnea and 1 apnea over 6.66 hours).  That said I have been keeping a sleep diary as part of my cognitive therapy for insomnia and I recorded 5.25 hours of sleep that night with all the stuff hooked up to me so the number of events per hour is closer to 14.  The "interpreting doctor" recommends an Auto CPAP with press of 5-15...that seems like quite a range!

At any rate, I'll talk to my doc but by reading this forum there seems to be an awful lot of nuanced settings to really nail down a CPAP so I'm awfully happy i stumbled on this forum.  I just want to get going now and get a CPAP and start the process of getting used to it. 

Do people just usually start a new thread when they are trying to figure out the preferred settings for themselves?  And how about what options to order (heated tubes, full mask vs nose, humidifier etc)?

Sorry for all the questions, I am a real facts and figures kind of guy.

Cheers

[BoxcarPete]

Yes, most people keep one thread for all their questions related to their settings, often titled "therapy thread" or similar. That way we can see your history easily if you come back weeks or months later with more questions.

I also had some few nights here and there where I felt refreshed, but generally tired all the time. Lots of people notice the difference immediately, some people take some time to get used to sleeping with the machine.

Depending on your insurance coverage, purchasing the machine out of pocket could save you some cash once you get the prescription. I know Supplier #1 has sold the airsense 10 card to cloud for ~450 lately, and they recently had a 20% off deal, not sure if that's still happening now. A mask or two and you are out of pocket around 5-600 bucks, which is a lot better than the $80+ per month for 12 months "rent-to-own" system a lot of insurers put people on, if you have a high deductible.

[Schernenk]

That’s great info, thanks to everyone for the replies.

I’m in Canada so I don’t think the special you mentioned would apply to me but I will start checking out some Canadian sites.

When you say a couple masks, do you mean a couple sizes or a couple styles? Seems the air sense 10 has a humidifier built in, but what about heated tubes? I just want to try and get everything I need to get going and give myself the best shot at success.

[BoxcarPete]

Yeah, a couple styles. It's probably best to start out with a nasal pillows. Those are the most minimal contact design. Less contact area = less force from pressure to keep it sealed, which is good for comfort. If you are having nose breathing trouble or leaks through your mouth, there are a variety of ways to deal with that. I went with surgery to correct flow obstructions in my nose and still need to tape my mouth when I use the machine, but that's been much better for me than going with a FFM.

But finding a mask that works for you is often a trial and error process, so don't get discouraged if you don't take to it right away. There are a lot of people out there looking for a slice of the CPAP industry pie, and some of them even have unique and useful ideas.