Sleep4Life - Diagnosis from Lofta at home test!

[Sleep4Life]

Hello Everyone, I am new here even though I have been lurking for a bit. Just wanted to introduce myself because I expect to be turning here for support/tips as I start treatment.

A bit about me....

I am a 38 ur old male living in the US. I have been diagnosed nearly 10 yrs ago with major depression and generalized anxiety- diagnosises I generally agree with but have been hard to accept. For the last few years I had achieved a sort of remission of most of my symptoms by taking venlafaxine (a snri antidepressant) One symptom I was merely coping with was constant sleepiness, sleeping up to 14hrs a day, always taking naps etc....and my pdoc just kept upping my dose to no avail.

2 months ago I started noticing my mood was way lower, and moved back to my dad's house as I had been drinking heavily, having suicidal thoughts and I figured I need to be around family for support and safety. I quit drinking the day I left. Because of the anxiety spikes it was causing I don't smoke weed anymore which was my main self med for years. I still take an oral dose of THC daily. (Never really been an alcoholic but was using out of boredom/lonliness mostly I guess) quitting drinking was easy.

Now I am in the midst of my 3rd depressive episode, waiting for psych med management (takes forever to see someone in NM) but back in therapy. The pattern that happened in every previous episode happened again this time.

Started Waking up way early with what I felt was mostly PHYSICAL anxiety i.e. elevated heart rate and a feeling of stress, like cortisol/adrenaline. Then not being able to get back to sleep, or if i do not for very long. The anxiety stays with me all day but tends to fade as the sun goes down, thus I always thought it was cortisol related. The anxiety and lack of sleep I think is primary to my depressive symptoms as I get worn down and discouraged with living in a body that I feel has hijacked me, feeling in a perpetual state of fight or flight. I start having suicidal thoughts. Crying spells, all the good stuff.

A week ago, spurred by mom's comment on my snoring plus knowing my grandfather had OSA and used a cpap, I started making the connection between OSA and mental health, and ordered my Lofta at home test. I am also in wait for an in lab study which probably won't happen for months.

Results:

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (G47.33) - Mild to Moderate based on pAHI=13.3, pRDI=16.8 and O2 nadir of
85%
Recommendations
1) Auto-CPAP set 4-20 cm H2O with heated humidity and mask/interface fitting. Close follow up and
monitoring is �
recommended to adjust pressures/masks if necessary

Because I have been lurking here for about a month I have seen how many people are self titrating and dialing in their own machines with the help of forum members and data from OSCAR. I expect this will be a valuable resource for me as I am commited to treat the OSA. I suspect it could be a big reason why it took so long to find a suitable antidepressant and even still with mood and (percieved) sleep improvements, I felt so tired al the time despite using a ton of caffeine every day, which I have also quit for nearly two months.

Basically I am happy to have a diagnosis that might explain some of the severity of my mental illnesses. I am guarded optimistic about treatment, and look forward to drawing on the knowledge and experience of forum members here.

THANKS FOR READING AND THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ANYONE WHO WILL BE HELPING ME NAVIGATE MY OSA TREATMENT JOURNEY! STAY STRONG, STAY SAFE!

[staceyburke]

Nothing shows on your post, no attachments.

[Crimson Nape]

Your text was in the original post, but I couldn't get it to display.  I had to split your post into a new thread.  I renamed the title to Sleep4Life - Diagnosis from Lofta at home test!.  I will gladly change it after you get a CPAP and start therapy.  Please do not use a formatting editor to create a post.  It adds all sorts of formatting code to the text that make it a real nightmare to correct.

Going forward, please use this thread to post your therapy related questions and OSCAR charts.

By the way, I finally found the problem. You embedded some control code in your post.

Thanks!
- Red

[Sleep4Life]

Thanks Red! Dont know how that happend either

[Sleep4Life]

Hi I'm Andy!

Lofta's at home test gave me these numbers.

pAHI: 13.3

pRDI: 16.8

Tommorow I will be picking up my first CPAP machine (Resmed AirSense 11) and will be helped with choosing/fitting a mask by the respiratory therapist.

I assume the machine will be set according the the doctor's pressure range of 4-20 by default. No idea about the other parameters either. Should I even bother changing this or ANY other settings for the first night? 

Any tips you folks might have would be appreciated because I am at my witt's end. Depression/EXTREME ANXIETY/ Insomnia/suicidal thoughts. 

Really suspect for years untreated sleep apnea has exacerbated if not caused my mental illness, and I'd like CPAP treatment to go as smoothly and successfully as possible. I know it will be a challenge and take getting used to but I need to survive for my family. I can't give up.

Any thoughts or advice on initial CPAP settings, words of encouragement, advice or tips would be so so SO appreciated. I am excited to be able to reallllllly sleep again. I wake up feeling like I have been waterboarded all night. Fight or flight, cortisol, adrenaline, elevated heart rate first thing in morning. Help me God.

 Overall I'm guardedly optimistic to be diagnosed and treated for OSA after years of struggle.

[Deborah K.]

We're glad to see you here. You are right that you will need to re-set the pressures and other things. I suggest that you set your pressure range at 7 to 15 for now. That can be raised later if it's needed. Also set EPR to full time, set at 3. That will make your breathing more comfortable and keep your flow limits low, which is a good thing.

I think that as you settle in to better sleep your emotional state may improve as well. Maybe you won't have insomnia once you are at this for a bit, but if not you can ask your doctor for help. I take Trazodone which is a very mild anti-depressant and a good sleep aid.

[Sleep4Life]

I ALSO TAKE 50MG TRAZDONE ERY NIGHT, AND 2.5 MG ATIVAN THRUOUT THE DAY. OMG I NEED REAL SLEEP SO BAD, NOT 4.5 HRS OF VIRTUAL WATERBOARDING

[Deborah K.]

I'm sorry you are feeling so miserable.  Bad sleep makes everything else seem worse.  Hopefully, you will soon have better sleep!  

Assuming you have apnea, make sure they order you a ResMed machine, a ResMed Air Sense 10 if you have regular apnea, or a ResMed AirCurve 10 Vauto if you need a bilevel machine.  Once you know the type of machine you need, ask your doctor to write your prescription using the exact name of the machine and ask him to write that they should provide only that machine, not some other brand.

Good luck!  

[Sleep4Life]

Ok 1 week in to APAP treatment. From first night till now avg AHi is around 1. Still struggling with mental health but I noticed my legs aren't so sore and weak and today I actually went and jogged for a bit which is huge. I am trying to do everything I can to beat depression and anxiety and would love to hear from folks who also felt relief of any kind from severe mental illness especially depression and anxiety.