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My AHI scores have been below five for the last week or so. I'm not feeling any better. I am still tired when I wake up and still sleeping during the day. So even though I have severe sleep apnea with the machine my AHI Was point 0.74 over a 6-hour span. I don't understand why I don't feel better. I thought that if I was getting more oxygen that would solve the problem. If anybody has any insight I would appreciate it. Thank you very much, Eric
The last result looks great, but I think it might take longer than a week to recover from poorly or untreated complex apnea. Personally, I need more than 6-3/4 hours of sleep to feel refreshed on any night, and that is what you posted.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
03-11-2019, 06:13 PM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2019, 06:14 PM by mesenteria.)
RE: AHI BELOW 5. DON'T FEEL IT
Not that it will be a great comfort to you, but the truth is that a great many of us just don't seem to feel that expected 'AAAaaaahhhhh!" out of our therapy, even after weeks of correct usage and great AHI results. Some of us report feeling different, maybe better, but a disappointingly high number report on this forum that they simply don't feel any changes, at least nothing that could be characterized as 'salutary'.
You should hope, with some optimism, that you will find ways to improve the quality of your sleep other than via CPAP. Now that you know this potentially harmful problem is being controlled, perhaps you can find ways to sleep 'better' that involve melatonin every third or fourth night, as an aid. Or keeping your room warmer/colder, more ventilated, using white noise or a digital sleep inducing noise generator available on line, avoiding eating for about four hours prior to bed, changing pillows or the mattress if it is near ten years old, and so on. You'd be surprised at how well you can sleep some time after a brisk 40 minute walk, or a run, or 20 minutes on a rowing machine. Not immediately after, but later that day.
CPAP is not a panacea. It is a specific solution to a specific problem, which by itself can be a contributor to poor sleep and feeling well-rested after it. It can't help much with extending sleep, but maybe it will eventually contribute, with other remedies and adjustments to lifestyle, to a more gratifying experience.
03-11-2019, 06:16 PM (This post was last modified: 03-11-2019, 06:18 PM by Big Guy.)
RE: AHI BELOW 5. DON'T FEEL IT
(03-11-2019, 06:13 PM)mesenteria Wrote: Not that it will be a great comfort to you, but the truth is that a great many of us just don't seem to feel that expected 'AAAaaaahhhhh!" out of our therapy, even after weeks of correct usage and great AHI results. Some of us report feeling different, maybe better, but a disappointingly high number report on this forum that they simply don't feel any changes, at least nothing that could be characterized as 'salutary'.
You should hope, with some optimism, that you will find ways to improve the quality of your sleep other than via CPAP. Now that you know this potentially harmful problem is being controlled, perhaps you can find ways to sleep 'better' that involve melatonin every third or fourth night, as an aid. Or keeping your room warmer/colder, more ventilated, using white noise or a digital sleep inducing noise generator available on line, avoiding eating for about four hours prior to bed, changing pillows or the mattress if it is near ten years old, and so on. You'd be surprised at how well you can sleep some time after a brisk 40 minute walk, or a run, or 20 minutes on a rowing machine. Not immediately after, but later that day.
CPAP is not a panacea. It is a specific solution to a specific problem, which by itself can be a contributor to poor sleep and feeling well-rested after it. It can't help much with extending sleep, but maybe it will eventually contribute, with other remedies and adjustments to lifestyle, to a more gratifying experience.
It's now been six months for me and I sure would like to say I feel better overall. But I can't.
I was treated for A-Fib last summer. I thought that it would make a big difference if my heart was beating normally again. No felt improvement there either.
The reason I was sent for a sleep lab evaluation was because I had two events of AFib with three weeks separation. All other diagnostics show I am in excellent condition, even a doppler ultrasound on my carotid arteries....whistle clean. But the sleep lab showed severe apnea. Could have knocked me over with a whisper. I can't honestly say I feel any different, but I am sleepier during the early evening watching TV, and I have gained about 10 pounds. Heart output is reduced due to beta-blockers to control rate and pressure, so my cycling and running are about 60% of previous life efforts.
And to add the caveat that I don't know how your machine works...
For me personally (I use an APAP), if it is too aggressive in treating my obstructions/apneas, then it disrupts my sleep so much such that my sleep apnea symptoms return... despite having an extremely low AHI (ie: .1). So I found that with my ResMed machine, I need to use the Soft setting.
there is always 2 things going on with CPAP and one of them gets very little attention. Comfort settings. If you are not comfortable with treatment then you are not going to get good, restful sleep no matter what you AHI is at.
I don't know much about your machine, get the clinicians manual and see what settings you have a choice of, read up on them and figure out which are comfort setting and tweak them. As far as I know this is all trial and error, and you may not need to sleep to check out some or all of the settings. You will find 3 choices: one way gets worse and the other gets better, no change but one way does get better, no change any way you set it. For me it took changing 3 clinician settings and I found the sweet spot, but I have a different Resmed machine.
My settings available were: TiMax, TiMin, Trigger, Cycle. This might give you an idea of what to look for. Turns out I was quite sensitive to how the machine detected my breathing cycle.
Oh and none of this is Rx and none of it should change you AHI unless you totally mess it up and make the settings so bad that you will never fall asleep with it. Just change the settings the other way until you find the sweet spot
(03-17-2019, 01:51 PM)shrty Wrote: i HAVE AN RES MED S9 V AUTO. Set as my rx says.
You have a Resmed S9 VPAP Adapt (ASV) set to ASV auto mode, with EPAP min 6.0, EPAP max 14.0, PS min 0, PS max 11.0. You appear to be using a short ramp starting from 4.0 cm pressrure, and that is the only thing I can see to change.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
I hope I'm not treading on his toes, but in case you aren't picking up on Sleeprider's comment about the 4 cm, an initial pressure less than 5 cm is often the source of a lot of discomfort and 'oxygen starving' for newcomers to PAP therapy. If you really do need, or just like, the ramp feature, please consider upping it so that it starts at 5 cm, not 4. And I can tell you that most people get coached away from the ramp feature; they turn it off when we ask them to give it a try, and they never look back.
