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CPAP not making me happy - help
#1
CPAP not making me happy - help
I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea (33 events/hour) except my oxygen was good 89%. I have a deviated septum (both nostrils) but apparently not a lot of snoring so I am wondering if CPAP is for me.

Can someone talk to this or provide thoughts. I've been on cpap machine for two weeks and am tired almost everyday. I get a lot of smiley faces from Resmed but it's not making me smile and am looking at a dental appliance as an option.
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#2
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Welcome

That is not unexpected to feel tired the first few weeks. Most people that have been sleep deprived for how long? will need time to catch up and for the body to regenerate. Not saying this is normal for you but without more info to look at we would be guessing. Have you loaded sleepyhead and checked out your data? Would you mind sharing some of those graphs with us so we can analyze it along with you?

Using FlashAir W-03 SD card in machine. You can download your data through wifi with FlashPAP or Sleep Master utilities.

I wanted to learn Binary so I enrolled in Binary 101. I seemed to have missed the first four courses. Big Grinnie

Stick it to the man, Download OSCAR and take back control of your data!

Thanks Ian. Like I didn't have enough Honey-Do projects to tackle. Mornincoffee
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#3
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Hate to say this but yep you have joined the club, my oxygen is at 92%+ before CPAP. These machines have lots of adjustments that will make a big difference. Remember you don't just have to stop the apnea's, you have to do that and not have the system interfere with your sound sleep. I would not suggest that you adjust the min/max pressure because that is what limits your events. Look at all the menu items, and there are even more that you can learn how to get at.

Have you ever had trouble sleeping because the room was too humid. or too dry, or too hot, or cold-well those are just two if the settings on your machine that were left at default.

The smiley faces are pretty basic, get the free sleephead software and look at the data yourself, you will see what the machine is actually doing while you sleep.

You were at 33/hour, your goal is below 5/hour and many get to below 1/hour
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#4
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Hi -- The first question in this situation: Is the machine doing its job? What has your AHI been while using it? Then we look at other things in your reports. Mr. Green smiley face may be OK with your leaks but sometimes a closer look suggests that leaks could still be disturbing to solid sleep. Sometimes big pressure changes can be too. 6-14 pressure range allows for some wide swings. SleepyHead reports allow us to look closely at what goes on throught the night. Myair is just a cursory peek.

I would be hesitant to call 89% O2 saturation "good" -- it's not the worst we've encountered but it shouldn't be brushed off either. And an AHI of 33 is classified as Severe. I'm also severe and do not snore.

Dental devices do not generally have successful outcomes for people with severe OSA.

I agree it would be a good idea to get going with SleepyHead and let's see what can be done to improve your therapy.

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#5
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Hi dasjel, you are in the right place!

If you have a deviated septum I would think the doc would have you on a full face mask
since the nasal mask might not be able to deliver pressure required through the nasal cavity.

The problem is not that you snore, but that you *stop breathing* at night.
That is what causes your O2 saturation to drop.

(I was hitting 70% at night without CPAP. Bad. Very bad. )

Hang in there and stay with it. The folks here will help you figure it out.

Sleep-well


"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable." - Thomas Foxwell Buxton

Cool
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#6
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
CPAP therapy can't make you happy. That's not what it's there for. CPAP therapy has been shown to extend lives and is much safer and more effective than the alternatives, so far. CPAP therapy might make you feel better, give you more energy, help you sleep better and extend your healthy lifespan. But that does not, by itself, make you happy.

We don't really know what makes people happy, but we do know about some things that help them live longer and give them better health as well. CPAP therapy for Apnea sufferers is one of those things.
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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#7
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Hi dasjell,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
CPAP can take some getting used to and it sometimes takes a while before you notice improvements, so just stick with it.
Hang in there for more responses to your post.
Much success to you with your CPAP therapy and don't give up.
trish6hundred
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#8
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
(07-29-2015, 06:42 PM)dasjell Wrote: I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea (33 events/hour) except my oxygen was good 89%. I have a deviated septum (both nostrils) but apparently not a lot of snoring so I am wondering if CPAP is for me.

Can someone talk to this or provide thoughts. I've been on cpap machine for two weeks and am tired almost everyday. I get a lot of smiley faces from Resmed but it's not making me smile and am looking at a dental appliance as an option.

Hi dasjell,
I was diagnosed with exactly the same, 33 AHI. That's severe sleep apnea! At one point in my sleep study, my oxygen level dropped to 69%. Now my AHI is <1.

CPAP isn't meant to make you happy, it's meant to treat your apnea and help you live longer.

Some of us adapt faster than others, but know that it will get better. Just don't give up

Resmed is a good machine, but as far as I can see, that smiley face is just plain stupid. Don't depend on Mr. Smiley.....download Sleepyhead software and then share with us some of your data. I feel your starting pressure may be too low.


OpalRose
Apnea Board Administrator
www.apneaboard.com

_______________________
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#9
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Thank you everyone for your support! It looks like I'm not the only one who has sleep apnea. I will say this though, I am looking for a better night sleep with CPAP . . .I don't merely want to survive. I want to function throughout the day and feel good . . . otherwise what's the use.

Before I take my SD card out of my machine I want to make sure that sleepyhead supports this model Airsense 10. Sleepyhead documentation doesn't seem to include that model but that info could be old. I will post graph once I get the answer.

Another alternative I am told is to press both the machine home button and the dial and hold for 3 sec. to get more detailed stats. Worried though that it might erase some data.
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#10
RE: CPAP not making me happy - help
Yes it supports it. I have the same machine.

Entering the clinician's menu won't erase your data unless you select "Erase Data".
Using FlashAir W-03 SD card in machine. You can download your data through wifi with FlashPAP or Sleep Master utilities.

I wanted to learn Binary so I enrolled in Binary 101. I seemed to have missed the first four courses. Big Grinnie

Stick it to the man, Download OSCAR and take back control of your data!

Thanks Ian. Like I didn't have enough Honey-Do projects to tackle. Mornincoffee
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