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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
hakiman,
Welcome to Apnea Board, and thanks for sharing. Hope you stick around!
OpalRose
Apnea Board Administrator
www.apneaboard.com

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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.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Welcome to the forum hakiman. Congratulations on your success with starting CPAP therapy again.

Best regards,
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Great move. While I'd love to be without the constraints that go with using a mask and all the before bedtime palaver, the results in the morning are just so worth it! You've discovered this for yourself when it would have been so easy to accept the status quo - waking up each morning feeling like you'd had a very bad night out.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I don't know if this is much of a success story but I feel the need to boast a bit, so here it is. My AHI was very low from the start of therapy, but I was still going downhill. Adding in an oxygen feed during the night turned that corner around and after a few months I definitely felt better, but there was one big problem still left in that I was up to urinate several times a night and it made my therapy less effective. My doctor and I tried all the usual drugs but they didn't help and I saw a urologist which took forever and I'm still waiting for a test before he will recommend anything.

Meantime I was trying various sleep medications and Alprazolam (Xanax) helped get me over four hours at one stretch and bought my mask on/offs to usually two and sometimes 1 (but sometimes more) and MyAir scores that hit 99% fairly often. Of course Alprazolam disturbs your sleep rhythm and ideally one should get off it.

I've tried two different drugs to help me get off the Alprazolam - Quetiapine (Seroquel) and Mirtazipine (Remeron). The former being an anti-psychotic with hypnotic effects due to it's also being a powerful antihistamine, and the latter being a tetra-cyclic antidepressant with anxiolytic / hypnotic effects for the same reason.

These enabled me to cut back the alprazolam but not stop it yet. I had been taking both of them along with one alprazolam tablet for several days and getting good results with 99% MyAir scores for the last few days.

Last night it happened. I woke up and looked at my watch and it showed I was close to 7 hours without having to pee (so far as I could remember). I only had a mild "urge" so I let myself doze a bit before taking the mask off and the machine said I had 7 hours and 10 minutes.

Sleepyhead told me I did indeed get that 7 hours and 10 minutes without taking the mask off, and an hour or so later I checked MyAir and there before me on the screen was the magic score of 100 points!

I can't claim that this gave me any extra energy today, but I tell you seeing that score has me chuffed even though I know deep down inside that it is basically meaningless.

I've been taking the antidepressant long enough so the effects should theoretically have kicked in by now and I think I can tell a difference though I was not really depressed before I started it and it wasn't prescribed for that.

So now having "achieved" the ever so elusive 100% I am reminding myself that the idea is to get off the alprazolam and get a better sleep architecture, and not to worry about future lower scores. This may be my only 100% ever and what counts is getting my sleep architecture improved so I get better rested even if I do wake up once or twice a night. Still, it's rather nice that it happened, so I thought I'd post here.


Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Nicely done Ed! I know from your other posts that you've worked very hard to get that elusive 100 on My Air. Even though MyAir's point system is far from ideal it does reflect how you're doing on sleep architecture on a macro basis. So, congrats and go get another 100.
Coffee

Happy Pappin'
Never Give In, Never Give Up




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. 
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(07-03-2016, 01:56 PM)sonicboom Wrote: Nicely done Ed! I know from your other posts that you've worked very hard to get that elusive 100 on My Air. Even though MyAir's point system is far from ideal it does reflect how you're doing on sleep architecture on a macro basis. So, congrats and go get another 100.

I had another one the night after the first one, then back to 99 for two more nights and then another 100 followed by two more 99s. I seem to need to get about five things or six things exactly right to get to 100.

Honestly I can't say that the difference is noticeable the next day. I have had a run now of 12 consecutive nights of 99 or 100. I am usually fine either way and don't need a nap unless I go for a good walk. I need to keep walking of course, though I slowed down a bit last week because the week before I did a lot and my left foot started giving me nerve pain.

Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH

Part cow since February 2018.

Trust your mind less and your brain more.


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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I have just had my first true night of AHI 0. like The 95% leak rate was 0 with a maximum of 9.6. These are Sleepyhead stats, and Resmed software scores the maximum leak rate a little lower. My AHI and leak rates are usually pretty variable. My last month average AHI was .57 and my last two months average is .44. With the very occasional night of a AHI that spikes up 1.0 with a high of 1.24. Dont-know So long term I am doing pretty well and things are going along smoothly.

Sleep-well
James
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I am not claiming success yet, but I will succeed in dealing with my sleep apnea because I have no choice, failure is not an option if I want to live.

I was undiagnosed for more than 15 years, during which time I developed serious hypertension, borderline diabetes, digestive issues and was unable to lose weight. In January 2015 I got in a car accident ( not my fault) which left me with concussion, undiagnosed for 3 months. In the 6 months that followed I had to go to the emergency room 6 times with BP 200/100 + and other terrible symptoms. I saw 11 doctors, specialists, had tests MRI, CAT scans, ultrasounds, X-rays you name it, I had it. Nobody could find anything. One specialist told me I might never get a diagnosis I just had to manage my symptoms. Others said it was all in my head.

The worse part was the depression, and the personality change. I don't know how anybody put up with me. There were times I thought about suicide, but I am a Christian and that was not an option. The other part was that nobody understood how sick I was because I was still trying to run my business, my family etc. even when I couldn't stand up for more than 15 minutes at a time.

Finally I found a doctor who took me seriously and sent me for a split sleep study. I knew the minute the technician hooked me up to the machine that I had sleep apnea as my new doctor suspected. Four days later on 11 September 2015 I got my CPap machine. In the last 10 months I have not missed one night.

My health is improving, my BP is down, my depression is gone and I am enjoying life, my new career and my family.

My biggest problem has been an almost total lack of information and support. I intend to remedy that by getting involved with online forums like this one.

My long term goal, apart from getting off the CPap one day, is to start a support group in Grand Cayman. Right now I know two people diagnosed the same time as me who are not using their machines.

To put this in perspective, there are 60,000 people in the Cayman Islands. We have one sleep lab which was opened in August 2015. No one talks about sleep apnea and people do not appear to take it seriously.

I consider myself very lucky to have been diagnosed, and I know I literally went to death's door. That is not to say I haven't had problems with the machine, leaks, jaw pain, lack of replacement parts but I know it's up to me to take charge of my health and find the solutions I need.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Welcome to the ApneaBoard Caymangirl! I hope you stick around, it is great to have points of view from all over. A support group sounds like an excellent idea, people are too often given a diagnosis, machine, and no follow-up support. As to your goal of getting off of CPAP, that is probably unlikely I am afraid. CPAP, like diamonds, is forever. But it beats the alternative! Grin
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I'll call this my introductory success story... I'm on day 3 of being a newbie after a year or two of not great sleep, then after a kidney stone in May I simply have been unable to sleep since, waking up 5-7 times a night, feeling exhausted and headaches and generally miserable. Finally someone suggested a sleep study, got it done, and found my AHI was 30, with o2 desat down to 7x range during events.

Got a Resmed Airsense 10 auto on Friday and just finished night 3. First two nights were improved, last night was terrible from nasal congestion. Still working out the kinks with humidity/leaks and adjusting the range. Overnight Bathroom visits have dropped considerably though, and AHI is now 1.4ish. Looking forward to getting more good sleep behind me and wish someone suggested this sooner!
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