+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: [CPAP] Feel horrible with CPAP therapy (/Thread-CPAP-Feel-horrible-with-CPAP-therapy)
Pages:
1
2
Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - helenkay - 08-24-2015
Can anyone advise? I have been doing CPAP therapy for 4 months now, every night 7 plus hours on machine. My latest download shows my AHI 3.1, AI 2.8, HI 0.3, which is an improvement from my original study (AHI 113.9/hr, RDI 117.2/hr). The problem I have is the better the numbers show the worse I feel. I never knew I had a problem before, my problem was found when my H&H came back on yearly lab as elevated, prompting an oximetry to be done. Now I can't stay awake during the daytime, my concentration is at 0, irritation level is at 100 % all the time. I am exhausted from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. Can’t remember what I am supposed to be doing, feel like I am in no man’s land all the time. I sleep throughout the night without waking up for the most part. Some nights I wake up a few times, but go right back to sleep. I was told that CPAP therapy would make the world of difference in my life, and that I would feel great, have more energy and I didn’t know how well I could feel, this is not the case, I feel horrible. No other health problems have been found.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - AlanE - 08-24-2015
A minimum pressure of 5 is found to be to low for most people. Have you tried using the Sleepyhead software? It could provide more insight as to what may be going on.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - helenkay - 08-24-2015
I take my card to the sleep center at the hopsital to do download I don't know what program they use. At the bottom of the report it says ResMed AirView. I will ask my provider about the Sleepyhead program. Thanks
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - PoolQ - 08-24-2015
(08-24-2015, 12:02 PM)helenkay Wrote: I take my card to the sleep center at the hopsital to do download I don't know what program they use. At the bottom of the report it says ResMed AirView. I will ask my provider about the Sleepyhead program. Thanks
sleepyhead is free (there is a sticky for it at the top of the main forum page) and you can use it at home to see what is happening while you sleep, you only need an SD card reader, $8 all over the web if you don't already have one.
I think you will find that there are two sides to CPAP: the actual therapy side which you look like you have under control and then there is what is commonly referred to as the comfort side which helps you "want" to use CPAP.
If the comfort side is not set to your liking it's like trying to sleep with sand in the bed, you can do it, but you wont enjoy it.
If you have not already try adjusting the humidity, temperature and other features on the USER menu and see if they make a difference in the positive direction. CPAP is a personal environmental system and it can make your nights terrible, a little off, or perfect.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - richb - 08-24-2015
I'll second what poolQ just posted. Start looking at your data. The various graphs will give you an idea of how you are really doing. You can then post some of your findings and get feedback from people who have similar problems.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - justMongo - 08-24-2015
H&H = Hemoglobin and hematocrit. Rather rare to show up as elevated with OSA.
Although it makes sense that an oxygen starved body would create more RBCs.
How is your thyroid?
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - trish6hundred - 08-24-2015
Hi helenkay,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I'm sorry you are having such a rough time of things right now.
You can get either SleepyHead or ResScan data-management software,so you can see what's going on with your sleep, right here on the board.
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy and fine tuning it.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - C-PAP - 08-24-2015
(08-24-2015, 11:30 AM)helenkay Wrote: Can anyone advise? I have been doing CPAP therapy for 4 months now, every night 7 plus hours on machine. My latest download shows my AHI 3.1, AI 2.8, HI 0.3, which is an improvement from my original study (AHI 113.9/hr, RDI 117.2/hr). The problem I have is the better the numbers show the worse I feel. I never knew I had a problem before, my problem was found when my H&H came back on yearly lab as elevated, prompting an oximetry to be done. Now I can't stay awake during the daytime, my concentration is at 0, irritation level is at 100 % all the time. I am exhausted from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed. Can’t remember what I am supposed to be doing, feel like I am in no man’s land all the time. I sleep throughout the night without waking up for the most part. Some nights I wake up a few times, but go right back to sleep. I was told that CPAP therapy would make the world of difference in my life, and that I would feel great, have more energy and I didn’t know how well I could feel, this is not the case, I feel horrible. No other health problems have been found.
I was in a similar situation. I recently took my machine to a sleep clinic, actually took my laptop with sleepyhead in as well, and the respiratory therapist looked at the flow rate chart and she said a number of things. I was having constant arousals that I wasn’t aware of. She thought some of this might be due to the auto setting with the pressure changes, but she was more concerned that I had C-flex (Phillips EPR system) on and recognised a pattern of what she said was “me fighting with the machine and the machine fighting with me”. She suggested a fixed CPAP at a pressure of 8 (which was my 90%) and turn off the EPR. I think I feel better after a few days of doing that. I’m still booked for an overnight in the sleep lab to look more at these arousals and see what might be causing that. Such arousals don’t show up in the AHI figures.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - stanleydean - 08-24-2015
The reply from PoolQ makes good solid sense and is the kind of input we seldom receive from the "professionals". You are in the right place.
RE: Feel horrible with CPAP therapy - helenkay - 08-24-2015
(08-24-2015, 02:52 PM)justMongo Wrote: H&H = Hemoglobin and hematocrit. Rather rare to show up as elevated with OSA.
Although it makes sense that an oxygen starved body would create more RBCs.
How is your thyroid?
Thyroid (TSH)1.53
HGB 17.4
HCT 51.8