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+--- Thread: [Symptoms] Using CPAP while awake (/Thread-Symptoms-Using-CPAP-while-awake)
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Using CPAP while awake - LowAHI - 12-11-2016
I am a computer programmer, so memory and concentration are crucial.
I'm an ex-OSA patient (AHI was 50 before CPAP, now it's 0.7), but still tired with all problems with memory, concentration, thinking speed, decision making, multi-tasking.
Quite many time I want to do something, but if I sit in front of my computer I'll feel tired quickly, and end up browsing news/facebook.
Also everyday starting from 19:00 I feel tired.
BUT, recently I found out that I could use the CPAP machine WHILE BEING AWAKE: with it blowing air to my nose I could concentrate 3-4 hours in a row, easily, almost anytime. This is a MIRACLE comparing to me without the CPAP machine, who can concentrate max 0 or 30 minutes in a row depending on the moment.
Am I crazy, or is there something I should know ?
More background info: Asian, BMI = 26, 12 years of severe OSA, now 8 months using CPAP but still there are 20 awakenings per night. Routine MRI was done, no brain damage, but I have heard that functional MRI could show more things.
Doctors around me don't understand my symptoms, so I come here to ask.
Thanks.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - sonicboom - 12-11-2016
With a few more posts you will be able to post your data from SH. It sounds like you also might have oxygen desaturation issues. Do you have your sleep study results? You might share those too. People should be able to give you some good advice after you provide some data.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - kwhenrykerr - 12-11-2016
I have a lung that does not inflate well and the other is sometimes filling with fluid. I have used the cpap with added oxygen to open the airways (before getting the cpap I was using an air compressor). Sitting position makes a big change in how that works.
Could you be having oxygen exchange problems ?
RE: Using CPAP while awake - LowAHI - 12-11-2016
For more info: it was observed that I have a severe bronchial hypersensitiveness (I responded positively on a metacholine provocation test with a PD 20 of 0,060mg), and I have an IgE (Immunoglobullin E) of 121, resembling a para birch syndrom.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - Beej - 12-11-2016
You might find it useful to pick up, or even get a prescription for, a data recording pulse oximeter. Several of the CMS brands seem to do OK at this for reasonable cost; check the reviews in the product review section here.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - PaulaO2 - 12-11-2016
That is my thought as well. This is an oxygen issue not an apnea issue. You need to see your doctor or pulmologist as soon as you can.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - trish6hundred - 12-11-2016
Hi LowAHI,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I wish you good luck in figuring out your problem, hang in there for more responses to your post.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - LowAHI - 12-11-2016
- My bad concentration is anytime, but worse in the evening
- Daily, starting from 19:00 til sleep I feel a tired brain, but I can freshen it if I go out and take deep breath.
I have used a CMS50I to measure (will need to double check it one more time)
- During the day, SpO2 often >= 96%
- Some moments of the evening (when my brain is tired), I see some 93%, or 94%. Not too big of an issue though.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - srlevine1 - 12-11-2016
(12-11-2016, 11:42 AM)LowAHI Wrote: Quite many time I want to do something, but if I sit in front of my computer I'll feel tired quickly, and end up browsing news/facebook.
Also everyday starting from 19:00 I feel tired.
BUT, recently I found out that I could use the CPAP machine WHILE BEING AWAKE: with it blowing air to my nose I could concentrate 3-4 hours in a row, easily, almost anytime. This is a MIRACLE comparing to me without the CPAP machine, who can concentrate max 0 or 30 minutes in a row depending on the moment.
Am I crazy, or is there something I should know ?
As many posters have posited, it may be an oxygenation issue. Using a pulse-ox device may not reliably provide you with an indication of anything amiss. Your pulmonologist can check for anemia (reduced oxygen carrying red blood cells), arterial blood gases for a more thorough look at CO2 issues and blood pH, and suggest a kidney exam to insure that toxins are not backing up instead of being excreted.
As the former (retired) Chief Technologist of Interactive Computer Corporation, I have spent a significant amount of time in front of a monitor (both in and out of "the flow") and found that the contrast between room lighting and monitor luminesce can bring about fatigue as well as sitting hunched over a keyboard that reduces your lung capacity through compression.
Perhaps if you explain what you want, in terms of tests to rule out specific issues, rather than explaining generalized symptoms, it might help to focus your physician's awareness of multi-disciplinary issues. It works for me as the doctor must provide me with specific answers to my questions rather than banal generalities.
As for the use of CPAP while awake, depending on your pressure settings, you may be doing some harm by artificially enhancing your breathing which prevents the lung structures from developing tone. Another thing to ask your physician about.
And, as crazy as it sounds, you may ask about non-clinical depression which often manifests itself as fatigue. You comment about browsing news/Facebook is often symptomatic of this type of lethargy. Do you like what you are doing and are you working on an interesting project? Sometimes, decisions are actually made by the subconscious which prioritizes events, and then this is manifested in conscious physical symptoms. Just another consideration in the hopes that this is a compassionate, but comprehensive, answer.
Best of luck with trying to solve your particular issue.
RE: Using CPAP while awake - LowAHI - 12-11-2016
Thanks srlevine1, i'll come back with more comments.
All the checked elements of my blood are fine: ferritine, hemoglobin, B1, B1, B6, D, thyroid, magnesium.
So anemia is excluded