First Night Success!
Hi everyone - newbie here.
I was recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (33.6 AHI - bleh) and was rapidly prescribed a shiny new AirSense 10. I chose the F30 hybrid mask, and got the fancy heated tubing. Last night was my first night with the machine, and while it was a mixed experience, I'd say overall it was a success.
I turn 35 this year, but have always had crippling fatigue, depression and ADHD-like symptoms since I was quite young. I developed crippling inflammation and chronic pain at 16, and had liver scarring and lesions imaged when I was about 20 during an unrelated CT scan for abdominal issues. The cause of the lesions was thrown into the mystery basket by my doctors, and I was told that elevated liver enzymes was probably caused by stress and was nothing to worry about because I'm young and don't drink or take much in the way of medications, OTC or otherwise. I just sort of resigned myself to 'this is how life is' and trudged on through the days.
However, the last couple of years, I came to realise that something was very wrong. I was unable to concentrate. I was getting chest pains, tingling in my extremities, migraines that lasted for a week or more, and my blood pressure was through the roof. I work out three times a week and live a reasonably healthy life, so it was quite alarming to have my blood pressure taken at 180/74. A fit 35 year old man should not have BP like that.
After my wife came out of hospital for a period of treatment, our sleep schedules were out of whack: I was going to bed early and she was coming to bed late. She was able to observe me definitely not breathing while I was asleep. I got a sleep testing kit through Lofta, and thus we share this moment.
It's alarming to know how serious sleep apnea really is. I used to work in the health sciences field (neuroscience, even!) and sleep apnea was never bought up as a serious cause of brain damage, behavioural issues, or heart/liver damage among the researchers and professionals I worked with. That honestly amazes me, given what I now know about it and the damage this condition does to our bodies.
Anyway, back to the machine...
First, the good: My AHI apparently went from 33 to 4 overnight. I'm pretty sure this is awesome. I didn't sleep much (see below), but I swear I can breathe better and think more clearly today than I have in... well... my entire life, to be honest. Because I've probably had undiagnosed sleep apnea for at least 15 years, given the liver damage/behavioural stuff.
Sleep-wise, it was a mixed bag. I feel like I got about 3-5 hours of actual sleep - 5 hours of the best sleep I can recall, mind you. The quality was good, but there was not enough of it. However, today is also the first day in living memory where I have not woken with a sore neck, aching back, or a headache. My face is puffy and I definitely need to wear lip balm under the mask. Despite feeling physically tired, I feel more mentally alert. I don't have the sensation that I was running continuously in my sleep - when I was tested, I averaged a resting heartrate of 85-130bpm while asleep (and my normal resting heart rate is 66 during the day).
Because I got a machine without going through months of sleep doctors and resp techs and with minimal support, the learning curve is a bit steeper and there's a lot I have to figure out myself. I definitely did have occasional moments where I felt like I was suffocating or not able to get air, even though I could feel the machine filling my lungs with each intake and my breathing wasn't obstructed. I do also have some lung pain this morning, like my lungs were being hammered by the pressure - I'm not sure if that's normal or not.
In any case, the increased mental clarity and focus, plus the improvement in my mood are all very noticeable. Despite the achy chest, I am not coughing (first time in a long time) and my breathing feels distinctly clearer today. The AHI of 4 down from 33 speaks for itself, too.
Mr. CPAP is set at 4-20cm right now - based on the initial suffocation sensation + achy lungs, is it likely that the pressure range needs to be narrowed to 6-18cm/wp?
I think once this thing is calibrated correctly, it's going to be a life-changer.
I was recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea (33.6 AHI - bleh) and was rapidly prescribed a shiny new AirSense 10. I chose the F30 hybrid mask, and got the fancy heated tubing. Last night was my first night with the machine, and while it was a mixed experience, I'd say overall it was a success.
I turn 35 this year, but have always had crippling fatigue, depression and ADHD-like symptoms since I was quite young. I developed crippling inflammation and chronic pain at 16, and had liver scarring and lesions imaged when I was about 20 during an unrelated CT scan for abdominal issues. The cause of the lesions was thrown into the mystery basket by my doctors, and I was told that elevated liver enzymes was probably caused by stress and was nothing to worry about because I'm young and don't drink or take much in the way of medications, OTC or otherwise. I just sort of resigned myself to 'this is how life is' and trudged on through the days.
However, the last couple of years, I came to realise that something was very wrong. I was unable to concentrate. I was getting chest pains, tingling in my extremities, migraines that lasted for a week or more, and my blood pressure was through the roof. I work out three times a week and live a reasonably healthy life, so it was quite alarming to have my blood pressure taken at 180/74. A fit 35 year old man should not have BP like that.
After my wife came out of hospital for a period of treatment, our sleep schedules were out of whack: I was going to bed early and she was coming to bed late. She was able to observe me definitely not breathing while I was asleep. I got a sleep testing kit through Lofta, and thus we share this moment.
It's alarming to know how serious sleep apnea really is. I used to work in the health sciences field (neuroscience, even!) and sleep apnea was never bought up as a serious cause of brain damage, behavioural issues, or heart/liver damage among the researchers and professionals I worked with. That honestly amazes me, given what I now know about it and the damage this condition does to our bodies.
Anyway, back to the machine...
First, the good: My AHI apparently went from 33 to 4 overnight. I'm pretty sure this is awesome. I didn't sleep much (see below), but I swear I can breathe better and think more clearly today than I have in... well... my entire life, to be honest. Because I've probably had undiagnosed sleep apnea for at least 15 years, given the liver damage/behavioural stuff.
Sleep-wise, it was a mixed bag. I feel like I got about 3-5 hours of actual sleep - 5 hours of the best sleep I can recall, mind you. The quality was good, but there was not enough of it. However, today is also the first day in living memory where I have not woken with a sore neck, aching back, or a headache. My face is puffy and I definitely need to wear lip balm under the mask. Despite feeling physically tired, I feel more mentally alert. I don't have the sensation that I was running continuously in my sleep - when I was tested, I averaged a resting heartrate of 85-130bpm while asleep (and my normal resting heart rate is 66 during the day).
Because I got a machine without going through months of sleep doctors and resp techs and with minimal support, the learning curve is a bit steeper and there's a lot I have to figure out myself. I definitely did have occasional moments where I felt like I was suffocating or not able to get air, even though I could feel the machine filling my lungs with each intake and my breathing wasn't obstructed. I do also have some lung pain this morning, like my lungs were being hammered by the pressure - I'm not sure if that's normal or not.
In any case, the increased mental clarity and focus, plus the improvement in my mood are all very noticeable. Despite the achy chest, I am not coughing (first time in a long time) and my breathing feels distinctly clearer today. The AHI of 4 down from 33 speaks for itself, too.
Mr. CPAP is set at 4-20cm right now - based on the initial suffocation sensation + achy lungs, is it likely that the pressure range needs to be narrowed to 6-18cm/wp?
I think once this thing is calibrated correctly, it's going to be a life-changer.
