"please keep me updated about oximeters "
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Hello everyone - new here
Hi - I'm based in the UK and am relatively new new to all this!
About six months ago I saw my GP due to just feeling generally unwell and tired in the day. He whined about my weight and blood pressure and told me to exercise more, eat less and check my blood pressure regularly to see if it comes down, if not he'd look into medication for that.
Odd thing was my blood pressure was high in a morning, but normal in the evening. And I would be tired all day, often going to bed in an afternoon.
All came to a head when I got a bit of a cold, and couldn't sleep at all, wiped me out completely, after getting over the cold the sleeplessness didn't go away. Would wake up in the night unable to breathe and having what felt like a panic attach - I checkd my blood pressure on waking like this once and it was OMG over WTF, with a pulse in the 120s.
So I did some googling (sleep was out of the question) and came across OSA.
Snore? Tick. Overweight? Tick. Sleep all day? Tick. Stop breathing at night? Tick.
Online home sleep test? Tick. Buy. Wait. Do test. Send back equipment.
Ring ring: "I've got your results and will email them to you, when you get them call me back to discuss but I think you'll be wanting to try a CPAP".
Printout from the sleep test shows longest period of sleep was 2h 45m, 109 Apneas, 33 Hypopneas, so that's an AHI of 51...
I call him back, choose a machine, arrange delivery and then wait.
BIG package arrives by courier, so I unpack it, sit down, work out where everything goes, fire it up, check all the settings and stuff, install the data software on my laptop, strap the mask to my face to get a fit and attach the hose and hit start. Then hit stop. Then hit start. Then stop. Then do that a few more times and think "I've gotta sleep with that???!". Push past it mentally then sit watching TV for an hour with it running and me wondering how this can be better than not using...
Anyway, that night I have dinner early, thinking "gonna be a long night". I go to bed at 8:30, thoroughly tired having not napped in the day, sleep for an hour or so, wake up thinking "arrrghhh" then realise I've not got something from Aliens on my face, then suddenly it's morning, I've slept 10 hrs in 6 stints, one of which was four hours long. Not only that but I'm awake, I don't ache, there's a mask on my face and I'm breathing normally, as if its nor there. Feels, erm, odd. Body is tingling, I'm not tired. I unmask and switch off and reach for the blood pressure tester - 110/70...
Night one done, wasn't tired all day until about 8pm, night two was similar, but night 3 onwards and I was only waking one or two times per night.
From then on it just gets better, my sleep tech gets the data from me every day or two and keeps upping the base pressure a little.
skip 4 weeks of "stats chasing">>
After four weeks I haven't woken in the night for a week. I fall asleep quickly and quietly (sleepweaver mask is helping that!) and I wake up calmly and refreshed. Often I'll go to bed and I'm not tired then!
Odd thing was my blood pressure was high in a morning, but normal in the evening. And I would be tired all day, often going to bed in an afternoon.
All came to a head when I got a bit of a cold, and couldn't sleep at all, wiped me out completely, after getting over the cold the sleeplessness didn't go away. Would wake up in the night unable to breathe and having what felt like a panic attach - I checkd my blood pressure on waking like this once and it was OMG over WTF, with a pulse in the 120s.
So I did some googling (sleep was out of the question) and came across OSA.
Snore? Tick. Overweight? Tick. Sleep all day? Tick. Stop breathing at night? Tick.
Online home sleep test? Tick. Buy. Wait. Do test. Send back equipment.
Ring ring: "I've got your results and will email them to you, when you get them call me back to discuss but I think you'll be wanting to try a CPAP".
Printout from the sleep test shows longest period of sleep was 2h 45m, 109 Apneas, 33 Hypopneas, so that's an AHI of 51...
I call him back, choose a machine, arrange delivery and then wait.
BIG package arrives by courier, so I unpack it, sit down, work out where everything goes, fire it up, check all the settings and stuff, install the data software on my laptop, strap the mask to my face to get a fit and attach the hose and hit start. Then hit stop. Then hit start. Then stop. Then do that a few more times and think "I've gotta sleep with that???!". Push past it mentally then sit watching TV for an hour with it running and me wondering how this can be better than not using...
Anyway, that night I have dinner early, thinking "gonna be a long night". I go to bed at 8:30, thoroughly tired having not napped in the day, sleep for an hour or so, wake up thinking "arrrghhh" then realise I've not got something from Aliens on my face, then suddenly it's morning, I've slept 10 hrs in 6 stints, one of which was four hours long. Not only that but I'm awake, I don't ache, there's a mask on my face and I'm breathing normally, as if its nor there. Feels, erm, odd. Body is tingling, I'm not tired. I unmask and switch off and reach for the blood pressure tester - 110/70...
Night one done, wasn't tired all day until about 8pm, night two was similar, but night 3 onwards and I was only waking one or two times per night.
From then on it just gets better, my sleep tech gets the data from me every day or two and keeps upping the base pressure a little.
skip 4 weeks of "stats chasing">>
After four weeks I haven't woken in the night for a week. I fall asleep quickly and quietly (sleepweaver mask is helping that!) and I wake up calmly and refreshed. Often I'll go to bed and I'm not tired then!
So now I'm two months in, I've started exploring the range of other masks and cpap-related accessories to make therapy easier. I'm now more aware from communicating with others face to face and via the internet that self-help is a good route to succesful therapy so I'm learning all I can about the stats and the numbers. More importantly I'm not suffering the sleepiness,
My advice to anyone else new? Take your time, if CPAP is going to work for you, you have to work with it, persevering until it just suddenly falls into place, and pushing your sleep tech for help, advice, tips, adjustments, masks whatever you need to make it work - for me it's changed my life, I feel more alive than I have done in years.
Views: 74
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on
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ymmits, thanks for the posting. It should encourage the newcomers and the old timers and everyone in between.
Mary Z.
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Permalink Reply by Mary Callahan on
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ymmits, thanks for your post, but you don't know how jealous I am that you are sleeping so well! However, I am so happy for you.
From what I've learned here and elsewhere, cpap does seem to work better for people with moderate to severe apnea. Those of us who have mild apnea and/or UARS and/or insomnia, cpap is not the easiest thing to deal with. But with the help and support of so many people here on SG and hopefully with a good team of doctors, we keep trying to improve.
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Permalink Reply by Chris H on
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Hi Ymmits, You have found A great resource here.The more you understand about the numbers the better you can be an active part in feeling better.You have made a good start welcome to the forum.Good Sleep, Chris
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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"my sleep tech gets the data from me every day or two and keeps upping the base pressure a little."
The proper way to auto-titrate
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Permalink Reply by Donna B. on
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Hi Mary,
Nice to see you on the cheerleaders squad !!!
Mary Callahan said:ymmits, thanks for your post, but you don't know how jealous I am that you are sleeping so well! However, I am so happy for you.
From what I've learned here and elsewhere, cpap does seem to work better for people with moderate to severe apnea. Those of us who have mild apnea and/or UARS and/or insomnia, cpap is not the easiest thing to deal with. But with the help and support of so many people here on SG and hopefully with a good team of doctors, we keep trying to improve.
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