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Permalink Reply by Maryann on March 30, 2011 at 1:17pm

Hi Garry, I, like you do not feel any better than I did before CPAP therapy.  I have been this way for my entire life. Falling asleep at the wheel of my car, falling asleep at work, falling asleep every time I sit down, etc. and always without energy.  I have only been on CPAP for 4 months but am very disappointed. I have been telling every doctor I have ever been to how I feel and no one has any reason for it.  I suspected sleep apnea 15 or 20 years ago when my brother found he had it. Then the other brother was diagnosed with it and my dad always snored like a chain saw.  I was finally tested and have severe sleep apnea with AHI of 82.  I was so excited about the possibilty of feeling better but it has not happened. I use the CPAC every night all night with no change that I can notice. My AHI has improved but now my machine is recording zero for my AHI every night. I think that it is rather strange that it registers the same zero every night now for about 4 weeks. Talked to my therapist about it she said that is the ultimate goal. Well sure it is if the machine is working right, but I just think it strange for it suddenly to register only zero every night. Talk about memory, I have a very poor one. I have never been able to work full time because I just am too tired and not alert enough to keep my mind on what I am doing.  I am wondering if I should change doctors or what to do. 

Also, I would not waste my money on a sleep number bed. My husband and I talked about one but when I went for my sleep study they had a sleep number bed in the clinic. It was the most uncomfortable thing I ever tried to sleep on. It is like sleeping on an air mattress. The first thing I did was to pump it up to 100 and it was not firm enough. We have a memory foam mattress and love it. 

Garry Conway said:

Thanks to all of you. Everybody I know who has used a CPAP has had great improvement like Andy. Not me. My last 5 or r studies show 1-3% REM and low slow wave, I must must have the smallest brain on record. lol One doc thinks I have some form of central SA but, other than feeling like Andy for many years, I have no disused, narclepsy etc. I've had UUUP, Hioid bone tongue advancement & deviated septum survivors back in 1999. No help and UUUP is very painful. I just was looking for a few new paint opinions. 16 years is a long miserable time to feel tired. So buying a sleep number bed is not likely to help either. That's a different thread I started the other day. Thank you again

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on March 30, 2011 at 6:11pm

Hi Gary, Do you have the manuel for the S9 ?  Try going to the main discussions page upper left (box with magnifing glass) I think their is a few postings with links for manuels. You can see the numbers by pressing the buttons by the LCD .Wating for the vendor........naaaa . Good Sleep,Chris

Garry Conway said:

I need to take the SD card to the vendor to havevit read, unless you know what type file format the data is in. CSV txt excel

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Permalink Reply by Mary Z on March 30, 2011 at 6:22pm

www.apneaboard.com has many manuals available there or by email.

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Permalink Reply by kim smith on March 30, 2011 at 6:31pm

Your posts are very informative ! I am truly surprised by the amount of people that were never informed of what "type" of apnea they have. I just wanted to say I have central apnea and am on on the servo, it is truly amazing the difference between the servo and my old bi-pap machine, I think we all need to stay informed and it seems that a lot of dr's do not inform unless patients are asking.

Mary Peck said:

The amount of Delta (slow wave sleep) does decrease according to age in the texts, as does the amount of REM sleep, but the decrease in Delta is more marked.  Both stages of sleep can be effected by medications, chronic pain, alpha intrusion, external discomforts, frequent urination at night, improper PAP pressure, mask leaks and a host of other things. 

 

Sounds to me like you have quite a number of questions you should be asking the sleep doc, the first of which is you pap device set up optimally for you and does it leak, and it sounds like you are working on getting those questions answered (software to read the data is proprietary for each type of machine).  Next would be a what your diagnosis actually is and do you have only one sleep disorder - there are about 84, after all, multiple disorders are not uncommon and all must be treated for you to feel rested.

OSAS is treated either with CPAP or Bilevel PAP, as well as dental devices, weight loss, positional therapy and surgery.

Central apnea is a much rarer bird and can be treated in a number of ways depending on its cause, including CPAP, bilevel PAP and medications.

Complex sleep apnea is a whole other critter which, for lack of a better description is a combination of true obstructive sleep apnea and central apnea which is driven by a chemoreflexive mechanism.  While CPAP and bilevel PAP treat the obstructive portion of this disorder, it usually only serves to unmask the central apnea and frustrate the tech attempting the titration.  There are ways to attempt treatment, the most common is servo-adaptive PAP, where a "smart" pap device adjusts pressures according to what the patient needs as this can vary greatly with the type of event the patient is experiencing at the moment. This is NOT the same as auto-titrating pap devices and specifically designed for use by patients with diagnosed complex apnea.

 

Take heart, sleep is a complex physiologic system.  It takes the right combination of sleep specialist, therapies, and persistance to resolve the more complex problems, but it can be done.

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Rock Conner on March 30, 2011 at 11:25pm

well said

Rock Hinkle said:

Slow wave(n3) morphs into stage 2(n2) as we get older due to a progressive decline in growth hormone. It is still there just not qualifiable by current scoring definitions.

 

A person should always get scorable stage REM. REM is like defragging your PC. Without it your body's computer will crash.

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Permalink Reply by Garry Conway on March 31, 2011 at 8:18pm

Wow Mary, I wish I talked to you ten years ago. I know many of the answers but I am still waiting for results from last weeks study. The main thing I learned and really felt stupid for not understanding this for the last ten years since my survivors and NO FRAKING SLEEP DOCTOR (I've seen 5 or 6 during that time) was wise enough to explain the CPAP Preasure number is worthless for me to compare or use as a reference point. With the UPPP & hyoid advancement my airway is completely different than the algorithms built into CPAP machines. Not worthless but if I have a 8 average need, you may have less severe apnea but require a higher number because your airway is 'normal'.

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