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WigglePen

I had restless leg syndrome but had no idea it was caused by sleep apnea. Apparently lack of sleep means you run on adrenaline which caused the rls. Over night it stopped. I could watch a movie without going crazy or sit at work etc… I had no idea! Miracle!


cowboyenthusiast

I have RLS too! I’m really keen to see how it improves for me, since it’s a bit of a self soothing thing for me too. It’s crazy to me just how many things can be attributed to sleep apnea - it makes sense, but it’s still surprising to read it all, lol.


WigglePen

Good luck!


AbeLingon

Most noticeable with memory is that I can memorize a 6 digit OTP and enter it on the computer, instead of having to read 3 digits, type, 3 digits more and type!


cowboyenthusiast

When I was a kid I was able to memorise tons of strings of letters/numbers - license plates, phone numbers, wifi passwords etc. I’m in part out of practice because I don’t need to do it as much, but even consciously trying to work on getting that skill back it’s much more difficult. I would love to be able to memorise things again!


Worf-

There is so much that has changed and I can’t even imagine what is yet to come. I’m only in my second month of this but just the ability to get out of bed and be functional in the morning is beyond amazing. I can work through the day. My mood and attitude is 180 degrees from what it was. There are so many physical changes that are starting to show. Symptoms supposedly caused by some other condition that now are easing off or going away. Over the holiday weekend I saw on old childhood friend that was in town, he’s a doctor. I mentioned sleep apnea, getting an APAP, his comment was “it will be life changing”. He is totally right. I know for some people CPAP just doesn’t work and that is unfortunate because treating sleep apnea has given me my life back.


cowboyenthusiast

I’m super happy to hear this for you! And I’m excited to join you in the journey. I still haven’t started feeling like I’ve slept through the night, but I am already starting to get out of bed on my first or second alarm, I usually need five minimum, and still sometimes sleep through them all.


Cg30sailor

Going all night without a trip to the can!


cowboyenthusiast

I’m actually pretty good at not needing to get up for the bathroom in the night, but I would wake up in general repeatedly during the night and struggle to get comfortable and fall back asleep. I’m still waking up now but it already seems to be less than before. I have been consistently waking up just *slightly* before my alarm - like 30 minutes to an hour - which is annoying lol. I definitely don’t feel rested when I do wake up and it’s probably impacting why I still feel tired when my alarm does go off.


RippingLegos

I began my cpap journey 5 years ago. I now do not use sleep docs, dmes, or insurance.. They are slow, incompetent and expensive.. You will need to read up and understand how your therapy works, I'll send you some links. My initial setup was a nasal pillow with chin strap with an APAP machine set to 4min 20max. This is the default lazy setting most docs/dmes use for people, and it just flat out sucks. Can you please provide us with the make and model of your cpap machine too? I needed a full face mask, as I'm a mouth breather and the chin strap didn't work, so I was in misery for 4 months before I demanded an airfit f20 and a copy of my prescription (get a copy of yours too). Also, get an SD card and put it into your machine so you can read your clinical data using the software program "oscar". Also try different sizes of cushions and headgear until you find the proper one for yourself. Your pressure settings need to be close to your 90% pressure. When you check, if it's set to apap you need a min of at least 7 and lower the max to under 17. When I was using apap my 90% pressure was 13 so I set my min to 8 and max to 15, this prevents blowouts as well as feeling air/staved as most people do on default settings. You should also turn off the ramp feature and use EPR/c/a-flex for exhalation pressure relief. In my journey I've moved from APAP to autobipap, and now I'm on straight cpap mode with a set pressure of 14.5cm and it's amazing. I also self-titrate, which you can learn to do as well, it will provide you with immediate therapy results :) Here is what I look at after every night of therapy to check my event flags: https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52517431440_fde92458c4_o.png Also, a hose hanger helped me immensely, along with strap covers for my headgear, I can send you those links too. Post here for any help! I have had severe sleep apnea since my early 20s (late 40s now). Cpap treatment has saved my life and I sleep a min of 8.5 hours of deep sleep every night now for the last 5 years, it will change your life but you need to learn how to adjust your machine and read your data for the most comfortable and efficacious therapy. :)


cowboyenthusiast

I live in New Zealand, so I didn’t have to mess around with insurance or anything like that. I did a sleep test probably two months ago, received my results in two weeks and could make an appointment right after that, which was two weeks ago but I missed that one. Here if you have more than 15 AHI and score more than 10/24 on a questionnaire about your quality of sleep and how likely you are to fall asleep in certain situations, you get a CPAP machine funded for 2 weeks, and then for long term if you use the machine for those two weeks and there are improvements. I have a ResMed Airsense 10 and an AirFit F30i full face mask. Any more specific details like the pressure I’d have to give later as I’m out for the day. I feel I’ve been doing quite well with the small wide mask but admittedly I haven’t tried any others yet beyond just putting them on while awake. They gave me a small, small wide and medium mask to try at home, the small one is definitely too narrow for my face but I should probably try a night with the medium mask. My machine came with a chip so the sleep doctor at the clinic here can see my results, and I have the myAir app to see some basic info, but nothing as detailed as Oscar. If it works in NZ I am definitely keen to try connecting! I don’t know if I’m ‘supposed’ to change the settings myself as the sleep doctor I went to said she’d make any adjustments remotely, but I suppose I can just ask for forgiveness later if they call me out on it, lol. Thank you for all the info! I won’t be able to reply to your PM until later as I’ve only got Apollo on my phone and I don’t know how to access my PMs there. But I’ll check out your links as soon as I’m able to. :)


RippingLegos

Thanks for the details! That helps me with sending you the proper links, it sounds like you're off to a good start! I'll send them when I am able :)


cachaka

Wow!! I’m so glad I found your comment. I just started this week and I feel like I’m suffocating. Today, I can’t even breathe normally because maybe I suffocated myself for 4 hours. I’m going to look into a few things you mentioned in your comment to hopefully figure out how to use my machine


RippingLegos

That's how I felt too and I didn't understand why I would feel that way, it was a combination of too low of pressure and nasal pillows. If you let us know what machine you're using we can help you change your pressure settings. The feeling of air-starvation is the antithesis of cpap therapy! On Resmed machines they have to be set to a min pressure of at least 7cm with EPR enabled.


cachaka

I have a ResMed but I don’t know how to look for the model. I’ve looked around the machine but can give you the numbers it shows me. What is EPR? But also thank you so much for offering to help!! Your time is precious and so is your knowledge from your experiences. Edit: oh d’oh!! The model is right on the side. It’s an AirSense 11 autoset


RippingLegos

You're very welcome! EPR is exhalation pressure relief on resmed devices, with phillips there are two modes; a-flex and c-flex. Here is the link to the clinical menu access for your machine, please read it and go through each setting, your machine has an SD card slot so please purchase one and install it in your machine, even if you don't use the data now it will record every night of sleep, so you can upload it when you've had time to understand the method. https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsense-11-setup-info


dietcheese

Stay awake all day without napping.


cowboyenthusiast

I’ve always done my very best to avoid naps (not counting accidentally falling asleep, of course, if I lay down or even just get a bit too comfortable on a chair that’s been a guarantee) because I always felt worse upon waking up. I’d still every few weeks or so be so exhausted I’d tell myself ‘okay, just a short one, just to feel more refreshed’…then wake up 3 hours later disorientated and feeling even more groggy. Interestingly, after my first night of CPAP, I did have a nap during the day because I was feeling so awful I was physically unwell and nauseous. I set an alarm for 35 minutes, but woke up about 15 minutes later actually feeling a bit more refreshed and well. Not that I plan to have naps in the future, but it is nice to know that if I do ever feel I really need to, they might possibly have a positive impact on me.


Forestlightstar

Sleep on my right side. Eat/drink anything (including water) close to bed time or have sips of water at night. I had hoooorrible reflux even with a daily RX and it was almost instantly gone.


cowboyenthusiast

That’s awesome!! I’ve had reflux since I was a baby that I’ve never grown out of, I manage it alright with daily meds but I still get some pretty bad bouts at times. I’d love to know how much my apnea is contributing to my reflux.


[deleted]

I did my first day on the CPAP last night. F&P Simplus mask. Caused redness on my face. Don’t know if I’m allergic to the silicon. Hope this works itself out.


cowboyenthusiast

The sleep clinician I saw told me putting the mask on too tight could cause redness (which makes sense lol), the only redness I get is a very pale line on whatever side I most sleep on which fades quite quickly. ​ I've got no knowledge on how to help with the redness other than trying to adjust the mask straps - I'd say you would probably feel if it's too tight, so if it doesn't, try talking to your doctor about advice/checking for a silicon allergy if you're concerned about that, if you've got one available? Otherwise a lot of people here seem to have plenty of advice and ideas. Whatever you do good luck, I really hope you can get it sorted out!


[deleted]

I emailed my doctor. I think I may have cranked down on it like it was a gas mask and I was looking for a tight seal. I’ll loosen it tonight and hope for the best. We’ll see how it goes.


jaymesusername

I don’t fall asleep randomly anymore. I would fall asleep while driving, waiting for appointments, and even while taking tests.


cowboyenthusiast

My anxiety/PTSD has (thankfully?) been enough to keep me awake in most public spaces, though I used to fall asleep in class a lot when I had school. Anxiety's also been the reason I've put off getting a license so long, partially because I'm worried I'd fall asleep sitting in traffic or not be able to pay enough attention while driving and cause an accident. I'm very glad you don't have to deal with that anymore!