I was diagnosed with sleep apnea around 20 years ago when research was in its early stages. The original testing was done at a mental hospital in Hampstead NH as regular hospitals were not equipped to test for apnea. I worked in a rubber factory running a mill which has been know to take a hand off if you do not pay attention. My boss noticed that I was nodding off while I was working and told me to see my doctor. There was no event that I was strong enough to stay awake for and my doctor sent me for a study. When I woke up the next morning I was so refreshed that I wanted to take the machine home with me and couldn’t wait to get my own. I use it every night and am so used to it that if the power goes off I cannot sleep. Yes I did go through all of the problems associated with the early masks and my machine sounded like a jet airplane but those were a small price to pay for a good night sleep. I highly recommend those who have difficulty using a c-pap to stay with it and in no time you will get used to it.

This began as a post in a thread about symptoms, but the more I typed, the more I realized it probably belonged here, so here it goes:

I'm sure I had OSA for years before ever going for a sleep study. Symptoms began slowly but built up over time. This past winter, I could wake up on the weekend, go from bed to my recliner and be back out again in no time. I could nap for hours on end and still have no problem getting to sleep at night. At one point, I was diagnosed with depression/anxiety. Looking back now, I'm sure a lot of it was apnea-related.  I would also wake up every morning with the driest mouth - I'm talking Sahara dry! It would take a minute or two of moving my tongue around just to build up enough saliva to be able to swallow. I spent many nights on the couch after my wife could take no more of my snoring. Like several of the previous posters, I thought I was getting lots of sleep - no sleep disorder for me!  The final straw came when a co-worker caught me napping at my desk. Almost as a joke, he e-mailed me a link to this site. I read and I read. The more I read, the more I realized everyone here was describing how I felt! I called my PCP that day. He referred me to a sleep doc, and the rest, as they say, was history.  My initial results were AHI 90+,  O2 dropped at one point to 64. All of my sleep was in Stage I and Stage II - no deep sleep or REM sleep at all.

 I've only been on CPAP for about two weeks now, but already the fog is beginning to lift. I'm no longer falling asleep at my desk. The wife says I don't snore at all. Focus and concentration seem to be coming back, and the very first morning I woke up without the dry mouth. I even worked outside in the yard all day last Saturday and Sunday without needing a nap!

I'm sure I probably still have a lot of sleep debt to make up, but I consider myself fortunate that the therapy is going quite well for me.

For anyone who is like I was - in Denial - if in doubt, get the sleep study done. You might be surprised at what you find out.


_________________
ResMed S8 Elite @ 10cm
Mirage Swift LT Nasal Pillows
Original Dx: AHI>90

I'm happy to report my OSA surgery success story!

I was diagnosed with severe OSA (AHI=31 on my side; 61 on my back) about 3 years ago.  I was "fitted" with a CPAP machine and mask.  It took about 6-7 masks before I finally found one that fit without leaking frequently during the night.  I used the CPAP EVERY NIGHT for the next 3 years except for 2x when I was out of town and inadvertently forgot the CPAP power cord 1x and the humidifier reservoir the other time.  Those 2 nights were absolutely miserable as I didn't get any effective sleep and started the next day off with a severe headache and had miserable days both times.  With the CPAP my sleep was better but I frequently had issues with either the mask, the CPAP machine, hose or something, not to mention the irritation to my wife of hearing that machine all night, every night.  I inquired with my doc, pulmonary specialist, about surgery on each annual visit.  He always advised me against surgery because the success rate was so low.  He explained that when one area, say your palate (UP3), is fixed the obstruction eventually shows up in another area (your nose or throat).  After my third annual visit to him and my inquiry once more about new surgical procedures, he referred me to a doc in another city approx. 75 miles away.  I saw this other doc (ENT surgeon) who specializes in OSA surgeries.  He "snaked" a scope up my nose (my pulmonary doc never did that), determined I had multiple obstructions and said he recommended 5 surgical procedures to attempt to correct my OSA.  He was honest and said this would give me a 50/50 chance at completely getting off the CPAP, but said I would experience a "quality of life" improvement and lower my pressure (was 9) on the machine if I couldn't get completely off the CPAP.

I thought and prayed long and hard and considered the pain and suffering I would have to go through with only a 50/50 shot at getting off the machine - my basic goal.  I ultimately decided to have the surgery.  The five procedures were as follows:

1.  Septoplasty (to correct severe deviated septum)
2.  UPPP (removed 1/3 of my soft palate to open up my airway)
3.  Osteotomy, mandible with tongue advancement (my tongue obstructed 1/2 of my throat opening; this in effect pulled my tongue forward)
4.  Submucous resection turbinate (removed some bone from nose where the turbinates are attached to open up my nostrils)
5.  Hyoid suspension (the hyoid is a bone suspended in your throat; he slit my throat, pulled down the hyoid bone into the thyroid area and stitched it there once again to increase the opening in my throat)

The surgery lasted 3 hours.  As stated by my doctor ahead of time, the pain associated with the UPPP "dwarfed" all the other procedures combined.  The pain post-op was very tolerable with pain meds but very uncomfortable.  I stayed on the pain meds (narcotics) for 4 days, then used tylenol for 3 more days.  I couldn't eat anything but extremely soft foods (cream of wheat, popsicles, etc.) for 2-2.5 weeks before I started being able to tolerate slightly more substantial foods.  Within 6 weeks I was just about completely back to normal.  Missed 2.5 weeks of work, then returned.

I had a follow up sleep study.  Now my AHI < 5, therefore no longer have OSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, if I had to do it all over again, I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  It was definetely worth it.  I would urge anyone considering surgery to do the following:

1.  Read, read and read some more on any information you can get (such as from forums such as this) and educate yourself as to what you're potentially getting yourself into.
2.  Find a surgeon who specializes in this type of surgery and has performed a bunch of them.  My doc said he had performed over 1000 of these type of surgeries and over 100 with all five procedures I had.  

You're going to put yourself through alot, therefore, try to make sure they get it right the first time.

Good luck and godspeed!

PS  Although I wouldn't recommend this surgery for it, but I did lose 17 pounds post-op.  I've gained about 1/2 of it back in 3 months.

Diagnosed w/ mild apnea in Dec. 07 in a sleep lab study, used a CPAP in a return visit the next month, received CPAP with home instruction in Jan 08. It has stayed in my closet, in its case, collecting dust since Feb. 08.

I had lots of resistance issues to using it, including: it's not sexy, it would be a bother at night and by night time I'm tired and don't need another thing on my daily to-do list, I'm getting older and don't need another thing to remind me that my parts are not working as well as they once did, hate the idea of being dependant on yet another medical thing (meds, appliances, etc.), not good with equipment (still can't adjust my chair height at work) and felt I would have a big learning curve and lots of frustration figuring out how to use the CPAP.

One of my sisters in law mentioned having one a few months back, and she has encouraged me to get started with mine. She said it changed her life. She was way over-weight, and she said she's lost 20 lbs. having energy to walk for exercise since beginning to use hers last year. She kept checking on me to see if I'd started using mine, and I kept avoiding her calls and e-mails. So, last week my brother, a respiratory therapist who lives across the state, came for a visit and showed me again how to use and clean and disassemble and reassemble the contraption. I began using it the next night, and so far, so good.

I had the sleep study because my husband of 22 yrs. told me he thought that there were times at night when I stopped breathing. He noticed it, because I was not snoring for those fairly brief periods. My snoring has been a source of hilarity among family and friends for 38 years. Yes, you read that correctly: Since I was 19 years old. It's the kind of snoring where it can bother someone three rooms away, with two pocket doors closed between us. I've even awoken myself with my snoring. It's always been embarrassing.

I learned in the sleep study that I didn't enter REM sleep. I had told the pulmanologist in the follow up visit that "I sleep really well ... ." He looked at the test results and said, "You don't really sleep at all; you kind of nap for 6 or 7 hours." I was supposed to go back for a follow up visit with my little "memory card" from the machine more than a year ago, and I canceled, because I hadn't used the machine once yet. Well, I used the CPAP for the first time last Sunday night, and Monday morning I called and set up my follow up appointment for the second week of July. I'm relieved to be "on track."

You know, I thought the weight gain, slightly high blood pressure in the last few years, night sweats, brain fog, short-term memory issues, low mood, panic attacks, flagging physical and mental energy, were all signs of aging, permi-menopause, etc. I also drooled at night, like really badly. Woke up every morning with a trail of crust from the corners of my mouth to my ears. I'm so glad my husband mentioned the thing about my possibly not breathing at night. I can't say I feel ENERGIZED!!!!! after using this for a week, but I never did fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I actually was more like a two year old, who was so tired they were afraid to stop running around for fear they would go to sleep. In fact, as soon as I finally sat down for the evening and put the foot rest up on the recliner, I was GONE. Generally, though, I was more on the insomniac end of the scale, probably because sleep didn't really refresh me all that much, and there are lots more interesting things to do if the sleep isn't one of life's pleasures. I would keep doing things around the house, work on the computer, read, watch tv till late at night, then go to bed, and then hit the snooze for maybe an hour (no kidding) in the morning. What I notice after six days on the CPAP is that I am able to get my chores done in the evening earlier; I'm not looking for reasons to just sit, but actually back on a schedule of care of home, and then looking forward to going to bed. Old habits are hard to break, and I'm going to have to be firm with myself about getting 8 hours of sack time, breaking the night-owl tendencies, but I can do it.

The CPAP is easy to manage, quiet, and I'm sleeping well with it. Funny thing to tell you: My three cats each had to come up and check it out. One stood on my chest and smelled my face, another one stood by my head and batted at the tubing, and the third one avoided the bedroom for a few days until she saw whatever "that thing" was it wasn't going to get her, and she finally came in and gave it a once over. My husband is obviously a saint. He has slept through snoring that could shake stars from the sky for 22 years. The first night I used the CPAP, he encouraged me, soothed me while I tried to get comfortable, and he held my hand till I fell asleep. I think we may renew our vows on the next anniversary.

My dentist (a DMD) has been nicely but firmly nagging me for 14+ months to use it, blaming my slow weight gain, gastric reflux, night time panic attacks and sweating, rise in blood pressure, and of course the earth-shaking shoring on the apnea. She said that she has seen a lot of women, who have small jaws anyway compared to men, who have sleep apnea, and she also noticed that these women have had their wisdom teeth extracted. She said that causes the gum and jaw to atrophy (reduce in size), and that being near the throat creates a smaller physical structure for the intake of air, and when relaxed at night, the soft palette gets involved, which starts the snoring. She is convinced this scenario should be added to the risk factors for sleep apnea, esp. since the other factors (being male, older, and overweight) either don't apply to women, or are things about which they can be in denial/avoidance mode. Also, another friend who is an MD scolded me about it a few months ago; she has a friend my age (late 50s), who was not using his CPAP and died in his sleep. So, don't mess around with this. The CPAP is no big deal. I'm going to check into the oral appliance next when I see the pulmanologist in July, so I can use it for travel. I fly to Asia a couple times a year for work, and I'd like to be able to sleep without snoring on the 18 hour flight.

PS  I have not been drooling at night, since I started using the CPAP. So, really---which is less sexy: drooling, or using the CPAP? It's pretty much a toss up; so, use the CPAP!!! LOL

I've used my CPAP machine every night since 6/14/09. I went on 7/7/09 for my first doctor's appoint to have him read the report from my machine. Week 1 on CPAP I had an average of 43 episodes/hr. (YOW!) Week 2 on CPAP I had fewer. Week 3 on CPAP I had an average of 5 episodes/hr. The doctor said there is often a "learning curve" with this, and things progress each week, so he was happy. I go back to see him in November.

Meanwhile he gave me a prescription for a SonoMed Oral appliance. I know my insurance won't cover the cost, but my dentist has a credit account I can use. She said her lab will make it, as long as I go back to the sleep lab for an evaluation with it. The sleep lap visit would be covered, so I think this is something I can do.

The oral appliance will be useful for business travel, overnight at my mom's, sister's, etc., when I just know I won't want to drag that CPAP and set it up. I just know I won't. I also would like to have it for naps in my recliner at home, power naps after work/before an event in my office (I work in PR, so I have "night duties" pretty often, and a short nap would be great, but I don't take them at work because of the LOUD SNORING once I relax), weekend trips with the grandkids (I am not going to want to drag the CPAP to the TravelLodge for two nights. I know I won't do it.)  

So, all systems GO.

CPAP absolutely changed my life. For the last few years I have been extremely fatigued. I remember the first time I fell asleep at my desk at work. I was shocked, really. I remember my head sort of drooping down...down...down...and then I woke up an hour or so later.

This happened again periodically for the coming months. I thought I wasn't getting enough sleep at night. I thought I was just getting older.

I tried getting more sleep...I even started getting up an hour later in the mornings. No help. I started sleeping in more on the weekends. At the end, right before I started CPAP, I could easily sleep for 12+ hours on both weekend days--this after sleeping 8+ hours each night of the week and taking (involuntary) naps every day. I would fall asleep at my desk every day right after lunch, and at night when I went home I would fall asleep right after dinner.

My sleep study determined that I have a very severe case of OSA. 105 episodes per hour. The sleep specialist to whom I was referred was on vacation (I certainly don't begrudge him that), but his PA seemed to think that meant I would be willing to wait a month or more before starting CPAP. I explained in the kindest, most pleasant tones that I could muster that this was the wrong answer, and that she would be finding another doctor immediately and have a CPAP script written.

She did, and I started CPAP. I knew the night of my sleep study that I had slept remarkably well with the machine--better than I had in many years, if not ever. My sleep level chart bore this out, showing me constantly bouncing back and forth between "awake" and "level 1", but never any further than that. As soon as the CPAP machine got to the right pressure, I dropped down to level 4 and slept there very comfortably.

Once I started at home I had similar results. I am now back to sleeping anywhere from 6-8 hours a night. I could not take a nap during the day if I tried. I have the kind of energy I had 10+ years ago. I had a bit of frustration getting used to the mask at first, but as I have said in other posts, I would wear a cinder block with sandpaper as the seal if I had to in order to get some sleep.

Started CPAP about a month ago and also started Requip, for PLMD  "restless legs at night"  and feel good, more energy, losing weight, less naps. Male age 67.

Bob       

Have sufferered from mild depression for last 5 years and now 67.

Have been on CPAP 40++ Days and things are great, Better Mood, Better Energy  and I lost 5 lbs from being more active.

BTW have tried 3 different masks, now have a full face one and love it,

Now trying to trade my old generic CPAP in for a data capable intellipap w/humidifier and battery pack

Life is GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!!!

Bob in Ohio

I just wanted to let anyone who is considering a cpap machine to know that in spite of the fact that it takes several weeks to get used to sleeping with the machine, in my opinion this machine is the best thing that ever happened to me in my adult life.  Not only does using the machine provide me with all the medical benefits that supposedly result in better health but equally and more importantly in my day to day life this machine permits me to get the kind of sleep that I have long forgotten could exist.  I'm always feeling rested and my energy levels and clarity of thought have increased ten fold.  My wife would tell you, besides the fact that my snoring is no longer an issue, the real benefit to her has been my disposition.  She would tell you that after years of me being a miserable morning person who was always cranky both day and night, I finally became someone she could like.  She revealed to me after I started living on the machine that life before my machine was much more difficult than I could imagine.  While clearly she loved me and tolerated my nasty behavior, currently she won't let me sleep two minutes without my machine.  I would like to think she's concerned about my long term health, but I am not that naive nor would she deny the personality changes that resulted from real sleep and rest have bettered our day to day living and created a truly better marriage.  In closing, I would tell anyone struggling with getting used to sleeping with the mask to tough it out.  Trying different sized masks can really make the difference,  Once you finally get that mask that's comfortable and get used to sleeping with it, I suspect like me, you will not be able to imagine a night without the machine.