My sleep study says I have apnea.  It looks like I might be getting a CPAP machine, but wonder how to know if I really need to use it all the time.  For example, I've heard that rasing the head of your bed and not eating near bedtime can help.  Being a scientist, I'm also curious to experiment to see if timing of exercise or meditation might reduce the symptoms.  Is there any easy way to get a rough indication of how you're doing at home?  I also am suspicious of testing how one sleeps in a foriegn environment plugged into countless machines!

Russell

Russell wrote:

My sleep study says I have apnea.  It looks like I might be getting a CPAP machine, but wonder how to know if I really need to use it all the time.  For example, I've heard that rasing the head of your bed and not eating near bedtime can help.  Being a scientist, I'm also curious to experiment to see if timing of exercise or meditation might reduce the symptoms.  Is there any easy way to get a rough indication of how you're doing at home?  I also am suspicious of testing how one sleeps in a foriegn environment plugged into countless machines!

Russell

Hi Russell,

It would be helpful if you posted your sleep study results (the lot).

Daniel


_________________
The untreated Sleep Apnoea sufferer died quietly in his sleep.......
Unlike his three passengers who died screaming !!!!!!

(Anon)

I'd like to know if there is some way to keep up with my progress also.  I haven't been able to find anything so I made my own test.  I try to keep track of the time I go to bed and the time I get up.  I then subtract 5 minutes for each time I can remember that I woke up and 20 minutes for each time that I go to the bathroom.  I call this my sleep hours.  I have found that if this figure is greater than 85% of 8 hours, I have a pretty good day.  Unfortunately, I still have days where this is 60%, but most days are greater than the 85%.  I'll go back to the Doc if the figures start averageing less than the 85% and see if I need a new setting.

It's really a pain to keep up with this, but I want to be a part of my treatment.

Frank

Russell,

Assuming your sleep results do indicate obstructive sleep apnea, then, as one scientist to another, yes, you do need to use it all of the time.  As an OSA patient, each time you use your CPAP, you lessen and reverse the deleterious effects OSA has on your body starting immediately with increasing your O2 sat. and decreasing your CO2 and blood pressue and long term, decreasing your risk of heart attack and strokes.  Each time you do not use your CPAP, even for a nap, your body undergoes damaging changes.

OSA by definition is a physical obstruction of the airway.  Exercise is not going to open a collapsing airway when you are asleep.  Apnea many times is positional, with most people being worse on their back.  However, many of us (including me) are apneic in any and every position.  Your sleep study should have info. about how positional your apnea is.

There are two ways to monitor your progress.  Objective software programs for APAP downloads  which show pressures used, etc.  And more subjective analysis.  Some other variables which might be better indicators of progress are, concentration and focus throughout the day, headache (if you have morning apnea headaches), energy level, when in the day you start feeling tired, if you feel rested when you wake up, blood pressure (if your blood pressure has been high), your attention level in meetings at different times during the day, etc.

Vicki


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That which does not kill you makes you stronger-Friedrich Nietzsche
Friedrich must of had apnea.