I’ve always tended to be somewhat tired all the time, and finally got diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep apnea.
Friday I got a CPAP. After all of three nights with the thing, I can say that I definitely feel different, but not particularly better. If anything, I probably feel more tired than before, even though I’m not having trouble sleeping (at least not after the first night). Ordinarily, I feel fatigued throughout the day, and then feel better in the evening. So far with the CPAP, I tend to be tired and a bit wired early in the day; in the evening I just get bone tired and want to go to bed early.
I’ve tried hitting sleep apnea message boards about this, but mostly they consist of people complaining of difficulties adjusting to the thing, getting masks to fit, etc. There’s almost nothing about how it makes them feel.
So, for those dopers who use the things, when did you start to get results that made you feel better, if ever? Was it immediate, or does the body have to settle in? And so on.
I guess the difference for me right away was feeling like I had lied (laid? lain?) in one position for a long time, therefore slept for a long period of time without moving around. I stopped getting up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom because I wasn’t waking up that much. I stopped waking up with a sore throat from the vibrations of snoring. I stopped having terrible headaches.
I was embarrassed by the mask and wasn’t sure it was working for me, so on the 3rd night I didn’t wear it. The next night my husband told me to please wear it because the white noise from the machine was so much better than the snoring noise.
I do still feel tired quite a lot, but I think that is because I go to bed too late and therefore still don’t get enough sleep.
I’m not sure why you haven’t felt better.
My friend (KITTENBLUE–WHERE ARE YOU??) recently lost a lot of weight and told me she stopped using the C-PAP and was doing okay. For some people the snoring is caused by weight, others not. I am overweight, but I’m not sure if that is the only problem. My mother, grandmother and great aunt all snore(d) so much the house would shake, and none of them were (are) particularly overweight.
My mother is going for a sleep study this week. I hope she is able to tolerate the wires and stuff because she seriously needs to have a C-PAP machine. When she visits or we visit her the noise is unbelievable.
I understand that it is also hard on your heart to keep having to get jump-started when you stop breathing.
Well, not an expert response, but I hope it helped…
Forgot to say how long I’ve been using the c-pap. I think I’ve used it almost four years. I have taken it to England and France. In France I must have had the wrong electric thingie (I think I have a brain tumor because lately I can’t think of simple words or people’s names…) and the plug would actually get hot. Then when I would unplug it a spark would come out. So I stopped using it there.
I love my machine. It is like a pacifier to me now.
Re my friend who lost weight: another friend lost weight as well and tried to stop using her machine and found that she still needed it.
I’m right here, Lillith Fair. Once I got settled in to using the CPAP where I wasn’t ripping it off halfway through the night, it probably took about a month until I realized, “Hey, I’m not falling asleep in the car in the driveway as soon as I get home from work!” When you’ve been severely sleep-deprived for years, I think it takes a bit of time to work off that sleep debt. It’s hard to remember clearly, but I began sleeping through the night about a week after I started using it. It was so wonderful to sleep 8 hours (and in one position!) that I really didn’t worry too much that I still felt tired. And then one day, you don’t fall asleep during your favorite show at night. And you can’t wait to get to bed and get the mask on because you know you’ll be asleep quickly. Give it some time, it’ll happen, **kelly5078 **.
I’ve slept all this last week without my CPAP because one of the bumpers fell off and got lost, and because I was falling asleep while reading and not waking up until 4 or 5 am. My son says he has not heard me snoring, and I’ve been woken up by cats and by my son making noise, not the urge to pee or snoring. I don’t consider my apnea cured yet, though. In fact, I found the missing bumper last night and used the machine again, mainly because I haven’t had a cold or a sore throat in the two years I’ve been on the CPAP, and I don’t want to get sick anytime soon. And as Lillith said, it’s my pacifier now. It just makes me steady my breathing and relax into sleep, and I’ve had trouble getting back to sleep at 5 am without the mask. When I’m done losing all the weight (73 lbs so far) I’ll think about another sleep study to see if the apnea is truly gone. But until then, it’s me and the CPAP.
A friend of mine, who is the ultimate skeptic, has one and absolutely loves it. He’s been using it for 3 or 4 years now and swears it’s the best thing that’s ever happened in his life.
For me, the effect was immediate. I had severe apnea and because I didn’t have insurance put off diagnosis and treatment way too long. In fact, long enough to pretty much ruin my health.
I’m still alive though, to which I attribute my CPAP.
They put a CPAP on me during the second half of my sleep study and that was probably the first four hours of real sleep I’d had in years! I couldn’t believe how refreshed I felt.
Everyone seems to respond to CPAP differently, so I wouldn’t be too concerned. Just keep up with the thing and it will help to keep your health up.
This morning I feel different from yesterday (and yesterday I felt different from the day before…). I’m still a bit sleepy, but I also have a lot of energy. So much I don’t know what to do with it, but it’s quite pleasant.
This is a very curious gizmo, and I certainly intend to stay with it.
I think anything that allows you to sleep soundly and deeply will improve your abilities, and that would include your creativity and your motivation. So, the answer would be yes.
slight hijack ---- Am I the only person who misreads the title of this post?? When and how do the effects of CRAP kick in??? Then I’m too discombobulated to actually read the thread. Seriously this has happened more than once. My logical brain says “no that’s not the CRAP thread it’s the CPAP thread”, but my spacey mind says “oh no, that’s really the CRAP thread”.
I’ve had my CPAP machine for 7 years. It does take a little while to feel the full effects (I’d say a couple of weeks or so), but once you “wake up” you will be amazed at how different that feels. I felt better almost immediately (as I recall).
Did you do the daytime sleepiness test? I did (you go to the sleep study place during the day and attempt to fall asleep within 15 minutes at four different times during the day). I was certified sleepy…back then I could fall asleep anywhere, anytime. Not so now…I am “caught up” so to speak.
I wish you luck with your machine. Mine is one of the best things that ever happened to me.