Hi. My name is Kita. I am also a nurse (LPN) until I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea, copd asthma and a few other things in 2013 after being in a coma and on a ventilator and feeding tube for almost two weeks for several reasons including severely high co2 levels. By the grace of God I didn't receive the trache my doctors argued over giving me. After 31 days straight of being in the hospital I was discharged on continuous oxygen and a CPAP machine with a setting of 16. I was weaned down from 8Liters of oxygen to 2 Liters. My levels were in the 90s until recently. Now at night my O2 levels​ are between 77 and 80 and that's with my CPap on with oxygen bleeding into it at 3 Liters. If I sleep with just my oxygen on at night my levels are good throughout the night but I have the worst headaches. If I use the CPap machine at night I still wake up with a horrible headache and in both cases i'm tired and sleepy throughout the day. Any advice? Do I need another sleep study? Do my settings need to be adjusted? The headaches sometimes go away on their own after an hour or so but sometimes I have to take Ibuprofen to get rid of them. I'm not sleeping well at night at all. I sleep on my side even though its uncomfortable and before all this I used to sleep on my stomach. When I was on Hospice , they ordered me a hospital bed that was adjustable. I would raise and lower the head of the bed throughout the night as needed and I had no headaches. When they discharged me off hospice, they took the bed and my insurance wouldn't cover the cost for me to keep it and I can't afford the expense so here I am. I always make sure that my full face mask has a good seal on it. I sometimes breathe out my mouth and my breathing is shallow to the point that I have to consciously remind myself to try to breathe deeper throughout the day. Should I use the CPap or the oxygen at night until I figure out what's going on ? Any suggestions, comments or solutions would be greatly appreciated. I am praying for everyone who has commented and are living with sleep apnea. Not being able to breathe is the worse feeling ever and I wouldn't wish it on anyone. But keep the faith and this too shall pass!
