snuzyQ

Hi 1Ann,

I'm so sorry for your fatigue. As one who had CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome) for 8 years, I truly sympathize with you.

Since you had a sleep test that showed you have very mild sleep apnea and your doctor has said that this should not be affecting your energy levels, then it would probably be best to take that at face value and quit the worry about needing CPAP. It sounds like you really don't need it. This forum is probably not the best place for you to find the help you need.

Have you sought out the company of others with CFS? I recovered from mine...mostly by realizing that I was exhausting myself by trying so hard to get well. Being sick for so long made me very depressed - to the point that I also wouldn't have minded if I had died. I really needed some professional help (as well as my faith in God) to get better. Meds helped. Finding out I had a sensitivity to gluten helped (I went gluten-free for 3 years). And then I finally accepted that I might not ever get well and started just learning how to live the best I could with whatever measure of energy I had for each day, one day at a time. And I started being thankful in my situation...not thankful for CFS, but thankful just to be and thankful for whatever measure I was given for that day. When the energy was spent, I went and laid down and was thankful because I could. I counted breaths and was thankful I could breathe. I just quit fighting. It takes such precious energy to fight. CFS happens to folks - a wide variety of folks. We didn't do anything to deserve it...it just happened.

See if you can find your CFS community. Tell your doctor about your depression. There's a lot of support for you out there.

You could ask this question of your sleep specialist, M.D. If you are currently mouth-breathing at night to get around the blocked nasal passages, then your sleep specialist will have some idea of how to treat your severe sleep apnea now. That will immediately address your apnea but also allow you some extra time to consider the septoplasty. Rather than to see another surgeon for that second opinion, how about seeking out a pulmonologist? They're schooled enough in anatomy to give you good counsel, plus many of them are educated in sleep disorders. Just a thought.

Hi whebert228,

Did you have a sleep study to determine the level of apnea? How long ago was that? Is your doctor a sleep specialist, a pulmonologist or your GP? Are you seeing an ear, nose and throat doctor to see after the inflamed turbinates? Are anxious thoughts keeping you from getting to sleep at night or waking you up through the night? Have you brought up the fatigue issue with your doctor/s? What did he/they say in reply? Have you seen a therapist or psychiatric specialist to address your anxiety? All of these are things you can do to address your fatigue and find out for sure what is going on. The best any of us can do on this forum is to guess (and it may or may not be an educated guess). Such an answer from this forum would likely do you a disservice.

Go for the jugular, do your own homework and then let your medical team help you to sort this out. Good luck to you and take care.

I found the "pow" feeling to be so uncomfortable that I was willing to try anything to get it to stop. The tongue trick worked for me. I add it as the last step in masking up each night. I rest my tongue against the roof of my mouth with the tip of my tongue against the backside of my upper front teeth and then close my lips. When I was first doing this, I would "talk" to myself with thoughts like this: "This feels comfortable. I like sleeping this way. Everything is where it is supposed to be. I can shut my eyes now with my tongue this way and will be able to sleep through the night because my mouth will stay closed all night long. When I wake up in the morning, everything will be right where I left it. I will sleep this way all night. It's safe for me to go to sleep now.....etc." until my thoughts drifted off into sleep land. It's all automatic for me now...I hardly even notice what I'm doing. And I do wake up with everything just as I left it before I fell asleep. And there is no waking in the night with a "pow!" anymore. The power of suggestion is pretty incredible. It's like a night time hug or a kiss on the check before bedtime - very comforting and powerful when you believe what you are saying to yourself. This works....try it!

Hi farmercyst. A sleep medicine physician is a specialist - an M.D. who practices only within the realm of sleep-disordered breathing and sleep medicine. A pulmonologist is a generalist who treats sleep apnea but mostly a host of other lung and brochial troubles such as asthma, COPD, etc. He's primarily concerned with whatever goes wrong with the lungs, bronchii (wind-pipe) and with breathing. They are both M.D.s but when dealing with sleep apnea, I'd much rather have the specialist. Unfortunately, my insurance plan doesn't provide any sleep specialists, so I'm seeing a pulmonologist too (just once). Ever since that first interaction, technicians have been handling my case because I haven't had any apparent complications or aberrations.

Hi my name is snuzyQ. Though I have been a member of the Forum since 2015, I am just now beginning to check in regularly. My husband and I were diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea in the Fall of 2012 and have been CPAPping ever since. We can't imagine sleeping any other way now and are very pleased with the improvements that treatment has brought to our lives. It was scary at first, but posts such as the ones I now find on the Forum were instrumental in helping the two of us odopt CPAP as a way of life. My husband is quite occupied and will not be able to contribute at this time, but I'm turning my attentions back to the forum as a way of helping others and because it comforts me in all my health reverses. My apnea was discovered after it had already caused a lot of damage (I have multiple health issues). I would like to be among those who are championing sleep apnea with it's many variations to create more awareness. I think the more of we diagnosed as well as invested health providers who participate in our community, the more power we will mutually possess...for change...for healing...for all the good that sharing brings. So, that's why I'm back. See ya on the other side!

Hi Shawn and welcome to the Forum. The Forum has been incredibly helpful to my husband and me. We were both diagnosed with severe sleep apnea within a month of each other in 2012. We are called "dualies" because we have been CPAPping together ever since. It is a journey, for sure, and we're wishing you all the best. Dial in with your needs. There're lots of folks here ready to help you along.

No...this is not a good idea. Only regular hose can be soaked. You may find the regular hose needs a little extra cleaning and there are special CPAP hose brushes for that which do a wonderful job when a little biodegradable unscented dishsoap is added to the warm water. I'm not sure how much benefit you would get from just soaking a hose because they float on top of the water.

You may get relief by placing a narrow strip of plain, clean, pure cotton jersey (such as you would find in t-shirts and underwear) under your nose where the bottom of your pillows mask is resting and where the sore places are. Cut several pieces for yourself so that you can have a clean one to use each night. The used strips can be washed together in a lingerie bag in your washing machine and the bag placed in the dryer to dry afterwards. For most of us, cotton is an ideal fabric. The skin just loves it.

Had you thought of switching to nasal pillows? These masks can and should be worn much more loosely. Ours are quite comfortable. We started out with the full face masks but found them impossible for numerous reasons and made the switch after the first 5 months on CPAP. We've never looked back. I was worried about the nasal pillows because I had been a lifelong mouth breather. From the first night of using my new mask, I found the feel of having pressure escape when I opened my mouth was very uncomfortable and I closed my mouth to avoid that uncomfortable feeling. My brain was very quickly trained to close my mouth while I sleep. I get through the night with minimal to no leakage at all. Also, I found posts to the forum during that time (6 years ago) that offered other very helpful techniques for keeping the mouth closed at night and all without using physical means such as chin straps, etc.. I'm truly amazed at how pliable and powerful our minds are. Happy 'pappin' to you.