HI DAN, I have a fat face and I snored for years, so I have to use a chin strap to keep my mouth shut. NOW, with a fat face the chin strap pushes everything forward, thus the mask doesn't fit properly. IF I would have known all these health problems would happen in THE GOLDEN YEARS, I would have gone a serious diet in my early 50's. BE WELL MY NEW FRIENDS
I just joined the forum. I am highly frustrated because it's been several months since I've had a decent night's sleep. I've been using a CPAP with a Swift FX nasal pillow since my diagnosis of severe OSA 4 years ago. I'm not sure what stopped working wonders several months ago, my machine or my mask, but my doctor and I are trying a mask change first. I now use a Swift FX nasal mask, which I'm hoping will make a difference. It's definitely more comfortable for me than the pillow was since I no longer have mask parts in my nostrils.
Hi @WillingChartreuseSalmon3914. I hope your mask change continues to help improve comfort with treatment. I might also recommend you have your machine checked by your home care company to make sure it is still functioning properly and at the appropriate pressure. CPAP machines sometimes malfunction, so it might be worth looking into. Let us know how the new mask works out for you!
13 months ago I started having tingling in my hands and feet throbbing in my legs, dizziness, off balance when I walk loss of concentration and mind feeling scattered. My family doctor sent me to a neurologist that did a MRI all came out good he said I had just had anxiety needed to deal with it put me on several medicines. I switch family doctors they sent me to a second neurologist they did blood work all came out good except for pre diabetic did sleep study and found out I have sleep apnea and periodic leg movement disorder ( legs move 46x an hour) and (rsl) he said my pre diabetic could be coming from sleep apnea. In April started with a APAP machine which did not help felt worse switch to a CPAP machine which I've been on on 5 weeks not feeling much better. In the passenger seat on the way back from a trip I fell asleep and I kicked the bottom of the glove box I also wake up with pillows in the air where I have kicked the pillow off my feet. Has anybody been through what I have and how long did it take before yous saw any Improvement
Ray rae
Hi @Rayrae. Leg movements can definitely cause arousals from sleep, which can make you feel very tired. Are you being treated for the leg movements? CPAP can treat the sleep apnea, which can also take time to adjust to. However, even if your sleep apnea is treated, your leg movements may still be causing your sleep to be interrupted. Other medical conditions and medications can also contribute to the way you feel. I encourage you to speak with your physician about how you are feeling and see if there are other things to consider. Best wishes!
Hi @DanM go back to the doctor next week he said if I was not feeling any better he would put me on medicine for my legs just a little concerned about taking medicine I don't take much medicine at all and I don't want to take something that will make me even tired during the day. I will make sure I tell him all my concerns, thanks
@DanM I went back to Dr. He put me on Pramipexole .125mg 1 at bedtime in a week start 2 at bedtime. He said there are several more to try if these doesn't work. He said if I'm still tried after all these meds there is a medicine that he can give me to not make me feel tried. I hope it doesn't come to that because I not sure about using medication to make me not feel tried (my brian that is) but my body will still be tried I guess. My friend gave me an article about a piece that goes in your mouth to hold the back of you mouth open ,something new cant remember the name of the the sleep apnea type. Anyone had any luck with this or medicines? Thanks in advance
Hi Rayrae. Glad to hear the doctor is treating your leg movements. That should hopefully help improve your sleep and improve your level of tiredness during the day. There are oral appliances for sleep apnea that help keep the airway open. I would encourage you to speak with a dentist who specializes in sleep apnea and treatment with these oral devices. The dentist should be able to assess you and see if you are a good candidate for that type of treatment if you are interested. Best wishes, and please continue to keep us posted!
I was having the same problem for a long time. I started seeing a pulmonary doctor and he tested me for idiopathic hypersomnia. Basically your tired and they really can't tell you why. I am now taking Nuvigil on a daily basis which is a long lasting stimulant that helps me to stay awake and alert throughout the day. Nuvigil is safe to use and non habit forming. Really works for me
Increasing your pressure higher than it needs to be can lead to a different type of apnea called central sleep apnea. If you are ever feeling that your symptoms are recurring, contact your Cpap provider and they can help by possibly troubleshooting the issue and if necessary request from your Dr. different tests to verify your correct pressure etc.
Months have past no answers. Been on cpap around 6 + months. Went back to sleep doctor in Aug told him my headache are worst thinking it was coming from the new meds he put me on from previous visit he tells me it coming from cpap takes me off machine. I question him he has obstructive sleep apnea all over my records so I go to family doctor( she keeps me on cpap) she referres me to another doctor but not a neurologist sleep which I though he was and from time he walked in I know it was a waste of my time.Back this week to family doctor. That doctor did say I needed a med to speed me up on morning but didn't know where to send me up to my family doctor. Still have tingling dizziness tiredness and leg run a marathon at night Ray rae
Hi Ray rae. I'm sorry to hear you're having such difficulties finding answers. Thanks for keeping us updated. It does sound like you have a good family doctor who will refer to you other doctors. A good sleep physician is key to proper sleep apnea treatment. Most are trained in either neurology or pulmonology. The sleepeducation.org website's "find a sleep center" feature might help you identify other specialists or sleep clinics in your area. Best wishes, and please keep us posted!
Hi Rayrae - I have been reading your posts. I too am having a lot of fatigue after starting with APAP and can't figure it out. I no longer have bad restless leg syndrome so that isn't an issue for me. BUT I wanted to give you some info on that. You may want to look into a site called parathyroid.com and look at symptoms for hyperparathyroid. The tingling in hands and feet could be due to calcium issues. Also, I had practically all the symptoms for more than 15 yrs before I found a doctor who figured out my issue - hyperparathyroid with a parathyroid gland that had turned into an adenoma (benign tumor) it wasn't in my neck like it was supposed to be but under my breastbone so it couldn't be palpated. I was also craving calcium all the time and was taking high doses of calcium which kept my bloodwork from showing the issue. Once I had the bad parathyroid gland taken out I haven't had restless leg syndrome anymore. ALSO, you may want to look into thyroid issues since fatigue and restless leg syndrome can be from that too. Good luck in finding the answer!
Hi, I too continue to feel sleepy during the day despite 100% compliance with CPAP and an average of 0.5 events per hour. My first night on CPAP was amazing, I woke up refreshed ... A new woman. That was in November 2016, however, in January 2017, a respiratory virus caused an exacerbation of my moderate asthma, my thyroid function destabilised and my iron level dropped significantly. Despite correcting all of the conditions, I continue to find it difficult to sleep therefore no longer reap the benefits of my CPAP machine. Perhaps in your case you also need something investigated or corrected? Maybe you are still overwhelmed by your diagnosis and stress is playing a roll. Have a think about what else is going on and go back to your local doctor for advice. Good luck!
Resourceful, I’ve been searching these discussion boards for years trying to figure out why my CPAP numbers are good abd my daytime sleepiness keeps getting worse... and your experience is the first I’ve come across that sounds a lot like mine. I had 5 months of life-changing relief from the fatigue, then got a sinus infection and my symptoms came back with a vengeance. It has been 4 years. I’m now on Adderall and Provigil, but it isnt working. Dr. says I don’t have Narcolepsy. Have you made any progress?
I have been having my cpap machine for a little over a month now and I am still very tired and sleepy during the day. In fact I catch myself dozing off at my desk. This is not fun and my husband gets upset because I am still so tired all of the time and on the weekends I just want to sleep all day. I am miserable and need help bad.
Are you following up with your sleep doctor? I have not found great relief with mine either. I was off it for a couple years and now back on and trying to work with my doctor to determine why I'm still so tired. There is some improvement, but not much. Mainly, I tend towards fewer headaches and think more clearly but still feel exhausted. I was back on CPAP for 5 weeks and just had a followup. My doctor wants to see me in another 4 weeks and see if things have improved. If not, she plans to have me to the lab for an overnight with my machine and possibly to do another daytime study. She said if they find nothing that I may just be someone who needs 10 hours a night of sleep or is just always going to be sleepy. In which case they may try medication to keep me alert. Something I would take as needed in the morning.
Definitely make sure you followup with your doctor.
Good luck!
In order for you to make progress with the tiredness, you can speak with your doctor but you would do well to monitor your own therapy to find out if you are still having excessive AHI. If you are, you can use the same monitoring tools to figure out how to fix the problem. While talking to your doc may be of some use, that doc probably isn't a CPAP wearing patient and will likely not be able to direct you to mitigating your issues as well as you yourself can. Do you monitor your therapy AHI rate, mask leak rate? etc.
Not sure if you are necessarily replying to me, but FWIW, I am also keeping a close track of things. I've been journaling and noting my daily score on My Air with how I feel in the mornings and throughout the day. I have had a few nights my AHI was zero but usually ranges .3 to .5 with 1 being the highest. So I'm barely having any apneas at all according to my machine. Leakage is an issue at times and I can't seem to figure that out. I did discuss with my doctor I think I may need smaller headgear and they were looking into getting a smaller one for me. It's just so odd for me that my score for leaks can drop from 20 to 11 without me noticing a difference during the night (and most of the time it doesn't seem to correlate with how I'm feeling either). She's also trying to help me address the dry mouth but her suggestions were things I've already tried or were suggested here as well.
The group I go to seems to be pretty hands on which I like. I've been to another doctor who basically gave me a script and said see you in a year when you need another one. My current group really wants to help me feel better so we are on a plan to follow up regularly. I do agree either way working yourself to figure out what's going on is a great place to start.
I been using my cpap machine for 2 weeks now and I keep waking up every 2 hours,usually with slight headache and would feel even less rested in the morning now past couple days I'm extremely lightheaded and dizzy while I stand up. I am using a Resmed airsense 10 I believe it's called and everything is set on auto. Are any of what I'm experiencing from the cpap?
