After only 15 days on my cpap machine I have recently had my first review. I was diagnosed with severe OSA, I had an AHI of 42. My partner timed some of my apnoeas at 28. seconds.
My AHI is now down to 20 which puts me in the moderate OSA category. I have adapted quite well to wearing a nose and mouth mask but I have been waking up 2 or 3 times a night for a drink of water to lubricate my mouth and throat, despite using a mouth lubricating spay. As I am up, I go to the toilet but I am passing nowhere near as much urine as I did before treatment and I am no longer being woken by a full bladder.
My sleep clinic have very kindly provided me a humidifier. Unfortunately I have not got it to work - though the preheater works, strange. I have been back and they have changed the settings on my machine and hopefully if will now work.
It is very early days for me and I do not expect any overnight 'cure' . However, I have seen early 'green shoots of recovery'. I have stopped falling asleep in the chair within minutes of getting home from work . It feels great to be able to sit through early evening TV without falling asleep. I feel more alert at work and now last till mid afternoon before I start to feel tired. I also no longer suffer from acid reflux - I was going through a bottle of gaviscon a month.
One thing that does remain is my 'mental fog' - not in terms of memory loss or confusion but in terms of mental sharpness. However, I think this symptom will take the most time to overcome. I believe I have been suffering from OSA for many years before my recent diagnosis. Reading this and other forums I believe my brain is so used to waking my body up at night that it is going to take time to change things - anyway I live in hope. The way I feel in a morning is mixed - some days still I feel fatigued but other days I wake up feeling more refreshed.
On odd occasions at week ends, after 7-8 hours sleep, I have taken off my mask and dosed again for 1 to 2 hours and woken up feeling terrible, so now I only sleep with my mask on.
Hopefully, I will get some unbroken nights soon, if my humidifier to starts to work. I will keep you posted.
John Wilkinson 