What wakes us ?

[SleepGuy]

This might sound really weird but it works.

Make a fabric bag about 4.5 inches by 8 inches, including a nice V notch for your nose, and fill it with about 2.25 cups of wheat (yes, raw wheat--get it from the health food store). Add a strap if you're not a back sleeper (the thing is heavy enough to stay in place for back sleepers). With my Activa it's relatively easy to position it so it does not interfere with the mask at all. It blocks out all sensory input around your eyes (light, noise, puffs of air). I've been doing this for a few weeks and find myself sleeping in with my cpap until all hours--I haven't experienced anything like that since I was a teenager (remember those lazy mornings?). I'll never try to sleep with my cpap without the little eye mask (though I look even that much more freakish to my kids--I'm single and can get away with extreme weirdness).

[jnk]

. . . Sometimes, I wake up because I think I hear a doorbell or phone and there wasn't any real noise! What's that about!

I believe that the sound of a doorbell/phone is a common auditory hypnagogic hallucination for someone who has been sleep deprived.

http://neurology.health-cares.net/hypna ... nation.php

[dsm]

DSM raised the question of many times a night we wake up. It made me question why we wake up. Sometimes, it is a leak - that's easy to identify. Other times, I have no idea why I'm awake. Was it an apnea, an hypopnea, a central, or just to turn over, a trip to the bathroom?

Anybody else curious or have any thoughts? If there's a pattern, it would nice to be able to change it and stay asleep til morning!!

cpapsue

Very good question ! - I was also wondering what does it & have some thoughts.

If I know I *have* to get up early (I rise at 5:40am) I will wake up more times than those days I intend sleeping as long as I want (Sat & Sun).

Often I wake up - wide awake, look at the clock see it is 12:30am or 3:30am or 4:30am (the times often seem to be very similar each night).
But, will normally go back to sleep almost immediately then wake between 1-2 hrs later - same thing.

I haven't worked out why I will wake at an hour like 12:30 or 01:00 and be wide awake wondering if its near get up time ? - at these early hours I usually think - "wow thats great I still have all those hours to sleep"

I rarely get up for a bathroom call.

DSM

[fuzzy96]

yeah bad part is i think i'm waking up but i can't remember if i am or not lol

[Gerryk]

I used to wonder why I woke up at night too. One night I woke up looked at my machine and it was shutting down, my blue lights were flashing and it strated right back up all on it's own.
I found out after much time looking into things that at the pressure I am at on this machine with the mask I have the machine will shut down if I get a leak big enough. I figure I am moving and bump the mask and it leaks and the machine is shutting down.
The manufacturers rep and tech support finally said my machine and mask at that pressure with a leak are not compatible.

So I know what wakes me some of the times.

[hummer3d]

well last nite i woke up when the mask leak alarm sounded . i had a magor leak in the nasal pillow on my liberty mask. Unfortunately i was so tired i just shut of the cpap and removed the mask for the rest of the nite. This was a mistake i can tell you, i felt very tired today just like i did all the time before starting cpap. So now i hope i've learned after a mask leak i need to get up and fix my Mask

[luke]

This has actually been said in an earlier reply but I'll phrase it differently here.
Waking up can be simply a defensive reaction against sleep apnea. If I'm awake I wont have an
apnea event. Cpap though trains the body and mind to stay asleep ...no defense required...but it
takes a period of time.



Bill