How long before I get to "rested and refreshed"?

I've had my CPAP for a couple of weeks now. The first mask didn't fit well enough for me, so I went back after a week to get refitted with a F&P Simplus (which works much better).
It takes me some time to fall asleep, but once I get there I sleep through the night. But I always slept through the night! I wake up and I'm still tired. I'm tired all day and I still take naps when I can squeeze them in. The machine says that my AHI (?) is at 4.5 and there are no major leaks. My pressure is set to 16, and I use the Ramp function to get to sleep.

SO why am I still tired? Everyone I know who has a CPAP says that it's been a miracle for them. I'm not experiencing any miracles.
How long do I work with this thing before contacting the doctor to say it's not working.
What else could be the problem?

Many other things 'could' be the problem - when's the last time you had e.g. your thyroid checked, or bloodwork done otherwise? But Cpap can take time to work - you didn't get 'there' all at once and you may not feel better right away. But presuming OSA is the problem, can you please say what machine (model #, etc. - full name as it appears next to the button on top) and type of mask you use? And you said your pressure is at 16, so I presume you're only on Cpap, rather than Apap (auto), which needs two pressures to set up. Do you use the ramp, and at what settings?

Keep a journal.
The human mind is a funny thing, memory of discomfort disappears quickly (otherwise no woman would have a second baby). Some of the cpap effects can be subtle and only noticed if you sit down and really think about it and look back.

Each body is different. All I noticed the first week was that things seemed brighter, less annoying and my afternoon headache was not there. It also depends on how much damage had been done to your body and how long it takes to repair. Remember fatigue is only one of the symptoms, the more noticeable one.

I filled in my machine information into my profile. Isn't it supposed to show up at the bottom of my post, like yours does?

Either way...
I'm using a PR System One with C-Flex and the matching heated humidifier.
I have a F&P Simplex full face mask
My Pressure is set to 16 and I use the Ramp function, starting at 6 for 30 minutes to get to sleep.

One of the first things my doctor did, even before scheduling the sleep study, was to get my bloodwork done. Everything came back well within normal ranges. That would have been about three months ago. i don't feel any worse, I just don't feel any better.

Energy Drinks are my friend...

Energy Drinks are my friend...

they are pure caffine.... how many and when ?

If your equipment profile isn't showing up anything then most likely you chose the wrong equipment and links to old discontinued equipment are broken.

What is the model number on the bottom of blower unit for your machine? 3 digit with probably DS or REF in front or behind?

I drink primarily Rockstar energy drinks - they seem to have the highest caffeine count. They also have Taurine, Glucoronolactone and Inositol. I go through about two (sometimes less) each day, and I'm done with them by 3:30 (I do want to sleep, after all). It's the only thing I've tried that really helps me to stay awake during the day. For whatever reason, they don't make me as jittery as caffeine pills do and there's only so much coffee I can stand to drink.

I was written up for falling asleep at my desk in July, and I HAVE to stay awake somehow.
I was hoping that the CPAP would improve my sleep quality so that the 8-9 hours I get a night might be enough. The sleep study did indicate OSA with "AHI 12 per hour".

There are meds (Provigil/Nuvigil) that will help you stay awake a lot more sensibly than all that caffeine, which btw, does NOT leave your system conveniently by bedtime if you stop drinking at 3. You're fighting therapy and will pay for it (or seem to be doing it now).

Great...More Pills...

More Pills...

Might help to list what other meds you are taking (that might affect sleep).

I added my meds to my Profile so they should show up now. I don't think the meds are interfering with my sleep at all. They actually help me sleep. We've gone through a lot of tweaking to get me the least drowsy during the day and the most drowsy at night. It's not perfect, but it's about the best we can do with this combination - and this is by far the best combination. We have tried me with Ritalin, and then Adderal during the day to combat some of the Geodon drowsiness, but those were...stimulating in the wrong way...so we quit that experiment.

And this doesn't feel like medication drowsiness (which I'm very familiar with!). This is tired ALL THE TIME, where no normal amount of sleep seems to really help.
My normal schedule has me going to bed at 9:30, 9:45 at night. The alarm goes off at about 6:00 (maybe 6:15 with a snooze or two) so that I can get up. Even if I'm not going to work, I still have to be awake at that time to test and inject my diabetic cat. I usually get one weekend morning to sleep in, until I actually wake up myself. Those days I can sleep for 10 or 11 hours (or more, with the occasional nap in the afternoon).

When the sleep study showed OSA, we thought we were on the right track. I must be tired because of the apnea. But it's been a couple of weeks with the machine and I feel no better. I'm still so tired all the time...

I'll try and say something here because you have a cat on your profile and I love cats - I've got very many of them

with meds - if they relax you they will most definitely alter your sleep , you don't want your throat relaxing any more than it does already or that will make it worse. in my long (and still continuing ) journey I tried all kinds of meds, zopiclone was the worse, never ever ever touch that, it is so horrible it will make a person without this problem sleep awfully.

with the snooze, this is the argument I have with my partner , she likes it I don't -the reason I don't is sleep says goodbye on the first press, the logical argument is if you can afford the time, max it out until the very last press. then you get the most sleep you can. I know people on here may like snooze but really in scientific terms, it doesn't work, it jerks you in and out of sleep and it's a write off from the first press, avoid if can.

with the voyage, 2 weeks is nothing, I encourage you so much, keep going. I am years in and if you drew my progress on a graph it would dip and rise like a stock share price but the overall direction is up up up. It is a complete miracle and I can only say that with years on it, as I stand in awe wondering how much more is possible in years to come. I am quicker now than I ever have been, I'm doing two jobs, one of them programming computers. This is all something that if someone asked me 5 years ago "can you do all this?" my heart would stop with the fear of the exhaustion it would take just to achieve just one thing on the list!

Andy

MbMinx wrote:I've had my CPAP for a couple of weeks now. The first mask didn't fit well enough for me, so I went back after a week to get refitted with a F&P Simplus (which works much better).
It takes me some time to fall asleep, but once I get there I sleep through the night. But I always slept through the night! I wake up and I'm still tired. I'm tired all day and I still take naps when I can squeeze them in. The machine says that my AHI (?) is at 4.5 and there are no major leaks. My pressure is set to 16, and I use the Ramp function to get to sleep.

SO why am I still tired? Everyone I know who has a CPAP says that it's been a miracle for them. I'm not experiencing any miracles.
How long do I work with this thing before contacting the doctor to say it's not working.
What else could be the problem?

TWO WEEKS? And you're expecting "miracles"? It can take MONTHS......even after you get all the tweaks made and everything is working properly. Lots of it has to do with how long you've had OSA and how long it's going to take you to pay off your "sleep debt". ( which some people believe in and some people don't.....I DO! )
You also need to get ENOUGH sleep each night, too. A minimum of 4 hours ain't gonna cut it. Seven or eight is more like it.

This is "baby steps"......."one night at a time".

Edit: To acknowledge I read your sleep schedule.

Den

.

I just realised in reading that back to myself that snooze can probably be looked on as a manual kind of event, one you set up rather than gets given you by the unfortunate condition you find yourself suffering from! the process is the same! you are pulled out of sleep violently and repeatedly, your sleep is fragmented as a result! if you suffer from OSA do you want to suffer from the snooze button? it's the same thing!

I suppose I'm expecting too much based on the reports I've had from family members. My Uncle had a CPAP for years, and told me what a miracle it was "from that first night". Of course, now he has a Bipap and tells me that my CPAP is "old technology" and "won't help at all". Actually, since his gastric bypass, he's lost over 150 lbs and says that he doesn't need his machine anymore and that all I need to do is lose weight (I am carrying some extra, but nothing on that scale).
My father in law has one and won't leave home without it. Even the doctor and the technicians told me that the difference will be "like night and day" and I should "feel better almost immediately".

*sigh*

And the cats are not fans of the mask and tubing. I have seven, and nobody comes to cuddle with me anymore. *pout*
(This handsome fellow is Chester, my diabetic)