Sleep Deprivation

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 8:55 pm

Okay so we all have OSA, right?

That also means we have been sleep deprived, some longer than others but still deprived of healthy sleep.

How in the world does a person "catch up" on sleep?

Maybe some of you who have had OSA for awhile could let me in on the recovery process a little. Little tips and secrets to getting better. I'd appreciate it and I think lots of us would benefit from this topic.

Thanks,

Heidi

Dave Hargett · Post by **Dave Hargett** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:11 pm

There is a concept of "sleep debt", in that we owe our bodies the sleep we didn't get. However, we never make up all that difference. Most of us are sleep-deprived years before our apnea is diagnosed.

The key to feeling better is to use your PAP therapy regularly, every night, all night long, as soon as you are able to do so (allowing for issues along the way like leaky masks, nasal congestion, changing to another style of mask, changing pressures, etc.).

Whatever the issue, you need to figure it out and resolve the situation as soon as you can.

I saw enough difference in myself after just 4 days (I was able to cut out my weekend naps that first weekend) that I have never looked back. It probably took me a month to totally get back to where I thought I should be (remember I had been so tired for years I had no clue as to what I should feel like!).

I've known folks to take 4 weeks or even 4 months or longer before they really "got it" and recognized that the PAP process was working for them.

-SWS · Post by **-SWS** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 9:36 pm

It took me the better part of a year to finally get out of REM rebound. For many of us REM rebound is a sign that we are still paying off sleep debt. I suspect I had my sleep disorder since childhood.

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:10 pm

So any advice? Should I be sleeping every chance I get or what?

Dave Hargett · Post by **Dave Hargett** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:13 pm

I would try to stick to a normal schedule as much as possible. I actually found after I was feeling better that I spent LESS time in bed and still felt great because the quality of the sleep was so much better.

If you want to sleep in a bit when you can, no problem, but for the most part, keeping a regular sleep schedule is probably a good idea. Just let the recovery happen and be sure that you stay compliant with the machine/mask any time you do sleep.

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:21 pm

My brother-in-law asked me isn't it hard to sleep with that on? But really, it seems once you fall asleep you don't even remember.

I guess I'm adjusting pretty good!

-SWS · Post by **-SWS** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 10:55 pm

The sleep community does not seem to have an empirical handle on sleep debt in general . They don't know if there's an upper limit regarding just how much sleep debt can be accumulated, and they don't know the exact payback schedule across the entire sleep deprived population. However, it does not seem as if 2,000 hours of missed sleep translates to as many as 2,000 hours of extra bed time required to pay back that sleep debt. Likely patients pay sleep debt back at varying rates, and with neurologically "selected" or "favored" stages of sleep.

Most sleep researchers recommend paying back sleep debt with extended durations of sleep. The inherent risk is in upsetting good sleep hygeine as Dave implies. For instance, allowing twelve or fourteen hour durations of sleep on the weekends only can upset your biological sleep clock----making it very difficult to get back on schedule bright and early Monday morning. Paying back sleep debt with extended duration sleep is recommended, but it really should be done without upsetting proper Monday through Friday sleep hygeine ( at least for those who have crucial schedule obligations). A better solution might be trying to sleep nine or ten hours each night, until the body finally rejects that amount of sleep as being excessive. Short term sleep debt studies showed participants easily settling into twelve hour slumbers for several days before their bodies very naturally settled into their respective "normal" sleep durations of 7 to 9 hours each.

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:14 pm

Just wonder if I will ever sleep through the night? I'm kind of like a big baby waking up during the night.

For many years, I've shuffled to the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal. Hard habit to break.

I just hope I will sleep through the night completely soon. I even take Trazadone 100mg. MD said I could take 150mg. Maybe that would do it? Or maybe I would hurt myself on the way to the kitchen by running into a wall or something.

Heidi, who just isn't as creative or funny as Liam!

-SWS · Post by **-SWS** » Sun Feb 13, 2005 11:38 pm

hhunt wrote:For many years, I've shuffled to the kitchen and had a bowl of cereal. Hard habit to break.

Carbohydrate and sugar cravings are linked to sleep deprivation. The sleep will ideally get better, and those late-night cereal cravings just may go away!

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 10:34 am

Can you recommend some good articles or resources regarding OSA and recovering from the disorder?

Thanks.

Also how can I change my name on here?

wading thru the muck! · Post by **wading thru the muck!** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:10 am

hhunt wrote:Also how can I change my name on here?

Which "here" are you refering to? Your user name or the signature at the bottom of each post?

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:30 am

hhunt wrote:Also how can I change my name on here?

Well, if you go down to the courthouse.....

(I assume you were thinking of changing your first name to "Helen" for me. )

Liam, who just won't let the Helen Hunt thing die.

Sleeping With The Enemy · Post by **Sleeping With The Enemy** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:50 am

I though that maybe now that I am starting to get some sleep I'd graduate to the name LittleREM on here, not as a signature.

That's what I mean.

Anyone know why my Remstar Auto only reads 16.0 hours so far, I know I've used it more than that?!?

Liam1965 · Post by **Liam1965** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 11:55 am

hhunt wrote:Anyone know why my Remstar Auto only reads 16.0 hours so far, I know I've used it more than that?!?

It's a plot by your insurance company to claim that you're not in compliance, so they don't have to pay for it.

Liam, UFO abductee.

Mikesus · Post by **Mikesus** » Mon Feb 14, 2005 12:45 pm

hhunt wrote:I though that maybe now that I am starting to get some sleep I'd graduate to the name LittleREM on here, not as a signature.

That's what I mean.

Anyone know why my Remstar Auto only reads 16.0 hours so far, I know I've used it more than that?!?

Wow, I got mine Friday and I have 33hrs on mine... Sounds like a compliance issue

Seriously tho, there are 2 counters, 1 that is resetable and one that isn't. (Check your manual, maybe I was imagining that... But I seem to remember something in there babbling about it...)

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep Deprivation

Sleep Debt

Any advice?

Someone asked me..

Paying Back Sleep Debt

.....

Re: .....

Question for SWS

Re: Question for SWS

Just a thought...

Re: Just a thought...

Re: Just a thought...

Machine	Mask

Machine	Mask