Frequent awakeners with mild OSA, has cpap helped?

[1041]

Me too, what's your doctor's take on the whole thing?

General sleep hygiene suggestions.

[Java]

I'm about 10 weeks into my CPAP therapy. 100% compliance. Love the mask. Unfortunately I still wake up 3-6 times a night. I usually sleep 2-3 hours. I have had one or two nights where I got just over a 4 hour sleep without waking up. At least now when I wake up, its usually for a potty break, sip of water, and I fall right back asleep. Pre-CPAP I was waking up every 2 hours in a total state of panic with my heart racing and pounding in my head and chest. I am still hoping with more time it will get better (doubtful but hoping).

[zoocrewphoto]

My awakenings (the ones I can remember) are fewer, but not completely gone. I suspect that part of that is because I do wake up if I drool. And I have had some extra issues that have made it more difficult to sleep. In June, I had 2 weeks of severe coughing. In July, it started up again, for 5 weeks. For the past 1/2 months, I have been dealing with leg/hip pain. I finally have that figured out and mostly gone.

Overall, though, even with those extra issues, I have slept a LOT better. Only one bathroom break per night instead or 2 or 3. On rare, occasions, I have slept 7 hours straight with no memory of any awakenings. And those days, I felt awesome!

I have always remembered lots of dreams, but I can't remember any nightmares since I started. Mine weren't usually that bad, but I would wake up and remember dreams of being chased, or hiding from somebody. Those are gone.

I can also see that my non-remembered awakenings (all those apneas) are pretty much gone. I went from an ahi of 79 to less than 2 most nights, often less than 1. I've also found that I fall asleep faster while wearing my mask.

I feel much better, my blood pressure is normal or close to normal most days now (used to be in the 150s to 170s over 100+), and I know that my long term health is improving.

[jzap]

I used to get up 5 or 6 times a night to go to the bathroom. The first night on CPAP, I got up once, and that has continued for 3 months. My OSA was diagnosed as "Severe" (AHI 64), so, as they say, your results may vary.

[Carmen]

I used to wake frequently at night--a year ago I was seriously waking up every half hour or so. When I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea, I had high hopes that CPAP would help that. What happened, though, was that I started sleeping more, but still woke up all night long--instead of sleeping five hours and waking every half hour, I was sleeping seven or eight hours and waking every half hour.

What finally got me sleeping halfway normally again was estrogen--CPAP didn't do it, sleeping pills didn't do it, anti-depressants didn't do it. Estrogen was the magic bullet.

How long did it take for the estrogen to work? I tried the estrogen patch for a month. It didn't help and my gyne took me off of it because she didn't want me on it due to family history. Do you still use the cpap?

Yes, still use the CPAP--my AHI was only 6.6 on testing, but my primary problem with sleeping and breathing seems to be that I can't breathe through my nose at all while asleep, so I was doing a lot of mouth breathing and snoring and always woke up with a dry mouth and a sore throat. Officially my diagnosis is upper airway resistance syndrome.

Estrogen took about a month because I was started on too low a dose to make a difference--500 mcg didn't even register and 1 mg might have had some effect, but it was kind of hard to tell. But after a week on 2 mg, it was just ahhhh...sleep. Hot flashes, even if you don't think they're all that bad, can disrupt your sleep in a major way. You also might want to check into a progestin. Progestins are kind of difficult because they make a lot of women bloated and cranky, but when I was on them for a month before my hysterectomy a couple of years ago, I got some of my best sleep ever.

And now, after finally fixing my sleep with estrogen, I'm off it again because I'm having some surgery and my surgeon wants me off of it for a month before surgery because it increases the risk of blood clots. The first ten days or so weren't bad, but last night I was up and down all night.

[lazer]

I have a very mild case when it comes to OSA but more likely UARS. Post xPAP, I no longer awaken during the night like I used to although last night was a rare exception where I had a weird dream associated with having to pee and finally woke up ironically after a short OA reported via SleepyHead and sprinted to the bathroom. I was able to fall right back to sleep and awaken 3 hrs later via my alarm clock with no problem.

Before xPAP, I would lay awake in bed for over an hour not being able to sleep and also experience frequent awakenings and sometimes bathroom trips more numerous as noted last night even.

Still trying to find out why my moods aren't always where I would like them to be but overall, I feel much more rested in general with an occasional bad night - meaning even though I slept fine, due to a little less sleeping time OR events, I don't feel as refreshed the next day.

[Wonderbeastlett]

My test results were an AHI of 6 which is mild but my Stage 4 and REM sleep was 0%. I've been using my cpap for 6 months now and I do notice a difference in how I feel but I still wake up a lot. It tends to be that I wake up around 5 and toss and turn for a while but then I fall into a deep sleep. I get tons of dreams after 5 am! I'm not sure why I still wake up. I dont have to go to the restroom and I don't have nightmares and headaches anymore.

[Sir NoddinOff]

I wake usually in the middle of the night and it may take ten minutes or even two hours to get back to sleep. CPAP hasn't changed that, but I can say that during the time I do spend deeply asleep, I always have an AHI of less than 3. Plus, I seem to get at least a total of six hours of real quality sleep virtually every night- that's plenty for me. It's not a perfect scenario but it works for now.

[lorraineg57]

Me too, what's your doctor's take on the whole thing?

General sleep hygiene suggestions.

Don't ya love it?

[lorraineg57]

I'm about 10 weeks into my CPAP therapy. 100% compliance. Love the mask. Unfortunately I still wake up 3-6 times a night. I usually sleep 2-3 hours. I have had one or two nights where I got just over a 4 hour sleep without waking up. At least now when I wake up, its usually for a potty break, sip of water, and I fall right back asleep. Pre-CPAP I was waking up every 2 hours in a total state of panic with my heart racing and pounding in my head and chest. I am still hoping with more time it will get better (doubtful but hoping).

You sound a lot like me. I don't wake up as many times a night as you though. Ditto on the having a few nights, I think one or two, where I actually slept straight through but those were nights that I didn't go to bed until VERY late so I got 4 or 5 hours and that's it. I didn't wake in a panic, I just wake up like "Doo, doo, doo....I'm awake!" and I mean awake, not groggy like when you sleep in or something. Luckily, I'm only up for 10-15 minutes and I go back to bed and back to sleep.

Hope it works for you, I got my cpap Sept. 26 so I'm almost two months in.