could use some suggestions/feedback

I've been on CPAP therapy for 2 weeks now. Really the only way it's helped is that I don't sweat at night, don't get a full bladder, and my AHI averages 1-2. This suggests to me that my breathing and oxygen levels are good. I think I solved my mouth breathing with chapstick and micropore tape.

However, the QUALITY of my sleep is still just as bad as before CPAP (headaches in morning, foggy head, dry/heavy eyes). I hate to sound like a whiny newbie, but I feel like a zombie
I've tried the following:
- not eating soon after bed
- no alcohol
- exercise
- blackout curtain over window
- comfy temperature in room

I still need to wake up at the same time everyday, but it's hard to resist hitting snooze when I feel so tired in the morning. I've read the sticky threads at the top of the forum and other internet sites. I don't know what the underlying issue is!! I'm sure Prozac interferes with my sleep, and probably getting tangled in tubing. My plan is to:
- buy a CPAP pillow
- try melatonin
- give it a few more weeks with better sleep hygiene
- ask my doctor for referral to a good sleep specialist
- ???

I could sure use some experience, hope, feedback from those who have had trouble with CPAP

Forgot to add that I am fully committed to making this work. I'd love to get my life back, and pay it forward by helping others struggling with sleep issues.

I think you need a lot more time on it before you can expect to recover from the effects. I don't know if it cheers you up but it took me about 8 months to reach where you are now ( and 3 machines and a parade of masks purchased entirely by me). I wouldn't start to worry about other problems until you've been on this about 6 months - at least.

Thanks John. I was reading the success stories thread and realized "wow, I haven't been on this a full month yet, I'm a newbie!!" At the same time, I get scared when I see other people get results after the first night.

As people keep pointing out to me, having a low AHI is not sufficient for a good night's sleep as there may be "other factors" causing you not to have restorative sleep.

What are your sleeping oxygen levels? I'm asking because, after several months, my AHI is below 5 and I'm still not getting restorative sleep. (I thought I had a clue when I reacted very positively to O2 given by an EMS the other day, so I'm looking into some kind of oxygen therapy.)

Sorry not to have anything more positive.

I don't have an oximeter, but during the sleep study, the lowest O2 saturation was 92%. I assumed that since I'm not sweating/getting a full bladder, that means my heart is not pumping as hard, but I could be way off. Maybe my O2 levels are still low

Jak3099 wrote:I don't have an oximeter, but during the sleep study, the lowest O2 saturation was 92%. I assumed that since I'm not sweating/getting a full bladder, that means my heart is not pumping as hard, but I could be way off. Maybe my O2 levels are still low

Don't know the significance of that, but my titration study showed an O2 saturation baseline of 95-96%, "Maximal oxygen desaturation: 88%" (I think that means that my O2 level never went below 88%), and less than 4% of the time with O2 saturation below 90%.

Mayo Clinic says. "Normal pulse oximeter readings range from 95 to 100 percent, under most circumstances. Values under 90 percent are considered low."

http://www.pur-sleep.com/products/prodD ... ategory=13

You might Search for "hose management" and you'll get lots of tips. We use this one and it's simple and does the job.

Hi Jak,

Couple of points: What is your untreated ahi? my observation and the observation of others here and subsequently confirmed by the sleep doctors where i go is that people with really high ahi numbers and low 02 levels to start are the ones who most immediately feel the benefits of cpap. You can imagine with an ahi in triple digits and o2 levels in the 60s, the improvement is massive overweighing all the negatives of cpap while for people with mild/moderate ahi, the improvements are more subtle and thus the discomfort of cpap is relatively more problematic.

The other point is about O2 levels. My doctor claimed that even if your level never drops below 92% ( my case) it can still be problematic and cause heart and other metabolic disorders if the levels are bouncing all over the place. You want relatively constant O2 levels while sleeping.

But really, don't worry too much, it sounds like you are going to take to this like a fish to water, you just need time.

Ahh that makes sense! Due to some weight loss and septum/turbinate surgery, my apnea was better than 2 years ago. My AHI in the 1st half of the sleep study was 12. In 2011, my apnea was in the moderate range. I can see how people with more severe apnea are seeing changes much sooner.

I am 8 weeks into CPAP and it is taking me awhile to come out of my sleep-deprived fog. Although not always to the point of awakening, my sleep is still very fragmented, and I am not always getting good quality deep sleep. Someone said to me early on, "This is a process, not an event." So I let go of the magic wand theory of CPAP and adopted the one-day-at-a-time approach. Although I am still tired and still sleeping more hours than I would like, I am so much better than than the walking dead state I was in two months ago.

If you have not done so, download the data from your Resmed SmartCard and look at it in SleepHead software (search for instructions on this forum). Post your data here, and have the resident CPAPtalk experts take a look. The data may...or may not...show why you are not feeling better.

Hang in there!

As pointed out by somebody else, if you have a lower ahi to begin with and mild desats, the changes will likely be more subtle than somebody like me who went from 79 ahi to less than 2. Or somebody with desats or 70 to never under 95. Huge difference, so even a night that would be bad for somebody with mild sleep apnea would be considered a great night for somebody more severe.

Can you tell us more about your sleep? Do you remember waking up much? Do you feel comfortable? Do you think your sleep is being disturbed?

Do you have software yet? Have you looked at your graphs? My mom used to have a straight cpap. It was older, so no data. After I had my first followup, i let her use my machine for two half nights. The first night, I set it for her pressure of 10 to see how effective it was. He ahi was 3.4. Not bad at all. Then I looked at the graphs. She had a cluster of events with several over 30 seconds and one of them 62 seconds. So, while her ahi looked good and a glance at that would show good therapy, she was still having bad events. Just not a lot of them. But clusters are hard on the body. And longer events are worse. Clusters of longer events are really bad. The ahi is a nice indicator, but not the only important number. So, it will be good to get the software and check your data. You can post the graphs and get reviews and advice as well.

After my mom's test with my machine, she made an appointment with my sleep doctor. He looked at the night at pressure of 10, a night at pressure of 10-13, and her previous sleep study. He prescribed a new machine (Resmed S9 autoset like mine) set for 10-15. She sleeps better now and feels a lot better.



You've got a great machine with full data, so it can help you by showing whether your sleep apnea is being treated well or not. It can also show you if there are patterns to waking up, events, etc.

Jak3099 wrote:However, the QUALITY of my sleep is still just as bad as before CPAP (headaches in morning, foggy head, dry/heavy eyes). I hate to sound like a whiny newbie, but I feel like a zombie

Could you be more descriptive on your sleep issues? Trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? How many times do you remember waking each night? Do you toss and turn?

Thanks for all the replies! I do use Sleepyhead, but I'm out of town for a few days and don't have my computer. I will post my graphs as soon as I can.

In regards to my sleep quality, I do notice that I can sleep until ~5am with no conscious awakenings, but between 5-8am, I switch from side to side a lot and am awake for that. I know a major reason is because I my bowels are full (for lack of a more tactful phrase). From my sleepyhead graphs, I see almost half my central airway events occur between 6-8 am, as well as most leaks. That's why I wonder whether my sleep hygiene is a big issue: I go to bed around midnight and get out of bed around 8am. My job as a lab researcher allows for that "student" sleep schedule, but I am starting to think I should start going to bed and waking up at least 1 hour earlier.

Sometimes it takes a bit of experimenting to find what works best for us at our new normal with effective treatment. We may think our sleep patterns are what they are not, because with untreated sleep apnea, nothing is is it seems. I was never a nightowl in the distant past, but during the many years of sleep disorders, I became one. Severely. It has taken a long time (not yet fully arrived) to (re?)discover my rhythm by providing an environment conducive to sleep thus giving my brain the opportunity to find and habituate to what works at this point in my life.

If you think an earlier bed time might work - go for it. As long as you're not trading a period of tossing and turning on the front end instead of in the morning. Sometimes it can be hard to discern if there's still something going on in our sleep that needs addressed (for me it was limb movements) or if we just need time to let our brain find its way. Best wishes sorting it out.