Why the heck am I waking up every morning at 4:00?

[Pirate]

between encore pro and my encore, is there any way to know what times your apap hit specific pressures? That might give me a good indication of whether or not that is the problem.

In Encore Pro, double click on the download for any given day. A report box will pop up on the screen. Select full detail report and set the date for the day you want to see. There are several reports that will tell you what your pressure is for any given time and whether you are having an apnea event.

I've had this same problem every once in awhile, even when I was on regular cpap. Its often different issues. Most of the time its sinus congestion causing me to wake up. Depending on my state of mind, I can usually go back to sleep. I went through a stint waking up every morning at 3:30 a.m., before I switched to apap, and realized the problem was acid reflux, so I elevated my bed and solved the problem.

[Arizona-Willie]

I've been on CPAP for a little over 3 months now and I too wake up anywhere from 3:30 to 4:30 then go back to sleep for a bit.

Only two or three times have i slept until after 6:30.

I go to bed around 10:30 and read a bit. Usually have lites out by 11.

I thought it was ingrained habit because Da Boss used to get up around 4 or so to get ready to go to work, but she doesn't do it any more.

But I used to often wake up while she was moving around getting ready to go.

I just thought it was an old habit returning.

I never connected it to CPAP before and it is strange to see many other people having the same awakenings!!

I have this mental picture of hundreds of CPAP'rs all waking up, looking at the clock and rolling over going back to sleep in unison like a military marching maneuver

[Stryker5777]

Hey I seem to have a similar problem as well...

I think the reason why its happening is because apnea events aren't being successfully treated enough with the Auto's alogorithims in the more REM intensive stages that happen. I'm not sure why their alogorithim would be less effective toward morning or after the first 4 to 5 hours of sleep. Perhaps its the number and the spacing of the apnea events that happen are differnt in pattern, which auto's have difficulty dealing with .Do you guys ,that wake up and go back to sleep like this, notice an increase in your AHI for these periods? Do you feel completely rested throughout the day?

I've been struggling to keep my ahi under 5, but I've been successful when I was using the CL2 with the remstar auto bipap. For the first part of the night when I sleep 5-6 hours (AHI ~ 3.5-4.5) and then I'm still tired enough to go back to sleep. I wake up after a 1-3 hours depending on the night and my ahi ( ahi 4-6) comes up a bit. The last time I usualy sleep less maybe 1/2 hour (ahi ~ 6-9) and then I'm up. I've been noticing this pattern quite a bit.

Does anyone else have data from their cards to support this finding? I know that there's ALOT of people that report their apnea indices to jump toward morning.

I think that the manufactor's need to address this issue (perhaps some sort of smart sleep stage tracking anaylsis function built into the Auto's software), since I'm willing to bet alot of people are having difficulties and the issue isn't so much with the invididual's sleep hygene but rather the effectiveness of their treatment.

One could argue is it apnea that causes the arousal? or the pressure increase to combat the apnea that caused the arousal? Let's not forget, Either way its still the apnea that needs to be better addressed.


Just my .02 cents worth,


Styrker5777

[Lee Lee]

Actually, yes, when I wake up at 3:00AM or 3:30AM, I check my stats, and finds that my stats are great. If I go back to sleep for a few hours, and check the stats again, I find that they have jumped significantly. I think you are on to something!
This is very frustrating, and yes, I am sleepy during the day sometimes. I think the Auto is working, is just think it's for only 5 hours or so. I would LOVE to have 8.

[RHinNC]

I have been on CPAP since March. I can count on one finger how many good nights sleep I have had since starting CPAP.

After several masks I now use a Full Face mask. No matter what mask I have I wake up at 2:45AM every morning, never really go back to sleep. I go to bed at 10PM.

So Monday I called my primary care Doctor to get a referral to the Doctor that prescribed CPAP. Lots of pulmonary testing scheduled (was exposed to asbestos while working a job during college), blood work, a APAP ordered etc. We will see.

He also gave me some Lunesta samples. 3mg is what he gave me. Still woke up around 2:45.....

[Wulfman]

Do you guys ,that wake up and go back to sleep like this, notice an increase in your AHI for these periods?

Just so you folks won't feel alone, here's my story on this (from early this year).

Since I can't seem to get many nights of as much sleep as I would like during the week, I usually get at least a couple more hours each night on the weekends. My results were eratic, but this happened more times than not where if I had at least 6 or 7 hours of continuous sleep and then got up and went to the bathroom and then went back to sleep for a couple of more hours, my AHI would be significantly higher in those couple of hours after going back to bed.
One night that sticks out in my mind went like this: I had had 7 hours of sleep when I got up at 6:00 AM and then went back to sleep for about 2 or 2 1/2 more hours. When I downloaded my data, I had only had a couple of hypopneas during those 7 hours which would have probably been about an AHI of 0.3. In the 2 extra hours, I had something like 13 or 15 more hypopneas and a couple of apneas.....making my AHI a 2.0 for the whole night.

There was a period of time that if I planned to go back to sleep, I would pull my card out of the machine.....I didn't want to know and it was ruining my AHI numbers. However, curiousity finally got the better of me and I'd just leave it in just to see what would happen.

Den

Oh, by the way......that night with the 2.0 AHI......I felt fine the next day.
I guess the amount of sleep I got made up for the lousy AHI.

[rock and roll]

Do any of you take a sleeping pill to sleep like maybe...Ambien? This would explain it!

[Wulfman]

Do any of you take a sleeping pill to sleep like maybe...Ambien? This would explain it!

Not me.

Den

[Guest]

No sleeping pills for me either. But, my Pulmonologist said it was all about seratonin levels. She suggested I take an anti depressant! The thing is, I'm not depressed.

[rock and roll]

I wonder if sunlamp therapy would help. You can change your bodies cycles.