No CPAP, Great Night's Sleep

[Hammer]

Went to bed late last night and forgot to change out the Amara mask for my Dreamware mask, I didn't want to wake my wife so I went without CPAP. Best night's sleep I've had in months a straight 6.5 hours! As I've previously mentioned I am at a crossroads with CPAP and last night's experience has me further considering ditching the machine. I know, I know, its only one night and I promised the doctor I would stick it out till the end of the year before totally giving up.

[Cardsfan]

Looks to me like you are making excuses to avoid using the machine. Tell you wife, sorry honey, I need to fix my mask in the light, just this once. Than, start a better bedtime habit. An hour before I go to bed, I do a ritual. Go in the bedroom, check the humidifier water, turn down the bed, glass of water, cpap ready to go, mask on the pillow. If you want to make it work, you will find a way. If you want to NOT use the machine, you will find an excuse.

[raisedfist]

Not (remembering) waking up does not necessarily mean you had a great nights sleep.

[Goofproof]

Just another one drowning in De-Nile! Jim

[zoocrewphoto]

Not (remembering) waking up does not necessarily mean you had a great nights sleep.

So true. Before treatment, I thought I woke up 4-5 times with 2-3 bathroom trips. Went in for the sleep study. I had NO deep sleep or REM sleep during the diagnostic phase which was less than 2 1/2 hours. 271 events! My official ahi was 79, but since I never reached deep sleep or REM, and many people are worse during REM, I am probably well over 100 untreated. 79 was scary enough for me. And I went into the sleep study thinking I slept pretty well. I was unconscious, but I was NOT sleeping well. Apparently, I was spending my whole night trying to stay alive.

[WearyOne]

Went to bed late last night and forgot to change out the Amara mask for my Dreamware mask, I didn't want to wake my wife so I went without CPAP. Best night's sleep I've had in months a straight 6.5 hours! As I've previously mentioned I am at a crossroads with CPAP and last night's experience has me further considering ditching the machine. I know, I know, its only one night and I promised the doctor I would stick it out till the end of the year before totally giving up.

I'm not familiar with what your sleep study said, but if you decide you believe you are better off without it. before ditching I would suggest buying a recording pulse/ox to record your heart rate and oxygen saturation while you're asleep without the machine and then with it. It will give you more insight into your health at night that CPAP alone. What does your doctor have to say? I would assume since you have promised to "stick it out until the end of the year before totally giving up," that he/she knows that's the direction your mind is headed at this point.

And as someone else said, just because you don't remember waking up doesn't me you didn't.

[Hammer]

Not (remembering) waking up does not necessarily mean you had a great nights sleep.

No it doesn't, but waking up feeling more refreshed than I have in months certainly does! And I am not in denial folks. I've use the machine religiously for a year and feel absolutely no different than the 50 years before I had the machine.

[Cardsfan]

You think your sleep apnea went away?

[Guest]

Not (remembering) waking up does not necessarily mean you had a great nights sleep.

No it doesn't, but waking up feeling more refreshed than I have in months certainly does! And I am not in denial folks. I've use the machine religiously for a year and feel absolutely no different than the 50 years before I had the machine.

Makes me wonder if things were ever adjusted so the therapy was effective? How could you possibly know if you are in denial or not? Only time will tell for sure.

[Jasba64]

I don't blame you. I have been using mine since October and feel worse than before I started. My problem is I can no longer sleep without it. If I could, I too would try adjusting back to life prior to Cpap.

[kteague]

My first 5 months I was worse than before I started. My settings were not optimized. Once they were effective My sleep improved in respect to the apnea disturbances, but I still had to deal with limb movements. I would encourage anyone who is doing worse to first be sure their treatment is doing what it should do. As far as feeling better, unless one is getting adequate hours of sleep, they are still not going to feel good. Add to that any other contributors to not feeling well like medical conditions or medicine side effects - feeling better is often a multifacted effort. For me, getting my Vitamin D and B12 up was a part of my approach. Nutrition awareness and eating better in general was going on at the same time. Getting adequate hours of sleep was probably the most difficult part. It seemed my brain was stuck in a pattern of bad sleep - after all it had been going on for so many years. For anyone planning on quitting I would encourage them to put forth the effort to become informed of exactly what that will mean to you. While likely not conclusive on its own, I co-sign the suggestion at least try using a pulse oximeter for a few nights. If your pulse is doing a whole lot of fluctutating when your heart should be resting, that's not a good thing, not to mention the oxygen issues. Not giving our muscles a chance to properly rest and restore is a recipe for trouble. If you think you want to quit, do it with knowledge. Would be interesting to use an oximeter both with then without CPAP and compare the results. How you slept one night really doesn't mean much. Most of our apnea events we slept through anyhow.

[ChicagoGranny]

Went to bed late last night and forgot to change out the Amara mask for my Dreamware mask, I didn't want to wake my wife so I went without CPAP. Best night's sleep I've had in months a straight 6.5 hours! As I've previously mentioned I am at a crossroads with CPAP and last night's experience has me further considering ditching the machine. I know, I know, its only one night and I promised the doctor I would stick it out till the end of the year before totally giving up.

Other posts in this month:

Excessive dry mouth is what lead me to seek out this forum. I've tried Biotene right before getting in bed and it seems to last long enough for me to fall asleep, but at some point I wake up with the Serengeti in my mouth. I've tried the Xylamelts and the results have been hit or miss. I still end up with dry mouth, but I can rehydrate by closing my mouth and letting the melt re-coat it.

(the doctor) wants me to to try a new mask that covers my mouth to see if that will help. I argued against it, but remembered seeing others here liked the Amara mask so I asked about it.

See also - viewtopic.php?f=1&t=155867&p=1186945#p1186945


You seem to be mouth breathing while using a nasal interface - that's no good; you might not be expected to sleep well under these conditions. To get the full benefit, you have to find a solution for the mouth breathing - either a FFM or some tactic to stop air from escaping from the mouth.

You can give up, or you can solve the problem like thousands of us have.

[Hammer]

Ya know there is some really good information & some very helpful people on this board, but there are a hell of a lot of trolls who go into attack mode anytime a contrarian point of view is posted. There isn't a doctor out there that will tell you every single treatment works for every single person for any condition. Some honest doctors will even tell you that sometimes the treatment can be worse than the condition. That's where I am right now and why I came to this board, but even with all the assistance CPAP just may not be right for me. If you can't handle that, I'm sorry. You keyboard cowboys, living in middle America with nothing better to do than blast your holier than thou opinions need to get a life!

[Zeds]

Ya know there is some really good information & some very helpful people on this board, but there are a hell of a lot of trolls who go into attack mode anytime a contrarian point of view is posted.
... even with all the assistance CPAP just may not be right for me. If you can't handle that, I'm sorry. You keyboard cowboys, living in middle America with nothing better to do than blast your holier than thou opinions need to get a life!

Huh? You asked for help, and all I see are people in this thread bending over backwards to be responsive to you. They're generously offering skill, time, and experience. And they're giving it to you in good faith. And, they're observing what you say you need.

It takes time, commitment, and acknowledgment to adapt to medical realities. IMO.

[zoran]

Me 2 but it only lasts 1 night. amazing sleep

By the 3rd night when the real symptoms of no apnea catch up i just want to vomit all day.