Do I need to change my CPAP

[FossilMind]

Pugsy
You have many more nights with under 4 hours than 6 to 8 hours.

I am not certain you got my graph right.
Each bar represent one session of sleep, not one night.
I get 2 or 3 sessions per night.
Oscar says I have 06:57 hours of sleep per night.

zonker
are you on any medications? if so, what?

I take medication for high cholesterol, high pressure and brain function plus vitamins.

VITALUX ADVANCED MULTI/OCUL, CO
PMS HYDROCHLOR., 12.5 MG, CO
APO ROSUVASTATIN PLAQ, 20 MG, CO
IRBESARTAN, 75 MG, CO
IRBESARTAN, 150 MG, CO
M VENLAFAXINE XR, 75 MG, CAPS LP
M VENLAFAXINE XR, 150 MG, CAPS LP

CO = comprimé = pill
CAPS = capsule

I will check the info about sleep hygiene.

Since June I have kept everything the same.
I go to bed between 11 and 12 PM.
The CPAP settings, the MAD, the cervical collar were used every night. Yes, I also found a semi rigid cervical collar helps so I have been wearing one.
I always go to sleep on my left side and often wake up in the same position.

About 30 years ago, I had an operation because of my loud snoring.
They removed my tonsils, my uvea (is that the right word for the little thing in the back) and portions of my upper pallet.
The snoring ceased for a while (some years) but it came bak.

That is about it. If you would like more info, I will gladly post it.

Thank you

[Pugsy]

Oh I got your graph but multiple sleep sessions means fragmented sleep even if it adds up to 8 hours in total.
Fragmented sleep will just trash the restorative powers of sleep.
2 or 3 sleep sessions per night means a lot of fragmented sleep and I would bet my last dollar that there are more awakenings that didn't result in your turning the machine off and then restarting with a new session.

[FossilMind]

Pugsy
I would bet my last dollar that there are more awakenings that didn't result in your turning the machine off and then restarting with a new session.

Be careful on what you bet

I know it is possible to get micro awakenings that I would not be aware of but I was not referring to those.

My machine was turned off and restarted every time I fully wake up. I wake, close the machine then get up.
If I try to stay in bed, I get very uncomfortable and cannot go back to sleep.
I did not graphed the time count of my waking periods but I know they are longer than 30 minutes.
Each bar on the

Pugsy
Fragmented sleep will just trash the restorative powers of sleep.

Any suggestion on how to cut down the fragmented sleep ?

[Pugsy]

Any suggestion on how to cut down the fragmented sleep ?

If I had a sure fire way to fix that problem I wouldn't be experiencing it myself.
You first have to identify the cause of the wake ups or arousals and then you can try to fix it but even when you know the cause it isn't always so easy.

I am not totally familiar with all your meds but I am familiar with this one because it is well known to mess with sleep quality and sleep stages.
VENLAFAXINE XR

https://www.rxlist.com/effexor-xr-side- ... center.htm

https://www.drugs.com/venlafaxine.html

Drowsiness, fatigue, and insomnia stand out immediately
Please note that there are 2 kinds of insomnia...sleep onset and sleep maintenance....google them

Plus some of the statins may also play a part.
https://www.goodrx.com/drugs/side-effec ... g-insomnia

When people who are on cpap seem to have really good "numbers" and yet they don't feel those good numbers we always suspect the obvious first and that is medication side effects and/or the ailment that a person is taking those medications for as a suspect in the unwanted symptoms.

Your OSA appears to be well treated but I suspect that other factors are involved in your continued unwanted symptoms.
Medication side effects would be my number one suspect.
I don't think that changing machines or settings is your answer.

[FossilMind]

Thank you for all the info

I have now two very hard things to try for improvement.

I need to cut down or even stop my smoking and caffeine intake.
I smoke on average 25 cigarettes per 24 hours and I drink coffee till around 7 PM.

Not an easy task

[Julie]

BTW - the uvea is in your eye(s), the uvula is most likely what was removed.

[ChicagoGranny]

I need to cut down or even stop my smoking and caffeine intake.
I smoke on average 25 cigarettes per 24 hours and I drink coffee till around 7 PM.

Not an easy task

Do it!

As far as the caffeine, do a slow taper to avoid headaches and other side effects. If I were drinking five cups a day, I would cut out the 7:00 p.m. cup for 7 days, then cut out the next latest one for 7 days. I would go all the way down to one-half cup early in the morning.

As you cut out caffeine, you should start sleeping better and need less caffeine.

The cigarettes? Well, you know ...

[FossilMind]

Ghee, two new friends

Thank you Julie, I am French Canadian and my English vocabulary is not that extensive.

Thank you ChicagoGranny.

I am guessing there is not much caffeine in a hot chocolate and I would replace the coffee with such.
Your thoughts on that method to reduce or quit ?

[Pugsy]

https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/blog/c ... rinks.html

In general hot chocolate is going to contain less caffeine than same amount of coffee but it will depend on multiple factors.
Powdered instant hot chocolate will contain less than a made from scratch using powdered cocoa, sugar, milk, etc.

So be careful not to cut back too much, too fast while trying to substitute products.
Caffeine withdrawal can be a real bitch or create one.

[ChicagoGranny]

Thank you ChicagoGranny.

I am guessing there is not much caffeine in a hot chocolate and I would replace the coffee with such.
Your thoughts on that method to reduce or quit ?

As Pugsy mentioned, the amount of caffeine in hot chocolate can vary, sometimes widely.

If it were me, I would find a true caffeine-free hot drink such as herbal tea, mulled cider, lemon and mint tea, or others that are readily available. Caffeine-free is the term, not decaffeinated because it still contains an unknown amount of caffeine.

[FossilMind]

After some research I found that in general cocoa grounded beans has 6 times less caffeine than grounded coffee beans.

So, yes I will look for a caffeine free drink I would like.
At least I can lower my amount of caffeine intake with the hot chocolate until I switch.

[Oday03274]

Thank you for all the info

I have now two very hard things to try for improvement.

I need to cut down or even stop my smoking and caffeine intake.
I smoke on average 25 cigarettes per 24 hours and I drink coffee till around 7 PM.

Not an easy task

OMG stop the caffeine! and for the love of god don't drink it till 7pm... the half life of caffeine is somewhere around 6 hours, longer if you are older or have compromised metabolism so even if you drink only till noon you still have about 25% of it in you system at midnight. Whether or not you still feel the coffee buzz is not a good indicator of whether or not it mess up your sleep. When I'm drinking caffeine I experience a similar thing as you, I can only sleep for maybe 4 or 5 hours at a time, wake up for a couple hours because staying in bed ensures I will get no further sleep, then get tired and get a few more hours of sleep then still need a nap during the day. I've had an on off relationship (addiction) to caffeine for the last 20 years. Stopping is rough for me, really rough. For several weeks after I stop I can sleep 12 hours a day easily and still feel exhausted, over the course of about 6 weeks I slowly start to feel normal and then am able to sleep a normal amount without a waking period half way through and not desperately need a nap during the day. For the headaches take Tylenol or ibuprofen preemptively and you can usually avoid the worst of it but if you don't catch it in time then there is no getting rid of it not even by drinking coffee, luckily the headaches only last a couple days. Another thing that I have found really helps me sleep longer is a little weird but what I do is wear really dark sunglasses (preferably red or orange) starting about 3 hours before when I want to go to sleep, and don't take them off for anything. Believe or not it gives me a solid extra hour of being asleep whenever I do it. I also agree with some other posters about possibly needing more sleep overall though everyone is different in that regard. In my own experience and talking to others the sleep apnea doesn't so much cause the problem you are having but more just really restless sleep that doesn't leave you feeling refreshed since you are waking up dozens of time per hour. In regards to the cervical collar I have just recently discovered that myself and it has made a huge difference for me as well, making sure the front is wide enough and high enough to not only keep your neck straight but also keep your mouth shut without being uncomfortable seems to be the trick there. I hope some of that is helpful and sorry if it sounds a little "preachy) I really feel strongly about the caffeine. I have known so many people in my life who drink coffee until late in the day then have trouble sleeping and don't think its the coffee, and then at some point they stop drinking coffee for other reasons like stomach issues and can suddenly sleep better. It's nuts, and people will always talk about how they read good things about coffee, but can you really trust a society addicted to a chemical to have an unbiased opinion about that chemical?? Just sayin

[FossilMind]

OMG stop the caffeine! and for the love of god don't drink it till 7pm...

Thank you Oday

Yesterday I had only one cup of coffee early in the morning.
Today, again one cup this morning.

My metabolism is a bit different from others. One exemple is if I get a headache, 4 Tylenols 650 mg do not take the pain away. I tried with different brands, same results. So, maybe it is the same for the caffeine, I don't know. But it is really not difficult to go without coffee for me. I only hope that it will improve my sleeping habits.

[Oday03274]

OMG stop the caffeine! and for the love of god don't drink it till 7pm...

Thank you Oday

Yesterday I had only one cup of coffee early in the morning.
Today, again one cup this morning.

My metabolism is a bit different from others. One exemple is if I get a headache, 4 Tylenols 650 mg do not take the pain away. I tried with different brands, same results. So, maybe it is the same for the caffeine, I don't know. But it is really not difficult to go without coffee for me. I only hope that it will improve my sleeping habits.

I really think it would...interesting side note, when I'm in a coffee drinking phase I get headaches regularly, when I'm not drinking coffee I never get them, literally never.

[latskogkatt]

Another thing that I have found really helps me sleep longer is a little weird but what I do is wear really dark sunglasses (preferably red or orange) starting about 3 hours before when I want to go to sleep, and don't take them off for anything. Believe or not it gives me a solid extra hour of being asleep whenever I do it.

I think this ties into the effects of different light waves on the brain. It's the reason people are told not to watch tv or play on a computer right before bed. The blue/violet light waves are the ones that tell the brain that it's daytime, so exposure to them at the wrong times can muck up circadian rhythms pretty badly. The red/orange light from your sunglasses alters and suppresses the blue/violet in the light, and helps with sleep. There are even computer and smart phone/tablet programs that work on the same principle. (One I recall the name of is Red Shift) You can set them up to be on all the time, or to start at a certain time of day, and they alter the lighting on the display screen, making it more reds/yellows and toning down the blue/violet, so you can still mess around online without ruining sleep. The only downside to something like that (the computer program) is if you're doing something like graphic arts, and need to be able to see the true colour of what you're working on.