Waking during the night

Missy · Post by **Missy** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:25 am

I just love this board. I have been helped so much for the advice offered here. So, now again, I need to pick someone's brain. I have been using my cpap for almost a month now. EVERY single night, All night. I think I turned a corner when it comes to my mask and actually find it almost comfortable with no more sore nose. By the way, chap stick worked for my sore nostril rims. Just plain old chapstick. Anyways, I am having a real problem with waking up at least 5 times each night. I don't know why. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Also, is anyone using sleep aids with your cpap? I went to my regular doc yesterday and asked him for something, but he really balked at the idea. He did give me 14 doses of Sonata, but I have not used it as of yet. I don't want to become dependent on any sleep aid. Thanks a million for any ideas from you all.

oldgearhead · Post by **oldgearhead** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:33 am

I have both Tylenol PM and Lunesta. I use the Tylenol once in awhile. However, I quit using the Lunesta because for 2 days after using it, every beverage I drank, including water, tasted awful...

MandoJohnny · Post by **MandoJohnny** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:20 am

I had the same experience my first month. I told my doc about it and he re-looked at my sleep study and determined I might have restless leg syndrome (RLS), even though the data would suggest I was borderline and could go either way. He put me on Requip. I don't think it helped, though. After a couple of weeks, I called and his nurse practitioner suggested taking the Requip earlier in the evening, which I did , but that did not make a difference. The doc left it up to me whether or not to continue on the Requip. I did not take it last night and had the best night I have had in weeks and I feel great today. So for me, the Requip may be history.

Both me and my doc are wary of long-term use of sleep meds, even the new ones. I will avoid them if I can. BTW, I have a great, board-certified sleep doc, whose practice is devoted to sleep medicine almost exclusively. He is also a great guy and either he, or his nurse practitioner, will always talk to me with an hour or two of my calling. They take all the time on the phone I need. I think that is essential. So if you have that kind of medical support, use it. Call the doc. If you don't have that kind of situation, get one.

I think some of the wake up problem may be just getting used to CPAP. Someone on this board mentioned some rule of thumb of 1000 hours on the machine to really get used to it. That's going to be somewhere around 4 months.

quilterB · Post by **quilterB** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:08 am

I have been on CPAP for about 6 weeks. Still struggling with sleeping through the night,. I started out taking one Ambien and now take a half of the pill. That is just 5 mg. Seems to help me relax to fall asleep on my back. My doctor did not seems to think there would be a problems. Made reference to my not having an addictive personality in the first place. It did help with getting used to the mask.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 9:24 am

I used to take Benadryl every night but worried about the long term effect. Recently I started taking 1 mg of melatonin. It seems to work like a charm, at least for me.

BetterBreathinBob · Post by **BetterBreathinBob** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:06 am

If you're waking up and can rule out other physical ailments such as back, knee or shoulder pain and really think that it's CPAP related then you should be retested in the sleep lab wearing your own mask.

It could be a leg or arm movement, small mouth leak, it could only happen in one position that your sleeping or more important- it could only happen during a certain stage of sleep.

For example, if you did not obtain supine Rem sleep during your CPAP titration in the sleep lab then your pressure may not be totally correct. You may have events while sleeping on your back and going into REM.

Get retested where you're being monitored all night.

Bob

Snoozin' Bluezzz · Post by **Snoozin' Bluezzz** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 10:24 am

I find that for me night time waking seems to be related to other habits and/or physical problems. I am significantly overweight (obese really) and will be 57 this summer. I have a lot of joint pain from age, weight, arthritis and some other problems. I try to keep the analgesics to a minimum but I find that when I take a 400mg dose of Advil (or a 200mg Aleve, but it may cause me some problems) I sleep much better (I do not do this every day, or even every other day). I also have GERD and if I am not real conscientious about my diet (now how did I get to be as heavy as I am besides OSA?) then too much to eat before going to bed can cause problems (even without explicit symptoms) as well. I think the entire thing is a complex set of interrelationships. If other physical problems are not a part of the problem, sleep hygiene is good and stress is not a factor then xPAP is left as the likely culprit.

David

Missy · Post by **Missy** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:53 pm

Thanks for all of the suggestions ! I think I just need to log in some more hurs. I have an appointment in late July with the sleep doc. Before I go, I'm going to have my DME guy download the info from the Smart Card in my machine. I am curious to see what's on there. I"m overweight by about 30 pounds, but am healthy otherwise. I clean houses for my job, and enjoy gardening in my veg garden and all of the perennials I have, so I get plenty of exercise. I'm just gonna keep on trying.

Sinister_Girl · Post by **Sinister_Girl** » Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:27 pm

I was under the impression that sleep aids were not good for those of us who have Sleep Apnea. Am I wrong? I do have allergies and I know that I sleep better when I take one Benedryl. Should I not be taking an antihystamine?

MandoJohnny · Post by **MandoJohnny** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:49 am

The big no-no seems to be to use sleep meds if you have OSA and it is not properly controlled with XPAP. The problem is that if you have OSA, your body is sensing a threat because you are not breathing and it is kicking in its survival mechanisms to essentially wake you up to breathe many, many times during the night, even though each "wake up" may only be for a second and you may not be conscious of it. You aren't getting a good night's sleep, but you are surviving the night. With the sleep meds, your body may not be able to wake you up properly when you can't breathe. So you may get hypoxic, or at worst, it could be life threatening, especially if you have heart problems or other respiratory problems.

I think the bottom line is: Have a good sleep doc and follow his advice. Mine says no sleep meds until the OSA is confirmed as being under control and even then, sleep meds are a temporary fix and should not be used long term.

Sinister_Girl · Post by **Sinister_Girl** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:52 pm

Hi Mando! Are you saying that it wouldn't be a good idea to take Benedryl even though I am on CPAP? I prefer not to take it. But sometimes I need to if I am having severe allergies.

Malibu · Post by **Malibu** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 8:06 pm

My sleep doctor said Ambien, Lunesta, and Sonota have a nil effect on sleep architecture and the articles on the web seem to support his comments.

All the above also mention that they have no affect on the brains safety mechanism of making you breath if you have an apnea event. However, I agree if you have sleep apnea I would probably feel better knowing my apneas were under control before taking any type of drug.

I have on occasion used Ambien CR and it works fine. Lunesta gave me a serious 16 hour hangover using the 2 or 3 mg dose.

Benydryl on the other hand is great for allergies and heavily sold as a "safe" sleep aid but interferes with sleep architecture. If you look up the precautions for Benydryl, also known as Tylenol PM, Advil PM, Simply Sleep etc, you will notice that it says "may cause insomnia" after several nights of use. However, it is great for allergies but new medications like Clariton etc keep the allergies at bay and do not cause drowsiness.

End result is use Ambien, Lunesta etc if it means getting a good nights sleep. If you can do without I would certainly take that route.

Later,

Marc

Sinister_Girl · Post by **Sinister_Girl** » Wed Jun 14, 2006 9:47 pm

Thanks Malibu!!!! I will have to try another allergy medicine that does not cause drowsiness. There are some nights that I do find it difficult to get to sleep, so I will talk to my doctor about which sleep medicine would be good for me.

Missy · Post by **Missy** » Thu Jun 15, 2006 5:05 am

Thaat is good solid information, Malibu. I did talk to my sleep doc yesterday, and was told to try a chin strap and he also prescribed Ambien for those nights I feel I need it. He told me that the Ambien was safe for me to take. Hopefully between the two, I will get some SLEEP. Thanks for all your suggestions, guys and gals.

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