Two weeks in, still tired in the afternoon

Minky · Post by **Minky** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 4:29 am

I started using CPAP two weeks ago. I am finding that I'm slightly more awake in the morning. However, I am getting hit with exhaustion at around 2-3pm. Have other people had this experience? How long has it taken before you feel okay all day long?

I'm not frustrated and will definitely stick with it, but would like to hear about others' experience with recovery.

Also, I am checking my data, but it doesn't tell me much since I have UARS rather than apnea. I was put on CPAP because I had approximately ten arousals per hour during my sleep study and got only ten minutes of REM all night. My untreated AHI was only 1.3 and is usually 0.1 on CPAP.

Thanks!

BlackSpinner · Post by **BlackSpinner** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 9:56 am

It can take anywhere from a week to a year. It depends totally on your body and the shape it is in. Sleep is used to clean up and repair damage, if that hasn't been happening for a while there is more damage to repair - that is one way of thinking about it.

tan · Post by **tan** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:25 am

Minky wrote:I started using CPAP two weeks ago. I am finding that I'm slightly more awake in the morning. However, I am getting hit with exhaustion at around 2-3pm. Have other people had this experience? How long has it taken before you feel okay all day long?

I'm not frustrated and will definitely stick with it, but would like to hear about others' experience with recovery.

Also, I am checking my data, but it doesn't tell me much since I have UARS rather than apnea. I was put on CPAP because I had approximately ten arousals per hour during my sleep study and got only ten minutes of REM all night. My untreated AHI was only 1.3 and is usually 0.1 on CPAP.

Thanks!

I had the same issues with UARS until I got my pressure up which forced flow limitations down. My improvement then was immediate.
How do your SleepyHead charts look like?

Julie · Post by **Julie** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 10:34 am

Just a reminder too (have no idea if it applies to you of course) that having a carb heavy lunch will make you crash after an hour or so in the afternoon.

Minky · Post by **Minky** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:11 pm

Thanks for your responses. I think I'm just impatient and want to feel better right away, which is not reasonable.

In terms of Sleepyhead data, what should I be looking for? As I mentioned I have little or no AHI. Is there some other measurement that the data will show to tell me how the therapy is going, or do I have to rely on how I feel?

Thanks again to everyone for all of your help. I'm brand new to this and am really trying to figure it out.

palerider · Post by **palerider** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:15 pm

Minky wrote:Thanks for your responses. I think I'm just impatient and want to feel better right away, which is not reasonable.

In terms of Sleepyhead data, what should I be looking for? As I mentioned I have little or no AHI. Is there some other measurement that the data will show to tell me how the therapy is going, or do I have to rely on how I feel?

Thanks again to everyone for all of your help. I'm brand new to this and am really trying to figure it out.

reading the first post in the announcements section will give you a lot to go on

icipher · Post by **icipher** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:38 pm

My improvement was not immediate. I never had the night and day "OMG!!!!" moment where I felt a hundred-billion times better. It was more of a gradual thing where now, after more than a year, I feel a little better than I used to and don't deal with the same level of daytime drowsiness.

From my observations, it seems that the people with the immediate remarkable improvement are those who have been suffering from bad OSA for a long time. Myself, i am fairly young and my apnea is much more central than it is obstructive.

kaiasgram · Post by **kaiasgram** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:01 pm

Minky wrote:In terms of Sleepyhead data, what should I be looking for?

What do your Flow Limitation graphs and numbers look like in your SleepyHead reports?

Minky · Post by **Minky** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:24 pm

Thanks for your help. I will post my Sleepyhead data.

I can see that I do have events flagged, but mostly RERAs and some short (10 seconds or less) apneas. I've never seen a flow limitation event flag. Does that mean that I'm not having flow limitation issues?

Thanks again!

tan · Post by **tan** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:33 pm

Minky wrote:Thanks for your help. I will post my Sleepyhead data.

I can see that I do have events flagged, but mostly RERAs and some short (10 seconds or less) apneas. I've never seen a flow limitation event flag. Does that mean that I'm not having flow limitation issues?

Thanks again!

If you are extra sensitive to flow limitations (I am speculative here, still gathering knowledge about it), they can disrupt your sleep.

Compar the Flow Limit charts below only (almost perfect, with a few spikes):

and (disruptive):

antimess · Post by **antimess** » Tue Dec 23, 2014 2:50 pm

I am approximately 2 weeks in as well. I noticed I am tired about 60-90 mins earlier then I am use to for my normal bedtime. I do experience afternoon fatigue as well, but not as severe.

On the positives (I know it's still early stages for me), I am no longer napping after work and my morning wake up time is much more consistent even on weekends. I've also remembered dreams I've had in the night, I can't tell you how long it's been since I've experienced that.

Iflyacrj · Post by **Iflyacrj** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 12:58 pm

After a lifelong of untreated sleep apnea, it took me about a year and 2 months to become fully recovered from years of chronic fatigue

archangle · Post by **archangle** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 2:46 pm

Apnea is a bit like smoking. Even if you don't feel any obvious side effects of apnea, it's still killing you if you don't eliminate it.

I also find I feel better if I increase my minimum pressure above where my AHI goes to nearly zero.

Don't forget that even if you do have apnea and treat it with CPAP, there can be other reasons you are tired. It doesn't mean you don't need CPAP.

I also found that I was used to being tired and sort of stuck to my "tired lifestyle and habits" even after I fixed my apnea. I had to stop and realize I had more energy to do things and didn't really need that nap as much as I used to.

Iflyacrj · Post by **Iflyacrj** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 7:01 pm

I also changed my sleeping habits. I now go for 8 hours of sleep per night

Guest1 · Post by **Guest1** » Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:53 pm

1) You are recovering from a large sleep deficit (in the untreated state). It takes time. For me on a PRS1 60 series auto at 4-20 range, I was at AHI < 3 in week1 but feeling sleepy in the afternoon. Slowly, this time when sleepyness hits moved to 6pm. then to 7pm and slowly went to my regular sleep time. So its your body's recovery time which may vary from a few weeks to longer.

2) After about 10 weeks, I started seeing that some days at AHI of 1.5 I was feeling refreshed but some days at AHI of 0.4, I was not feeling refreshed in the morning. Then I started raising my minimum pressure to 5, then to 6 and then to 7. When I reached 7, I had a perfect day (with 0 AHI and 0 RDI). Thats when I realized that RERAs are also a part of the equation of "how you feel during the day".

Your machine (A10 Autoset for her), does report RERAs. See where they are at. As you raise your EPAP pressure, first things that get eliminated are obstructive Apneas, 2nd thing is RERA, 3rd is Flow Limitations and 4th is snores. I saw this in my sleepyhead summaries.

YMMV.

Two weeks in, still tired in the afternoon

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