Sleeping Longer w/CPAP

[Robbie]

Greetings!

Just finished day 13 w/CPAP - and by and large it's been great.

I've noticed something interesting since I started CPAP - wanted to see if anyone else had the same experience. I sleep longer w/CPAP than I did without. Without CPAP I would go to bed between 10 and 11 and wake up around 5 a.m. ready to get out of bed. Never did me any good to try and go back to sleep.

With CPAP, I go to bed around 10 and can don't get up until between 6 or 7 a.m. - and I could probably stay in bed longer. I expected the opposite to be true. I expected to spend less time sleeping since I was getting quality sleep. I feel great now when I do get up, but I'm enjoying a few extra Z's in the morning.

Anyone have the same experience or have an explanation for that? Something else I've noticed - might be silly coincidence - but it's been consistent. For the last 5 years or so, I've consistently gotten up between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. to go to the bathroom (number 1 ). Since the 3rd day of CPAP, I haven't had to do that. Anyone else ever heard of that? Is there a medical cause and effect at work here?

Gracias

[Slinky]

Congratulations, Robbie! Yep, I'm sleeping more hours (other than just recently due to another health problem). I think "nocturia" explains why xPAP therapy reduces the "potty" trips during the night. There's both a physical reason AND the fact that often apnea woke us up and since we were awake we got the urge to go piddle we wouldn't have gotten if we had continued sleeping w/o interruption.

[kteague]

First of all, congratulations on doing so well so soon. Because it has been a relatively short time, you may just be "catching up" and not always be able to sleep this long.

As to the potty breaks, there's been discussion on here before of a hormone called atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and it's effect on nighttime urination. Interesting reading if you're so inclined to search it. In a nutshell, yes, there is a relationship between cpap treatment and fewer episodes of nightime urination.

Hope things continue to go splendidly in your therapy.

Kathy

[lilsheba]

I have the opposite issue going on, I sleep for a less amount of time since being on CPAP. I go to bed earlier and wake up way earlier. Nowadays I go to bed at 9 or so and wake up between 3:30 and 5 at the latest. The days of sleeping in till 8 or 9 on the weekends are gone...I can't stand to be in bed that long anymore.

[Wulfman...]

I have the opposite issue going on, I sleep for a less amount of time since being on CPAP. I go to bed earlier and wake up way earlier. Nowadays I go to bed at 9 or so and wake up between 3:30 and 5 at the latest. The days of sleeping in till 8 or 9 on the weekends are gone...I can't stand to be in bed that long anymore.

Lots of users report that, too. I did for awhile. (I got over it ) This therapy is really a UMMV. It affects different people in different ways. One of the things I noticed when I first began reading this forum (and since) is that no matter what you've experienced, there are others who have gone through the same thing or at least something similar. May not be EVERYBODY.....but (almost) none of us are really isolated cases. If people are willing to do forum searches on various things, they'll probably find a LOT of whatever it is they're looking for.

Den

[Robbie]

Slinky - You hit the nail right on the head! Did a little research and added another term to my sleep deprived vocabulary. Gosh I miss those 2:00 a.m. adventures .. NOT

Kathy - Thanks for your encouraging words - and the info. "Doing so well" is great! I also realize I have a ways to go. The biggest change I've noticed is more emotional than physical. I'm very emotional for a man - always have been - but in younger years I was generally even keeled and upbeat. The last 5 years or so, I've had big emotional swings and periods of unexplained "firmly in the dumps". CPAP has been somewhat miraculous in evening all that emotional gunk out. I'm sure the topic has been discussed here repeatedly, but I wonder how many emotional issues have their roots in apnea?

Physically, I have a ways to go yet. I've gone from what I've seen referred to here as "walking dead" to simply feeling fatigued at times and still a little "foggy" at times. (It was life changing just meeting others who could genuinely understand what "walking dead" felt like).

The GREAT part is my new family doc is selectively weaning me off the meds I'd been prescribed over the years to cover the symptoms (YEEEEEHAWWWW). Seems to think the only thing I'll need to keep is the Niacin for my low level of "good" cholesterol.

The recovery and learning curve have been shortened a bit (it appears anyway) have been shortened a bit by having access to a great bunch of people who have been there/done that/learned something the hard way.

LilSheba - I hope at some point to be able to say the same thing you did - spending less time in bed!

Wulfman... : I picked up on the YMMV thing pretty quick - and as you pointed out, it seems like whatever I've gone through, it hasn't been new. One of the great things about this board - oops - we don't have bbs' anymore - they're forums (Robbie need sto drop the dial up menatily and get with the internet age )

I've read through a lot of back posts - sequentially, through the yellow question mark, through the search facility (Google seems to work better than the internal search as another writer pointed out), and through RG's concise link postings. Sometimes we new 'uns need a little "hand holding" through a post and response. Although there are countless people around the world using CPAP, I've still felt a little isolated and alone in my own world. I don't know anyone else using CPAP at the present.

Keep the faith !

[Wulfman...]

Although there are countless people around the world using CPAP, I've still felt a little isolated and alone in my own world. I don't know anyone else using CPAP at the present.

Robbie,

Glad to hear you're doing well so early.

I'll bet that there are many, many people you know that (at least) have or use PAP machines......they just don't talk about it like they would their favorite sports or other activities. It just seems to be one of those types of subjects. It's gradually getting more media attention.....as well it should.
At about the time I was first going though my sleep studies, I found out that there were a number of my co-workers that were hoseheads, too. Since then, a few more have joined the ranks.

They're there.

Den

[Birdseed]

Robbie wrote:
Although there are countless people around the world using CPAP, I've still felt a little isolated and alone in my own world. I don't know anyone else using CPAP at the present.


Robbie,

Glad to hear you're doing well so early.

I'll bet that there are many, many people you know that (at least) have or use PAP machines......they just don't talk about it like they would their favorite sports or other activities. It just seems to be one of those types of subjects. It's gradually getting more media attention.....as well it should.
At about the time I was first going though my sleep studies, I found out that there were a number of my co-workers that were hoseheads, too. Since then, a few more have joined the ranks.

They're there.

Den

Ha! Robbie, like you, I was feeling a wee bit isolated with my hosehead gear. Get this -- I just returned from a routine visit with my Opthalmologist a couple hours ago and the technician who does the eye refraction stuff and throws in those drops to dialate the eyes (prior to my seeing the Opthalmologist), has a brother on CPAP. Then my doctor comes in to look at my eyes and we discuss xPAP a bit and it turns out HE was previously on a CPAP machine until he lost a good 20 pounds. World gets smaller by the minute.

Glad you are doing so well!

Birdseed