Good and bad nights sleep

[jnorris]

Since I started my treatment on 1/4/08 my nights have been a roller coaster of results

Some nights (10%) are good and I wakeup feeling refreshed and 18 years old again!
More (50%) nights are okay and I feel okay….not great but not bad
The remaining I feel like varying degrees of crap.

There does not seem to be any reason for the poor nights sleep. This past Saturday night I went to sleep at 1am got up at 7am and felt great throughout the day. My sleep stats looked great. No leaks, low AHI and low snore numbers

Last night I went to sleep at 11pm, got up at 6am and feel bad, My sleep stats support the poor nights sleep. No leaks, higher AHI numbers.

Does your sleep ever become consistent or is it always all over the place?

Another observation….my bad nights on the CPAP are always worse than my bad nights without the CPAP but the good nights are great.


Venting

John

[boynedoc]

Hi John,

It sounds like you are growing through the initial "growing pains" stage of getting used to being on CPAP. I believe most will acknowledge that over time, persistance and consistency that the "roller-coaster" smooths out and you should have some uniformity in your sleep numbers and how you feel.

Hang in there, you're just getting started - much like myself! I started on the 8th.

[alnhwrd]

Welcome to the forum! Up and down nights while starting CPAP seem to be fairly common. I do notice that you are going to bed and getting up at different times, so I would suggest settling on a set time for both and adhering strictly to them. Also, be sure to follow basic "Sleep Hygiene". This means you use the place you sleep ONLY to sleep in, no TV, don't even read. No alcohol within six hours of bedtime. Don't eat for about three hours before bed time. No exercise within 4-5 hours of bed. No caffeine after noon, or even cut it out completely. Make sure you have a comfortable mattress and pillow, and that your CPAP equipment is set up to allow you to move freely while in bed.

The change in sleep times seems to be a big issue for me. Even a couple of hours difference will almost insure a bad night for me. But even a bad night on CPAP with just 4-5 hours sleep is WAY better than my Pre-CPAP sleep, where I would fight to stay asleep and still fell like crap and need a nap in my recliner after 9-10 hours of sleep. Stick with your therapy. You are healing your body and lessening your chances of heart disease and stroke every night you use it. Feeling great is an added benefit.

[jnorris]

Thanks for the feedback.

This adjusting period is very frustrating. I really thought I would have seen a much bigger improvement in sleep quality within the first 30 days of treatment than what I have experienced.

John

[boynedoc]

That can be frustrating, but you have to look at all the factors. The consistency of your sleep hygiene, the amount of "sleep debt" you've built up over the years, the amount of cell recovery that needs to occur from slowly suffocating yourself over time.

Everyone would love to have the "Dramatic Turnaround" but it isn't real world for all, I dare say it's the exception rather than the rule.

Hang tough!