Feel horrible on CPAP

[davecpap]

I got a APAP machine on friday.. I've been sleeping about half the night with it on, except for saturday night where I slept about 8 hours with it. I can fall asleep easily enough, but I usually wake up 4 hours later, can't go back to sleep immediately so I take it off.

Anyways, is it normal to feel FAR, FAR worse? I'm just fighting to stay awake and feel absolutely miserable - wild temperature swings, no appetite, can't concentrate, etc.. I called the doctor's office and spoke to the RT who was surprised and said I should be feeling better already. My machine reports that the leak rate is low, my AHI is around 5 - a lot lower than at my sleep studies. Whats going on? Is this normal?

[snipsnsnails]

Hey Dave, I've seen a lot of posts from folks who said they felt worse the first few nights, occasionaly weeks when starting. I didn't experience that but I did have trouble waking up after 3, 4, 5 hours and having trouble getting back to sleep. The first few times I thought it was time to get up and took the mask off only to discover it was 3 or 4 am and by that time I was too awake to put the mask right back on and go back to sleep. After about a week I started just being quiet and not getting up when it happened and leaving the mask on. It would take some time but I did start going right back to sleep. For the most part I've slept right thru the night with out waking since then. Good luck!

[harry33]

you are actually doing much better than many new users, think positive, be patient, be glad for whatever sleep you do get
I think sleeping pills are OK for a while

have some daytime naps using APAP

[BlackSpinner]

It can take up to a month according to my sleep doctor for the mind accept that you are not going to die with that thing on your face and that it can relax and allow you to sleep deeply. Be thankful, it is what kept you alive the last few years. Talk to your self as if you were talking to a scared toddler when you go to bed.

[Jaylee]

Don't give up, I hope it gets better for you.

[happysleeper]

Hi Dave,

You may find this helpful: wiki/index.php/CPAP_Adaptation_Stages
It talks about the stages of adaptation to CPAP, and during the first stage people often do feel worse!

Good for you for finding this site and asking questions, you're doing the right thing!

Happy Sleeper

[elena88]

I cant believe the RT told you should be feeling better by now..

Geez louise, its a like a gauntlet, a ring of fire, the event horizon of a black hole..

you feel like youre getting sucked down into the "pit of despair" I think that was from the movie Princess Bride?

Okay, its normal to feel like crap, worse than YOU ever felt in your life.. so dont worry.. youll get through it..

some people are lucky, and they take off on the first night.. most are somewhere inbetween..

Hang on tight.. . its going to get worse before it gets better..

[Wulfman]

I got a APAP machine on friday.. I've been sleeping about half the night with it on, except for saturday night where I slept about 8 hours with it. I can fall asleep easily enough, but I usually wake up 4 hours later, can't go back to sleep immediately so I take it off.

Anyways, is it normal to feel FAR, FAR worse? I'm just fighting to stay awake and feel absolutely miserable - wild temperature swings, no appetite, can't concentrate, etc.. I called the doctor's office and spoke to the RT who was surprised and said I should be feeling better already. My machine reports that the leak rate is low, my AHI is around 5 - a lot lower than at my sleep studies. Whats going on? Is this normal?

Is that the S8 Autoset II in your profile?

What are all of the settings? (pressure, EPR, Ramp and Ramp time, humidity, etc.)

I agree......your RT is an idiot. This therapy takes some time to get used to (for most people).......weeks to months.
Hang in there.......it's "baby steps".


Den

[Wolfhound668]

Heck, everyone tells me I should be feeling "great" based on my numbers. AHI 1.6, low numbers for snoring, etc. They're shocked when I say I still feel like heck. Just yesterday I suggested to my sleep doctor that maybe I should increase my pressure again and got his ok (I like to get his "permission" since the cpap is still technically a rental until I've been on for three months but no way I'm waiting for them to send a SD card with the new pressure).

Oh, in the Princess Bride they had the Cliffs of Despair. Seen the movie a million times and read the novel.

I cant believe the RT told you should be feeling better by now..

Geez louise, its a like a gauntlet, a ring of fire, the event horizon of a black hole..

you feel like youre getting sucked down into the "pit of despair" I think that was from the movie Princess Bride?

Okay, its normal to feel like crap, worse than YOU ever felt in your life.. so dont worry.. youll get through it..

some people are lucky, and they take off on the first night.. most are somewhere inbetween..

Hang on tight.. . its going to get worse before it gets better..

[davecpap]

Numbers from last night... Slept 7 hours, 31 mins. Pressure: 7.8. AHI: 3.8, AI: 0.2, HI: 3.6, Leak Rate 0.10L/s. Last night I tried an old Fisher/Paykel HC407 mask (from a previous CPAP attempt in 2008) that I feel more comfortable with and I THINK that helped. The Leak Rate was higher than with my Mirage Micro mask.. and the first time any Apneas were recorded. However, the pressure and AHI were the lowest yet.

What is an acceptable range for leak rate on the S8 Autoset II? I have the mask type set to 'standard'.

I still feel like garbage, but less so than yesterday. Thanks for the encouragement!

[davecpap]

Is that the S8 Autoset II in your profile? What are all of the settings? (pressure, EPR, Ramp and Ramp time, humidity, etc.)

• Pressure range is 7-20cm
• EPR is set to only occur during the 'Settling' period, which I typically set to be 20 minutes. EPR I set to '2'.
• There is no ramp/ramp time since its in autoset mode.
• Humidity is set to 1.5 or 2 out of 6. The DME said I should set it kinda low. Not sure why this is - I'm in the desert and for example, relative humidity has been around 5% every day! Super, super dry out here! Maybe a little humidity goes a long way?
• Mask type set to 'standard'

[Julie]

The reason he said to use low humidity was probably because so many of us experience nasal congestion when it's on 'high', and are always telling others to lower theirs, but if you feel the need for more, raise it.

Your pressure range is set way too wide to be effective. If, for instance, your scripted number is 10, you'd want to set the range to about 8 to 12. The machine doesn't have time to catch up to very high events, but unless you get many of those (<15) I'd try a much narrower range and see how you do.

[Guest]

Your pressure range is set way too wide to be effective. If, for instance, your scripted number is 10, you'd want to set the range to about 8 to 12.

I was scripted in 2008 at 7, and in 2002 at 12. Those are the last titrations I had... So, I set the minimum at 7 - it was set at 4-20cm out of the box... still think 7-20 is wrong?

[kurth83]

I had similar problems, I set the minimum higher (to 10),
and in my case EPR was 3, and I reduced it to 2, on the theory
I wasn't venting enough CO2 and just needed higher pressure overall
to increase venting. I also set the max to 12.

Those changes made me feel a lot better, took 2 days to recover however,
it might have just been an adjustment phase too, but since then I have been suspicious
of very low pressure settings (combined wth EPR which makes it worse) making people sick.

[Guest]

Do people recommend napping while I'm going through this adjustment? I have a tendency to feel worse after a nap, but that could have been the sleep apnea. Also, I'm worried then I won't fall asleep at night - I'm trying to establish some semblance of a routine.