insomnia caused by cpap treatment

[nobody]

This is still an ongoing problem I'm having. I sleep a good night, getting 8 sometimes 9 hours. I feel great during the day, but then as night comes on, I don't get tired. 11pm goes by and still feels like it's 6pm in terms of feeling sleepy. Sometimes I'll stay up the entire night because I don't feel tired. Or maybe I'll get a few hours after being awake most of the night. But of course the next day I'm dead tired again and dragging through the day. This is a pattern that emerged after going on CPAP. Within the first several months on CPAP I wasn't able to sleep past 4 or 5 hours, now it's this pattern of getting a good night sleep then not being able to sleep again the next night, sometimes 2 or 3 nights in a row. I wondered if this could be because of so many years of bad apnea getting used to less sleep??? I don't know???

[Breathe Jimbo]

Exercise.

[nobody]

I get plenty of exercise. It has no effect what-so-ever.

[elena88]

what did a typical week of sleep look like for you before cpap, and how did you feel in the mornings?

[kteague]

You've been at this for quite a while so I'm guessing you've already done the sleep hygiene route, right? Melatonin?

How often does this insomnia happen, every few days or weeks apart? If it is a rapidly repeating cycle, have you tried curtailing your sleep hours, experimenting to see what amount is most likely to cause a problem the next night? Are you methodical about wake-up time?

Insomnia is such a tricky thing. Still deal with it as often as not myself. If you do resolve yours and know what worked, do let us know.

[xerort]

sounds to me like your sleep schedule is off. sleep hygene sounds like a good place to start

[DoriC]

How about caffeine, coffee, soda,etc?

[newname]

I have to sleep every other night and I don't think it has anything to do with cpap. I just can't sleep 2 nites in a row.

[nobody]

I don't know. I really think it's caused by the great sleep I get on the CPAP. If I get 8 or 9 hours I feel so awesome the next day and it just seems to last a long time, well into the next night. It's nice, but frustrating that it lasts so long that then the next day is off because I don't feel like sleeping.

[cflame1]

Have you tried going to bed at the same time every night... and getting up at the same time every morning?

[nobody]

I sometimes have a cup of tea in the morning (usually green tea), otherwise don't drink caffeine at all. I don't take any drugs period. I'm aware of all of those things and have long since adjusted my behavior and diet accordingly. It has no effect on this issue at all.

[JohnBFisher]

It very well could be you had apnea so long that 8 to 9 hours seems like a huge amount of sleep. I struggle a bit with the same thing. I had uncontrolled central apneas for a long time. Now when I get 8 hours of sleep, it tends to take me a long time to sleep the next night. It has taken me almost one year to reach the point where I can sleep more than six hours.

In the long run, you will feel better if your start to train yourself to sleep every night. I know that I feel better. So, what do I do to try to get more sleep. Well, the old "keep a routine" helps. Don't watch TV later at night helps. I will try to read something mildly interesting, but not too interesting. For examplem magazines are good for later at night. And I often sleep with headsets and an MP3 player, with light music. Nothing dramatic, loud. Elevator music is a better choice.

But remember, you spent a LONG time adjusting to less sleep. More sleep will help improve your health and outlook. It's worth it to start to work back toward the norm. But don't panic if you have a sleepless night. Just remember it takes time to adjust to this new norm - sleep!