Other sleep problems

[noSLEEPforYOU]

I have been getting better with Cpap but now find myself waking after a few hours sleep. I can't sleep straight through and never get more than five hours total. I don't feel tired anymore but certainly don't feel like my cognitive skills and depression are getting any better. My sleep apnea is certainly better but what could be waking me up?
I fall to sleep in a few minutes, but when I wake at 3am every morning, I have a hard time getting back to sleep. Then when I wake up I can't think and have a horrible headache at the back of my head.
Has anyone experienced this?

[jweeks]

Hi,

Have you (or your doctor) looked at the data from your machine? Since this is a fixed pressure machine, I wonder if the pressure isn't high enough when you are in REM sleep? Some folks have a much more serious OSA events when they get into REM because their body is more relaxed. It is possible that your pressure is OK through the first half of the night as you go through stage 1 and your deep sleep stage, but then you get awakened when you are in REM.

It is pretty normal for people to wake up at the end of a REM cycle. When this happens for most folks, they drift back off into light sleep and don't remember waking up in the morning. However, if there is some outside event happening, that could wake you up enough that you become fully awake. For example, a noise, being uncomfortable, or pain can all be triggers for this. You might want to take an mental look around your sleeping environment and see if there is anything that is less than optimal. As a personal example, I have had some issues with pain in my hips causing me to stay awake after a REM cycle. I found that putting a memory foam mattress topper helped that issue, as does taking Advil PM.

-john-

[need2snooze]

Yes! Yes! Yes! I have been so tired but unable to sleep much past 4 or 5 hours, until a couple of nights ago. I read an article on this forum (I think) about CPAP mask-induced insomnia, which was helpful in reminding me about good sleep hygiene. The past two nights I have gone straight to sleep without watching TV or reading in bed, going to bed at the same time, etc. Night before last I slept 9 hours, getting up once to go to the bathroom with no trouble going right back to sleep. Last night, I slept 8 hours straight. Hallelujah! Interesting thing is that for the first time since I began using Sleepyhead, I had one central event recorded each night. Never had those before. It's too early to know if my short sleep nights are over, but I'm journaling everything, along with my Sleepyhead data, to show my dr. at my appt. at the end of the month.

[robysue]

I read an article on this forum (I think) about CPAP mask-induced insomnia, which was helpful in reminding me about good sleep hygiene.

The link is in my signature. I'm glad you found it useful need2snooze.

My sleep apnea is certainly better but what could be waking me up?
I fall to sleep in a few minutes, but when I wake at 3am every morning, I have a hard time getting back to sleep. Then when I wake up I can't think and have a horrible headache at the back of my head.

Even folks with normal sleep will wake up during the night, sometimes for no particular reason other than it's the end of a REM cycle or there's a need to turn over in bed. The thing is, a non-insomniac will simply snuggle back down in the covers and return to sleep rather quickly. And if the wake is less than 5 minutes long, the person probably won't even remember it.

But--- "I wake up at 3am every morning. I have a hard time getting back to sleep" combined with problems functioning in the daytime all point to a baby sleep maintenance insomnia monster. My best guess is that there is nothing in particular that's waking you up---assuming that your CPAP data looks ok. In other words, if there are no nasty clusters of events regularly occurring just before you wake up, then the CPAP is doing its job. And you're just waking up because something external briefly disturbed you. The problem is not the wake-up per se. The problem is that once you are awake, you are coming to full alertness and then having serious trouble relaxing enough to get back to sleep in a timely fashion.

Cleaning up the your sleep hygiene may help. The big thing in sleep hygiene that you need to consider changing is your behavior when you find yourself awake at 3:00 AM.

First, my guess is that as soon as you wake up, you start looking at the clock and start to calculate how little sleep you've gotten, how little time there is before the alarm goes off, how long you've been awake and unable to get back to sleep. In this case, the first thing you need to do is ditch the clock. Turn it around or put in on the far side of the room. Just make it hard for you to look at the clock the instant you realize you are awake. Not knowing the time often helps folks to NOT start worrying about how little time there is before the alarm clock goes off in the morning.

Second, (and this is hard) you need to NOT try to worry about why you find yourself awake in the middle of the night. Spend a minute or two tops scanning your body for obvious discomforts. If there's a leak, fix it. If the humidity seems off, turn it up or down or check the water level if you think you may have run out. Get up and go to the bathroom and get a drink of water if that will help you get more comfortable. Rearrange the bed covers and pillows so you're comfy and then lie back down and think pleasant thoughts and go back to sleep. If you expect to have difficulties going back to sleep, you will have difficulties. If you expect to get back to sleep once you're comfortable, there's a good chance you will get back to sleep quickly In other words, if you do not allow yourself to start worrying about the fact that you are now awake, there's a much better chance of getting back to sleep quickly enough for the wake to be not be problematic.

If the problem persists or grows worse in spite of trying to clean up your sleep hygiene, then it's time to talk to your sleep doc about what might be going on.

[noSLEEPforYOU]

I do use sleepyhead and the data looks great. There is nothing that I can find that wakes me up. The clock is facing me but I don't dwell on the time or amount of sleep. My internal clock seems to wake me. The funny thing is it's always just after 3am. After I wake my internal clock says that it's around 6am and I am late. This happens every night.
I don't want to take any sleeping pills but thought it might help.
I don't recall this ever happening before cpap. I always slept through, well at least I thought I did.
My energy level is getting much better but I don't see any improvement in memory or cognitive problems after 5 months of treatment. I know I read that it could take a year or more, given the severity of my problem.

[need2snooze]

Last night, I was having a good sleep night, something I don't take for granted. Unfortunately, after only 6 hours of sleep, I began having a dream about a cat sitting on my face and I started swatting at my face mask, trying to get the "cat" off. Needless to say, I became FULLY AWAKE and couldn't go back to sleep. If it isn't one thing, it's another......