Catching up on sleep deficit

[Chikorita]

I've now had three nights of treatment and I'm feeling so much better. Yesterday was my first day in longer than I can remember when I haven't needed a day sleep. So impressed.

My question is how long does it take until I'm fully recovered. Today I needed to lie down for a rest/recharge. I'm guessing it is different for everyone but I'm keen to hear other's experiences.

[kteague]

Those who are lucky enough to adjust to the treatment, find a mask that fits, not have other sleep disruptors, and get adequate sleep early on will probably see results sooner than those who struggle for a while. There's no formula to calculate when or what to expect. For me, once I began getting some real sleep, I craved it endlessly. But the time did come when I would wake up naturally and actually be ready to wake up. When you do begin to feel "satisfied" with your sleep, let us know. Always good to hear how it works out for others.

[Chikorita]

Ah, I see. I'm craving REAL sleep because I know what it tastes like. Very good analogy.

[Xney]

Could also be that you are getting there, but might need a few tweaks to make it work really well. But I'd give it a few weeks to see, long as the data is looking decent on average. No reason to feel anything but good about it right now!

[flatag]

It took me about a month. The first several weeks my pressure was too low and my AHI was in the high teens. Now with my pressure higher my AHI is 2 to 3. I'm waking up refreashed early in the morning. I think the worst thing I tried to do was stay in bed until my normal wake time.

Once awake and it's within an hour of my normal wake time I get up and start my day.

I used to nap every day. I haven't napped since cpap.

[lliann]

ah, that's another thing..sleep craving. Yes!

I started out feeling the effects of some kind of sleep. Had a period of not needing naps. Having some energy. I am now sleeping every chance I get again. Tired. Almost back to where I was except I can see I am having under 5 ahi and my leak rate is improving.

I have been wondering about the sleep debt thing but this concept of sleep 'craving' is a whole nuther animal. Hmmm. Interesting.

[Sheriff Buford]

If you were like me, I had sleep apnea more years than I can count. I've always said your body will forgive, but not forget. Everyone's different and has a different sleep debt. I've been at quality apnea treatment for 2 1/2 years, and I wonder if I have "paid-back" the sleep debt. We may never know, but I feel better every day and I hope you can say that too.

Sheriff

[TalonNYC]

For me, about eight months in I started waking up without feeling like I got no sleep, so I figure that's when I began to emerge from sleep debt. About a year after starting my sleep patterns changed so that I now need more sleep when under stress or extremely active and less sleep under other circumstances, but usually between 6-8 hours per night (i.e. "normal" sleep needs).

Everyone's experience is indeed difference, but this is mine =)

[eaglett1111]

Wow. just wow.

I too am craving sleep. I feel obsessed. Yesterday I took a nap with the CPAP because I couldn't get it out of my mind. Today I have a full work day and I was wishing I had a battery pack so I could sit in my car at lunchtime and catch an hour of sleep. Already thinking about sleep when I'm not sleepy.... yet. I've had the machine not quite two weeks yet.

[Wonderbeastlett]

I am going on 6 weeks with my cpap and overall I feel much better. Before cpap I would wake up at 8 and start nodding off at 11 and fall asleep by 1. I would take at least a 2 hour nap. Now I wake up and I start feeling tired around 3 and I still like to nap but usually about an hour or so. I know I'm still paying off my sleep debt considering I didn't enter stage 4 or REM sleep often!
So I guess some people it takes longer than others to feel that difference!

[Pugsy]

Sometimes the need to nap doesn't go away for a long time..if it even goes away.
It took me 2 years and a different machine for the need to nap to totally go away.
On my APAP machine the need to nap was greatly reduced (no more waking up at 7 AM and nodding off at 9 AM) so my need to nap was mainly in the late afternoon. Greatly improved compared to precpap but need to nap was still there. I knew that I had other issues that affected the quality of my sleep so I accepted it. Then I stumbled on a different type of machine and found it enabled me to sleep a little longer even with my other issues and the late afternoon extreme drowsiness pretty much became a thing of the past. I have discovered that my need to nap has a direct correlation to the amount of sleep I get. 45 minutes to an hour longer and the need to nap stays away.

[woodg]

I've often wondered that myself, and I don't think there is any cast in stone answer. It's different for everyone.

As for me, I'm coming up on 3 years since I was diagnosed. Looking back it certainly explains a lot of things in my life over the previous 20+ years. When I had my titration study, I went to bed around 11:00 and the tech woke me up at 5am and said I was done. As soon as I got out of bed, I felt like I was ready to go and dig a ditch..... a really BIG ditch. I hadn't slept that well in years. The first two weeks I had my cpap, I couldn't sleep more than about 4 hours. I would just wake up with that same dig a ditch energy level. After a few weeks, it back slid a little bit, but still far far better than it was pre diagnosis.

In my then newbie ingorance, I received a non data reporting machine. When I started feeling that things were getting worse, I bought a lightly used data reporting machine so I could track what was going on from day to day. I was able to see some issues with leaks and make some adjustments to make it better, but still couldn't get to where I felt it should be. About a month or so later, I found another machine, this time an APAP and then really started zeroing in on better therapy. After that it was about another 4 months before I started getting really good numbers.

For the most part now, I average between 1.5- 3.5 AHI on a Resmed S8 Autoset. My AI is consistently between 0 and 1.0 being at the low end of the scale the vast majority of the time.

It also took me a while to find a mask that worked well. I've got a good supply of spares so I'm pretty much good to go from here.

I hope my story helps you. The key is don't give up and keep making the adjustments. I can't begin to tell you how much of a difference it has made in my life.

Sleep is a good thing..

[chunkyfrog]

First day: no headache.
First week: didn't have to fight to stay awake during boring times at work, and I could stay awake during car trips--even long ones.
It only went up from there.
Four months later, I got my first COMFORTABLE mask, the Swift FX.
about six months in, my boss commented that I seemed to be quite a bit smarter--MY BOSS!
This just keeps getting better and better.

[themonk]

If you have the extra $ and are interested in experimenting, you could check out the Zeo Sleep Monitor device. It will basically track how much light, deep, and REM sleep you are getting each night. I am a few weeks into treatment and far from compliant, but I have noticed that I seem to get a very odd proportion of REM sleep which leads me to believe I am in the midst of REM rebound when I do actually sleep. I expect this will even out to a more normal ratio once I get some period of time with full compliance and actual sleep (it is either/or at this point). I am able to track night to night and compare, watching for trends.

Something to consider. They are very easy to use and are apparently fairly accurate.

[ems]

A bit of a story... I was totally compliant and then around three months ago found various excuses and stopped using the mask. I think the bottom line is that I really wasn't feeling much better than before VPAP. Then I went on vacation and didn't take the machine with me.

Around 10 days ago I made the decision to get back on the horse. I was nervous... took a while to put it all back together, and wondered how long it would take me to adjust.

To my utter amazement I slept the first nite with it on the entire time - except for one bathroom break. I did try using the ear pads I received from Pad-a-Cheek and found that using one seemed better for a reason I still can't figure out. Maybe I was able to make the other side really loose... still not sure.

Anyway, I have a hard time falling asleep but once I do, except for BR trips, I sleep thru the nite.

Last nite I fell asleep around 1:00 or so - woke one time to go to the BR - and the next thing I knew it was 11:15 in the morning! No headache and much less aches than I usually feel when I get out of bed. Waking minus a headache is huge for me.

Sleep deficit... I guess who knows. I just know I feel really good today and if I had one wish it would be that I wake up feeling like this every day (except for world peace).