CPAP makes me want to stay in bed too long?

[Lvin4jc]

Hi all. Joe here. I've had my cpap for nearly a year now. I had my issues getting used to it and almost gave up at one point. However, i've been using it solid for at least six months now and I don't think I could sleep without it anymore. I love it, I look forward to going to bed and I feel more comfortable using it, it's great!

The problem isn't that i'm tired during the day anymore. I mean I guess I could have more energy but it's definitely better than life before the cpap. The problem is that I can't get out of bed in the morning. My wife drags me out of bed every morning and I barely get to work on time. On my days off she lets me sleep in and i'll easily sleep for 12 hours before she gives up and comes in to wake me up. Even if I lie down in the middle of the day to take a nap with my cpap i'll easily take a 4hr nap and be ready for bed at the regular time anyway.

Am I addicted to cpap? lol. What am I doing wrong here, I seem to have developed this problem in the last 2-3 months, not sure where it came from...

Thanks for any suggestions/input!

[Drowsy Dancer]

Are you sure that your therapy is effectively treating your OSA? Can you look at your data and see what it says?

[Lvin4jc]

I guess I don't really know how to check. I'm downloading sleepyhead right now, hopefully that will tell me something. At my sleep study the guy said it was remarkable how much a cpap helped me. I was in bad shape without one and with the addition of even the minimum pressure my breathing was perfect. Maybe something changed?

[lvin4jc]

CPAP Statistics
229 days of CPAP Data, between Wed Aug 14 2013 and Sat Jul 5 2014
Details Most Recent Last Week Last 30 Days Last 6 Months Last Year
CPAP Usage
Average Hours per Night 11:07 08:53 08:44 07:46 06:12
Compliance 100% 100% 100% 94% 76%
Therapy Efficiacy
AHI 0.54 0.84 1.45 1.35 1.39
Obstructive Apnea Index 0.27 0.21 0.18 0.14 0.13
Hypopnea Index 0.27 0.56 1.25 1.19 1.23
Clear Airway Apnea Index 0.00 0.06 0.02 0.02 0.03
Respiratory Effort Related Arousal Index 0.09 0.13 0.21 0.42 0.41
% of time in Periodic Breathing 0.14% 0.31% 0.59% 0.36% 0.35%
Leak Statistics
Average Leak Rate 1.20 1.07 1.43 2.10 2.21
90% Leak Rate 4.00 4.00 4.00 6.00 7.00
% of time above Leak Rate threshold 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00% 0.00%
Pressure Statistics
Average Pressure 8.00 7.97 7.00 6.18 6.12
Min Pressure 8.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 0.00
Max Pressure 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00
90% Pressure 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00 8.00

[Julie]

Well, have you had a regular check-up lately, with lab work, maybe thyroid and/or low T testing, etc? Not everything is about Cpap or OSA, even if symptoms seem related. Your numbers seem to be pretty good.

[Pugsy]

How is sleep quality? Meaning do you sleep soundly when you sleep or do you wake often during the night?

How is sleep hygiene? Good/bad/need work?

Do you take any meds of any kind even OTC meds? If so, what are they?

Your AHI, leak, etc look good on paper at least. Sometimes excessive sleepiness isn't all about OSA but can be about other things. Unfortunately the machine only fixes the OSA part of the problem and if the problem isn't related solely to OSA the machine can't fix bad sleep caused by something else. So we have to start doing some detective work.
Examine sleep quality first...if sleep is fractured often with multiple wake ups for any reason then we simply don't get the necessary sleep stages in % of time that we need them and the natural progression of the sleep stages for the restorative powers of sleep to work their magic.
Sleep hygiene....google good and bad sleep hygiene and see if you are guilty of any of the bad things we sometimes do that affects sleep.
Meds...often meds have side effects that either cause drowsiness, fatigue or sometimes meds even mess with sleep architecture.

Finally...get with your doctor about having a thorough physical complete with the standard labs..which should include thyroid check...but also have the doctor check vitamin D levels (not something that is normally part of routine labs) as well as testosterone levels.

[space45]

like Julie said, it can be other things, like low Testosterone, if it has gone down to near zero over several years from lack of proper sleep your nads can get very weak for making Testosterone. you make it when you sleep, but if your nads are weak they may not be giving you what you need to function unless you sleep nearly around the clock.

get checked for what Julie said and talk to your doc.

low T can really kick the hell out of a guy, talking from first hand experience on that one.

[lvin4jc]

I haven't had any checkups for anything lately. I'm 28 btw. I have been curious about low T because of my weight. I gained some last year before the cpap and even after all the promises about losing weight on the cpap I have maintained exactly the same weight. I can eat whatever I want or get super healthy with my diet, even to the extreme of a juice only fast and it doesn't affect my weight at all.

I am only on one medication and, not surprisingly, it's prozac for depression. I was hoping that the cpap was my depression problem and that I could drop the pills but I have to say that the pills have been very helpful. If I go off of them for a few days I can tell (and my wife can tell) that i'm getting depressed again.

Last night I barely remember waking up 3 times which I think is new for me. I guess when I think about it i've not been as energetic lately. Last night I slept for 11 hours or so again. On Saturday I put in some hard work mowing at work. It was a hard day, near 100 degrees, really dry and a lot of physical work. But when I thought it was at least 5 o'clock I checked my watch and it was 2:10. I was more exhausted than I expected.

Well, if my numbers look good I guess i'll have to go in to the doc and get checked out. I can't be sleeping for half the day all the time, I have too much to do! lol.

[ems]

Hi Joe - Prozac is known for weight gain and hard to lose until you stop the Prozac. But, DO NOT just stop taking it. You can't just stop for a few days as you mentioned in your post. If you wish to stop taking it, it's important to taper off very slowly! Prozac also tends to make some people very sleepy.

There is a site... SurvivingAntidepressents.org (I believe) that explains how to taper off this drug, along with other information. It's one of the better sites on this subject.

[Pugsy]

Talk to your doctor about Prozac side effects. It may not be 100% of your need to sleep issues but it sure isn't helping the situation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine
Somnolence# (drowsiness) very common

Very common (>10% incidence) adverse effects include:

Headache#
Nausea#
Insomnia# (sleeplessness)
Appetite loss. This may be a desirable effect in obese patients but in children, the underweight, the pregnant and in those affected by the eating disorder anorexia nervosa, this may be an undesirable effect.
Anxiety#
Asthenia# (weakness)
Diarrhea#
Nervousness#

[Bill44133]

You might have a sleep debt to re-pay.. I just completed my first year in April, and I was sleeping alot that I attributed to
my sleep debt: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_debt .

I am now sleeping only sleeping about 7 to 8 hours a day. I was at 10+ hours for quite sometime..

If you are watching your sleep numbers and you are feeling better. I would not worry about it.

[lvin4jc]

Ok, you guys are all being extremely helpful, i've already learned a lot here, Thank you for that.

I'm a little confused though. Insomnia is the inability to fall asleep or stay asleep right? My problem is the opposite, I fall asleep just fine and then I stay asleep for way too long. Doesn't that mean I don't have any problems with insomnia?

[ems]

Talk to your doctor about Prozac side effects. It may not be 100% of your need to sleep issues but it sure isn't helping the situation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine
Somnolence# (drowsiness) very common

Good chance that this may be part of the problem. ADs in general cause insomnia in some people, but make some people very sleepy. Check out the above site.