Sleeping too much on CPAP

[Stefan29312]

Hello Cpaptalk,

I am a relatively new CPAP patient (11 months) and am being treated for severe obstructive sleep apnoea. I took extremely well to the therapy and could easily sleep 8 hours a night with my Resmed airsense 10 set on auto mode. My AHI is controlled very well and went from about 80 without the machine to 3 on the machine.

My problem is I am now sleeping too much. I have been diagnosed with moderate to minor depression and I don't know if this is why it's happening. I am on holidays from work for a month and I have found if I don't set an alarm (an old fashioned loud buzzer alarm that is, the mobile phone doesn't wake me), I will sleep from 10-12 hours! When this happens I wake up feeling really spaced out for most of the day - not tired, just zombie like, it's quite disconcerting.

For example, last night I slept for 12 hours on the CPAP and now I feel like a complete zombie - hypnotic and spaced out (once again not 'tired' as such). The CPAP registered my use as a smiley face with good AHI.

Has anyone experienced this kind of thing? I am not sure if this is an illness or the depression. My GP doesn't seem to know what's happening, I have seen him for it and he recommends that I set an alarm - I forgot last night. Any advice would be appreciated, I'm quite worried.

[Rainmom17]

Hi, I'm no expert, but to me it sounds like you're experiencing sleep inertia. This happens when you don't keep a regular sleep/wake schedule. For example, I sleep in on the weekends and often feel worse (more blah and zombie-like) than I do on a work day. It's because it throws off your circadian rhythms and feels essentially like jet lag. So, maybe that's what's going on. Could you try setting a consistent wake up time?

[Stefan29312]

Hi Rainmom17,

Thank you for the reply. I have never heard of "sleep inertia" and I have never been overseas so I haven't experienced jet lag. But by goodness am I going to Google the heck out of both those things - thankyou so much.

I am going to follow your advice and set a regular schedule tonight. My doctor has suggested something similar but not in such an explicit way. I shall go to bed at midnight and ensure my alarm triggers at 8am and I get up by 8:30am.

I don't feel so alone anymore, I am very glad that you and this forum exist. Thankyou.

[Jasba64]

I'm glad you shared this. I do exactly as you say. I am a shift worker and when I get 6 to 7 hours of sleep, I feel much better than when I am off and sleep for maybe 10 hours. I too feel like a zombie with headaches sometimes from all that sleep. Nice to know I am not alone. I have wondered myself if I have a touch of depression. I have spoken about this with my sleep doctor but that was all.

[Gerald?]

Below is a fairly good Aussie government publication on sleep hygiene and sleep inertia that is not too complicated and has some good tips on strategies to manage it.
http://www.sahealth.sa.gov.au/wps/wcm/c ... d30eb2c8cd

If you want some heavy reading which is interesting but might put you to sleep, below is a scientific study which looks at the link between disturbed sleep patterns and some types of depression and then using sleep patterns to assist in treatment.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3760618/

[Julie]

All that being said, it sounds to me like you're not being effectively treated for apnea. What are your pressure settings and what machine and mask are you using?

Depending on which machine you use, there is free software most here use to track what happens overnight, so please tell us what machine (model, not just 'brand' name plse) and mask you use at which pressure settings?

Here are the links for the software with info on how to post them (not directly here, but linked from other site). We will help you interpret results when they're posted.

Here are links to using Sleepyhead -

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

and

https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyheadshorganize

[Pugsy]

Are you on any medications of any kind and if so what?

[Jasba64]

I want to thank Rainmom17 for letting us know about Sleep Inertia. I had never heard of it but I now know 100% that is what I have. It will be hard to address in my situation since I am a shift working working both 6a-6p and 6p-6a. It totally explains why I feel so bad when I lay in bed too long versus getting up when I wake up initially. I am going to address this with my doctor when I see him next time. Also, thanks for a great post and sharing your personal experience.

[Rainmom17]

You're welcome!
I'm hoping to not have so many issues with sleep inertia when my CPAP treatment improves. But it does explain why I often feel so crummy on the weekends. However, even knowing that, I really want to sleep in, so I just live with the crummyness so I can get the extra sleep. I just refuse to get up at 5:30am every single day! Some day when i'm retired, hopefully I can find a reasonable time to wake up every day (7am would be amazing).

[Mattlovescats]

Jasba,

I am sorry you experience this too, it sucks. Cheers for sharing your experience also, we are definitely not alone.

[Mattlovescats]

Thanks Gerald for that information, much appreciated.

[Mattlovescats]

I should clarify, I have started an account, I was posting as Stefan.

Hi Pugsy,
I am on 20mg of prozac and 50mg of the beta blocker antenolol. Could those medications contribute to this?

Hi Julie,

Thankyou, I have started this proper account for this purpose.

I shall put my equipment on my profile, what information do I need to provide with sleepyhead?

[Julie]

Not sure what you mean by 'What info do I need to provide with SH?" If you follow the links I gave you, it should all be there... if not others here will help.

But I did ask about your pressure settings which so often point to possible answers for questions you wrote in about... but you seem not to have provided those.

[Pugsy]

antenolol...Google it's side effects and look at multiple sources.
Here's one source.
https://www.everydayhealth.com/drugs/atenolol
Interesting that one of the know side effects is depression...and you are on a medication for Depression.
Now I know the atenolol isn't something you just up and quit taking but it might explain some of your symptoms...Probably not the sole cause but maybe a contributing factor

Now Prozac...it's well known for causing drowsiness and also messing with sleep quality/architecture.
So also google Prozac and look at multiple sources
It belongs to a classification of meds called SSRIs....and they all cause sleepiness/drowsiness, and mess with sleep architecture.
So google "SSRIs and sleep" and start reading.
Here's one source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoxetine

Dig deep by looking at more than one reference for your meds.
One symptom of depression is excessive sleepiness...so your issues may be a combination of several factors. Probably should be talking with your doctor about your meds.

I suspect your meds are playing a part in the desire to sleep so much. I know I tried Prozac some years ago and it was all I could do to get out of bed. I got extremely sleepy with it. This was some 30 years ago when I was going through a messy divorce. So yeah, some depression and fatigue with the depression but Prozac knocked me on my butt big time.
Both your meds can mess with sleep...with probably Prozac being the most likely one to really impact things.

We can try to help with the OSA stuff though. Maybe there's something on those reports that stands out just screaming "fix me"...so we can at least look.
See this thread for examples of what we like to see ...we don't need or want all those graphs. What we normally like to see will easily fit on one screen shot. If we need something else we will ask.
viewtopic/t103468/Need-help-with-screen-shots.html

How to use imgur to host your images
https://sleep.tnet.com/reference/tips/imgur

How to organize those charts. There's 3 pages so be sure to read all 3
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize

We don't need a gazillion nights either...just a couple...maybe a "good" night and a "bad" night.

[Jasba64]

SleepyHead software has nothing to do with this post.