Reason for wake ups?

[blacknebula]

Last night I started turning the machine off whenever I got up out of bed (see previous post about not disturbing hubby). The data looks very different today without all the leak stuff. And awesome from apnea standpoint! But I'm still waking up multiple times. Data below. The first three times I got up (between 10 and 11) I was having difficulty falling asleep and got up for a variety of reasons. At midnight the kids woke me up ringing in the new year. So I'm looking at the three instances at 1:30, 4:15 and 6:00. Does it have anything to do with apnea and/or the machine? Thanks!

[Pugsy]

Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?

How long have you been on cpap?

[blacknebula]

Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?

I have steroid inhalers for my asthma (symbicort) and sinus issues (nasonex). Various vitamins (Calcium and vit D per doc's orders, plus vit C and echinacea if I feel a cold coming on). Usually I take melatonin before bed although I think I forgot last night (not that it makes a huge difference, I've had multiple wake ups per night for the last 16 years since my first pregnancy). Sometimes I take a sleeping pill (zopiclone), but only did that the first night I had the machine (cuz I was petrified I wouldn't sleep at all). Yeah, I know that CNS depressants makes apnea worse but it helped with insomnia before I was diagnosed. Now that I'm actually sleeping again when I'm sleeping I don't foresee a need for them anymore.

How long have you been on cpap?

About 10 days.

[Pugsy]

When we wake up more than we want in during the night and/or have trouble getting back to sleep that is called sleep maintenance insomnia.
You have had that problem for years it sounds like. How much of it might be related to sleep apnea we don't really know.
I asked about the meds because obviously some meds can make the insomnia worse or the chance of waking up worse.

I don't see anything on the software report that is just standing up screaming "fix me and you will sleep better".

Your pressure doesn't seem to roam around a lot but there's always the chance that the variations in pressure themselves could be a factor in the wake ups so at some time you might want to consider a really tight range or even fixed cpap mode to see if it helps or not. For some people it can make a substantial difference and for others the pressure changes don't really matter.

Are your wake ups related to sleep apnea or just whatever reason you have had them over the years? That's an unknown right now.
If the wake ups were related to sleep apnea we would expect that effective cpap therapy should reduce them but if those wake ups are from something else (and the list of known culprits is very long) then the best cpap therapy in the world isn't going to help. Cpap machines can't fix problems unrelated to sleep apnea no matter how much we might want to put all our problem eggs in the sleep apnea basket.

That said...let's face it...sleeping with the alien on our face and blowing up our nose simply isn't the most natural thing in the world and for some people the brain keeps wanting to wake a person up saying "hey dude, do you know you have an alien on your face" and once the brain gets more accustomed to the alien then the brain is less likely to continually wake the person up just for the "alien on your face" report.

10 days isn't very long for the brain to get used to the alien. I think it took me probably 3 months just for my brain to quit with the "alien alerts"....so give things some time and see if the sleep quality improves or not.
Be aware that if your problem isn't the brain being on "alien alert status" or sleep apnea that the wake ups may simply be from some other reason.
Unfortunately figuring out the cause and fixing it can take a lot of work and there's no guarantee of success.
I have been down that road myself and it's not a pleasant road.

But in terms of what we see on the software reports....I think your reports look great for just being shy of 2 weeks on cpap.

[blacknebula]

Thank you Pugsy! That was my interpretation too, but seeing as I'm so very new to CPAP I wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything obvious. I'll give it some time and see what happens. *fingers crossed*

But in terms of what we see on the software reports....I think your reports look great for just being shy of 2 weeks on cpap.

Yeah, my energy/mood/motivation/focus are so improved it's amazing. I feel like a new person!

[Cpapian]

Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?

I have steroid inhalers for my asthma (symbicort) and sinus issues (nasonex). Various vitamins (Calcium and vit D per doc's orders, plus vit C and echinacea if I feel a cold coming on). Usually I take melatonin before bed although I think I forgot last night (not that it makes a huge difference, I've had multiple wake ups per night for the last 16 years since my first pregnancy). Sometimes I take a sleeping pill (zopiclone), but only did that the first night I had the machine (cuz I was petrified I wouldn't sleep at all). Yeah, I know that CNS depressants makes apnea worse but it helped with insomnia before I was diagnosed. Now that I'm actually sleeping again when I'm sleeping I don't foresee a need for them anymore.

How long have you been on cpap?

About 10 days.

I ran into a multiple wakeups problem with melatonin. Turns out it had B12 in it. When I got a plain melatonin - problem disappeared.

[blacknebula]

I ran into a multiple wakeups problem with melatonin. Turns out it had B12 in it. When I got a plain melatonin - problem disappeared.

Thanks for the info. I just looked at the bottle and it's only melatonin, nothing else.

[Wulfman...]

Your pressure changes are what jump out at me.
I would try a narrower pressure range or straight pressure.
Pressures are driven mostly by Flow Limitations and Snores. You appear to have very few Apneas or Hypopneas for the pressure increases to be preventing. I'd suggest trying the two options I mentioned.


Den

.

[blacknebula]

Your pressure changes are what jump out at me.
I would try a narrower pressure range or straight pressure.
Pressures are driven mostly by Flow Limitations and Snores. You appear to have very few Apneas or Hypopneas for the pressure increases to be preventing. I'd suggest trying the two options I mentioned.


Den

.

Thank you for the suggestion. I will bring it up with the doctor and see what he says (I don't have the ability to change this myself at this point as I am still on a trial machine).