waking up during the night

[eekerbeeker]

Hi everyone!

I've been on cpap for a little over a month and notice a dramatic difference in my alertness and energy level. However, I still wake up 3 or 4 times a night. I'm able to go back to sleep quickly. Does anybody else continue to wake up multiple times a night? Will this eventully go away and I'll be able to sleep all night long or is this something I'll have to live with? I don't need to go to the bathroom or anything. I really don't know why I wake up so many times. Before I went on cpap, I usually only woke up a couple of times a night. I've had a few mouth leaks and intend to try taping my mouth shut to see if that helps but most times when I wake up, I haven't been mouth breathing. I use nasal pillows and find them very comfortable. I started out with a nasal mask and it had constant air leaks and spent most of the night trying to stop the leaks. I found it way too intrusive for my tastes. Therefore, a full face mask is something I will try to avoid if at all possible. Taping my mouth sounds like a better solution to that but I don't know if that will stop me from waking up or not. I asked my doctor about it and he said as you get older, you just wake up a lot during the night. I'm 53 and I'm not so sure I accept that. He hasn't been much help anyway.

[Hugh Jass]

I have the same problem. The extreme fatigue and brain fog that has been my companion for over two years now was my chief complaint leading me to many incompetant doctors, until I finally found my way to a sleep specialist.

I wake up anywhere from twice (on a good night) to 5 times a night, and have not noticed any improvements since being on the CPAP (although it's only my 5th night so far.) I am hoping that I'm waking up often only because I'm still not use to having a mask stuck on my face.

To me, waking up more than once is not "normal". I suppose age could be a factor, but from what I have read, this only starts to occur after your 60's (I'm 38.) Most people I know don't wake up at all until it's time to get up.

BTW, How many days were you on CPAP before noticing a differance ?

[rested gal]

hi eekerbeeker,

However, I still wake up 3 or 4 times a night. I'm able to go back to sleep quickly. Does anybody else continue to wake up multiple times a night? Will this eventully go away and I'll be able to sleep all night long or is this something I'll have to live with? I don't need to go to the bathroom or anything.

I've been on cpap/autopap a little over a year and have found exactly what you describe to be true for me, too. I wake up 3 or 4 times during the night (never needing to go to the bathroom.) I seem to always want to turn over when I wake up like that...I turn to the other side and go back to sleep immediately. I haven't worried about it since it doesn't keep me awake longer than it takes to turn over.

Part of it probably is the strangeness of all the gear we have to sleep with now. No matter how comfortable the interface may be, it's still something odd "on our face". Add to that all the usual night time environmental sounds (furnace kicking in, dog in the distance barking, dog in the bedroom thump-scratching, train whistle, icemaker clunking, wind blowing outside) and possible other discomforts like an old mattress, arthritic joints, back pain, GERD, whatever... It's not all that unusual, imho, to have brief arousals that don't indicate anything wrong with our cpap treatment.

Bottom line is how we feel each morning and throughout the day. Sounds like its going very well for you.

[airhead]

you may need some help getting to a deeper stage of sleep. might be a pill, if your like me, your not breathing "correctly" despite the cpap. although the lungs are working [thanks cpap] the brain signals not good, so the brain tells the rest of the body to wakeup and reboot, a computer term. good luck. Im waiting for some answers to my prior about the most "restorative" stage of sleep.

[eekerbeeker]

It had about three weeks of cpap before I noticed any significant improvement in my energy levels and alertness. I felt great that week. I've been on cpap for about 5 weeks now and the afternoon drowsiness has returned somewhat but not as bad as it used to be before I went on the machine. I started out with a nasal mask but I detested it. It constantly air leaked if I moved the slightest bit and I spent most of my nights trying to keep it adjusted to keep air leaks out. I was about to just give up when I found t his website and noticed some people talking about using nasal pillows. I didn't even know that I got a choice of interfaces. I called my dme and got the breeze nasal pillows and love them. I can move all night long (which I do) and never have air leaks. My only problem now is that I sometimes mouth breathe even though I have my chin strap cinched up so tight that my eyeballs almost pop out. I'm going to try using curad scar therapy tape on my mouth and see if that doesn't help. I've noticed some people on this website do that and have success with it. The only other option for me is a full face mask which, after my experience with a nasal mask, is an absolute last ditch effort. Just keep it up and try different kinds of interfaces. What will work for one person won't for another. Once you finally make friends with your machine, it will be worth it. Attitude has a lot to do with it. I hope things get better for you soon.