Has caffeine affected your ability to maintain a low AHI?

[john_dozer]

I'm just trying to guage how critical it is to limit or essentially elimnate caffeine intake for most people.

[fastwingguy]

I used to drink coffee by the beer mug, but since CPAP I just do 2 cups in the A.M. Good sleep beats the best stimulant.

[DreamLady]

Caffeine should not impact AHI. In fact, it is given to premature babies whose lungs are underdeveloped to stimulate their breathing and it help increase the tone of their airway. We always joke that my grandson should really like coffee because he mainlined caffeine for 4 months. Babies given caffeine need less cpap pressure to keep their airway open, and require more O2 as it starts to wear off. The nurses don't use a regular dosing schedule, but rather give more caffeine as needed if the infant's O2 sats start dropping.

Now, whether one sleeps as well under the influence of caffeine might well be another matter! I can't drink caffeine within about 8 hours of bedtime or I don't sleep until the wee hours!

[Tired Linda]

Nothing after 1 p.m. for me or I'm up half the night. It doesn't seem to affect my numbers once I do get to sleep, though.

[Country4ever]

I have very little caffeine during the early day, but it does interrupt my sleep. It makes me wake up around 4a.m. the next morning. I haven't associated a higher AHI from it, but just waking up and having to get back to sleep can raise it, just because of the moving around.
What REALLY consistently raises my AHI is eating in the evening.

[SleepingUgly]

Caffeine fragments REM, so even if it doesn't affect your AHI (I don't know if it does or doesn't), it will affect your sleep quality if taken too late in the day.

[Julie]

If it aggravates GERD, that will keep you awake, or at least not sleeping well, which I suppose could affect AHI. It's kind of a fish and bicycle question .

[BlackSpinner]

I used to drink a lot of coffee but now 2 cups before noon is all I can handle.

[john_dozer]

If it aggravates GERD, that will keep you awake, or at least not sleeping well, which I suppose could affect AHI. It's kind of a fish and bicycle question .

This is my interest.

I have problems with GERD that are affecting my sleep quality. In fact I get a much more beneficial sleep after going on a strong GERD medication (unfortunately this is before my data capable CPAP so I don't have documentation of it or know exactly what changed). But I'm still having issues. Particularly with a persistent cough from an irritated throat. Its so irritated now, it feels like a lump in there.

Since I'm on the wizbang medicine that the doctor feels should totally kick the problem, and its not enough, I have to make the life changes to clear this up. One thing that suppose to aggravate GERD is caffeine. And the carbonated pop that I usually get my dose of caffeine from isn't helping either. The other thing is to lose weigh. And this flare up of GERD is timed with some recent weight gain. My waist has never been this big before (although I have been as heavy but with more muscle and less fat). So this makes sense to me.

But since I can't lose 50 lbs overnight, the caffeine has to go, now. I took a little this morning to get through today, but nothing at all starting tomorrow.

[Julie]

Hi, be prepared for a day or two of headaches (maybe) - it can happen when you stop coffee, but it's temporary. Have you tried getting the head of your bed up on 6 inch blocks? It apparently is amazingly effective for GERD (to the point you might not even need half the meds if you're lucky).

[Captain_Midnight]

Seemingly incongruous, xpap therapy has not only made me more awake due to better sleep, it has apparently made caffeine more tolerable.

Thus, not only am I more awake due to better sleep, I enjoy more coffee and tea (usually not after about 4:30) with fewer of the jangly side effects. (Thus, I'm doubly wide awake.)

Life's good, n'est ce pas?

.

[idamtnboy]

... it will affect your sleep quality if taken too late in the day.

That's for sure the case with me, not because it inhibits sleep, but because it's either wake up and go to the bathroom, or wet the bed!!!!!

Caffeine has never kept me awake. I can drink 3 or 4 cups of regular coffee within an hour or two of going to bed and sleep soundly, except for the bathroom breaks. I have no idea if it affects AHI. I'll have to pay some attention to that to see if there is an effect. Maybe that's the reason every once in awhile I have a lot more apneas some nights than most nights.

[Geminidream]

I typically only have 2-3 cups of coffee in the morning to get going (have to be at work at 3:30am) and then I rarely have anymore the rest of the day. I have made it a rule for a long time not to have any caffeine after 4pm or I sometimes have a difficult time being able to go to sleep on time. Previous to cpap therapy I drank caffeine constantly, but found that it only helped with alertness for a short while and then I was ready to drop off to sleep in no time. Took me a while to figure out that no amount of caffeine was going to significantly affect a serious lack of sleep, particularly REM sleep.