Finally! 3 good nights of sleep but still exhausted?

[diamethia]

After my issues last week my mask I called my DME bright and early on Friday to get a new one. I was going to beg for the Aloha as my wonderful hubby had told me he didn't care what mask I got as long as I was happy and sleeping. He said I could have a gold plated one as long as it worked- apparently he was enjoying the benefits of a more rested spouse!

But the nose was still so sore I ended up with a the Resmed Mirage for her and I love it. It is so comfortable to sleep in I barely know it's there. My AHI is a 0.6 now, pressure averaged 14 and leak is acceptable at 11.7.

But I'm so tired. I wasn't this tired after wearing the Opus 360 last week but now I'm sleeping like the dead, don't even move. Whereas last week i was still waking up b/c of my mask issues. Is this normal? Just my body finally catching up on sleep after being deprived for so long? I could honestly curl up and nap right now and last week I wasn't this phsically tired during the day.

[jen4700]

Me too. Had best AHI ever last night. Still groggy this morning. I've had a weird thing that I wake up with my muscles / joints stiff. I don't have arthritis or anything like that. Weird. Unfortunately, I don't know. But I'm right there with you!

[Pugsy]

Now comes the really hard part....patience.
Even under the best of circumstances it can take time for the body to heal from the abuse that went on for a long, long time with untreated sleep apnea. You didn't get to this point over night and often it takes much more than over night to reap the rewards.

Some people are extremely lucky and do see remarkable changes pretty much immediately but most people need to take some time before they start seeing marked improvement. How long? It takes as long as it takes. Sometimes the changes are very gradual....give it time now.

[Sheriff Buford]

Me too. Had best AHI ever last night. Still groggy this morning. I've had a weird thing that I wake up with my muscles / joints stiff. I don't have arthritis or anything like that. Weird. Unfortunately, I don't know. But I'm right there with you!

The sore muscles and stiffness is not unusual. When you start treating apnea, you start to sleep harder and you may stay in one position a long time. When you were sleeping with untreated apnea, you probably tossed and turned a lot. Looks like you are doing good!

Sheriff

[kteague]

Anyone who has had a physical trauma is advised to rest and give their body time to heal. OSA certainly is traumatic to our bodies and minds. How much extra sleep or rest one might need during the initial recovery process is very individual. It's just my personal opinion, but I think if it can be attained, new cpap users should get more sleep than would be required when not in a recovery process. If OSA treatment is therapeutic and no other medical factors are contributing, there should be a natural decrease in the need for extra sleep over time. Be kind to yourself during this time. If appropriate, give yourself added nutritional support so that your body has what it needs to heal most efficiently. There's a fine line between expecting too much too soon and being responsibly in tune to possible residual issues with treatment or other factors that may need addressed. In the absence of any sleep complaints or evidence of poor sleep, I wouldn't be concerned yet, considering how long it takes many who report here to feel a difference. Just be in tune to a prolonged exhaustion that may need investigated. Wish there was a timetable, but there isn't.

[jen4700]

Me too. Had best AHI ever last night. Still groggy this morning. I've had a weird thing that I wake up with my muscles / joints stiff. I don't have arthritis or anything like that. Weird. Unfortunately, I don't know. But I'm right there with you!

The sore muscles and stiffness is not unusual. When you start treating apnea, you start to sleep harder and you may stay in one position a long time. When you were sleeping with untreated apnea, you probably tossed and turned a lot. Looks like you are doing good!

Sheriff

Thanks for the vote of confidence!!

[diamethia]

I'm with you jen- the last 4 mornings I have felt like a freight train continuously ran over my body during the night but my brain is blissfully alert.

Patience is hard, but I can see the points here. We don't know how much trauma extended sleep deprivation causes and it does take time to heal. We didn't get this way overnight, can't expect the body to recover that way either. But Varuca Salt is still running through my head shouting "I want it now!"

I am really surprised how much I like the machine/mask. It feels like i'm going to sleep in a nice breeze and it literally zonks me out

[Zzzzzzzzzzz...]

Yeah, it's weird. I'm new to CPAP as well, and my AHI hasn't always correlated to how I feel in the morning/during the day. I've had higher AHI's and felt great, and lower and felt tired. I've also experienced complete brain clarity, but tired physically. Or up and running, but lacking focus. It all depends on WHERE the arousals/event happen. Early onset? Or just before wakening. During the whole night? Whathaveu. One trick I play, is to NOT look at my AHI some mornings... wait and see how I felt during the day and THEN check the AHI at night. Perhaps to rule out the "psychosomatic" effect of the all mighty "+/-5 AHI SCORE". Can't say that makes a difference, but still... it's fun.

-Z

[Gerryk]

It took me a while to start feeling more rested once I was successfully using cpap. About that time I noticed at times I wake up sore or with a stiff joint or something along those lines. On the mornings I wake up with the soreness, I have slept through the night. It still happens once in a wihle. Sometimes when I go to bed, I like to only half cover myself with blankets until I am ready to fall asleep. I have woke up a few mornings with an arm or leg extremely cold because I fell asleep so fast and slept so sound I didn't move while I slept or adjust the covers at all.

After I was being successful with cpap, I woke up with the sore joints, cold limbs from lack of covers. I also started to wake up fully rested and felt like jumping up out of bed then one day I woke up with a weird feeling and memory. After a few minutes, I realized that I had had a dream the night before and I remembered the dream.

Once you become successful with using cpap you will start to get your life back to normal, you may find that you forgot about some normal things such as dreaming.