Anyone else have grogginess at first?

[opticalpopsicle]

Hello fellow hose-heads. I am about a week or less into using a cpap and since I'm still adjusting and working out the kinks, I've probably only had 2 full nights of use. One was last night. I got 8 hours of sleep in, with a 2 hour break in between when I woke up trying to roll over and didn't get back to sleep for 2 hours.

I woke up this morning groggy. And do I mean grrrrooooggggyyyy. That exhausted "hit by a truck" feeling luckily was gone, but I had a whole different feeling, like I was over-medicated. And since all I took the night before was Aspirin, it was not that. Oh, I took my usual Melatonin also. I take that every night, with no morning effects. I felt like my brain wave pattern was still stuck on "sleep" mode, even though I was up and about. My speech was a little slurred, I was a little un-coordinated, and coffee didn't improve it. No, I do not drink lol. I went for a run, and I do feel a little better.....I think. I feel like I do on those rare occasions when no one wakes me up and I sleep for 12 hours straight. Oversleep.

Has anyone else had this groggy feeling from CPAP? If so what does it mean and did it go away in time? Could it be the melatonin? Maybe the cpap is giving me side effects from the melatonin that I never had before? I will try to taper that. Anyway, it would be nice to know what you all think about this new symptom. Any thoughts?

[BlackSpinner]

Many people experience this once they get the hang of sleeping with the mask. It is called sleep debt by many. It is the urge/desire/necessity to sleep for long periods of time. I slept for 12 hours a night without moving the first few weeks now I average 6 1/2 to 7 hours.

What is happening is that your body wants to catch up and repair a lot of damage. It really doesn't want to wake up, it has work to do.

[Pugsy]

Fragmented sleep...even with the most perfect of reports will leave us feeling much less than desirable. Groggy, foggy, tired or whatever. I suspect that the 2 hour break in the night was likely the largest culprit in not feeling so great. Your body just wants and needs nice solid however many hours of sleep that is unbroken so that it can go through its normal restorative sleep cycles.
Break up the sleep cycles and you break up the pattern that is need to feel optimal.

This is why we might feel better with a good solid 6 hours of unfragmented sleep than we do with 8 hours of sleep with multiple wake ups for whatever reason.

[gertrude]

I had a somewhat similar experience. For the first several weeks I was on therapy back in March/April, I was incredibly groggy, irritable, and my brain wasn't working right. I couldn't spell at the board when teaching a class and had trouble doing the sort of things that use your brain but you don't think about specifically. For example, when writing a check I put the amount in the date space. Did things like that for weeks and it was very upsetting. It seemed like the "brain fog" that people complain about with untreated OSA, although I had never had that symptom.

I never really got a satisfactory answer as to what was happening. My sleep doctor said, well maybe you are one of the people who can't tolerate this. (Im sure she was trying to be helpful, but I didn't like the defeatist attitude!) My PC doctor told me to keep at it for 6 months before giving up. I read about REM rebound -- a reaction to finally getting REM and deep sleep after deprivation -- but that didn't quite fit because it seemed that for many people it was credited with making them feel great. It may have been that I was having effects from sleeping very badly, with the mask and leaks waking me up repeatedly, although from the start I could keep it on all night. I hadn't yet found this site and didn't have the software set up for monitoring at that time, so I don't really know if there were problems with the therapy.

So I'm sorry, I have no explantation for you. But my encouraging message is that things did eventually get better. I can't say that I feel tremendously better than before cpap. But I am certainly no longer worse, the way I felt at the beginning. And there are some improvements that I can notice. Less nocturia, my blood pressure is down, and I have stretches of days without insomnia. (Although unfortunately that seems to have returned again now.) So I am keeping the faith and being stubborn about making this work. There is lots of encouragement for that on this site.

Others here may be able to speak to the effects of the melatonin. But if the grogginess is from the therapy, like mine, it should pass in time. Hang in there and try to be patient. ("Do what I say, not what I do," on that one! )

PS, I used to live in TSORIAPP. Wish we could sell our house there!

[opticalpopsicle]

Yes! Gertrude, that is exactly how I feel, like even typing this....all the words seem not right, or I feel like I can't talk right or something. I hope I can make it through my shift tonight and be able to think in a straight line. I am an RN, so that is really important. Time will tell as too whether this feeling sticks around, or it was just a one night thing. I'm curious, what does TSORIAPP stand for? The Smallest Old Rhode Island And Providence Plantations? lol

[gertrude]

The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations! Most people aren't aware of the second half of the state's name, but you got that part. Newport (one of the oldest parts of the state) is actually on a separate island -- Rhode Island -- but it is confusing and so not on many maps.

Hope your shift goes OK tonight. Be easy on yourself about little mistakes.

[MaxDarkside]

Anyone else have grogginess at first?

Ya, first and last. For me, grogginess is the last battle in my apnea war... I have defeated the enemy in all other theaters and have him on the run, but he's hiding in Hills of Grog, the dark tunnels of my mind. (Bring the flame throwers! No, wait... that's MY brain!)

[pacificpap]

I'm two weeks in and just now starting to have deep, restful nights, showing good numbers, but I am still very groggy in the mornings. I'm not sleeping as much, tending to wake up naturally after 8 hours, which is new for me, but still very groggy.

[Sir NoddinOff]

I will echo most of the responses here. The grogginess will go away after you continue your therapy. It takes awhile for the brain to 'relax' and enjoy breathing correctly while asleep, like it did when we were children.

[archangle]

I'm not sure I believe in "sleep debt", but the experience you're having is fairly common. It usually goes away after a while.

Even if everything is "right" with the CPAP, this is a big change in your metabolism. Think of it like stopping using cigarettes, alcohol, or other drugs. Your body has adjusted to being strangled in your sleep and is off kilter for a while until it readjusts to it's new healthier balance.

Of course, if your CPAP ISN'T right, that would also cause simple symptoms.

[Mundy]

So glad to hear of others having the same problems I'm having. I've been at this only two weeks, but its just been the last couple nights that I've tolerated the mask for the whole night. What a process! I thought once I got the CPAP that I'd magically feel great! I'm still hopeful but know its still a ways off.

[gertrude]

I thought once I got the CPAP that I'd magically feel great! I'm still hopeful but know its still a ways off.

That "magically feel great" is such a myth. Some people experience that, but they seem to be the lucky few and many, many more struggle. I don't like disappointment and frustration, so I think that myth is a real disservice. It only makes the adjustment harder for folks who think they "should" feel wonderful.

I too was expecting to feel great. The morning after the titration sleep study, when I felt as if i had been hit by a truck, the sleep tech said, "Some people feel wonderful right away, others not so much." It was clear to me then that I would have to struggle in the "not so much" category. (Try "not at all!") And then all the information that came with my machine was filled with pictures of smiling people enjoying life telling me how great they feel. Only made it much harder when I didn't. I wish the literature would acknowledge that some people may need a long time and lots of persistence to get this to work, but that it is worth the effort. (Still haven't felt that yet, but am holding on to it as a matter of faith.)

[Xney]

They should post a person who looks hung over passed out next to a gas mask as the "successful first night" photo

[BlackSpinner]

They should post a person who looks hung over passed out next to a gas mask as the "successful first night" photo

I was one of those who slept 10 hours the first night and woke up without a headache. Things got better from there with hiccoughs in between.

It does happen but most of us won't be found on this board. The only issue I had was with the skin of my nose and the fact that my hips felt like they had been run over by a truck. I had 2 weeks of groggy "I don't want to get out of bed" so I worked from home for most of that plus it coincided with a cold just as the H1N1 hit and I was told to Stay Away from the airline headquarters until I was better.

[chunkyfrog]

The grogginess gradually faded; the headache was gone the first morning after.
I still have mornings where I really don't want to get up, but I do anyway.
I indulge myself on the weekends--sleeping rather late.
My symptoms pre-cpap were significant, considering my low AHI (13),
but I have enjoyed so much improvement, I am not tempted to 'cheat'.