Strange dreams on CPAP

[AnotherMe]

I am learning to love using my CPAP. I'm making it through the night. However, I am having strange dreams with it. I am wondering if it's because I am not using my chin strap. My doctor said I should not use it but make sure I have enough humidity. I am putting the humidity on my Cpap Machine high. But I am still opening up my mouth a little bit. So tonight I am going to start using my chin strap. However, what is with the weird dreams? I have always had weird dreams. Perhaps they are so vivid because I am getting more air to my brain.

In addition, the inside of my ears feel a little cold and I am very gassy in my stomach when I wake up. I guess this is due to the air.

[Chuckster]

You are having strange dreams because you are having dreams in the first place. Without CPAP, chances are you were having too many apneas to fully enter REM sleep. Now that you are getting a healthy dose of each sleep stage per night, expect to have better dream recall by the very virtue that you're actually having dreams.

[quietmorning]

And to add to Chuckster:

When you go without REM for a while, or without enough REM, your brain tends to go into double time of REM to catch up. If I've had some bad nights with a lot of disturbed REM sleep from the apnea, when things come down I'll have a LOT of very vivid weird dreams. You have to remember, REM sleep is so that you can be a healthy emotional individual . . .so you need to work a lot of stuff out from during the day/week/month/lifetime. So, you really need it, and really need enough of it.

So. . just take notes and write the next scifi series. . .

[AnotherMe]

You are having strange dreams because you are having dreams in the first place. Without CPAP, chances are you were having too many apneas to fully enter REM sleep. Now that you are getting a healthy dose of each sleep stage per night, expect to have better dream recall by the very virtue that you're actually having dreams.

But I would always remember my dreams. They were suffocating dreams. Seriously, they were. I feel annoyed that the air is going through my nose to my ears during these dreams. I understand what you're saying and I agree. I guess I have to get over the annoying feeling of the air in my ear canal.

[quietmorning]

You are having strange dreams because you are having dreams in the first place. Without CPAP, chances are you were having too many apneas to fully enter REM sleep. Now that you are getting a healthy dose of each sleep stage per night, expect to have better dream recall by the very virtue that you're actually having dreams.

But I would always remember my dreams. They were suffocating dreams. Seriously, they were. I feel annoyed that the air is going through my nose to my ears during these dreams. I understand what you're saying and I agree. I guess I have to get over the annoying feeling of the air in my ear canal.

Do you feel the air in your eustachian tube before you go to sleep?

[DreamStalker]

When I first started CPAP I had dreams of being faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

And in the morning when I woke up my dreams would come true.

Too bad I didn't have dreams of being a multi-trillionaire rock star, with vacation homes on every continent, and able to rid the planet of the global banking evil doers.

Oh well, dream and learn.

Dreamer

[SleepyToo2]

I am learning to love using my CPAP. I'm making it through the night. However, I am having strange dreams with it. I am wondering if it's because I am not using my chin strap. My doctor said I should not use it but make sure I have enough humidity. I am putting the humidity on my Cpap Machine high. But I am still opening up my mouth a little bit. So tonight I am going to start using my chin strap. However, what is with the weird dreams? I have always had weird dreams. Perhaps they are so vivid because I am getting more air to my brain.

In addition, the inside of my ears feel a little cold and I am very gassy in my stomach when I wake up. I guess this is due to the air.

What machine and mask do you have (add it to your signature in your user control panel)? What pressure are you using? If you really are breathing through your mouth and are using nasal pillows or a nasal mask, you may need to wear a chin strap. It may be that you haven't got your leaks under control, so that when you move during the night the mask leaks - not your mouth. Humidity is a comfort thing - not everyone needs it, needs it all the time, or needs a high level. Look up posts for aerophagia to find out possible ways of fixing the gas in the stomach.

Do you have a fully data-capable machine? If you can tell what your AHI is, what the clear airway (central) apnea and obstructive apnea rates are, that can help with the diagnosis of your real problem rather than your doc guessing. Also, you need to monitor your leak rate. All that needs an efficacy data-capable machine so that you can review the data in software. Post back for instructions on what to use and how.

[DiverCTHunter]

In addition, the inside of my ears feel a little cold and I am very gassy in my stomach when I wake up. I guess this is due to the air.

The aerophagia (literally "eating air") can be a real nuisance. Depending on which machine you have, there should hopefully be an exhale relief of some sort. With luck it'll drop the pressure enough to reduce both of your side-effects to a more manageable level.

Look through the setting screens for words like c-flex, a-flex, or EPR.

[bphrom]

I had a dream but mostly I couldn't remember what I dream about.
Anything to do with using CPAP? Just curious to know.

Cheers,

[archangle]

Are the dreams unpleasant or disturbing? A lot of things change when you stop having apnea. Sometimes you just remember dreams better because you wake up during or after. Sometimes you dream differently because your sleep patterns are different.