so sleepy after treatment has started...

[moki]

Hi All,
I just joined and have been on my cpap for only a week. I have had sleep apnea for probably more than 20 years and have had plenty of health issues appear that now make sense.

Have any of you experienced extreme sleepiness (not fatigue or exhaustion) when starting cpap therapy? It's the nice kind of sleepiness, like I'm craving more. I am not waking up refreshed necessarily, but at least with less of a headache and no body pains (and of course actually having slept).

Just wondering how 'normal' I am.

Thanks!

[rycon]

I started treatment on April 14th, and I've definitely experienced what you’re talking about. I'm always thinking about, and looking forward to going back to sleep.

I'm stilling struggling with the mask at night, so I'm not sure how much that is contributing to my feeling of sleepiness during the day.

[sleepy1235]

My doctor said that I would feel sleepy sometimes out of habit initially.

He also said that studies with people with sleep deprivation had shown that after the deprivation the subjects sleep more to make up for it. However, he said that it wasn't proven for apnea patiences, but it was a possibility that apnea patients will initially be making up for lost sleep.

Give it some time, like a month, but not forever. At some point you need not to be sleepy.

Hopefully you have a CPAP machine with the capability to store data and you can see that the CPAP is effective. There might be the possibility that the pressure isn't adequate.

Further down the road there might be an additional problem that isn't apnea related.

[moki]

I'm at the same place, rycon. I'm hoping it is just my body craving what it has not gotten in so long. I think my family is hoping for an instant miracle and I feel bad that I'm telling them I'm really sleepy (but in a better way than before.)

I have a lot of hope that my life will change because of this, though. Maybe we will get some replies from cpap veterans later in the day.

[moki]

My doctor said that I would feel sleepy sometimes out of habit initially.

He also said that studies with people with sleep deprivation had shown that after the deprivation the subjects sleep more to make up for it. However, he said that it wasn't proven for apnea patiences, but it was a possibility that apnea patients will initially be making up for lost sleep.

Give it some time, like a month, but not forever. At some point you need not to be sleepy.

Hopefully you have a CPAP machine with the capability to store data and you can see that the CPAP is effective. There might be the possibility that the pressure isn't adequate.

Further down the road there might be an additional problem that isn't apnea related.

Thanks, sleepy1235. I realize I am very new and that I need to give it some time. I also need to figure out a way from being a couch potato to a regular person.

[Pugsy]

I was never a "morning person" and after 5 years on cpap I am still not a morning person. Good therapy can only do so much.

Part of what you are feeling very well could be just the body craving more "better" sleep. With time that may lessen.
Or you may be like me...despite great therapy and decent hours of sleep (7 to 8 hours) and minimal wake ups during the night that you still aren't a morning person.

[moki]

I was never a "morning person" and after 5 years on cpap I am still not a morning person. Good therapy can only do so much.

Part of what you are feeling very well could be just the body craving more "better" sleep. With time that may lessen.
Or you may be like me...despite great therapy and decent hours of sleep (7 to and minimal wake ups during the night that you still aren't a morning person.

Haha...pugsy. Indeed, I have never been a morning person. I am definitely feeling more wakeful as each day goes by.

[kteague]

From personal experience and what I read on here, it's not unusual at all after experiencing good sleep to desire more of it. Others may not agree and this is strictly opinion, but I say give your body what it tells you it needs. Now, that may not be wise if one suffers from insomnia, needs to regulate their sleep hours, or the need is prolonged. In the beginning the body likely needs to recuperate from years of the onslaught of untreated sleep apnea. While you are healing, treat yourself with tender loving care by giving it plenty of opportunity to heal, getting at the very minimum, adequate hours of sleep. Even taking extra care to provide proper nutritional support and hydration is a good idea when the body is in a healing phase. When I first began to get some good sleep, I craved more and more of it. But one morning - for the first time in years - I woke up and actually felt awake and ready to go out into the day. Your desire for sleep should decrease once your body is restored. If it does not, then you will want to consider there could be other possible contributors. But if you feel you are getting quality sleep, your numbers show your treatment is therapeutic, and you have no reason to suspect something is wrong", I say you're one week in, enjoy it for a while. Sorry there's no solid timeline of when/if to expect more.

Edit: Hey Pugsy, I hear ya. When I say morning, I'm meaning time of arising. In my personal dictionary of adapted meanings, daybreak is equivalent to midnight.

[thesleepermustawake]

One thing I noticed is I'm able to stay awake a little later without feeling completely exhausted.
But last night, my mask came off a lot so I feel pretty tired today.

[moki]

From personal experience and what I read on here, it's not unusual at all after experiencing good sleep to desire more of it. Others may not agree and this is strictly opinion, but I say give your body what it tells you it needs. Now, that may not be wise if one suffers from insomnia, needs to regulate their sleep hours, or the need is prolonged. In the beginning the body likely needs to recuperate from years of the onslaught of untreated sleep apnea. While you are healing, treat yourself with tender loving care by giving it plenty of opportunity to heal, getting at the very minimum, adequate hours of sleep. Even taking extra care to provide proper nutritional support and hydration is a good idea when the body is in a healing phase. When I first began to get some good sleep, I craved more and more of it. But one morning - for the first time in years - I woke up and actually felt awake and ready to go out into the day. Your desire for sleep should decrease once your body is restored. If it does not, then you will want to consider there could be other possible contributors. But if you feel you are getting quality sleep, your numbers show your treatment is therapeutic, and you have no reason to suspect something is wrong", I say you're one week in, enjoy it for a while. Sorry there's no solid timeline of when/if to expect more.

Edit: Hey Pugsy, I hear ya. When I say morning, I'm meaning time of arising. In my personal dictionary of adapted meanings, daybreak is equivalent to midnight.

Thanks kteague...that is comforting to hear.

[library lady]

After nearly 3 months of cpap, I'm still sleepy alot... but I do have more energy, and I rarely take a nap now...

I'm not a morning person either. In fact, my sleep doc determined that in addition to OSA, I have a delayed sleep phase in which my best sleeping time is 3 AM - 11 AM. He offered to give me a light box as therapy for changing it, but that I would always have to get up at the same time every day, or I would fall back into the DSP... I didn't want to do that. I decided I could partially change it, and interestingly enough, after adjusting to cpap use I now go to bed between 11:30 -12:30, and most mornings I get up between 7 and 8 in the morning. I still have days when I "sleep in" until 9:30 or 10 but it's getting rarer and rarer. My 30-day average therapy hours show as 7.5 ...

[zoocrewphoto]

I was never a "morning person" and after 5 years on cpap I am still not a morning person. Good therapy can only do so much.

Part of what you are feeling very well could be just the body craving more "better" sleep. With time that may lessen.
Or you may be like me...despite great therapy and decent hours of sleep (7 to 8 hours) and minimal wake ups during the night that you still aren't a morning person.

I am still very much a night owl. I normally go to bed between 4 and 6 am. I have found that when I go to sleep earlier (say 2am), I tend to not sleep as well. I toss and turn more. Except when I sleep in a hotel room. No idea why that is, but my hotel sleep quality has gone from the worst possible ever (awake part of EVERY hour) to pretty much my best sleep ever (solid sleep until the alarm clock goes off (though that is rarely more than 6 hours due to the need to get up super early).

That said, I do function better in the morning than I used to. 5 hours of good sleep with my cpap machine is better than 8 hours of crappy sleep without my machine.

One of the biggest improvements from cpap is that I no longer have my super bad headaches the day after a cat show. I now know that it was because I would come home form, a busy weekend of short nights and early mornings by sleeping early and late, so more than 12 hours. I would then wake with a bad headache and stay in bed (making it worse). I had no idea that it was due to the bad sleep that was making me "sick" after my cat show weekends. Now I can come home, use my cpap machine, and feel good the next day.

[Pesser]

I maybe one of those people who re-act very well to therapy. I started at 4H20. After the first night, with only 5 hours sleep I felt energized. My AHI was (I think 3.. Because I am likely very sensitive to pressure and because the CPAP worked so well, no one was ever able to determine what my AHI would be without treatment. And I don’t want to go to a sleep lab (at least not yet). I only have 5 to 5 ½ hours of sleep per night. But I have a lot more energy. I am sleepy during the day and always need a nap! I feel much better with CPAP than without. I’ve been on CPAP since Dec. No more GERD and I don’t use ear plugs…..huh!

[bwexler]

I have always been a morning person. As long as morning starts around noon.
I also believe in early to bed, usually by midnight.

I too often (usually) feel tired during the day and crave a nap. But I have only been on CPAP for 3 1/2 years. I am waiting for the years of sleep depravation to be overcome by good sleep and lots of energy.

[Pesser]

I have always been a morning person. As long as morning starts around noon.
I also believe in early to bed, usually by midnight.

I too often (usually) feel tired during the day and crave a nap. But I have only been on CPAP for 3 1/2 years. I am waiting for the years of sleep depravation to be overcome by good sleep and lots of energy.

What was you AHI without CPAP and what is it now?