Rem Rebound

Hi,
I had been on CPAP for 3 weeks - titrated setting after sleep study at 12 and switched over to APAP (initial setting at 7 -13and then 3 days ago set to 9 -15). Average AHI -3.6. I started August 17, 2006.
I had started to dream after therapy, but since last change in settings I have been having nightmares. Is this related to last change in setting or is it Rem Rebound, since I probably have had OSA for many years. Any ideas or comments would be very appreciated.

Great question, you asked!!!

Answer is : I don't know!!!! (But maybe some of the more learned amongst us will chime in and enlighten you and me both!)

I've experienced the same thing, as recently as just last night. I've been using a FREMstar Auto for about 60 days and I've been using EncorePro/MyEncore for about 4 weeks. I was originally titrated to 10 cmh20, went to APAP at 7-14 cmh20, and since using the REMstar Auto and Encore Pro, I've raised the floor twice; to 8 cm and then last night, to 9 cm. On BOTH occasions when I raised the floor, I had a night FULL of NIGHTMARES immediately thereafter. Not just dreams, but NIGHTMARES! Now, I'm grateful for my obviously imoroving sleep architecture, but I'm awful curious about why it consistently nightmares that I have with a pressure change.

Thanks for starting this thread!

Chuck

REM Rebound is the "honeymoon feeling" you get when first starting out on cpap therapy (not what I'd call it, but what Nurse33 calls it). Unfortunately it only lasts 1-2 weeks if therapy is working.

When you have untreated OSA it deprives you of much needed REM sleep. You can go years without getting much REM sleep but eventually it wears you down and you start seeking out help. Once REM is restored via use of cpap or other means, your body wants to stay in REM much more. Once your body has caught up with REM sleep you return to normal sleep efficiency and that great refreshed feeling lessens and/or goes away.

That honeymoon period is known as REM Rebound. It only lasts 1-2 weeks, for some only a day or two.

Hmmm .... I wonder if duration of REM rebound is in any way correlated to duration of untreated OSA.

I began dreaming intensely the first night on CPAP and have not stopped since ... it has been almost 8 weeks. I not complaining though.

However, I also use to have lots of dreams all the way up into my early 30's after which they pretty much stopped. My early 30's also correlates to a significant weight gain for me which I'm currently trying to get control of with my new found energy.

- roberto

I started therapy in May. I started with the intense dreaming, also. In August, I started having very disturbing nightmares which always ended with me waking up feeling like I couldn't breathe. I don't know why, but as abruptly as these nightmares started, they have disapeared. Those dreams give an abrupt start to your day, don't they? Hope your dream state improves!

Dawn

I was having more frequent, wacky dreams before cpap, now hardly any. Funny how we're all different. I always blamed it on the fact that since the lab told me I was having apneic episodes during REM, that I would be in REM, dreaming ,have an episode and be "jolted" out of REM taking the dream with me to a sub-conscientious state so that I could remember them the next morning. Am I weird or what?