Good Reason for Good Sleep Habits

Well this has been an exceptionally rough week, working 11+ hour days, mixed with a funeral of a coworker and an extremely busy time at work as well. I noticed that my usual lower pressure on my Remstar Auto has been replaced by a much higher average. I am attributing this to being tired from the the grueling schedule... Hopefully next week I can get back to my normal schedule...

Mike, so sorry to hear about your tough week in general and your coworker in particular. You must be made out of iron, my friend! You've got a lot going on and still manage to treat us with your neat posts in general and all those relevant links you manage to find. I've been struggling big time with bruxism pain day and night the last couple of days and have barely managed to post myself.

On the subject of "good sleep habits", I have to drop this one humorous but true anecdote. When I very first read of how important "good sleep hygiene" was, I hadn't a clue that phrase simply referred to "good sleep habits". Until I actually looked up the phrase "good sleep hygiene" I honestly suspected we were going to have to wash the bed linens even more often than we do...

Have also noticed variability in my own pressure requirements depending on how sleep deprived I happen to be. My hunch is that it relates to the selective order in which sleep stages are sequenced as we pay back sleep debt.

Guested above...

Me too!

Interesting that the three of us (along with others, I'm sure) seem to be in the same boat. I wonder how all the work/life stresses contribute to our apnea. The long hours, the high stress. Mike, your above post could be a description of my life much of the time. -SWS, I have worn I night (mouth) guard for a number of years for the same reason you are getting one. What in our lives can cause us to clench our jaws to the point of breaking our teeth? And is the apnea related or affected by this stress?

You are saying what I've known for years. I've had OSA for about 25 years that I know of, with some Central thrown in all my life.
I'm only just now getting ready to have therapy.
I noticed a long time ago, that when I was physically exhausted that my apnea was much worse. How did I know? Because I would barely fall asleep before waking with a bang. Over and over. Up and down to the bathroom all night long. It is common to think you are needing to go to the bathroom when in effect it is the apnea waking you up and making you think bathroom needs is the problem.
Not so. My RN sister says that normally, your body systems slow the kidney output down while you are asleep, and ramps back up when you are awake.
Doesn't it seem reasonable that if you are constantly awakening with OSA, that this would keep the kidneys ramped up in the "awake" mode?
I always noted that when I got exhausted, the OSA was worse. So I would get up more tired from the poor night. Leading into another bad night. It would take me about a week to slowly get back to "normal" OSA compared to the "exhausted" OSA.
Betty

Absolutely agree with all of you!

In the three or four years before I got on cpap, I had noticed I was clenching my teeth at night. That subsided within a few months after I started cpap. I still do it occasionally during the daytime if it's a particularly busy day, but nothing like the night time jaw clenching I'd been doing.

Photogal, your RN sister is absolutely right about why untreated OSA sufferers often take many nocturnal trips to the bathroom. And finding that subsiding when they finally get on effective cpap treatment.

That's funny what you said about "good sleep hygiene", SWS. My first impression of that phrase was, "Hmmm, take a bath before bedtime? Wear freshly laundered PJ's? Keep the bedroom clean?" LOL!! Funny to think about, considering nowadays I simply add more distilled water and get great sleep.

Rested gal, wish I could get together with you and have a cup of coffee. You sound like someone who would make a great friend.
Betty

wading thru the muck! wrote:Me too!

Interesting that the three of us (along with others, I'm sure) seem to be in the same boat. I wonder how all the work/life stresses contribute to our apnea. The long hours, the high stress. Mike, your above post could be a description of my life much of the time. -SWS, I have worn I night (mouth) guard for a number of years for the same reason you are getting one. What in our lives can cause us to clench our jaws to the point of breaking our teeth? And is the apnea related or affected by this stress?

My pressure variability tends to be driven more by fatigue than stress---although stress can drive fatigue. Paying back sleep debt typically entails REM rebound. Pressure requirements are very often higher in REM than non-REM.

The bruxism trigger has me totally baffled. I thought my bruxism went away as soon as I received a diagnosis of apnea and CPAP. My assumption was that the untreated apnea somehow caused the bruxism. Now I don't think that's the case (for me at least). Rather, I believe the untreated apnea aggravated the bruxism in a big way. Now I doubt if my own bruxism ever really went away. I suspect it was present all along, with lesser tooth clenching that may have always caused transient pain and cortical arousals, even while on CPAP. I will eventually have to call the sleep lab and ask what sensor they used to detect bruxism. If it was a sensor based on detection of sound or vibration, the tooth grinder would have a detection edge over the tooth clenchers. If the sensor directly measured downward tooth-on-tooth stress, then the clenchers would have the detection advantage. I am a bruxer with signs of clenching but no signs of grinding.

The trigger or flare up of my recent bruxism has me baffled as well. I went through very high stress a few months back with my mother-in-law's stroke, and absolutely no hints or clues of bruxism. I have been at a very low stress point in life lately, and wham! Bruxism with excruciating pain. I recently went through that cold or flu bug that entailed a 104 degree temperature. That is the only recent large "delta" in my life lately that I can discern. So that gets me to wondering: can bruxism have a viral or physiological component---at least as a possible flare-up trigger?

Automatically "guested" above.

-SWS,

Stress can be a mysterious thing. It is not always obvious that one is in a state of stress. Sometimes the body reacts and compensates, other times it does not and things like bruxism flare up. I wondered if my nocturnal buxism was just a response to the apneic events. I have found that they have not disappeared with 'pap therapy. The best remedy for all concerns seems to me to be the topic of this thread. Getting in to a good routine and practicing good sleep hygiene makes the stresses of the day less stressful. That is, my body is more able to compensate for the stress and I find the result is less associated problems.

SWS --

I don't have this bruxism thing.

But since starting my treatment, my emotions have been all over the map. It's almost as if I suddenly can "feel" again. Emotions, stress, the good, the bad, all of it -- it all seems suddenly there, or as a heightened sensitivity. Happiness seems happier, sadness seems much sadder, stress seems much stressier (probably not a word). What was seemingly suppressed before (except angst over the exhaustion) now seems to be blossoming anew.

But for you, that's not logical, given you're only recently experiencing a flare-up of this.

Sure is an interesting mystery, though.


Linda,
stressin' over stressin'