Very sleepy with Cpap

I am new to Cpap and I have not slept more than a couple of hours per night for many years and then perhaps 5 hours one night a week. I was started on Cpap after one sleep study of 1 hour and they even gave me a medicine to take. They were hoping I would become accustomed to the Cpap and when they had the second study I would sleep better. I did. I slept 2 hours and the technician said they got good results. I have not had my visit with my doctor yet to hear the results. I was given nasal pillows which were not very successful for me as I can't stay on my back and they won't stay in for me when I go on my side. At the second study, they tried a Fisher Paykel nasal mask #407 which worked better and now I am amazed to find that the instant I put it on, I go to sleep and I sleep for 8 to 10 hours, getting up 3 times and going right back to sleep. The other interesting thing is that I feel more tired than when I only slept 1 to 2 hours and yawn all day long and could easily nap which I never did before. Any ideas? Thanks

Give it time, it should get better especially if your sleeping that long now. Remember youve been very tired for awhile, it may well take some time to get rested again.

Beckyboo222 wrote:I am new to Cpap and I have not slept more than a couple of hours per night for many years and then perhaps 5 hours one night a week. I was started on Cpap after one sleep study of 1 hour and they even gave me a medicine to take. They were hoping I would become accustomed to the Cpap and when they had the second study I would sleep better. I did. I slept 2 hours and the technician said they got good results. I have not had my visit with my doctor yet to hear the results. I was given nasal pillows which were not very successful for me as I can't stay on my back and they won't stay in for me when I go on my side. At the second study, they tried a Fisher Paykel nasal mask #407 which worked better and now I am amazed to find that the instant I put it on, I go to sleep and I sleep for 8 to 10 hours, getting up 3 times and going right back to sleep. The other interesting thing is that I feel more tired than when I only slept 1 to 2 hours and yawn all day long and could easily nap which I never did before. Any ideas? Thanks

Congratulations on adapting to your therapy.
I think the answer is that your body has a large sleep debt to pay back. Make sure you're not mouth-leaking and stick with it. It can take months to feel some recovery, although there are a small few who get instant results.

Den

I guess what I am most curious about is the fact that as soon as I put the mask on, I go to sleep. All my life, I lay for hours until 2 or 3 AM before going to sleep so I never thought I was tired and now I can lie down at 10 o'clock and go to sleep. I have talked to others who have no difference in the time they go to sleep. It seems rather strange.

I also used to sleep only a few hours a night. I think my body was trying to save me from the stress of an apnea. Once I did fall asleep I was awakened at least every 2 hrs or so(apneas). Since starting cpap, I fall asleep with in minutes of masking up and sleep for about 6 1/2 hrs. I think my body has figured out that I CAN sleep now. I did sleep for more hours in the beginning, I guess I caught up on my sleep debt.

Brenda