Caffeine and Sleep-Apnea

Hi

A month on my CPAP therapy and things were progressing but still not ideal. Although I felt somewhat more refreshed in the morning, I did not manage to get much more than 7 hours of interrupted sleep. I would also consistently wake up at least during the night.

Since I always was a heavy coffee drinker, seemingly compensating for my sleep-apnea. I decided last Wednesday to reduce my daily coffee intake. I did it progressively:
from 6 cups on Wednesday,
2 on Thursday,
1,5 on Friday,
0.5 Saturday,
and nothing on Sunday.

The results so far are encouraging. I managed to sleep a full 10 hours and felt incredibly refreshed. I must say that I did have and still experience to a milder degree the traditional caffeine withdrawal symptoms: headaches, nausea and moodiness. It really was not easy and I thought I was going to die, so my week-end was pretty much a write-off. But I think it's quite worth it.

I'll see how it goes tomorrow as it is work day and times are stressful. We'll see how it goes.

Christo

What you might not yet realize is that there is tons of acid in caffeine, and that alone will contribute hugely to the GERD that so often accompanies OSA. By quitting now (before you apparently have had symptoms you're aware of) you've given yourself a head start on not having GERD be an issue, or at least a big one.

WOW! I never heard of GERD. Thanks!

I think this might be correct. I noticed that with my coffee intake and with caffeine free (aspertaine) , I still had problems at night. The worse night was I had a triple fudge cake with 3 cups of decaf coffee (still think it has caffeine) though it's called decaf . Woke up several times with heart palpitations. I've cut back this week and it's better. However, still having those neck problems from the straps of the mask.

I just want to advise, based on my experience, if you want to cut the caffeine be prepared. The 3rd day for me was a nightmare, I thought I was going to throw-up. I was sweaty and had a pounding headache, and was incredibly nasty to my girlfriend. But sleeping through it with my CPAP machine over the week-end was marvelous, I have to say I am on cloud nine now... I had not felt like this in ages...

Hello, my name is SheZAAM! and I'm a caffeine addict!

Good luck. Fortunately I didn't have the same experience, but I wasn't getting my caffeine from coffee. I was using No-Doz to keep myself from falling asleep. Each tab is 200mg. At my worst I was taking 900mg. (about 9 c. coffee) a day, which also includes a Starbucks cappuccino. The first night I got 7 hrs of mask time, I only took one tab and had one Starbucks. I still get up once a night and have to fiddle with my pillows when they start leaking around 5am. I'm still get tired around 3pm and sometimes all day, but it's not the butt-dragging, bone-aching total exhaustion that I had before.

Hi SHeeZam,

I think my experience resembles yours in that I was getting up once a night and was getting 7 hours of sleep a night. It's a little early to tell but cutting caffeine may be what go me to sleep 10 hours. I also needed time to get used to the machine. What's your AHI, HI and AI? Are you still taking caffeine?

HI Christo,

I don't know my current numbers as I don't have a data capable machine. I was having 62 "events" per hour. I probably would have fallen asleep somewhere I shouldn't if I didn't use all the caffine I was.

Did you sleep all night without getting up at all when you got those 10 hrs?

I'm still taking a No-Doz in the a.m. but only get a Starbucks 3 times a week and haven't napped since the CPAP kicked in. I used to nap every chance I got....then was still tired. It really sucked.

>I don't know my current numbers as I don't have a data capable machine

That kind of sucks. I guess it's good to sometimes not know since I was obsessed with the numbers in the beginning. When I stopped worrying the numbers went down.
It's weird because I have a similar model to yours. I have the S8 Elite. Are you sure you can't get the data? What happens when, on the panel, you press the two horizontal lined buttons simultaneously for 3 seconds. Do you see a review menu in the LCD.
Here in Ontario, we have a one month free trial with the machine, once your follow-up appointment comes up, I would have my data reviewed to ensure that the pressure setting is ok for you.

>Did you sleep all night without getting up at all when you got those 10 hrs?
Yes, that's why I feel so great. I just hope that I will be able to sleep as well tonight.

>I'm still taking a No-Doz in the a.m. but only get a Starbucks 3 times a week and haven't napped since the >CPAP kicked in. I used to nap every chance I got....then was still tired. It really sucked.

I am not sure how to go from here. I used to love getting my double long espresso in the morning at the local coffee shop. It would keep me going, especially if I had to work that day. I'll play it by hear. See how I feel. I believe in taking things one step at a time.

Try de-caf!

I had a data capable machine for a week, which was a loaner. When I brought it back, they gave me the S8 Compact that I have now as my "keeper". It was set at 4, ramp up to 9. They called me 3 days later and said the loaner machine (must have adjusted) told them I need to stay at 9. Good thing because one night I experimented and put it at 10. I woke up full of air! It was aweful. I felt like a balloon.

When I enter the clinical menu I can set the altitude, pressure, date/time, see total hours, serial number and some other number, but not data.

I have an HMO.

Thanks for the tip, let's see how I will react to de-caf!

Christo - Triple fudge is FULL of caffeine (any chocolate is), so consider that too.

There is no caffeine in chocolate.

http://www.xocoatl.org/caffeine.htm

Caffeine Content - All figures are approximate, especially with coffee. Different varietals can have different caffeine content, and the way the coffee is roasted can also change the values.

Double espresso (2oz) 45-100 mg
Brewed coffee (8 oz) 60-120 mg
Instant coffee (8 oz) 70 mg
Decaf coffee (8 oz) 1-5 mg
Tea - black (8 oz) 45 mg
Tea - green (8 oz) 20 mg
Tea - white (8 oz) 15 mg
Coca Cola (12 oz can) 34 mg
Pepsi (12 oz can) 38 mg
Barq's Root Beer (12 oz can) 22 mg
7-up (12 oz) 0 mg
Chocolate milk (8 oz) 4 mg
Dark chocolate (1 oz) 20 mg
Milk chocolate (1 oz) 6 mg
Ben & Jerry's Coffee Fudge Frozen Yogurt (8 oz) 85 mg

Mr. X's blog shows no mention of science, just personal input, and whatever his agenda re theobromine vs caffeine, I wouldn't pay it a lot of attention in light of overwhelming scientific evidence of caffeine being a component in chocolate.

De-Caf has come a long way! I know a vendor that has been in the coffee business for 30 years and he has yet to see ANYONE that can tell the difference between great de-caf and caffinated coffee. Besides the Swiss Water Process, there is now an even better one...The Mountain Water Process..."The Mountain Water Decaf process uses clear, pure water from the glaciers and highest mountain in Mexico. In the decaffeination process, the green coffee beans are immersed in water in order to extract the caffeine. The water constains the soluble components of the coffee beans which hold the elements of the individual coffee's flavor, so that during the extraction of the caffeine the beans maintain their original taste components. The resulting coffee is 99.9 caffeine free. Once decaffeination is finished the beans are dried and packed. We are finding the coffee decaffeinated in this ultra modern Mexican plant to be the purest and cleanest we have found. In addition, the process can be performed on relatively small lots of coffee - this means top quality coffees, rather than volume coffees - can be decaffeinated. Top coffees decaffeinated this way are a real break-through." These guys make the BEST tasting decaf: http://www.willoughbyscoffee.com/page/WCT/CTGY/DEC