feels like I have a hang over

I have been ont my cpap for 1 year, when I first started I had a feeling like I had a hangover every morning, lasted about 1 month, in December for the first time in my life I had Allergies, In April I had some eye surgery done and stopped using my cpap for 1 month, I resumed my cpap and had this hangover feeling again & Allergys came back. I stopped using the cpap and no hangover no more allergies, does anyone know whats up with this? By the way I don't drink or smoke or do any drugs, I do not use the humidifier on my machine I did for a short time in the begining but stoped, I live in a very dry climate some times very windy.

Is there a reason you don't use the humidifier given your climate?

It did not make anything different in how I was feeling so I quit, and it also seemed like it could become a problem as I had to clean & dry every day, use distilled water.

I don't see any information regarding your machine, mask etc. Are you able to access your data? Perhaps there is something going on that you could change and get some help if you knew. Perhaps you could register and add the info and others in the group could give you some advice that would really help.

Remstar plus M series has a smart card , face mask no access.

The Plus machine does not collect treatment data, just usage. Maybe your doctor could order a loaner of an auto titrating machine for a couple weeks to see if the pressure is adequate. Without data it's hard to say if your hangover feeling is caused by inadequate treatment or what. Also, are you using a full face mask? If not, could you be opening your mouth during sleep and letting the air go out instead of splinting your airway?

If I don't use the humidifier, I get congested. If I use it warm, I get congested. Use it on passover or very low and no congestion. Maybe you could give the humidifer another try on very low and see if the result is the same. Hope you get things figured out. I was a cpap dropout till I found out here that my dataless machine was not going to help me troubleshoot. My first step was asking for a loaner, then I got my own. But right now you are flying blind unless the mask/mouth leaking happens to apply to you and that's all you need to do to resolve your symptoms. Best wishes.
Kathy

thank that sounds hopeful i will give it a try..

I know EXACTLY what you are talking about. That is how I felt too. What I can tell you is what I've done, which seems to have worked for me. I put away the full face mask, got out my original nasal mask and started taping my mouth. I too got the auto loaner (as was suggested to you a few posts ago) and the data showed that my titration pressure was pretty accurate. I take prescription Allegra daily and keep the humidifier pretty low at 2-2.5, any higher actually makes it worse. Over the course of about a month I can safely say i think this thing is working. I know I was baffled by how could CPAP treatment make me feel worse and it was hard to keep trying but now I'm glad I did. Keep trying different things, you'll get the right combo of tweaks and start feeling better soon!

Another thing to check... is when was the last time that you changed/cleaned your filters?

Thanks for the advice, I still have not used my cpap, I have this fear that I will suffer and feel bad if I use it.

I can relate with you on that. I think that way too, but then I tell myself that I will suffer if I DON'T use it too. More of a long-term, disabling, life-diminishing suffering than having a headache for a day. I look at it like when I was trying to quit smoking.... (smoking equals NOT using it). When I try to quit it is uncomfortable and miserable but it does get better. If I give up and start smoking (stop using CPAP) I will just have to keep reliving that over and over. It really is a matter of struggling through that initial first month or so.

But look, if you're having that much trouble adjusting something could be wrong. It's worth a trip to the doctor's office to check out. In my case, it turned out I learned from using the auto that my pressure never reached the prescribed pressure. My regular CPAP was prescribed at 13 pressure, but on the auto my average pressure was 11. So was getting a constant 13 all night making me feel that way? I don't know, but I do feel better with the auto. Think about if you might want to try the option of using an auto. Even for a month. There is also the built-in incentive to use it every night if you are doing a one month trial- gotta have the data to see what is going on. Not using it= no data= no idea what is going on.