I swear the machine's making me sleepier!

ozij wrote:How unfortunate that you are forced to take 5 hour naps during the day, Julie. I would never be able to go sleep early if I were forced to do that.
It's very very tough to solve sleep problems when you are forced to take 5 hour naps during the day.

It is so important to go to the doctor for a follow up when you yourself do not track you own results.
Have you managed to find out if this is the right machine for you, and if your breathing disruptions are controlled by it?
Have you ever been to that followup you mentioned in April? viewtopic.php?p=362211#p362211
Have overcome the hurdle of keeping the mask on every time you sleep? viewtopic.php?p=366115#p366115
Have you found any solution to those disruptive, sweat drenched nights without any cooling system? viewtopic.php?p=369554#p369554

O.

I generally keep the mask on. I only took it off for those three very hot nights. No solution there, but luckily we don't get a lot of hot weather.

The Dr. said everything seems to be working. But he also said he didn't know if the machine would work for me, given that I have only mild sleep apnea. He said it does not work for everyone.

I wonder what the doctor would say if he knew the machine was making you sleepier....

The Dr. said everything seems to be working

It must a relief for you to trust the doctor as much as you do - did he tell you what to take into account before you decide to stop the therapy because it doesn't help your mild sleep apnea?
Did the doc. and you agree on an end point to the trial?

O.

ozij wrote:I wonder what the doctor would say if he knew the machine was making you sleepier....

The Dr. said everything seems to be working

It must a relief for you to trust the doctor as much as you do - did he tell you what to take into account before you decide to stop the therapy because it doesn't help your mild sleep apnea?
Did the doc. and you agree on an end point to the trial?

O.

I don't necessarily trust the Dr., nor do I distrust him. I am cautious with the medical profession in general afer having been misdiagnosed many times or having them fail to diagnose obvious problems, dismiss my symtoms, etc.

What the Dr. told me to do was keep trying it for another couple of months. Which I said I would do.

You might want to google Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. I have the same problem getting to sleep at a 'normal' time and have had it all my life. I can't nap though.

I would consider bumping the machine up one number. If it is set to 10 make it 11. If your not getting enough air you will be tired. It's air it won't kill you to tinker a little.Also try to take a Tylenol pm and go to bed early enough to give yourself a chance at 7 or 8 straight hours. It also takes a while for the cpap to really work in my opinion it could take a month or so. Did you notice when you first put it on , your body said " what the hell is this". Well give it some time, effort and a fair chance. Once you get it dialed in, you will be sleeping like a baby. I hadn't dreamed for years and everyone said , oh everyone dreams. But after i got the cpap all worked out, I now have vivid dreams which is pretty cool.

Juliebove wrote:

ozij wrote:I wonder what the doctor would say if he knew the machine was making you sleepier....

The Dr. said everything seems to be working

It must a relief for you to trust the doctor as much as you do - did he tell you what to take into account before you decide to stop the therapy because it doesn't help your mild sleep apnea?
Did the doc. and you agree on an end point to the trial?

O.

I don't necessarily trust the Dr., nor do I distrust him. I am cautious with the medical profession in general afer having been misdiagnosed many times or having them fail to diagnose obvious problems, dismiss my symtoms, etc.

What the Dr. told me to do was keep trying it for another couple of months. Which I said I would do.

Oh, sorry. I must have misunderstood something. I figured you must trust the doctor since you agreed to continue using the machine despite the fact it makes you sleepy, and you prefer to have the machine set up the way the doc set it up - I thought that indicated trust. Especially since this has been going on like that since April.

But you're just being careful - so you'll just do what he says because he's the doctor, and that's what he says. I see that now - with a history of failed diagnoses and dimissal of your symptoms that caution is understandable.


Good luck.
O.

julie,

As long as you are sleeping 5 hours during the day . . . you will not be able to sleep well at night.

It won't be easy, but until you force yourself NOT to nap, nothing will change for you. Even though it will be very difficult to do at first, the only way you will have the opportunity to be TIRED enough to go to bed by 10:00 and sleep 8 hours . . . is to spend a couple weeks avoiding napping (especially afternoons and evenings). Yeah, I know, it's a bummer. But that's how it works. And only YOU can do it.

I'm really pulling for you!

Joy

feklar42 wrote:You might want to google Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome. I have the same problem getting to sleep at a 'normal' time and have had it all my life. I can't nap though.

That sounds exactly like what I have!

nate fry wrote:I would consider bumping the machine up one number. If it is set to 10 make it 11. If your not getting enough air you will be tired. It's air it won't kill you to tinker a little.Also try to take a Tylenol pm and go to bed early enough to give yourself a chance at 7 or 8 straight hours. It also takes a while for the cpap to really work in my opinion it could take a month or so. Did you notice when you first put it on , your body said " what the hell is this". Well give it some time, effort and a fair chance. Once you get it dialed in, you will be sleeping like a baby. I hadn't dreamed for years and everyone said , oh everyone dreams. But after i got the cpap all worked out, I now have vivid dreams which is pretty cool.

How can I possibly bump up an automatic machine? It is set from 5 to 20. When my card was read, they said the highest I ever went was 8 with most of the time my being at 7.8.

JoyD. wrote:julie,

As long as you are sleeping 5 hours during the day . . . you will not be able to sleep well at night. Period.

It won't be easy, but until you force yourself NOT to nap, nothing will change for you. Even though it will be very difficult to do at first, the only way you will have the opportunity to be TIRED enough to go to bed by 10:00 and sleep 8 hours . . . is to spend a couple weeks avoiding napping (especially afternoons and evenings). Yeah, I know, it's a bummer. But that's how it works. And only YOU can do it.

I'm really pulling for you!

Joy

Oh that is sooo untrue! I do not take naps on Saturdays. I have NEVER been tired at 10:00. Not even as a child. My dad said as a baby he used to drive me around all night. It was the only way I could sleep. But once the car stopped, I would wake up immediately.

I did try to reset my internal body clock when we lived on Cape Cod and I wasn't working. The only thing that did was annoy me and cause even further insomnia. My normal body clock makes me get sleepy around 1:30 in the morning and makes me alert around 2 in the afternoon.

Juliebove wrote:

nate fry wrote:I would consider bumping the machine up one number. If it is set to 10 make it 11. If your not getting enough air you will be tired. It's air it won't kill you to tinker a little.Also try to take a Tylenol pm and go to bed early enough to give yourself a chance at 7 or 8 straight hours. It also takes a while for the cpap to really work in my opinion it could take a month or so. Did you notice when you first put it on , your body said " what the hell is this". Well give it some time, effort and a fair chance. Once you get it dialed in, you will be sleeping like a baby. I hadn't dreamed for years and everyone said , oh everyone dreams. But after i got the cpap all worked out, I now have vivid dreams which is pretty cool.

How can I possibly bump up an automatic machine?

I'm not saying you can do this, Julie, but the fact is that the minimum pressure on any automatic machine can be moved higher.

It is set from 5 to 20. When my card was read, they said the highest I ever went was 8 with most of the time my being at 7.8.

Some people's sleep can be disturbed by the pressure going from 5 to 8 and back down again all night. For those people, rasing the minimum pressure makes them sleep much better. I'm not saying this is right for you Julie. Another person, with your settings, and your feeling of exhaustion could actually benefit quite a bit from having the minimum pressure raised to about 7.

O.

Raising the minimum pressure 1 cm to start may help. A minimum of 5 cm is very low. For most people it is too low.


I am wondering what time of day are you taking these 5 hour naps. If the naps begin any time after noon and you sleep 5 hours, there is no way you will tired again at a reasonable time at night, like 10:30 or 11 PM.

I don't think you said, anywhere in the thread, what time of day these naps happen. With 5 hours naps a person can't really start a nap after noon say, and still be able to get to sleep at a reasonable time at night.

It might be a help to not let yourself have a nap if it is noon or later.

Do you have an exercise routine? Perhaps instead of having a nap you could go for a walk. I know you said you have Fibromyalgia so walking may not be easy. I understand that because I have Rhematoid Arthritis but I try to get a walk or some form of fairly vigorous exercise (biking, walking)in every day, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes in the early evening.

It might be a help to try something like this.

You say your daughter who doesn't use cpap is groggy too? Have you considered carbon monxide in the house? Or some other gas that could be affecting you? Does anyone else live there and stay inside as much as you and your daughter? How do they feel this week?

Hawthorne wrote:Raising the minimum pressure 1 cm to start may help. A minimum of 5 cm is very low. For most people it is too low.


I am wondering what time of day are you taking these 5 hour naps. If the naps begin any time after noon and you sleep 5 hours, there is no way you will tired again at a reasonable time at night, like 10:30 or 11 PM.

I don't think you said, anywhere in the thread, what time of day these naps happen. With 5 hours naps a person can't really start a nap after noon say, and still be able to get to sleep at a reasonable time at night.

It might be a help to not let yourself have a nap if it is noon or later.

Do you have an exercise routine? Perhaps instead of having a nap you could go for a walk. I know you said you have Fibromyalgia so walking may not be easy. I understand that because I have Rhematoid Arthritis but I try to get a walk or some form of fairly vigorous exercise (biking, walking)in every day, sometimes in the afternoon and sometimes in the early evening.

It might be a help to try something like this.

I go back to bed around 9 (sometimes earlier) and sleep until about 1 or 2. I also have Psoritatic Arthritis, Venous Insufficieny, and moderate Neuropathy in the feet and legs from diabetes. Vigorous exercise is out of the question for me. I used to work out with weights but I just haven't had the energy to do that any more.

I used to drop off to sleep very quickly as well. And I still can if I don't use the machine. But with the machine, I lay there for a very long time, listening to my breathing and feeling annoyed!

Juliebove, I'm sorry, and we don't mean to be confrontational, but your split 10 hours sleep does not equal 8-10 straight hours sleep overnight. Daytime sleep is not the same as evening, nor is it as restorative. You've a lifetime of awkward sleeping habits and timing to overcome.

I too used to sleep very well and quickly without the machine. For over a year, I lay there listening to it and me breathe. Sometimes drove me nuts. But I came to feel that 8 hours even often awake on the machine is preferable to 8 asleep without it, energy- and capability-wise. In the last few months, I've at last started sleeping more or less through the night.

But the change from split to overnight sleeping or resting makes a big difference over time - I now think the mask and machine are like drugs to me - two minutes and I'm off. They actually relax me considerably.

It may be that while you continue to get those 5 hours through the day, you will not feel well or energized.