STILL SLEEPY IN THE MORNING!

I am new to using CPAP and have only just started during the past week to sleep with my mask on all night. I thought that by using the CPAP I would bounce out of bed in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for an energetic new day!!! Then why am I still tired and groggy in the morning and sometimes take off my mask, roll over and fall back to sleep!? I am an active person. Work out at 24 Hour Fitness at least 4 or 5 times a week..Aqua Aerobics three times a week. Walk my dogs twice a day. Will this improve?

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR REPLIES. MY CPAP DOES NOT HAVE THE FEATURE TO CHECK THE AHI, ALTHOUGH I THINK IT IS A GOOD ONE FROM APRIA. MY AHI WAS NOT THAT BAD TO BEGIN WITH 20 TO 25 TIMES A NIGHT. LAST NIGHT I WAS A BAD GIRL. WOKE UP AT 2AM AND TOOK OFF MY MASK. MY HUSBAND SAID THAT I WAS SNORING, SO KNOW THAT I MUST KEEP IT ON! IT WAS A PLEASURE TO ROLL OVER WITHOUT THE MASK!! DO ANY OF YOU CHEAT OCCASIONALLY? SUE

WOW! WUFMAN YOU ARE AS TOUGH AS THAT WOLF IN THE PHOTO! YOU ARE CORRECT! I MAY NOT BE TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY, AND MUST PERSEVERE. MY SLEEP APNEA IS NOT AS SERIOUS AS SOME, SUCH AS MY SISTER WHO HAS AN AHI OF 100 AN HOUR! FOR THAT REASON IF FELT I COULD GOOF OFF OCCASSIONALLY. MUST SAY THAT ALL DAY SATURDAY I DID NOT FEEL SO GOOD; MUZZY HEADED AND TIRED ALL DAY. LAST NIGHT I SLEPT WITH THE MASK FROM 10PM UNTIL 2AM, THEN TOOK OFF THE MASK AND SLEPT UNTIL 8AM AND ACTUALLY FEEL BETTER TODAY! CAN YOU ANSWER THAT?

SUEBRIT wrote:I am new to using CPAP and have only just started during the past week to sleep with my mask on all night. I thought that by using the CPAP I would bounce out of bed in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for an energetic new day!!! Then why am I still tired and groggy in the morning and sometimes take off my mask, roll over and fall back to sleep!? I am an active person. Work out at 24 Hour Fitness at least 4 or 5 times a week..Aqua Aerobics three times a week. Walk my dogs twice a day. Will this improve?

What does your data say with regard to your AHI?

Also why do you think one week on cpap will undo years of damage? If you broke your leg would you assume the cast made it all right to run a marathon?

There is a certain amount of catch up sleep that some people need to do. The first weeks I slept like the dead for 12 hours but I have never in my life bounced out of bed in the mornings and I certainly don't expect to on cpap either.

What machine do you use? What mask do you use? If you will go to your Profile and permanently add your equipment it will help us help you.

What pressure is used? Could there be mask leak affecting therapy? Software to verify numbers?

You have to confirm that therapy is optimal before expecting to see results. Even then there can be other factors affecting how we feel like number of hours of sleep, pain, meds, general health... Often other issues impact how we feel the next day besides OSA but we would like to put on the mask and wake up feeling like a brand new person. Yes, some people are lucky and have this happen but there are many of us who saw only minor and very gradual improvements.

SUEBRIT wrote: I am an active person. Work out at 24 Hour Fitness at least 4 or 5 times a week..Aqua Aerobics three times a week. Walk my dogs twice a day. Will this improve?

Wow. For a person with sleep apnea, your doing very well in the energy department.

It's hard for me to say, but a friend of mine who's a trainer said there should always be a day of rest in between workouts at any age, so is it possible you're just feeling exhausted in the morning rather than sleepy?

Also, earlier in your life, were you a "morning person?" I never was, preferring to stay up late and sleep in. Now, with the CPAP after a week of use, I find that I'm able to function much better in the AM, but I'm still not a morning person at all. Getting between me and the coffee maker is a very hazardous endeavor.

Looking back on my early times on CPAP I like to think of them as doing an internship - lots of learning but no payday till I was able to do the job. In CPAP, the payoff is incentive to be a quick study.

Think about this - when you take your mask off for the last part of your night, you are practically guaranteeing your brain will wake up from apnea filled misery, maybe even low oxygen. Expecting to start your day well may not be a realistic expectation.

Not trying to be hard on you. I was a slow learner, and in retrospect realize that my part-time approach (even though not intentional) prolonged my misery. Are there things you can identify that need to be addressed that could expedite your progress? And you have made progress so this time is not wasted. Don't get discouraged and think this is as good as you're going to feel. I'm wondering how you'd feel after the same number of weeks of waking up with the mask on.

Let us know if there's anything specific we can help you work through.

Kathy

Well if your machine doesn't show the AHI, etc. it is going to be hard to know what is happening. Knowing what I have read here on the forum about Apria -- you can bet you probably got stuck with a low end machine. Oh, it may work just fine for you -- but if you encounter problems no way to pin down what is going on.

After a week, especially if you are not sleeping all night with it or are napping without it -- you are still having apneas. I never was a morning person -- hate mornings. Guess what -- I still hate mornings -- but work says I must come in and do my job if I want paid. It takes me about 30 to 45 minutes to become human. I don't do coffee (allergic to caffiene and never liked the taste of it). Once awake I am usually okay -- although as I age I have found an occasional nap is refreshing.

Give it time -- try to keep the mask on ALL night -- and see how things go.

My sleep doc (a neurologist) told me that even with proper compliance, 20-30% of the people on CPAP continue to have daytime tiredness. Apparently I'm one of those, so he prescribed Nuvigil, a medication for treating obstructive sleep apnea (which I have) and narcolepsy (which I don't have). It's expensive, but it's made a huge difference in how I'm feeling. I'm feeling awake and alert right this minute. I'd say it's about 75% due to finally getting the hang of CPAP therapy last month and 25% due to the medication. He says the people who don't feel relief from tiredness are the ones who are most likely to abandon therapy even though they are getting good results by the numbers. It's important to treat both issues--the health implications of having apneas and the lack of daytime alertness. (Have I mentioned that I love my sleep doc? He's doing a great job of following my therapy and helping me achieve a fully successful outcome. Yeay, Doc!)

(BTW, Nuvigil is very similar to Provigil, which is about to become a generic drug. Provigil should be considerably less expensive once that happens. My doctor says the only difference between Nuvigil and Provigil is that Provigil contains both chemical isomers of the drug--only one of which is effective. The manufacturer has figured out how to separate the two isomers so Nuvigil only contains the effective one. That fact has allowed them to continue to sell Nuvigil under patent, which accounts for the high cost.)

One more thing... You really need to give CPAP at least a couple of more weeks before you decide whether adding a med would be a good idea. My numbers were good for a good two months before my doctor started me on Nuvigil, but it was obvious that CPAP alone wasn't going to solve my problem.

SUEBRIT wrote:I am new to using CPAP and have only just started during the past week to sleep with my mask on all night. I thought that by using the CPAP I would bounce out of bed in the morning feeling refreshed and ready for an energetic new day!!! Then why am I still tired and groggy in the morning and sometimes take off my mask, roll over and fall back to sleep!? I am an active person. Work out at 24 Hour Fitness at least 4 or 5 times a week..Aqua Aerobics three times a week. Walk my dogs twice a day. Will this improve?

THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR REPLIES. MY CPAP DOES NOT HAVE THE FEATURE TO CHECK THE AHI, ALTHOUGH I THINK IT IS A GOOD ONE FROM APRIA. MY AHI WAS NOT THAT BAD TO BEGIN WITH 20 TO 25 TIMES A NIGHT. LAST NIGHT I WAS A BAD GIRL. WOKE UP AT 2AM AND TOOK OFF MY MASK. MY HUSBAND SAID THAT I WAS SNORING, SO KNOW THAT I MUST KEEP IT ON! IT WAS A PLEASURE TO ROLL OVER WITHOUT THE MASK!! DO ANY OF YOU CHEAT OCCASIONALLY? SUE

After reading this post and your four previous posts, I find it incredible that you are so lackadaisical in your attitude toward this therapy......but yet expect "miracles" with regard to the results from half-hearted usage.

If you don't use it ALL NIGHT LONG.......it doesn't provide the results you seek!!! And, it's going to probably take MONTHS of consistent usage for you to see some of those results.

I also get the impression that you don't read very much on this forum, either. I would suggest you start spending a good deal of time here learning about this condition you have.


Den