no rem sleep

I have had three sleep studies and in none of them have I had REM sleep. The Doctor claims the reason my AHI is still above 10 is that they have no REM sleep to measure. Is it possible I do not have REM sleep. Even with my settings being 10 to 20 i have very disturbed sleep. I am an owl in a lark world, and will never sleep more than 2 hours sleep at night without waking up for at least a half hour and then maybe going back to sleep for another hour or two. If I do not get REM during sleep studies what will happen to me. Is this cpap business a waste of time because they cannot set up my machine without REM sleep.

I don't know what software you'd use, but it would be helpful if you could post some of your sleep data to see if something leaps off the page that you might try changing to give you better sleep.

I'm curious, though. Do you dream? Do you remember dreaming?

lastlib wrote:I have had three sleep studies and in none of them have I had REM sleep. The Doctor claims the reason my AHI is still above 10 is that they have no REM sleep to measure. Is it possible I do not have REM sleep. Even with my settings being 10 to 20 i have very disturbed sleep. I am an owl in a lark world, and will never sleep more than 2 hours sleep at night without waking up for at least a half hour and then maybe going back to sleep for another hour or two. If I do not get REM during sleep studies what will happen to me. Is this cpap business a waste of time because they cannot set up my machine without REM sleep.

From what I've read on the forum in the last 8 1/2 years, NOT getting REM sleep in a sleep study environment is not uncommon. We're all wired up in a strange environment and for many of us, just getting SOME sleep is difficult.

A person can dream in virtually any sleep stage, so not remembering dreams is not a sign that we're not getting into REM. About the only way they can tell if a person is in REM stage sleep is with the wires attached. So, it can be a vicious cycle of not knowing for sure if the person can't get a decent sleep study.

In my opinion, once a person gets their CPAP therapy "dialed in" in their home environment, the various sleep stages usually start working successfully. It can take some time to get to that point and pay off the "sleep debt".

If you're using a range of pressures in your machine (I got that impression), the pressure changes can jolt you our of the sleep stages because the machine misinterprets your breathing and bumps the pressure. That can keep you from getting the much-needed sleep stages. I frequently recommend that new users stick to a single pressure until they get their therapy under way (and under control). Pressure changes can also cause increased mask leaks......which disrupt sleep.


Den

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While I was at the sleep study I had very strong dreams. I have no data because I can find no program that works with my F and P Icon. I am trying to get all the data from my DME who read my chip because my Dr. is incapable of reading this brand of chip.
I chose my doc because he was highly recommended by my cardiologist, my electro-physicist, my neuro surgeon and by my G.P. He wants me to do another sleep study looking for REM sleep. But since I sleep in short spurts rather than a full night I wonder if I even have REM sleep. As I said I am an owl in a lark world. I survive on 10 to 20 minute naps frequently as opposed to sleeping at night. When I try to sleep I have horrible nightmares. Some times I have such a panicked result of my nightmares that I do not sleep any more that night.