Sleepy and Fatigued

Hi all,

When I started CPap a couple of weeks ago (for the 2nd time in my life) I immediately felt much better. I actually felt rested when I woke up!

In the last couple of days I have been very fatigued and sleepy despite numbers that are acceptable and below 3. I realize I owe quite a few years of sleep debt and that I'm not alone because I see other people here with the same issues. I also do not have the horrible feeling of exhaustion when I wake up and I only drink one cup of coffee per day. I still am not getting exercise because I'm too tired and to be honest, this is getting me down. On top of that after about a week of beautiful weather, we are back to rain all the time......not that I mind it as I love our PNW weather but it's not helping to get me outside exercising.....could go to the gym, I suppose.

However, it seems strange to being going the wrong way recovery wise. Is this "normal" for some people? I have attached pics from last night for your review. From my limited understanding they don't look bad to me. Does anyone see anything that stands out in my report?

Thanks in advance!

Your numbers look good, sleep debt can be an issue. Also your body has been used to struggling at night & is still adjusting to the 'new normal'. Give yourself some time to adjust, just keep doing a great job & hopefully you'll feel better soon.

Thanks, JenCat! I am frustrated but will work on patience. It's so tiring to be tired!!

The honeymoon may be over...seems like that happens to some people.

Also don't forget that not everything can be blamed on OSA or the machine...meds, other health conditions...and sometimes just the aliens.
I got 7 hours of sleep last night and for the first time in ages I absolutely had to take a 3 1/2 nap this afternoon.
I have no idea what happened but I have been totally wiped out today.
It must be the aliens.

Me too, Pugsy. I took a two hour nap. Must be those pesky aliens!

Not a long enough honeymoon, thank you very much! You are right I'm diabetic and dealing with a faulty thyroid so yes, it definitely could be something else. I just had lab work done and everything was in normal range except that I'm low in magnesium and of course, some thyroid irregularity. I am even normal in vitamin D now!

oh well.....at least I can hope not to have a stroke or heart attack due to the sleep apnea and my insulin usage is down......can't' have everything!

I do remember the sleep debt which took about a month to get normal. It does make you sleepy.

I also remember a tendency to under breath when quiet - the hypercapnea (too much CO2 in the blood) of which tends to act a bit like alcohol on your nervous system. Slow thought and reactions.

I had a hill to walk up after work each day, I think it helped get my breathing reflexes working better again.

Activity takes time to build up. Just do some little thing. A walk around the block. Just a little thing. But tomorrow do a little bit bigger thing.

At several years in I still pursue my goal of an average of 10,000 steps a day. It is looking like I will make about 90% of that this month. I started my day on a treadmill for about 1500 steps. I am drinking a large unsweetened ice tea after walking some 8346 steps so far this day according to my pedometer the last two thousand or so wearing my Froggtoggs rain gear. For me gadgets and resultant charts (see: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-720ITFFP ... B003U3HMN2 ) help me keep motivated.

I started at about 2000 steps a day.

Many find they cannot use CPAP at all. You really do not know how lucky you are. Enjoy your new energy – which is perhaps two to four weeks away if things continue as they appear to be.

Todzo wrote:I do remember the sleep debt which took about a month to get normal. It does make you sleepy.

I also remember a tendency to under breath when quiet - the hypercapnea (too much CO2 in the blood) of which tends to act a bit like alcohol on your nervous system. Slow thought and reactions.

I had a hill to walk up after work each day, I think it helped get my breathing reflexes working better again.

Activity takes time to build up. Just do some little thing. A walk around the block. Just a little thing. But tomorrow do a little bit bigger thing.

At several years in I still pursue my goal of an average of 10,000 steps a day. It is looking like I will make about 90% of that this month. I started my day on a treadmill for about 1500 steps. I am drinking a large unsweetened ice tea after walking some 8346 steps so far this day according to my pedometer the last two thousand or so wearing my Froggtoggs rain gear. For me gadgets and resultant charts (see: http://www.amazon.com/Omron-HJ-720ITFFP ... B003U3HMN2 ) help me keep motivated.

I started at about 2000 steps a day.

Many find they cannot use CPAP at all. You really do not know how lucky you are. Enjoy your new energy – which is perhaps two to four weeks away if things continue as they appear to be.

Thank you for your kind encouragement, Todzo. I really appreciate it.

You are definitely right that I am fortunate to be able to have this therapy and to have found all of you on this forum. People have been very kind and generous with their advise, etc.

My dogs will be happy to see me start to take walks. I tend to be an "all or nothing" type of person; not immediately feeling energized to go and do a Zumba class is hard for me. But you are right.....I need to take it a bit at a time. It's been a couple of years since I took a class plus trying to find work is taking a lot of my time and energy!

Love the gadget you sent the link to....thanks!

Perhaps I don't have the most recent version of Sleepyhead. I'm not accustomed to seeing two lines on the Leak graph. Also, on the left side in the statistics box, it shows the Leak and Total Leak. For my machine, it's my understanding that anything under 24 is acceptable. I would love to have a sub-10 leak rate. Can someone explain the difference between Leak and Total Leak? Thanks. Chuck

Chuck Connors wrote:Perhaps I don't have the most recent version of Sleepyhead. I'm not accustomed to seeing two lines on the Leak graph. Also, on the left side in the statistics box, it shows the Leak and Total Leak. For my machine, it's my understanding that anything under 24 is acceptable. I would love to have a sub-10 leak rate. Can someone explain the difference between Leak and Total Leak? Thanks. Chuck

The dual leak lines are for Respironics machines only. Your S9 machine doesn't offer dual lines because it removes the intentional vent/leak rate prior to reporting.

Total Leak...includes the mask's vent rate plus any excess leak.
Leak...would be excess/unintentional leak only.

Yes, for your machine under 24 L/min and ResMed says it can compensate for leaks. What you are seeing reported by your machine is excess leak only. Your mask selection choice in the menu tells the machine an approx generic vent rate to remove prior to reporting your leak numbers. It isn't an exact number because the vent rates aren't exact among the various models of each choice but it is going to close.
Vent rate also varies pressures used..more pressure equals more vent rate.

Pugsy wrote:

Chuck Connors wrote:Perhaps I don't have the most recent version of Sleepyhead. I'm not accustomed to seeing two lines on the Leak graph. Also, on the left side in the statistics box, it shows the Leak and Total Leak. For my machine, it's my understanding that anything under 24 is acceptable. I would love to have a sub-10 leak rate. Can someone explain the difference between Leak and Total Leak? Thanks. Chuck

The dual leak lines are for Respironics machines only. Your S9 machine doesn't offer dual lines because it removes the intentional vent/leak rate prior to reporting.

Total Leak...includes the mask's vent rate plus any excess leak.
Leak...would be excess/unintentional leak only.

Yes, for your machine under 24 L/min and ResMed says it can compensate for leaks. What you are seeing reported by your machine is excess leak only. Your mask selection choice in the menu tells the machine an approx generic vent rate to remove prior to reporting your leak numbers. It isn't an exact number because the vent rates aren't exact among the various models of each choice but it is going to close.
Vent rate also varies pressures used..more pressure equals more vent rate.

Thank you for the detailed information. It's interesting and helpful. -Chuck-