I've been on my CPAP for 5-6 weeks now. I have slept better and felt better, but wondering about a couple of things.
Biggest question when will I stop nodding off in the mornings ?? I'm STILL doing that (not as bad as before) at church or morning meetings. Thought this symtom would go away quicker. Also- I'm not sleeping through the night. I will sleep about 4 hours, then wake up. Seems to take a little longer to go back to sleep than to fall asleep. Is this just part of getting used to the machine. Hoping some of you long-timers on CPAP can give me some encouragement. I've used it every night faithfully. Thanks -
Steve B.

steve_b wrote:

I've been on my CPAP for 5-6 weeks now. I have slept better and felt better, but wondering about a couple of things.
Biggest question when will I stop nodding off in the mornings ?? I'm STILL doing that (not as bad as before) at church or morning meetings. Thought this symtom would go away quicker. Also- I'm not sleeping through the night. I will sleep about 4 hours, then wake up. Seems to take a little longer to go back to sleep than to fall asleep. Is this just part of getting used to the machine. Hoping some of you long-timers on CPAP can give me some encouragement. I've used it every night faithfully. Thanks -
Steve B.

First, welcome to the hosehead club.    

Just keep at it...it is different for everyone..  Check this link:  http://www.apneasupport.org/viewtopic.php?t=15041

be patient, it can take 3 months to get used to the machine


_________________
respironics comfort gell mask,resmed S6 lightweight CPAP, pressure 10 no humidifier
NO DOCTOR EVER ASKED ME IF I SNORED

lynn321 wrote:

be patient, it can take 3 months to get used to the machine

Or three weeks....or three days.  Everyone is different.

thanks. I'm not so worried about adjusting to the machine as I am seeing results! I want to be able to jump out of bed, stay fully awake at church or morning meetings, see a complete movie at home without dozing off. My wife has said that I'm "not as grouchy", but not seeing as much positive results yet as I had expected.

steve_b wrote:

thanks. I'm not so worried about adjusting to the machine as I am seeing results! I want to be able to jump out of bed, stay fully awake at church or morning meetings, see a complete movie at home without dozing off. My wife has said that I'm "not as grouchy", but not seeing as much positive results yet as I had expected.

If your pressure is wrong or you have significant mask leaks, you could wear it 24 hours a day and it wouldn't do any good.  Some folks need to have their pressure "tweaked".

Does your wife mention that you are still snoring?  Jerking?  Stopping breathing?

don't seem to have any leaks - I've figured out how loose to have it and still not have the leaks.
and no, I'm not snoring, jerking, or stopping breathing - just waking up easily after just 3-4 hours.

It sounds like you're progressing, Steve.  If you're less grouchy, that's progress!  Everybody takes different amounts of time to get used to it, and to start feeling better.  It's a gradual thing.

If you're waking up after 3 or 4 hours, you're probably getting more good sleep than you were with 8 hours of sleep before you got your CPAP, so your body may think it's time to get up.  That will change as you become more accustomed to the machine.

Hang in there!  You seem to be doing all the right things.  Just think how long it took you to get to this point - it's going to take you a little while to get back to feeling normal.

Thanks. Just needed some reassurance that it's going the way that it should. Still sleepy some mornings, and nodding off at night in front of the TV. We own a lot of DVD's, and I would bet that I have seen less than half of them all the way through! Looking forward to more "normal" behavior early and late in the day.

Quote:

If you're waking up after 3 or 4 hours, you're probably getting more good sleep than you were with 8 hours of sleep before you got your CPAP, so your body may think it's time to get up.  That will change as you become more accustomed to the machine.

Diddo! for Dave's theory of the 3 to 4 hours sleep.  When I first started with CPAP many moons ago, my husband would become upset with me for vaccing the house at 4AM or tryong to paint he master bedroom before sun up...with him still in the bed!  That soon went away and i slept...and slept....and slept.

 Many have a sleep debt that takes time to repay.  Give it more time, for some it takes longer.  There may be other things that cause you to still have EDS...they often crop up after the SA is under control.   First and foremost...keep the diligent approach to the CPAP. Make sure you are not getting any leaks...make sure you are not snoring in the night.  After a few more months knowing that the CPAP & mask are all ok...and you are sleeping through the night...if you are still having EDS then make an appointment with the Sleep Dr so he/she can rule out any other possible causes.

Can you read your CPAP?  If so, what is your AHI?

Thanks for the encouragement. One of my daughters is a Nurse Practitioner, and she told me about the "sleep debt", but I keep forgetting about that and expect quicker results.

I wouldn't know where to look on my CPAP to read it, and I don't know what my AHI is. ( I had to "google" AHI after I read your post to see what it meant!) I didn't get a copy of my sleep study, all the doc told me was that I stopped breathing 46 times per hour.