I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and have been using a CPAP machine for a week now.  How long do I need to use my machine before I start feeling "refreshed" when I wake up in the morning.


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Kathie

Kathie wrote:

I was recently diagnosed with sleep apnea and have been using a CPAP machine for a week now.  How long do I need to use my machine before I start feeling "refreshed" when I wake up in the morning.

Hi Kathie,

Wish there was an easy answer to your question.  It seems everyone is a little different.
So many factors.

If everything is working perfectly well, it can still take time.  Depends on how long you've been experiencing sleep apnea and  how severe it was.
Someone told me early on that we didn't get this bad with this condition overnight, so we can't expect to be perfect overnight either.

But some people do feel relief right away.  Be watchful of how you are doing throughout your day as things progress. Some people even keep a journal.
I would email a friend every day and report how I felt or how things were going.  You may still have symptoms but some may be lessened.  Are you napping less often?  Do you seem to have more energy during parts of your day?  ..... It could take time.

Also, be watchful about how you are adapting to the cpap therapy if you can.  If you have a nose mask, are you breathing through your mouth too much?  (if so, then you're not getting the benefit from the treatment).  Do there seem to be a lot of leaks with your mask?  Are you having trouble breathing with it, either with inhale or exhale?  Just be watchful.   It may just be your body getting used to this, but if there is a technical problem, then that will have to be addressed.

Keep us posted on how things go.


Linda

Kathie -

A fellow user described the improvement after starting CPAP treatment as a series of baby steps.  She said she did not feel all better right away, but knew she was improving when she didn't all asleep on the subway.  I found a number of those epiphanies, and you just keep looking for more and more of them.

Once you start feeling better, there's another issue: trying to manage on less sleep, since your sleep quality is so much better.  You figure you could muddle through your days after 8 hours of non-CPAP sleep, and you feel about the same with 6 hours of CPAP sleep, so you start staying up later at night.  Bad idea.  Make it a priority to get enough sleep every night.

Good luck!

Thank you for the information.  I guess "patience" is the key!!  I'll keep you posted on how I am doing.

Kathie