Addicted?

[harmon k]

After using cpap for 2+ months (not helping hardly at all yet with my daytime fatigue) I used for only 2hrs the other night even tho I slept well for 7+ hrs. The next day I was SO TIRED all day. ( much more tired than I EVER was even before using cpap). Wondering if using cpap nightly can possibly have a "downside" in that missing a night can make you feel much more fatigued the next day than you ever were before beginning treatment.

[robysue]

I think what you got is a reminder of just how horrible you actually felt on your worst days before you started PAPing.

I do think with time an apneic's brain learns to relax while sleeping with CPAP because it no longer has to be vigilant about arousing him/her to restart the breathing. And so if you wind up sleeping without the mask, the brain has to suddenly go back into that "hyper vigilant sleep mode" that *used* to be normal, but no longer is. And so the brain is working overtime to make sure you arouse after every apnea/hypopnea AND at the same time, the sleep is so much more fragmented that it is with CPAP, that the brain cannot figure out how to squeeze in some badly needed rest between the apneas.

[Rcgop]

Yes, I am addicted to my cpap. I do not get horizontal without it.

Sleep is strange and I thought I was getting plenty. Until I started on my cpap. Now I can't get enough. Naps are pure heaven. I am working up to the day 8 hours is enough.

[Russatrice]

HarmonK, I've had that same experience the other day. Slept one night without my CPAP on and the next morning, holy cow, it was the crappiest I have felt in a long time (on CPAP since July and only missed a couple of nights because of stuffy nose)

[DariaVader]

I am addicted.... to breathing

oxygen is nice. happens I am addicted to water as well....

[TBMx]

It's quite the funny way to see this.

Look at it more like: it is the best proof the therapy is working.
If you have a very stressful day once in a while you feel completely done at the end of it. If every day is very stressful over a long time you still feel worn out but at the end of each day better than compared to that "once in a while" day.
Before your cpap-treatment you were the latter.

Now your body is slowly adopting to the therapy (let's call it for simplicity: the normal state). If you create stress (meaning don't use your mask) your body does overtime and reacts accordingly. So, yes, you get addicted: addicted to having a good (or let's say: better) sleep.

[kwhenrykerr]

I had a stressful day yesterday. Fell in bed with the cpap turned on but not on my face. What a mistake, it was worse than Sleephead telling me I had a Large leak. Smart-Ass computer program did not make me feel better. Today is going to be a Hard one. No Driving for me.

[harmon k]

Thanks, all. You guys are so "cool"!

[Galactus]

After using cpap for 2+ months (not helping hardly at all yet with my daytime fatigue) I used for only 2hrs the other night even tho I slept well for 7+ hrs. The next day I was SO TIRED all day. ( much more tired than I EVER was even before using cpap). Wondering if using cpap nightly can possibly have a "downside" in that missing a night can make you feel much more fatigued the next day than you ever were before beginning treatment.

This is exactly what I always say (like a broken record lol). People forget just "how bad it was before" and think it's not helping as much as they thought it would. Then this happens and they're like "holy hell, now I remember just how crappy I used to feel". It's a good way to know just how much it is working even though you may still feel tired. That's normal tired vs no cpap exhaustion tired and different.

Glad it is indeed working for you, and so many of us, and that we were diagnosed correctly, even if it took 5 years (in my case).

[eseedhouse]

I am addicted.... to breathing

oxygen is nice. happens I am addicted to water as well....

Life is a disease with a very poor prognosis. It lingers on for years and inevitably leads to death.