[CPAP] First week of CPAP: experience & questions

[robysue]

2. Is it normal to sleep less during early CPAP days? My normal sleep time was 7-8 hours, but now it is 5-6 hours.

Your body is not used to getting 7-8 hours of good sleep; it's used to getting 7-8 hours of bad sleep. Right now it's adjusting to the fact that 5-6 hours of good sleep beats 7-8 hours of bad sleep and so it is waking up thinking you've gotten enough sleep. Most likely as your body adjusts, it will start sleeping 7-8 hours rather than 5-6.

3. After starting the therapy, before falling asleep, I drift away thinking about something only to realize that I have stopped breathing. Then I start taking deep breaths. Is this normal?

One thing that happens to a lot of newbies when they start CPAP therapy is that they focus more on their breathing than they ever have before. You are most likely noticing sleep onset "central apneas" that are not real, but you've never noticed them before. Because you are now hyperaware of your breathing, you notice them as you're drifting off to sleep, and they're waking you up. Your starting to take deep breaths afterwards is pretty normal. Don't worry about this.

[sskblr]

2. Is it normal to sleep less during early CPAP days? My normal sleep time was 7-8 hours, but now it is 5-6 hours.

Your body is not used to getting 7-8 hours of good sleep; it's used to getting 7-8 hours of bad sleep. Right now it's adjusting to the fact that 5-6 hours of good sleep beats 7-8 hours of bad sleep and so it is waking up thinking you've gotten enough sleep.  Most likely as your body adjusts, it will start sleeping 7-8 hours rather than 5-6.

3. After starting the therapy, before falling asleep, I drift away thinking about something only to realize that I have stopped breathing. Then I start taking deep breaths. Is this normal?

One thing that happens to a lot of newbies when they start CPAP therapy is that they focus more on their breathing than they ever have before. You are most likely noticing sleep onset "central apneas" that are not real, but you've never noticed them before. Because you are now hyperaware of your breathing, you notice them as you're drifting off to sleep, and they're waking you up.  Your starting to take deep breaths afterwards is pretty normal. Don't worry about this.

Thanks, that makes sense.

[quiescence at last]

Your links:

Sleep study: http://imgur.com/a/lJ6cc
Titration sleep study: http://imgur.com/a/V8hFi

I was surprised to see so many CA in your sleep study, and that the CPAP seems to have been effective in resolving them. cool!

And, during titration there were no OA and Hyp at any pressure. That just seems weird.

And all those leg movements!

QAL

[sskblr]

Your links:

Sleep study: http://imgur.com/a/lJ6cc
Titration sleep study: http://imgur.com/a/V8hFi

I was surprised to see so many CA in your sleep study, and that the CPAP seems to have been effective in resolving them.  cool!

And, during titration there were no OA and Hyp at any pressure.  That just seems weird.

[sskblr] Yes, I noticed that. I will ask the doctor when I visit after 2 weeks. However, sleepyhead does report OAs, especially at lower pressures. Auto CPAP 90% is 13 cm H20. I am going to follow the advise I received on this form and increase the min pressure setting. Right now, I am working on my nasal mask that is waking me up with either leaks or too much discomfort (2 sore spots and 1 wound) when tightened.

And all those leg movements!

[sskblr] That was mostly when I was partially/fully awake. Technician was adamant that I lie down for full 8 hours. For good 2 hours, I was mostly awake, all wired up, mask hurting like hell, air blowing air at 14+and all four limbs fully numb. That is when I was mostly rolling over and also trying to stretch my legs

QAL

[Hydrangea]

I hear ya. I got some leg movements on my sleep study... but it was because I was trying to get comfy so I could fall asleep despite all the wires.

[sskblr]

Good day!

Thanks for the help and very useful suggestions that I received on this thread.

I stuck with default settings [min 4 and max 20 Auto PAP, Aflex+ 3] for a month and had review with the doctor. Average AHI was just above 5 for the first month and the doctor OK with it. My titration prescribed pressure is 14 cm. [Sleep study reports are available in this thread]. Doctor was not interested in increasing min pressure when I asked about it.

However, I did increase the min pressure to 8. (Median is around 10 - 11). This seemed to help me consistently get AHI < 5, and 3.x on many occasions.
Here is are the stats/last 30 days summary:

[img]http://imgur.com/dmQQ6dl[\img]
[img]http://imgur.com/UPMJxKJ[\img]

However, I seem to have new problems. First is, aerophagia. I end with bloated stomach every morning with uneasiness. Not sure if increase in min pressure is the only reason for this. I do tend to swallow once or twice just when I put on the mask and the air starts blowing. Another point is, I have been having nasal congestion since last few days. Sometimes I use nasal decongestant before sleeping. The bloating seems more when I do not use the decongestant. Is there any relation? Also, on one occasion max pressure was 18.x and I spent about 80 min at 16 cm. Can this be due to nasal congestion?

Finally, when reviewing the Sleepyhead daily charts, I noticed a bunch of CAs on one particular day. I have posted the graph below. Could this be SWJ? On this day, I also had an OA episode for 81 seconds! It would be helpful if you share your thoughts.

[img]http://imgur.com/Aw46u7a[\img]

Thanks,
sskblr

[ajack]

I wouldn't count anything at the beginning or end of sleep, it can be sleep wake junk. Any time you are awake or waking up, it gives a lot of false readings.
after you fix the OA/H with more pressure, it can also fix a lot of the junk, then have a look at what's left and with your doctor decide if another machine will work better for you.

[quiescence at last]

yeah. it looks to me that the close up is of waking-ish stuff.  both your first setting (4-20cm) and second setting (8-20cm) result in nearly the same average pressure (10.5 to 11) and 90% pressure (12.5 to 13).

if this were mine, ii would set my minimum pressure at 10.5 and my maximum pressure about 15 cm.

QAL

[sskblr]

yeah. it looks to me that the close up is of waking-ish stuff.  both your first setting (4-20cm) and second setting (8-20cm) result in nearly the same average pressure (10.5 to 11) and 90% pressure (12.5 to 13).

if this were mine, ii would set my minimum pressure at 10.5 and my maximum pressure about 15 cm.

QAL

I changed minimum to 10.5 for last two days. Good results so far: 3.0 and 2.0. Also woke up feeling well rested. I will continue for a week and hope to see AHI consistently below 3. I did not import data to Sleepyhead yet, just saw AHI on the machine display, so I do not know the OA-CA split.

Thanks,
-SK

[quiescence at last]

great results. it is extremely nice that you feel rested.

QAL