apnea AND insomnia

[kally]

yeah, the dog tired thing is the trick. If I go to bed really late and PUSH myself actually out of my bed at 6:30 it tends to work. It is the PUSH part that is hard.

[kally]

still working on the insomnia. I generally get to sleep around midnight. I read a bit and when I feel myself going down I get into bed, hose up and am usually out in under 15 minutes, which is a world record for me.

Then I wake up at 7 and even though I want to sleep more, I get my ass out of bed. I literally moved the alarm clock across the room to make me get up. Then I get out of bed and stagger out.

This usually helps me get to sleep the next night. I am not tired in the day, but I am a slug when I first get up. It passes though and I know the reward will be ability to sleep the next night. Not always.... but mostly.

[novatom]

I never went to the sleep clinic for apnea, I went for insomnia, but on the way they discovered the apnea. So I still had the insomnia, in my case, not being able to get to sleep.

If any of you have this problem I just want to say that the sleep restriction therapy is doing really well for me. I think I have been doing it 8 weeks or a little more and things are beginning to turn around. Please let me know if you want to know any more.

With the cpap machine and the therapy my sleep is being transformed.

This is EXACTLY my situation. I went to a sleep clinic for insomnia and they diagnosed me with OSA. I was really hoping that the CPAP would "fix" my insomnia and in the first week or two, I did sleep better but that's just because I was doing something new and it was affecting my sleep. However 2-3 weeks later, my insomnia returned and I have since concluded that the two issues are not related in my case. I started CPAP therapy on Jan. 1 of this year.

My doctor has also recommended sleep restriction and I'm trying to do it, however my usual sleep time is around 10 PM and wake time is 6 AM. I find it very hard to not want to go to bed at that time. I have been trying to extend my time to go to bed to 10:30 and 11 but I can't always make it until then. My problem is not falling asleep, it's staying asleep. I wake up 3 hours after going to bed and find it difficult to return to sleep.

Last week, because of a cold, I had to switch from nasal pillows to a FFM and dang it, I found that I actually PREFER the FFM! I had been on nasal pillows since day one but I find that I am actually sleeping better with the FFM. Now this may just be because I'm doing something new and perhaps my sleep patterns will return but I'm holding out hope that the FFM may be the answer I was looking for. Between that and sleep restriction, I'm hoping that I can whip this insomnia once and for all.

PS: I am thankful that my insomnia prompted me to get the sleep test. My AHI was 28 and I hate to think that I would still be suffering from that if I hadn't gone to the clinic. While my insomnia is certainly NOT good for my health. the side effect of having my OSA treated IS.