Is there an adjustment period?

[JCB7777]

I was once told that sleep deprivation is cumulative, and that after years of not sleeping well, it might take a long period of "good" sleep to recover. Curious whether anyone has any thoughts, or can direct me to any literature, along that line?

I've been using CPAP for two weeks. I started with very mild apnea (5.3 AHI) and my doctor suggested I try CPAP for 30 days and see if I felt better - i.e., my apnea wasn't a serious health risk, but I had been yawning 24/7 for years, had very non-restorative sleep, felt tired & mentally "not-sharp" during the day, occasional periods of depression etc.

I have found it very easy to adjust to the equipment. FFM feels comfortable & I like the feel of the deep breathing CPAP produces. I'm definitely sleeping better, deeper, not waking up as often in the night. But I haven't yet experienced the level of daytime energy I'd been hoping for, and still yawn a fair amount (though not as much as before).

Yesterday was interesting. I had a good night's sleep. Felt a bit snoozy in the afternoon and, since it was a Saturday, I decided to "close my eyes for a few minutes." Slept like a rock for more than three hours. Then another full night's sleep last night.

How long does it take to reach the "new normal?" How long should I use the CPAP to determine if it's really the answer?

[DeepBreathing]

G'day JCB7777, welcome to the forum.

CPAP therapy can take a while to show results. As you said the effects of apnea are cumulative and reversing those effects also takes some time. In your case an AHI of 5.3 is very much a borderline apnea so you may not notice a lot of difference. It may also be that there is another issue causing your tiredness.

I notice you have a Resmed Escape - these machines only give very limited data and we generally advise people to avoid them if possible. If you get the Elite or Autoset machines, these record a great deal of detailed data which you can access by software to understand exactly what's happening with your therapy.

Good luck!

[retired_guy]

It can also be a matter of finding that "sweet spot." That can take awhile. Watch your graphs on Sleepyhead. What are your leak numbers? If they are really good, is that because you're lucky, or are you tightening the face mask down so tight your body is fighting it all night? What about your snore graph? Good? Ok....

You will make small adjustments to your therapy as you go along and suddenly one morning you'll wake up thinking that was the best night ever!

Then the longer term adjustment starts with the yawning 24/7. For me anyhow. I thought I was never going to stop doing that. But it was much preferable to falling asleep behind the wheel all the time, so I learned to love it.

[bwexler]

I agree with deepbreathing. Unless you have a data capable machine no one really knows how effective your therapy is or which settings may need to be tweaked. With your machine all you really know is how many hours you used the machine everyday.
I would want to swap the machine for an S9 Autoset ( NOT Escape Auto) so the machine could to an auto titration every night and tell me the technical results to compare with how I feel.

I understand it can take somewhere between 50 minutes and 50 years to feel the results and or be acclimated to XPAP. I was comfortable with the machines within the first week with each. Shaking off the tired feeling not so much. But I no longer feel like I am falling asleep at the wheel. Been compliment for 3.5 years now.

Edit one word can make a big difference.

[PaytonA]

I would want to swap the machine for an S9 Autoset ( Escape Auto) so the machine could to an auto titration every night and tell me the technical results to compare with how I feel.

If you want to swap machines to an S9 Autoset that would be great but if you swap to an Escape Auto you will gain very little data. The Escape Auto only shows AHI. The S9 Autoset is not the same machine and it is completely data capable.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[herbm]

Most people take weeks to months -- some even longer -- to "feel better".

Repairing damage to organs takes longer than that in almost all cases.

It's trivial to google for OSA and "atrial fibrillation" or "heart disease" or cardiomyopathy. It's patently clear that this kind of serious damage or problem will not heal over-night.

Some few people DO start FEELING much better after the first few nights to a week or so, but that is NOT the common experience.

And as mentioned above: Until you have a data capable machine, you don't even know if your machine is effective (enough).

[trish6hundred]

Hi JCB7777,
CPAP therapy can take some getting used to and it can take a while before you really notice improvement, give it time.
Since you haven't been on the CPAP machine that long, You might talk to your DME and see if you can exchange your S9Escape, (which is not a data-capable machine,) for an S9Elite or the S9Autoset. The S9Elite and the S9AutoSet are both fully data capable machines.
Good luck to you.

[Shastzi]

What Trish said.

Everyone's mileage may vary, but do get a better machine so you an
record for yourself daily and see how well you're doing. If something goes amiss you'll be the first to know and can start asking questions to get help.

[eviltim]

Mine was like, 6 months! So yes, definitely.

[jaycee]

I've heard a number of my patients tell me that they didn't realize how much benefit the machine was providing until their first night without it.