So what ruins your sleep or next day?

[SleepinginAdelaide]

I'm new to this forum, new to cpap but like most not new to sleep apnea. I have been on cpap for just over 6 weeks now and have gone from an AHI of 44 to between 1 and 3. I certainly can feel the benefits.
Like many I have good days, better days and the occasional duds. The duds are interesting trying to track down why I feel the way I do. Personally I have noticed that the way I feel the next day may not be reflected in the data from the night before. Is it a leaking mask? Often not. Higher AHI? Sometimes it can be a lower AHI. Did I snore more than usual? At times not at all.
I feel one of the factors for me, and here is a confession, having a late meal or solid snack has a significant impact on the next day.
Well I kow that was long winded but "what ruins your sleep or next day?"

[trish6hundred]

Hi SleepinginAdelaide,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I know what you mean about eating a meal too late, especially a heavy meal, such as pizza or pasta, at about 3 in the morning or so, I'm still full. I get what I have heard called a food hangover, that's no fun, )Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha-Ha.)
Best of luck to you.

[PaulaO2]

There are soooo many factors that go into a good or bad night's sleep. Food, stress, lack of stress, drink, activity level, ambient atmosphere, weather, on and on.

One thing you can do is to start a sleep diary. Just a few notes before you go to bed (good day, no meetings, good food) and first thing when you wake up (good dream, odd dream, and cramp in left leg). Add in the data from the machine and you may start to see patterns. If you use SleepyHead, there's a note section where you can input stuff.

AHI is but one tool we can use and is just part of a bigger picture.

[SleepinginAdelaide]

Thank you trish6hundred and PaulaO2 for your comments. I will certainly begin a sleep diary [more detailed than I'm currently doing]. It will be interesting to see the patterns that perhaps become evident over time.

[PaulaO2]

What you'll find is what is "normal" ranges for you and what is not. This will help you to spot changes easily.

For example, I recently had a medication change. My normal AHI at that point was below 2, often below 1. Duration of events was rarely more than 15 secs each. A few days after starting the drug, the AHI started climbing. Yes, it stayed below 5 (highest was 4.8), but the range was not normal for me. I also noticed the duration of events kept getting longer. Such as hypopnea events were rarely less than 15 and usually more than 20 (the highest was 65 seconds). OA and CA event duration also increased. I don't have a sleep diary but I do keep track of certain events (such as medication changes) and I monitor my CPAP's data. I was able to have solid information for my doc. We switched medications and I am continuing to monitor and am hoping everything drops again.

Other things will start to show up, too. Like days of the week. You may see that Friday night/Saturday morning data is off from your normal. Was that poker night? Or weekly drink with friends to celebrate surviving another work week?

[Prairie]

SleepinginAdelaide,

For many folks I know it comes down to how Active During The Day You Were Or Enough
Exercise to make you Tired.

Wish you good luck in figuring out what it is!.
Prairie

[Tez62]

SleepinginAdelaide, there are so many factors that can change the way we feel, what we eat, when we eat, meds, weather etc etc etc. Sleep Apnea suffers really need to follow good sleep hygiene routines, healthy diets etc more than non SA sufferers, it takes time to work out what works and doesn't work for each if us but one thing for sure is you'll eventually get there. Are you actually in Adelaide? I'm in Melbourne.

[SleepinginAdelaide]

Yes Tez62. I'm living in Adelaide. It is a great place to live as is Melbourne.

[Sleepster]

Personally I have noticed that the way I feel the next day may not be reflected in the data from the night before.

Our bodies have to adjust to the CPAP therapy. It's quite a change because before that we had to adapt to apneas. It takes the brain a while to figure all this out.