Why CPAP

[RNeil]

I am struggling with my CPAP (Fisher & Pakel Icon+ with F&P nasal pillow). The more I use it the more I wonder why. I am tired after using it. When I use it the next day, I am more tired. If I use it four days in a row, I am desperate for sleep.

I know that sleep apnea is bad for you. But if the CPAP makes you more tired, doesn't that mean the treatment is worse than the disease?

[Melman]

Welcome. Most of us benefit from CPAP use.  I suspect your machine is not adjusted properly too meet your needs. Hopefully we can help you but will need more information. what were the results of your sleep study? What is the nature of your struggle, discomfort with pressure, leaks, high AHI? What are your pressure settings?

[DeepBreathing]

G'day RNeil. Welcome to Apnea Board.

Some people get instant success with CPAP, but for most of us it's a journey - one step forwards and two steps back.Hang in there - it does get better, and once you have everything dialled in to your requirements you'll wonder how you ever slept without it.

As Melman said, we need a LOT of information to help sort through your issues and make this thing work for you. I don't know if your particular machine supports #SleepyHead, but if so, make use of it - the program will give you heaps of detailed data on a breath-by-breath basis, and that is a powerful tool in tracking down and eliminating problems. All the #SleepyHead instructions are listed in Melman's signature above.

[RNeil]

The sleep study had an AHI of 32. There is a menu on the machine that says my last AHI was 3.6. That was the second night in a row with the CPAP and I feel good. 

I usually am able to sleep the night the first few nights on CPAP, but I feel very tired. Then my insomnia gets worse. I have trouble getting to sleep and I wake up earlier and earlier. Ambien and melatonin help with the onset insomnia, but not after several nights on CPAP.

I have heard that Sleepyhead does not work with the F&P Icon+. It says that it found a data structure and the pressure setting is 4-12 cm of water. But the other data does not make any sense.

[Melman]

An AHI of 3.6 is acceptable. Anything under 5 is considered treated. It is certainly better than the AHI from your sleep study so your CPAP is treating your apnea. Unfortunately, CPAP does not treat insomnia. I have also suffered from insomnia and found that Ambien and melatonin did not help. I have had success using clonazepam but it is not for everybody. Google sleep hygiene and you may find some helpful suggestions. I would suggest that you increase your minimum pressure from 4 to 6 and see what happens. Many feel starved for air at a setting of 4 and that may be causing some sleep disruption.
How long have you had your machine. If for 5 years or more your insurance may cover a replacement data capable machine such as the Resmed Airsense 10 autoset.

[yankees123]

I started off with a f&p icon auto.  It is a good machine but is lacking some of the features like epr.  As far as sleepyhead it is compatible and you will get information except not able to get flow limitations graph.  Make sure you keep your flash drive in the machine when you sleep otherwise you won’t get any useful information.  
If there is anything else you need concerning the icon unit just ask.

[RNeil]

I will start checking the AHI data regularly. I have seen some zeros, but I think I must not have been sleeping. I wonder how the machine computes AHI when you are not sleeping. I do sometimes use it when not in bed to try to get accustomed to it.

I got the machine in 2015. I have never been able to do what the insurance people call compliance.

It is late and according to the sleep hygiene guidelines, I should not be on the computer now.

[RNeil]

I was able to find how to change pressure. I found that it was actually 4.5 to 12 cm H2O. I changed the minimum to 5.5 for two nights, but I feel more tired, so it is now back to 5.0. I also saw that my 90% pressure is 9 cm, so I reduced the maximum to 11 cm.

The machine also reports the "Senseawake" is 9. I understand that it means I am waking up 9 times per hour, which explains why I am tired.

I tried Sleepyhead again, but it is reporting nonsense. I should post details in the software section.

[Sleep2Snore]

You might find increasing your low pressure might help a bit. It is getting used to the cap machine. Use it every night, sleeping or not. If you find you have removed the mask, put it straight back on. Make sure you have a comfortable mask and that you are not tightening it to much.
You have done the best thing by trying to use it at other times to get used to it.
A Hartley Street doctor said to a patient like yourself that they should go to bed earlier, not be on the computer or watch TV late on, not do anything that stimulates her brain. Have a drink of warm milk every night at the same time and go to bed at the same time every night. She found it hopeless ar t the start of her new lifestyle. A few months down the line she now finds she wants to go to bed and filling her new lifestyle, she finds she is sleeping most nights in no time at all. She is like all of us, on odd nights she finds it hard to sleep, but then she found that most of these nights was when she was thinking or worrying about something. Now she does her worrying during the day and keeps night time for sleep. Before she saw this doctor, she was finding it almost impossible to sleep. Hartley Street doctors are very expensive, so the person that paid for it has a lot lighter a pocket.

The doctor said it was down to dolling the same thing every night and your rain begins to expect it. She said she couldn't believe how well it worked.

[SarcasticDave94]

It is possible that CPAP isn't the right machine for you. Since your data is not complete, we're still on a guessing what's happening stage. This is too important a situation for us to be tossing out guesses though. Somehow you'll need to give us data, things like the sleep study report and as much nightly info available. We need to know what types of apnea you're getting while sleeping.

IMO to me, it sounds vaguely like you're suffering what I endured while on BiPAP, which was worse for me due to massive amounts of central apneas. I'm not stating that you have centrals, I'm just saying that your description sounds similar to my own getting worse via xPap use.

Anyway the bottom line is without info we can guess all we want, but it's never going to bring a real solution.