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+--- Thread: [Symptoms] Struggle with focus and concentration in the mornings, a little tired and fatigued. (/Thread-Symptoms-Struggle-with-focus-and-concentration-in-the-mornings-a-little-tired-and-fatigued)
Struggle with focus and concentration in the mornings, a little tired and fatigued. - aliceafx - 03-24-2023
Hello! I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about a year ago, with an AHI of around 30-40. I've been using an APAP since, and it has changed my life - however a few symptoms still linger. I'd appreciate if someone could take a look at my charts, and let me know if everything looks good!
In the mornings I struggle to wake up, my alarm will go off for two hours or so before I finally get out of bed. I then struggle to focus on work for about 4 hours, lots of yawning and usually wanting a nap by mid day. At night, I feel much more awake and able to focus on my work, and this is when I go to the gym! I do have a slightly underactive thyroid (treated with levothyroxine) and possible ADHD, so maybe it's just those - but I thought it would be worth checking if sleep apnea could be the cause first since they're all very similar in terms of symptoms!
Thank you for any help, I've attached an image of an average day for me. Let me know if I've done this correctly
[attachment=49208]
RE: Struggle with focus and concentration in the mornings, a little tired and fatigued. - cdplatt - 03-25-2023
Do you wear any kind of sleep tracker while your sleeping (like a Fitbit Sense) to get an idea of how efficiently you're sleeping and how you're moving through your sleep cycles? That might give you some clues about what you can do to improve things. For some people, heavy workouts in the three hours before bedtime can interfere with sleep efficiency.
RE: Struggle with focus and concentration in the mornings, a little tired and fatigued. - pholynyk - 03-25-2023
I can suggest a couple of changes that should help up sleep better.
Your median pressure is nearly 11, so I would suggest you change your minimum pressure to 9 or 10. It might feel beeter if you creep up on that by increasing it 1 cm H2O every three or four days.
Your flow limitations are higher than 0.10 (some people prefer less than 0.05). This can usually be reduced by increasing your EPR to 3. and making it Full Time. This may increase your centrel apneas, so keep an eye on those. You may have to back off the EPR to get the best balance between flow limitations and central apneas.
RE: Struggle with focus and concentration in the mornings, a little tired and fatigued. - Apnea23 - 03-26-2023
I would concur with the poster above.
Your machine is keeping your AHI relatively low but it's not able to reduce your flow limitations without EPR.
Your flow of breathing is actually quite erratic, so you're spending a great deal of the night in a state of respiratory effort, and your system is having to work instead of doing all of the things it ought to be doing for restorative sleep.
EPR full-time at level 3 and minimum pressure 8cm for 2-3 nights and repost in this thread.
That AHI should come down, as should the flow limitations. I would focus on reducing flow limitations, as for many of us it's the constant respiratory effort that is wrecking our lives and not the AHI as such.