No change yet

[MarkWill]

I have been on my CPAP for a couple of weeks. I understand fully that things may take a while to kick in, though the various folks that posted that they saw an immediate impact as soon as they started haven't helped .

All that said, I had hoped to notice at least SOME benefit, but nothing yet. While I get a variable amount of sleep each night, that was always the case for me. So, in that regard nothing has changed. But the theory goes that I am at least experiencing some benefits while asleep. My sleep study had an AHI of 27, but with my CPAP machine I am generally below 5 (apart from a couple of spikes, but always under 10). My assumption is that the CPAP machine would be helping me get a deeper sleep during the night. The net result, so far, is not noticeable.

I am obviously prepared to be patient and I don't really need the "it takes time", "your expectations are out of whack" comments Seriously, I get that it might take a while. But I do have two questions.

1. If all things are equal (no obvious difference in when I fall asleep or wake up, as compared to before I used my CPAP), would there not be some benefit I should see, compared to those same sleeping times AND a high API? I am not waking up in the middle of the night any more than I did before the CPAP.

2. If I want to upload some sample reports from SleepyHead for feedback here, are there particular graphs that would be useful for that? I assume that any one one day isn't too helpful, so would I upload some sort of weekly summary?

Thanks.

Mark

[D.H.]

It seems that you AHI has been cut by at least two-thirds. This reduces your risk of stroke, heart attack, high blood pressure, and diabetes. That's reason enough to continue.

Some people feel a difference immediately, for others it takes time. If the improvement comes gradually, it might be less noticeable.

[papzombie]

I'm on CPAP since 8 month, have not seen any "awesome" morning, but see that my memory is gradually improved.

It might be that I still have some other issues that bother my sleeping, probably Restless Leg Syndrome, Upper Airway Resistence Syndrome which still wake me up and prevent me going into REM.

You could ask your sleep doctor to have you sleeping in the sleep center with your xPAP machine, to measure the rest of your body.

[appo]

I've had a AHI < 5 since starting CPAP. I only started 'feeling the difference' once I started paying very careful attention to my leak rate and figured out how to eliminate all leaks (this involved sleeping on an incline): viewtopic/t113976/Could-new-nasal-pillo ... leaks.html - this took four months of (mostly bad) sleep. My AHI didn't change noticeably, just the leak rate.

CPAP is the only reliable thing that works for the most people. Surgery is hit-or-miss and most people still need CPAP after surgery. It's been a frustrating 4 months of CPAP therapy but I've forced myself to stick with it and learn all the jargon/terms/acronyms, read my sleepyhead data, and slowly adjust. For scare tactics, look up the studies on how sleep apnea correlates to Alzheimer's and dementia and brain cell damage - it's well worth getting settled into CPAP for the long haul. Try everything, figure out what works.

I should have posted on this forum a lot sooner to figure out the mouth leaks! Even if I ended up solving my own problem through a lot of googling, I think writing things down here can help others and help me think through my reasoning.

Glad you're sticking with it ^__^

-appo

[Pugsy]

2. If I want to upload some sample reports from SleepyHead for feedback here, are there particular graphs that would be useful for that? I assume that any one one day isn't too helpful, so would I upload some sort of weekly summary?

Actually I like to see the one day/night detailed report that represents a "typical" night..or maybe 2 of them.
Weekly summary doesn't let me get the feel for what is going on each night...it's just a bunch of numbers that don't always give us a clear picture of things.

This thread has some examples of what we like to see and what format.
viewtopic/t103468/Need-help-with-screen-shots.html
Then if we need anything else we just ask. We don't need all those graphs...just need the basics.

This examples how to organize the graphs...3 pages..read them all
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead/shorganize

Try to embed the screen shot in your post and not just do links. They load faster that way...at least for me.

would there not be some benefit I should see,

Not always...which I know isn't what you wanted to hear....even if the therapy is perfectly optimized. There's so much more to getting good restorative sleep than simply treating OSA.
Let's look at your reports first and see if anything is screaming out "fix me and you will feel better".

[robysue]

I have been on my CPAP for a couple of weeks. I understand fully that things may take a while to kick in, though the various folks that posted that they saw an immediate impact as soon as they started haven't helped .

I don't know if it will cheer you up or depress you, but it took me the better part of 6 months to start noticing a bit of a positive change and I didn't really start feeling better consistently until almost a year after starting CPAP. But I'm also an extreme outlier and a really nasty case of "CPAP-induced insomnia" played a significant role in why it took so long for me to start feeling better.

All that said, I had hoped to notice at least SOME benefit, but nothing yet. While I get a variable amount of sleep each night, that was always the case for me. So, in that regard nothing has changed. But the theory goes that I am at least experiencing some benefits while asleep. My sleep study had an AHI of 27, but with my CPAP machine I am generally below 5 (apart from a couple of spikes, but always under 10). My assumption is that the CPAP machine would be helping me get a deeper sleep during the night. The net result, so far, is not noticeable.

It's important to remember: CPAP does not fix bad sleep. CPAP fixes sleep disordered breathing and nothing else. If anything else is contributing your bad sleep, you have to fix those problems as well before you will really notice a difference in how you feel.

In your case, the following are important questions to ask yourself:

1. How much does the "variable amount of sleep each night" actually vary?

2. Do you feel better or worse after a night where you get significantly more sleep as compared to how you feel on after a night where you get a smaller amount of sleep? (Note: I don't want you comparing your current sleep to your pre-CPAP sleep. I want you to compare how you feel after a night where you sleep a long time with the CPAP to a night where you sleep a short time with the CPAP.)

3. How long is your latency to sleep on a bad night? What about on a good night?

4. How much tossing and turning do you do on a bad night? What about on a good night?

5. How much does your bedtime vary from night to night?

6. How much does your wake up time vary from day to day? Do you sleep in for a long time on weekends?

7. How much caffeine do you consume in an average day? How much alcohol?

8. Do you have any other medical conditions? If so, are you on any drugs to treat them? If so, what are they and when do you take them?

1. If all things are equal (no obvious difference in when I fall asleep or wake up, as compared to before I used my CPAP), would there not be some benefit I should see, compared to those same sleeping times AND a high API? I am not waking up in the middle of the night any more than I did before the CPAP.

CPAP does not fix bad sleep. CPAP fixes sleep disordered breathing and nothing else. If anything else is contributing your bad sleep, you have to fix those problems as well before you will really notice a difference in how you feel.

When you say "I am not waking up in the middle of the night any more than I did before the CPAP" that kind of implies that you had a significant number of wakes pre-CPAP and that you still have a significant number of wakes with the CPAP.

How many times do you think you wake up in the middle of the night? Is it worse when you sleep for a long time? Or is it worse when you sleep for a short time?

Also: What is the first thing that goes through your mind when you find yourself awake in the middle of the night? And what is the first thing you actually do after waking up in the middle of the night?

2. If I want to upload some sample reports from SleepyHead for feedback here, are there particular graphs that would be useful for that? I assume that any one one day isn't too helpful, so would I upload some sort of weekly summary?

The detailed data graphs from a few nights is more useful that statistical summary data.

Show us the following detailed data graphs:

• The event chart
• The flow rate graph
• The pressure graph if you are using AUTO mode.
• The leak graph

Also include the left side bar, but turn the Pie Chart off so that we can see the statistical stuff on the side bar.

Pick a night where you slept for a long time for you. Pick another night where you slept for a short time. Tell us what the subjective sleep quality was on both nights.

[yaconsult]

Awesome post, Robysue! Sleep can be such a fragile thing and, unfortunately, cpap isn't always the silver bullet that people are hoping for. It is sometimes part of a longer journey of trying different things to improve our sleep.

CPAP can be a huge help in treating the disordered breathing aspect of sleep. But as you spelled out, there can be many other contributors to sleep problems and issues. Thank you for spelling it out so clearly!

[D.H.]

I'm on CPAP since 8 month, have not seen any "awesome" morning, but see that my memory is gradually improved.

It might be that I still have some other issues that bother my sleeping, probably Restless Leg Syndrome, Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome which still wake me up and prevent me going into REM.

You could ask your sleep doctor to have you sleeping in the sleep center with your xPAP machine, to measure the rest of your body.

OK papzombie, a question for you. What if you went from feeling the way you did eight months ago (before you stated) to the way you feel now in one or two days (instead of eight months)? Would that be an "awesome" improvement?

[papzombie]

Awesome post, Robysue,

@D.H.: probably if I could compress the 7 month into 2 days, then it must be "awesome" morning.

[D.H.]

Awesome post, Robysue,

@D.H.: probably if I could compress the 7 month into 2 days, then it must be "awesome" morning.

As I thought! Do you want to go back to the way you felt eight months ago?! You really got the same benefit as those who got it immediately except that you got it gradually!

[AmyR]

For me, just a few weeks in, I am waking up less but I also realized that I am feeling just a little more rested. Recently, I've woken up a few mornings feeling definitely very rested, which is amazing because I had forgotten how that felt. As I sleep more soundly, I am having to increase my stretching before bed - my body hasn't been that still for that long in a long time. Focus on small incremental changes, the change in your API sounds very encouraging and when you've worn it another week or two you should definitely see some personal improvement - things you can feel. You might have to look hard, but if you are honest with yourself in reviewing how you feel in a few weeks versus when you didn't have the machine at all, I bet you find some evidence of improvement you can hang your hat on.