Warning for those who take mask off early morning

Hi,
I've been on cpap for almost a month now, this week was my first follow-up with the doctor at the sleep lab to tell me the results of my sleep study, although sleep apnea was already diagnosed unofficially. I'm female, 34 and although overweight I'm still not the "typically" cpap-er. He revealed to me that I have extremely severe sleep apnea and that my blood oxygen levels have been dropping lower than 50 and possibly even lower than that, given that the last 3 hours of my study I had a full face mask on, and those are the hours where you're the most tired and at the most risk of very low levels of blood oxygen due to sleep apnea. I had been doing okay with my machine but often would just abandon the mask at about 5am and keep sleeping until about 8 without it, figuring I had benefitted from the mask for the first 6 hours. He absolutely warned against this because I'm at the most risk those last 3 hours before waking up. I thought I'd pass this info on as I'm sure lots of people who are still getting used to wearing the mask, etc... might do this thinking that they've done really well to keep it on until early morning. My advice would be to just get out of bed at that point if you can't stand the mask, and maybe going back to bed after a short break would help. I'll have to see if I can' follow my own advice!
Anyone else out there have such a severe problem with the apnea? My pressure is at 15, and he showed me on his graph that in one 5-minute interval I took a total of 16 breaths. I'm basically really lucky that I haven't died in my sleep, and I guess that goes for all of us. Thanks for reading,
Jen

HI i am exactly the same,i,ve been using cpap for a month now and last night i had a blood/oxygen test(probe on finger)but at the same time they increased my pressure from 14 to 16 and they also gave me a new mask to try (a full face this time)so i must try to keep this on all night,because i found it a bit strange last night, it was on and off most of the night,but having hearing your advise i will have to try harder to night to wear it all night thanks for your advice bobby

Hi

I have my early morning periods when I lose my nasal mask, My mask often fall off my bed. It often wakes me up whist at so I pick up and put it back on again. I do not sleep well without the nasal mask.
I often then sleep in to make for the time without the mask and CPAP.

I choke, gurgle and snort whist sleeping without my mask. It mess me up something dreadful, as I can't sleep properly without the nasal mask and machine so I found out. As I snort a lot and often wake myself up and when I choke in myself.

As I often wake up gasping and manage to grab a breath before I drift of to sleep again. Shortly after that I wake up, often with a thundering headache soon after my snooze or nap!!! All this happens when I am riding in a car or train , this often happens when I am without my CPAP and nasal mask to sleep with!