CPAPtalk.com

My husband had restless leg syndrome for many years before he had a pap machine. His RLS went completely away after some months on his machine. Maybe yours will too. Also, as to not feeling better yet, that is pretty common. It takes a while for your body to adjust to the changes. Stick with it, and I bet you slowly feel better and better.

In addition to the observations others have made, it is probably a good idea to review the experts' recommendations for good sleep (below). I have to confess I thought they didn't apply to me, then in desperation I tried them, and lo and behold, they helped.

• Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends or during vacations.
• Set a bedtime that is early enough for you to get at least 7 hours of sleep.
• Don’t go to bed unless you are sleepy.
• If you don’t fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed.
• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine.
• Use your bed only for sleep and sex.
• Make your bedroom quiet and relaxing. Keep the room at a comfortable, cool temperature.
• Limit exposure to bright light in the evenings.
• Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Don’t eat a large meal before bedtime. If you are hungry at night, eat a light, healthy snack.
• Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.
• Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening.
• Avoid consuming alcohol before bedtime.
• Reduce your fluid intake before bedtime.

Hello, I thought I would post an update.

My doctor agreed to increase my minimum pressure to 5 (so the pressure range is between 5 and 15) but would not increase it any further due to my data indicating that I was rarely reaching beyond a pressure of 5 during sleep.

Since then I have also bought a full face mask one size up, which I feel more comfortable with.

I have continued using the AirSense 10, and I am finding that I am: (a) significantly oversleeping (sometimes 12-13 hours) and (b) having very vivid dreams. This did not happen before CPAP, i.e. I would usually sleep about 5-6 hours before waking up. I would also not have as vivid dreams as I do now.

So I feel that the AirSense 10 must be doing something as I have never slept so long and uninterrupted before.

However, I am still suffering tiredness during the day but I wonder whether the oversleeping is not helping and I need to stick to an alarm reflecting 7-8 hours sleep? I gave into the oversleeping because I thought my body may have been craving it due to sleep apnea. I wonder whether the oversleeping has caused some sort of sleep inertia.

Hi lokiaegis,

About the length of time sleeping – they did surveys years ago, and it turned out that eight hours a night was statistically rare. People fell into two groups. There were those who, left to themselves, slept five or six hours, and said that was fine for them. And there were those who, left to themselves, slept 10 or 11 hours and said they needed that much to feel ok.

What you report is outside that range. And it may be that at 12 – 13 hours, you are over-sleeping.

One way to find out is if you use some kind of alarm, and limit your sleeping to, say, 10 hours. And see how you do.

And, btw, give that change a week or so, to give it a fair trial.

The two general rules for fine-tuning sleep – for all of us – are: (1) make only one change at a time, and (2) give each change a few days, a week even, before you evaluate it. One night on its own may not be fully representative.