still tired after using CPAP

Hi gang,

I'm relatively new to using a CPAP, but so far I've found that the machine has only had a marginal effect on my well-being, mood, and energy. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and I yawn a lot throughout the day. Could anyone tell me what they think could be happening? Also, has anyone had an experience like this?

I've been using my CPAP machine for more than 4 months now and have met compliance for all of that time. I typically average between 7-9 hours of sleep, usually wearing my mask for most if not the entire time, occassionally taking it off after maybe 5 hours and my AHI score averages around 0.4 per month. I've finally found a mask that fits really comfortably, so it's possible that these numbers can get even better.

Thanks,
Tod

tnak wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:17 pm

Hi gang,

I'm relatively new to using a CPAP, but so far I've found that the machine has only had a marginal effect on my well-being, mood, and energy. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and I yawn a lot throughout the day. Could anyone tell me what they think could be happening? Also, has anyone had an experience like this?

I've been using my CPAP machine for more than 4 months now and have met compliance for all of that time. I typically average between 7-9 hours of sleep, usually wearing my mask for most if not the entire time, occassionally taking it off after maybe 5 hours and my AHI score averages around 0.4 per month. I've finally found a mask that fits really comfortably, so it's possible that these numbers can get even better.

Thanks,
Tod

Howdy Tod,

A few things. Read some of the stickies at the top of the forum. They will help. Especially the ones for newbies. Keep posting on this thread so folks can follow your trials and tribulations, and so can you.

Add your equipment to your profile. That way we can help you there.

And more important is putting an SD card into your machine so you can track your data and possibly determine if you have leaks or need settings changed. There are 2 programs. Oscar info and posting is there somewhere and sleephq.com is an alternative. I find sleephq more user friendly but others prefer oscar.

If you are worried about personal info you might want to use a pseudonym when signing up. hth

And welcome. We can help more with more info.

As lynninj suggests, it could be really helpful to see data from Oscar (or sleephq, though I think Oscar is ideal if you can get going with it). There might be some subtle things going on that can be fixed by tweaking your settings.

The good news is that you've made a good adaptation to PAP. Try for more consistency going all night. You might also check the basics steps toward better sleep:

• 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.

These are pretty basic, I know. I have to admit I ignored some of them for a long time, then out of desperation gave them a try. They helped!

Some is better than none, but all night every night on proven-optimized PAP is when full benefit kicks in.

Also, PAP alone does not solve our health issues; it only solves the problems that keep us from solving our problems.

Good exercise, good diet, good life patterns, positive thinking, and focusing on good relationships are all difficult-to-impossible without air and sleep. The benefits of PAP provide us the beneficial currency to be spent on positive life changes. Spend the currency. That's when the synergistic tsunami of benefits can start to be loosed on your life as a whole.

Healing is never instantaneous. It is slow, one cell at a time. But it is always worth putting in the work that allows that to happen to the extent it can.

I've been on PAP since 2008. Last week my cardiologist did an echo, a stress, and a calcium score. My heart has gone from some moderate concerns to a very few merely mild concerns. PAP alone didn't do that. But the work and effort I and my team put in were only possible because of PAP, in my opinion.

Just sayin'.

tnak wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:17 pm

Hi gang,

I'm relatively new to using a CPAP, but so far I've found that the machine has only had a marginal effect on my well-being, mood, and energy. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and I yawn a lot throughout the day. Could anyone tell me what they think could be happening? Also, has anyone had an experience like this?

I've been using my CPAP machine for more than 4 months now and have met compliance for all of that time. I typically average between 7-9 hours of sleep, usually wearing my mask for most if not the entire time, occassionally taking it off after maybe 5 hours and my AHI score averages around 0.4 per month. I've finally found a mask that fits really comfortably, so it's possible that these numbers can get even better.

Thanks,
Tod

I had the same problem. I bought a 02 ring that measured my oxygen during the night. my o2 levels were dropping down to almost 70. most of the time they stayed up around 85. I told my doctor about this. what he did. sent me to get a blood test. my hemoglobin and hematocrit were just a little past the boarder line. we need another test for medicare. I told him medicare won't pay for a portable oxygen concentrator for a cpap user. I told him. write me out a prescription. I will buy my own concentrator. I'm on 2 liter of oxygen. after 2 months my o2 levels were normal. my sleep improved. I only get up now only once to take a pee. I feel much better all day. best 2200 hundred dollars I ever spent. my o2 levels average 96 with some dropping down to 90 during a night sleep. Get a blood test.

Channeling my inner Pugsy who has taught me that quality sleep is far more than a low AHI. It is a compendium of many little things that together help us get a restful nights sleep. It took me about a year before I really started feeling the impact of using CPAP even though I had very low numbers. Part of it was dialing in the CPAP settings, but a big part was changing my poor sleep habits (more correctly bad habits).

Keep at it and consider all the parameters around your sleep. There are a lot of little things we can do to improve sleep quality and CPAP is a big part of it, but not the only thing that matters.

Jlfinkels wrote: ↑

Fri Nov 11, 2022 7:43 pm

Channeling my inner Pugsy who has taught me that quality sleep is far more than a low AHI.

+1

There's way too many factors at play here. Sounds like it's going well, curious what is the new mask you're trying? Once I finally came to grips (or at least try to on a daily basis) that CPAP is not going to magically be perfect every night and make me wake up perfect every morning, it gets a lot better. I don't feel that "high" that I got when I first started CPAP, but the biggest wakeup call (no pun) was how bad I felt when I didn't use my CPAP or get good sleep how I feel. That's how I always felt so it's kind of like a new normal. I came a long way since starting a year ago, with probably 10 mask changes to get to where I am at. I've learned a ton from this forum and from various people. OSCAR helped me figure a few things out. Anyways, I'd gladly help if you can give more info on pressures and masks and machine info, etc. But again you have to realize it's not going to be perfect every night.

tnak wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:17 pm

Hi gang,

I'm relatively new to using a CPAP, but so far I've found that the machine has only had a marginal effect on my well-being, mood, and energy. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and I yawn a lot throughout the day. Could anyone tell me what they think could be happening? Also, has anyone had an experience like this?

I've been using my CPAP machine for more than 4 months now and have met compliance for all of that time. I typically average between 7-9 hours of sleep, usually wearing my mask for most if not the entire time, occassionally taking it off after maybe 5 hours and my AHI score averages around 0.4 per month. I've finally found a mask that fits really comfortably, so it's possible that these numbers can get even better.

Thanks,
Tod

I've been using CPAP faithfully for 22 months, and I'M still tired and sleepy during the day!

All to frequently, I hear something like "CPAP didn't really help, so I stopped using it; then I felt worse than ever!"

What's going on here, is that the recovery was gradual, so the it was not really noticed until it went away!

Remember that if it takes several months to feel better, you still feel better.

D.H. wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:26 pm

All to frequently, I hear something like "CPAP didn't really help, so I stopped using it; then I felt worse than ever!"

What's going on here, is that the recovery was gradual, so the it was not really noticed until it went away!

Remember that if it takes several months to feel better, you still feel better.

Exactly!

As someone who took several months to start feeling marginally better, I'll add that if the recovery is gradual, it can help to keep a short sleep log of how you feel when you first wake up and how you feel at the end of each day.

In my case, the very first sign that xPAP was doing me some good was when the phrase, "Woke up with no hand/foot pain" started to appear multiple times a week in the sleep log I was keeping as part of my First War on Insomnia. Seeing that phrase gave me something to grab onto when I was still actively doing a lot of complaining that all CPAP had done was make me feel so much worse ...

tnak wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 10, 2022 6:17 pm

Hi gang,

I'm relatively new to using a CPAP, but so far I've found that the machine has only had a marginal effect on my well-being, mood, and energy. I still have quite a bit of fatigue and I yawn a lot throughout the day. Could anyone tell me what they think could be happening?

Sometimes it takes the body a long time to heal. And sometimes the improvements in well-being, mood, and energy are so gradual that it can be hard to notice them.

Sometimes there are CPAP issues going on. For example, does your machine record efficacy data? If it does, what's your treated AHI? If the treated AHI is too high, it's to be expected that you're not yet feeling any better. What about leaks? If your leaks are too high and too long that can interfere with the machine's ability to deliver the pressure you need to keep your airway open. Or leaks can simply wake you up a lot at night. In other words, you have to be able to sleep well with the mask on your nose before CPAP can work its magic in terms of making you feel better in the daytime.

Sometimes there are medical other issues going on. Do you have other medical conditions that cause fatigue? Have you had a recent physical exam with your PCP? Have you had such things as your vitamin D levels checked? What about thyroid levels? There are a whole host of medical problems that can cause daytime fatigue and adversely affect mood and energy.

Do you get decent quality sleep when you use the CPAP all night long? If not, is the problem related to insomnia? In other words, are you getting to sleep in a reasonable amount of time? Are you staying asleep during the night? Are you waking up at your desired wake up time? Fixing insomnia usually requires careful consideration of your sleep hygiene. Are there things that you routinely do that make it harder to get to sleep and stay asleep?

Also, has anyone had an experience like this?

A lot of us took a while to see benefits from our CPAP therapy. My own adjustment period included a major crash-and-burn in terms of how I felt: 3 months into CPAPing I was experiencing far more daytime sleepiness than I'd ever had in my life, could no longer drive for fear of falling asleep at the wheel, and yet was fighting monstrously bad insomnia as soon as I put the mask on my face.

But in the fourth month of PAPing I was keeping a sleep log (for fighting the insomnia) and the phrase, "Woke up with no hand/foot pain" began to appear several times a week. I had been waking up with significant hand & foot pain for years---I would tell my husband after the worst nights that it felt like I'd slept with my hands and feet in fists all night long. That pain disappearing was the very first sign that my body was finally beginning to heal from the damage caused by the untreated OSA.

I've been using my CPAP machine for more than 4 months now and have met compliance for all of that time. I typically average between 7-9 hours of sleep, usually wearing my mask for most if not the entire time, occassionally taking it off after maybe 5 hours

It's not about compliance: To really benefit from CPAP you need to sleep with the machine all night long, every single night. When you take the mask off (after making compliance) and return to sleep, the untreated apnea comes back because your airway is no longer being propped open by the extra pressure.

and my AHI score averages around 0.4 per month. I've finally found a mask that fits really comfortably, so it's possible that these numbers can get even better.

Chasing a 0.0 AHI is not what leads to genuine recovery. What leads to genuine recovery and feeling good day after day is using the CPAP all night long, night after night and sleeping well when you are using the CPAP.

robysue1 wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:35 pm

D.H. wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 12, 2022 12:26 pm

All to frequently, I hear something like "CPAP didn't really help, so I stopped using it; then I felt worse than ever!"

What's going on here, is that the recovery was gradual, so the it was not really noticed until it went away!

Remember that if it takes several months to feel better, you still feel better.

Exactly!

As someone who took several months to start feeling marginally better, I'll add that if the recovery is gradual, it can help to keep a short sleep log of how you feel when you first wake up and how you feel at the end of each day.

In my case, the very first sign that xPAP was doing me some good was when the phrase, "Woke up with no hand/foot pain" started to appear multiple times a week in the sleep log I was keeping as part of my First War on Insomnia. Seeing that phrase gave me something to grab onto when I was still actively doing a lot of complaining that all CPAP had done was make me feel so much worse ...

The other day my partner reminded me of the time I was on the sofa one afternoon crying and saying, “I don’t understand why I am so exhausted all the time!”

Now I occasionally stretch out but rather sleep and my energy levels are much improved most days. I still have some shit days but I notice a big difference now.