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Can't stay asleep all night
#11
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
JJJ - I have the same issue. Not EVERY night (last night only one awakening). But the four nights before that I was waking up about every 1-1.5 hours. I have tried relaxation tapes. Now I'm working with the doc to see if I can rearrange my meds.

I'm finding some things work for 1-2 nights, then I'm back to where I was. The relaxation tapes worked for two nights. Last night I changed up some meds and they worked. Who knows how long that will work. I have been wondering if I am opening my mouth and that is waking me up? But of course there is no evidence.

It is really frustrating. My CPAP numbers are good (.8 AHI), but if I have two days of this waking up all the time I am just a wreck the next day.

Always helps to know you are not alone. Hope we can both figure this out.
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#12
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Eaglett, first of all, you are never alone. Somewhere someone has experienced what you have experienced. There are times I wake up just beat to death and ready to go back to sleep! I look, I have a good AHI, no major leaks, no unusual numbers of OA or CA, but then I look at that RERA number and there it is! When I end up having 20, 30 even 40+ RERA events in a night, I am useless the next day. Luckily, those numbers seem to be declining in frequency with treatment. Hopefully someday these type of numbers will be behind me completely. This is the kind of thing that we all talk about when we tell people not to go changing their pressures and setups every couple of days. Even once you get to the right settings for you, it still takes time in therapy for your body to get used to sleeping with this hunk of plastic and steel. As time goes on, most times numbers improve and things can turn around. I had 8 RERA events last night. 2 months ago I was throwing out over 40 consistently. Now don't get me wrong, 8 events is a new low for me and it is only one night, but I have been hitting in the teens and low 20s pretty regularly and I am just plain feeling better.
Hang in there, time is a great friend to have!
As always, YMMV! You do not have to agree or disagree, I am not a professional so my mental meanderings are simply recollections of things from my own life.

PRS1 - Auto - A-Flex x2 - 12.50 - 20 - Humid x2 - Swift FX
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#13
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Twenty years ago I would go to be and the next thing I knew it was morning. At the time of my sleep study in late March I was waking up five or six times a night. My sleep apnea is now under control (AHI average about 2.5), but I still wake up too often.

One thing that has helped a little has been being more religious about going to bed at the same time, plus other good sleep hygiene habits. I also find some help from melatonin, benadryl and 5-HTP.

Melatonin has a half life of only 30-50 minutes, so I take 3 mg at dusk and at bedtime (about 10:30 pm) I take a 10 mg controlled release melatonin. At bedtime I also take two 25 mg benadryls and one 200 mg 5-HTP. I have only started the 5-HTP a few days ago, so I can't say how much it is helping yet.

I still wake up, but only two to to four times, and sometimes I am only semi-conscious when I do so.

There are also prescription medications, but I'm scared of them. I took a Dormalin once and, although I slept through the night, I can't remember anything that happened the day before. I'm forgetful enough without deliberately inducing amnesia.
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#14
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Is there a definitions page here? What is RERA? I don't remember seeing that in my readout.
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#15
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Tried to edit that last one, but I was too late. I do have RERA on my printout, and it's less than .5 and I assume that is fine.

I'm going to look into the difference between insomnia and sleep apnea. Perhaps that's my next step to full recovery.
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#16
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Acronyms: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Acronyms
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#17
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
(08-17-2012, 05:41 PM)eaglett1111 Wrote: Tried to edit that last one, but I was too late. I do have RERA on my printout, and it's less than .5 and I assume that is fine.

I'm going to look into the difference between insomnia and sleep apnea. Perhaps that's my next step to full recovery.

Paula is dead on with giving you the link to the acronyms, but it means Respiratory Effort Related Arousal. Sorry, I should have just said what I mean! Smile
As always, YMMV! You do not have to agree or disagree, I am not a professional so my mental meanderings are simply recollections of things from my own life.

PRS1 - Auto - A-Flex x2 - 12.50 - 20 - Humid x2 - Swift FX
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#18
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Hi, i am a newbie to all of this. I have had chronic insomnia for 15 years and my sister always told me i needed to get a sleep study done because she has sleep apnea and that she knew i had it too and as soon as i got on the CPAP i would be able to sleep through the night. Well, i had the study done and i do have sleep apnea and have been using the CPAP for 3 weeks now and can honestly say i still have a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep. I wake up at least 5 or 6 times a night still and i actually know how you feel about feeling like your going backwards. I have changed my mask twice and last night was another struggle and i only got 3 hours of sleep. I am getting very frustrated but by reading all of these boards i also feel like i need to give it more time even though i have been exhausted most of my adult life already. Guess we just need to hang in there until it works out Smile
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#19
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
Insomnia and sleep apnea have most of the same symptoms...daytime sleepiness, etc. But with insomnia, you know you are awake. It's the inability to fall asleep in a timely manner or stay asleep. From WebMD:

Quote:There are two types of insomnia: primary insomnia and secondary insomnia.

Primary insomnia: Primary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems that are not directly associated with any other health condition or problem.
Secondary insomnia: Secondary insomnia means that a person is having sleep problems because of something else, such as a health condition (like asthma, depression, arthritis, cancer, or heartburn); pain; medication they are taking; or a substance they are using (like alcohol).

Acute vs. Chronic Insomnia

Insomnia also varies in how long it lasts and how often it occurs. It can be short-term (acute insomnia) or can last a long time (chronic insomnia). It can also come and go, with periods of time when a person has no sleep problems. Acute insomnia can last from one night to a few weeks. Insomnia is called chronic when a person has insomnia at least three nights a week for a month or longer.

Mine was chronic secondary insomnia. It had gone on for close to FOUR years.

I still have some trouble FALLING asleep but staying asleep is no longer a major issue.

Liz
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#20
RE: Can't stay asleep all night
There are so many of us that have trouble going to sleep and or staying asleep. I will do ok for a while then wake up 4 or 5 times a night, I am thankfull for the nights I get 5 or so hours of sleep,I also try different med's but nothing works very good,I have been on sleeping pills for about 5 years they helped a lot at first and still help but it would be nice to sleep each night,I wish we all could.I guess its just a matter of geting older.




I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.
Charles M. Schulz
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