Night 6-interesting

[cookie810]

when I woke up this morning, the first thing I noticed was- DREAMS!!
DREAMS DREAMS DREAMS-
I am having them!!! and I am remembering them too which I guess is just an added bonus-
one of them was not so pleasant, but even still!

I even woke up after a good amount of hours last night and then instead of taking off the mask, I decided to leave it on cause I was hoping for more dreams lol-

Another thing I noticed, and I hope this isn't tmi- but before, I was getting up at least 2-3x a night to use the bathroom- I thought that was normal- till my doctor told me different-but anyhoo- last night- no bathroom break! none!!

so after all the advice I got regarding water in my mask- I found an old cotton hospital baby blanket-not sure why I still have it-don't remember which kid was in it- anyhoo- I wrapped that around the coil and then tucked it under the covers with me- no drippys!!

Thanks so much for all the advice and for listening-these things aren't something you can really talk about around the dinner table or with other friends who don't know what your talking about- not getting up to go to the bathroom is a big deal that others wouldn't understand and I know some of you know how important and great that feels!!
Thanks!!

[trish6hundred]

Hi cookie810,
Sounds like you are starting to notice the benefits of your CPAP therapy, keep up the good work.

[novatom]

I'm in my third week of CPAP therapy and have been noticing the dreams coming back as well. At first they were more vivid but now I have trouble remembering them. One thing I have noticed is that even when I take the mask off, say around 4 AM in the morning and I fall back asleep, I still dream, without the CPAP. That was weird, but I've been told it's normal.

[retired_guy]

so after all the advice I got regarding water in my mask- I found an old cotton hospital baby blanket-not sure why I still have it-don't remember which kid was in it- anyhoo- I wrapped that around the coil and then tucked it under the covers with me- no drippys!!

Thanks for the great suggestion cookie. I've known that putting the tubing under the covers can really help with moisture, but actually wrapping it up in something would make it much nicer to cuddle up with.

Congrats on your great sleeping experiences.

[Mr. Van Winkle]

Nice report!, Sound to me like your starting to settle in , just wait til you really look forward to going to bed.. then you know your really getting the hang of it!

[quiescence at last]

I am happy you are dreaming. It generally boosts the feeling of sleep satisfaction.

I have begun to recognize the look of sleep which generally coincides with dreaming, and if I stay asleep beyond about 15 minutes past the end of the dream, I do not recall it, or recall only in fuzzy form. I was getting/remembering routine dreaming early in my treatment, from about the third day. It may be only a step toward restoration, to remember many vivid dreams. Potentially, the true healthy sleep is when you dream and then stay asleep beyond it - to start another sleep cycle. And, in that case, I suggest you may wake up not realizing you have dreamed. It is first a sign that you are getting better sleep, and then perhaps fades as sleep normalcy has been established and strengthened sleep process sets in. Anyway, some have more dream recall before treatment than after. Makes it hard to use this as a gage of whether you are getting the right sleep.

As for me; some nights I am sure I have dreamed, but don't recall a thing; others I remember vividly and for days. I am still trying to identify and log all the dreams I have a vague memory of, and those I certainly recall. As I review waveforms, I make note of where they occur with relation to my waking. Maybe I'll see correlation at some point.

Anyway, while you are dreaming, may your dreams be pleasant and an added blessing to the already special restorative sleep you are getting!

[brianwood619]

You'll get to the point of going to bed an once the mask goes on its like flipping a light switch off. I began dreaming again about six weeks after starting therapy and most nights I dream.

[TyroneShoes]

Actually, we all dream. If you are in REM, you dream, almost by definition. You can also dream in other sleep states. But most dreaming is not remembered. Some is, and probably the more you dream, the more you might remember. Those who claim they don't dream simply have no memory of their dreaming.

Dreams are often a method of consolidating and indexing memories that are relatively new (from that day) and re-organizing your brain structure (there is a lot of remodeling going on when you sleep). So, often they are, by design, not relegated to permanent memory. It is also common that if you do not try to remember your dreams in the first minutes after waking up (when you are not actually fully-awake), the memory of those dreams can dissipate like the morning dew, which is why some of us keep a pad and pencil at the ready if we get a "good idea" while asleep.

Bottom line, if you don't think about your dreams soon after you wake up, later you will have no memory at all that you even were dreaming, which can lead you to think that you didn't.

Also, dreams often are not created by the brain to fit with the limitations and characteristics of the real world, and time and space, so they are not something that makes sense when we try to remember them using a wakeful state as a frame of reference. They're crazy, and if you have no frame of reference to understand them, it is difficult to even process the idea that you had a dream and something happened in that dream.

So xPAP therapy can increase dreaming by reducing partial-arousal from SA, and reducing fragmentation, allowing more REM sleep and undisturbed sleep, meaning dreaming often increases under therapy.

Also, the decrease in stress hormones from not being strangled in your sleep every minute or so means your urination returns to normal. I was getting up once a night every night for 5 years; my doc said it was normal for my age. But since night one of xPAP I have never had to get up. So my doc, just like Rick in Casablanca, "was misinformed".

[TyroneShoes]

...putting the tubing under the covers can really help with moisture, but actually wrapping it up in something would make it much nicer to cuddle up with...

+1 on that.

I suggest a fleece hose cozy. Lots on Amazon. It makes the difference between hardly noticing that the hose is even there and feeling like you are in the ICU with tubes coming out of you. Helps prevent rainout as well.

A hose hanger helps, too.

[larrygreg]

I am also new going on night 5. First night was a wreck. My temperature on my humidifier was set to 4 (highest setting). I lowered it to 1, I also got water in my hose. I bought meter of fleece from a local store for little money, wrapped it around the hose and secured it with rubber bands. I do need to remove some material. at 1 meter in length, the hose looks more like a fore hose and the weight of the material is too great. Maybe once or twice around should do it.

Keep posting and good luck!!!