I feel I've come a long way since I started on CPAP for the first time roughly a month ago. My very first week, I think I felt even worse and slept even less than before I ever got on a machine. Thankfully, not any more; I'm sleeping much better. At first, although I could easily fall asleep on the machine, I found that once I woke up in the night (which I do several times to use the toilet), I couldn't fall BACK asleep with the CPAP on; I'd have to take the mask off in order to fall back asleep. Then, later I'd wake up slightly due to an event and re-don the mask.
Not so any more. Over the last month, I've gotten to where I easily fall back asleep with the mask on, which feels like a pretty big milestone (perhaps that adjustment was psychological). Consequently, my average time on the machine has gone from 2 or 3 hours up to above 6 hours. Seems like progress.
While on the machine, I sleep less restlessly. My wife has reported not only drastically reduced snoring but also drastically less tossing and turning - hooray.
Furthermore, I find myself dreaming more throughout the night - a good indicator that I may be getting more REM - another hooray.
I still have a long way to go. I still feel very tired in the morning and throughout the day - sometimes so tired I can barely function. Mental processing and concentration seem like a struggle. Hopefully all of that (and my metabolism and overall health) will start to show improvement as I continue to make adjustments and see improvements in my numbers.
I'm still getting up 3 or 4 times a night to go to the restroom (which, for most of my life, I thought was normal). I've been checked out by a urologist who could find no apparent issues with my prostate or urinary tract, and simple changes like "drinking less water in the afternoons" do not cause me to get up less at night. So, I'm guessing this problem is caused by the fact that I haven't been sleeping long enough for my body to produce enough vasopressin, a hormone that keeps the body from urinating at night. So, this is a major thing that'll hopefully improve as my sleeping improves with time.
And now to continue on with the thread I originally started in the technology forum. @sleeprider @opalrose: Last night I increased my minimum pressure from 7 to 9, and here are the results. I'd appreciate any feedback you may have after comparing this to the night before.
Now it's time to go educate myself on how to read and interpret all this data. Thanks, all.