(07-11-2017, 03:28 PM)robysue Wrote:

(07-11-2017, 01:49 PM)Tess Wrote: Hello, all.  Not sure this is right place to post  . . . but I am 15 days and still tired.  I know it might be too soon, but I'm not sure what I'm awaiting to make me feel rested and refreshed.

It takes most people several weeks to a few months to start feeling less tired during the day. Many of us never have an "Aha" moment where we suddenly wake up feeling wonderfully different one morning.

Rather, we see gradual improvement in how we feel over many weeks and months.  The improvement can be so gradual that you don't notice it if you're not looking for it.

So you might want to keep a simple log of how you feel to track small improvements over the next several weeks.  What to track depends on what your OSA symptoms are/were.

Quote:I have always been a "long" sleeper, nine hours minimum with a nap if I had the time.  I suppose it could be the apnea, but I've been like this since I was a kid.

So 15 days on and I am averaging 7 hours 45 minutes.  I'm thinking oh, I'm not sleeping much although sleep is supposed to be better. 

It's not uncommon for new PAPers to sleep less at night than they did before starting PAP.  Sometimes it's just that the OSA was causing them to sleep too much.  Sometimes it's a matter of the body adjusting to the new kind of sleep.

Think of it this way: Pre-CPAP you had 9+ hours of apnea-filled sleep: Your AHI = 24, which meant that in 9 hours of sleep, your body had to deal with an apnea or hypopnea 216 times during the night.  That's a lot of interruptions to disturb the over all quality of your pre-CPAP sleep.

Now you're sleeping about 7.75 hours and your AHI is in the neighborhood of 3.0. That means your body is dealing with 23 apneas or hypopneas over the course of the night.  In other words, your body is getting far more uninterrupted sleep in 7.75 hours with the machine that it was getting in 9+ hours without the machine.

Sometimes that confuses the body and it wakes up thinking, "I'm done with sleep for the night because it feels like I've got as much sleep as I ever managed to get before starting to use the machine."  With time, the body begins to realize that it is no longer struggling to breathe at night  and it starts to crave a more normal amount of sleep.  And once your body starts sleeping an appropriate amount to get the rest it needs, slowly but surely, your daytime energy levels should return.

Quote:I don't have access to a graph chart; no sd card, so I can't figure out how to use the resmed program from here.

Get a generic SD card from a store like Walmart, Target, or a camera shop. There's nothing special about the SD card the machine uses.  (You may need to hunt for a plain SD card rather than an SDHD card, however. Some cpap machines cannot use the SDHD cards.)

Quote:I can't fall asleep at night, a new problem, so sleep numbers could be an hour or two less.  Am I really sleeping 6 hours a night? 

Teaching your body to fall asleep with a six foot hose attached to your nose takes a bit of time and effort. But it can be done, and we can help you figure out how to do it.

Right now you might indeed only be sleeping 6 hours a night. As I said before, your body is not used to uninterrupted sleep, and it may not realize that it needs more than 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  It's possible that 6 hours of uninterrupted sleep gives your body about the same amount of rest as 9+ hours of apnea filled sleep does.

Quote:I now watch shows on my computer until I get sleepy enough.  I don't want to fall asleep to TV.  I don't think that is a good sleep routine for me; did that years ago when I was in high-stress/depression mode.

So don't get into this habit.

I would suggest listening to quiet, sleep inducing music while you are lying in bed instead of watching TV on your computer.  

Or read with the mask on if you like reading in bed.

Quote:I can't fall asleep for a nap either.  What is happening? 

You're trying to get to sleep with an alien monster on your face.

More seriously, it takes time for your unconscious mind to fully accept that the mask is a friend rather than an alien monster out to do something nasty to you in your sleep.  Your unconscious mind has been vigilant through the years, waking your body up just enough to restart the breathing every time you had an apnea or a hypopnea. Now that you're using a CPAP, the unconscious part of your mind has not yet accepted that (a) it doesn't need to be super vigilant during the night and (b) this new, and not particularly comfortable, thing on your nose is not a threat.

As a result, you're having trouble fully relaxing into sleep.  

(07-11-2017, 02:08 PM)Tess Wrote: Not a new reply.  Just me again.

I wanted to note that I have dark circles and bags under my eyes, which is unusual.   I think I am not sleeping enough. 

Probably.  I had a real problem with this for the first several months when I was most definitely NOT sleeping very soundly with the CPAP.  Sensory stimuli from the CPAP takes some of us a long time to get used to, and until we do, our sleep is often quite light, even if it is apnea-free.

Quote:I have no recollection of waking up a lot at night.  Get up once to use the bathroom and that's all. 

That's good.  Much better than feeling like you're awake for most of the night, which is what happened to me.

Quote:The mask is comfortable enough.  I did look up how to end condensation from collecting and dripping into my face.  Going to put the machine on the floor tonight. 

Are you using a heated hose? That can help. Hanging the hose can help. Running the hose under the covers can help.

Quote:I am considering using CPAP at night and then sleeping later in the day without it.  I am retired but still have stuff to do. 

Personally I would advise against that. Here's why: Every time you sleep without the hose, you continue to let the unconscious part of your brain believe that it does not have to get used to the CPAP.

My advice about the naps is more hard nosed: If I were you, I'd try skipping the naps altogether for a few days. That may make it much easier for you to fall asleep more quickly at night.