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Oversleeping after starting CPAP - AntKo - 10-22-2020

Hello, I have been using CPAP for three months now. Some of my symptoms (headaches, waking up dehydrated) have improved a lot after startiing using CPAP, but some other symptoms are way worse. In my sleep test I had an AHI of 29, now my AHI is around 2-3. I used to be ok with 7-8 hours of sleep before CPAP but now if I wake up without an alarm I usually sleep around 8-9 hours and it is very difficult for me to leave the bed. The first month of CPAP was horrible. Although the headaches dissapeared immiediately, I was waking up feeling like I was hit by a truck, with a lot of brain fog and yawnining uncontrollably the whole day. After the first month these symptoms started reducing but still many days I cannot leave the bed and start feeling really tired at night before going to bed. Before CPAP I had some issues with daytime sleepiness but not a hard time waking up. Overall I have to say that I feel slightly better after starting CPAP but some other sympotms related to tiredness appeared that I cannot explain. Not many things changed in my life since I started CPAP, I do not take any medication so I cannot think of any specific reason. I tried to analyze my data using OSCAR, and it seems that everything is more or less okay apart from the fact that I have large leaks quite often. I use a fullface mask and no matter how much I try my leaks are always above 20L. I bought a nasal pillows mask to test it, it feels more comfortable but I wake up during the night because my mouth makes sounds exhaling even though I tried using a chin strap and taping my mouth. I would really appreciate it if you could help me by checking my data to see if there is something that can be cahnged in my CPAP.

Below I have attached the data of a night when I used the nasal pillows for the first half of the night and the full face mask for the second. The switch from the nasal pillows to the full face mask was at 07:40

Machine: Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset
Pressure: 4-11

PS: I have an activity tracker that tracks sleep so I have attached the data from it from the same night, athough not sure how accurate it is.


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - SarcasticDave94 - 10-22-2020

Welcome to the Apnea Board.

OSCAR data doesn't look bad, but there are events still getting in. I would increase Min of 4 to 6 or 7, your 95% was 9 or so 4 is really too low for good therapy for most adults.

I think your longer sleep sessions are the body recovering from sleep deprivation.


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - staceyburke - 10-22-2020

LYour min is at 4, that is not high enough oxygen. The min needs to be at least 7. 

It looks like you have a long ramp time. You are getting NO therapy while the ramp is on. IF you can go to sleep at pressure- turn it off. 

You should get a better nights sleep with this setting.


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - Jeff8356 - 10-23-2020

@AntKo, I am with Dave on this one. It's probably just your body getting used to therapy and recuperating. I had similar experiences when I first started xPAP therapy. Headaches and muscle cramps went away (hypoxemia in my case), but I was sleeping 10-12 hours per night the first few month's. At some point I got back to normal sleep of 7-8 hours and no longer felt like I was run over by a truck in the morning.

Getting the settings on your machine adjusted should improve everything for you, but it may take some trial and error. Stick with it.


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - AntKo - 10-23-2020

(10-22-2020, 05:25 PM)staceyburke Wrote: LYour min is at 4, that is not high enough oxygen. The min needs to be at least 7. 

It looks like you have a long ramp time. You are getting NO therapy while the ramp is on. IF you can go to sleep at pressure- turn it off. 

You should get a better nights sleep with this setting.


Ramp is off. It takes me only 1-2 minutes to fall asleep so I never used the Ramp feature. 


Thank you all for your suggestions. I increased my min pressure to 6 and it already feels a bit better, but it's hard to be sure after only one night. By checking my OSCAR data my 95% pressure is always around 9. Do you think I should set my minimum pressure up to 8 as well?


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - SarcasticDave94 - 10-23-2020

I would say let's try 7 as the min. You don't want or need to go on top of the target pressure with this machine. Keeping it somewhat lower should increase comfort. When we see what the trend is for your therapy such as seeing events like CA, we may suggest EPR being changed. But let's hold off for one more night to see. Something else to note is that you can set pressure between whole numbers in steps of 0.2. So if you prefer, you can move it up in smaller steps, maybe 6.4-6.6 instead and see how comfortable that is. It seems therapy is headed in the right direction, so that is very good news for you.


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - SlumberQueen - 02-05-2021

I have had the same issue. Since starting therapy, I too tend to oversleep regardless of any alarm that I happen to set. I have been chalking it up to recovery from years of sleep deprivation. On the other hand, I know that I also suffer from DSPS (Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome) so it may just be the particular hour that I am trying to wake up at.

The Slumber Queen


RE: Oversleeping after starting CPAP - AntKo - 02-05-2021

I gradually increased my minimum pressure to 7.4 as some of you suggested and thank you very much for that! It feels way better now. It finally feels that my cpap therapy is working. I feel more rested than ever. 

What is your minimum pressure?