1 Week on CPAP - advice or thoughts?

[jamwin]

OK I've done this thing for 7 nights now. I have moderate apnea (sleeps study 21 AHI but that was a good night). I never had issues going to sleep or staying asleep, but do feel tired during the day and at one point thought I had a problem because I can sleep anywhere anytime. I have fallen asleep in dentist and barber chairs, on planes before they take off in economy, and I'm 6'3" 240lbs.  F&P Sleepstyle Automatic CPAP with Philips Dreamstyle mask, medium nasal pillows.



Some points:

[*]2 drinks before bed made it easy to fall asleep with the mask on, otherwise harder to get to sleep

[*]My AHI is great with CPAP - less than 1 most nights and flow is around 8

[*]I feel NO DIFFERENT when I wake up, still tired, I presume because the CPAP wakes me up when I move or something of that nature



Overall I wonder if it is helping - I guess I'm getting more oxygen but I was expecting to feel better, and I feel more tired if anything.  I am posting last night's data below to see if anyone has any view on if my experience is normal, i.e. why do I feel the same or worse even though it seems to be working?
   

[OpalRose]

Your Flow limitation is high, which can cause sleep disruptions even if you're not aware.

EPR is used to treat FL, which you are using, but to receive the full benefit of EPR, raise your minimum pressure to 7cm.

If able, try weaning yourself from using the ramp feature. It's normally not needed when using low pressures.

Also, are you getting enough sleep, as 5 1/2 hours is pretty low. Try for at least 7 hrs.

See if using EPR 3 with a minimum pressure of 7cm helps. Give it a couple days.

[jamwin]

Thanks - so my current setting done by the clinician is 6-20 and I should change that to 7 - 20?

I am getting at least 8 maybe more - the data was from a night I took the cpap off after 5 hours and went back to sleep.  Last night I wore it for longer about 7.5h and had AHI of 0.1, but still slept another hour without it and still feel groggy.

[OpalRose]

Yes, minimum pressure set at 7cm with EPR 3.

Set your maximum to 15.

[jamwin]

Tried it last night - woke up at 2am and was awake for 2 hours before getting back to sleep, ended up using the CPAP for 9 hours but felt terrible when I woke up, still groggy an hour later.

[OpalRose]

Can we see an updated graph please?

[jamwin]

yes I’ll need to download via USB when I get home from work tonight

[Bluesv6]

Also keep in mind you have gotten poor sleep for a while and your body needs time to catch up from all the tiredness as well . Plus your body needs to adjust to cpap

[gainerfull]

Also, drinking alcohol before bedtime makes your sleep quality worse. Try not eating or drinking 3hrs before bed (except water) and try to get consistent sleep and awake times. Where possible make your room as dark as possible and turn make sure the room is cold to help promote sleep without alcohol.

[jamwin]

   

That was the data from last night.  I woke up just after 2 and it felt like I didn't get back to sleep until 4am.