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+--- Thread: CPAP Therapy Great for Apnea Treatment, Not So Great for Good Night's Sleep (/Thread-CPAP-Therapy-Great-for-Apnea-Treatment-Not-So-Great-for-Good-Night-s-Sleep)
CPAP Therapy Great for Apnea Treatment, Not So Great for Good Night's Sleep - happyguardian - 05-02-2021
I have been using the CPAP machine for the last 12 years. Now I am using ResMed S10 Auto with the auto setting set between 7 to 14. I know that the machine is very useful at treating Apnea because when I get up in the morning I don't have that heavy feeling in my chest which I used to have when I was not using the CPAP. HOWEVER, in the last 12 years, I never felt like I got a restful night of sleep. I think that while the CPAP helps the apnea it also disturbs sleep by keeping the brain alert and not allowing it to go into the so important deep sleep stages. I don't get deep sleep. Only shallow sleep throughout the night and I get up tired. So I can function throughout the day being tired but I want to be able to function at my optimal capacity and not at 1/2 capacity since I am constantly tired. I am not an expert on these CPAP machines, but I believe my machine is functioning as intended. I tried constant pressure of 11 (as per my doctor) but I cannot tolerate this high of pressure throughout the night. I often don't fall asleep with this constant pressure so I usually opt out for variable pressure settings as mentioned above.
Any advice please on what to do to get that truly restful night of sleep? And I don't want to do a sleep study again. They don't really work for me as I don't fall asleep and end up going home at 3 am anyways.
RE: CPAP Therapy Great for Apnea Treatment, Not So Great for Good Night's Sleep - Crimson Nape - 05-02-2021
Two things that you can do is, 1. Update your profile to reflect your current equipment. 2. Download OSCAR and provide some detailed data for us to help analyze and tweak your settings. Links in my signature will help to explain much of OSCAR and how to post images here.
RE: CPAP Therapy Great for Apnea Treatment, Not So Great for Good Night's Sleep - srlevine1 - 05-02-2021
Perhaps you are experiencing difficulties with a higher exhale pressure. You might want to set your EPR (Expiratory pressure relief) setting to three if it is not already set. If you are unsure about how to set the EPR in the clinician's menu, you can download the clinician's manual for your device following the instructions in the top menu item labeled "CPAP Setup Manuals." This setting made the difference for me and I am getting a better therapy experience and better sleep.
I cannot tell when I enter REM sleep, but I assume it may be near the end of my sleep session when I appear to be dreaming.
Best of luck.