Need Help! Not sleeping with CPAP or anything else...

My name is Simon Warner and I am a 42 year old male with serious sleep issues. I have been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. I have a CPAP machine and have used both a nasal pillow mask and a full face mask. I have had the machine for years. I still have sleep issues. I have tried everything under the sun, from melatonin to 5HTP to teas to essential oils and nothing has helped. I average about 4 hours of sleep a night. That sleep is restless though and I wake up multiple times. The best I can sleep for is around 2 hours max before waking up. Most days I wake up early and cannot go back to sleep sometimes. I always need a nap by the afternoon. My head is foggy when I wake up and I also have a dry mouth. I am also having super vivid dreams, some normal and some nightmares. I feel awake during them and remember them the next day. I have anger/irritability/and moodiness from lack of sleep. I have a lack of energy. I experience memory issues and lack of concentration. I also have reflux and stomach issues - I always need an alka seltzer. Those are most of my symptoms. My only health issues are high blood pressure. I take Telmisa/HCTZ and Amplodine for my blood pressure daily. I also have to have TRT and my levels are tested every 6 months and average from 600-1000. I exercise at least 3 times a week. I'm not overweight and I eat healthy (currently following a low carb, low cal, high protein diet). I don't smoke or use tobacco products, I drink wine/alcohol a few times a week moderately at most. No mental health issues. Does anyone have any suggestions and what a could be causing the machine not to work with my apnea? I'm thinking I may have insomnia also. Any suggestions on what I can try to help me get the sleep I need because I am at a loss of what to do??? Thanks in advance!

Welcome to the forum Simon. You can change your username by clicking on the ICON to the left of the search icon at the top of the page. In any case, if your lack of sleep is due to OSA, how do you monitor the effectiveness of the CPAP mancine? I have a RESMED machine and it forwards data back to RESMED and I monitor it by logging into myair.resmed.com. If your system doesn't work this way, you should monitor using 3rd party software such as sleepyhead. Do you monitor your AHI and mask leaks and such? If you don't you should so you can take corrective actions. You should also consider another sleep study to determine if the prescription for the CPAP machine is current and most effective for your current state of health. I employ a pulse oxymeter (a wrist watch looking deal) that records pluse and blood oxygenation. Low O2 levels during apnea events caused me to fall asleep all the time during the day and be a bit foggy and this allows me to monitor that O2 levels are being positively effected by therapy. I can't comment about the medical issues you are having and how they relate and perhaps a chat with your doctor and sleep doctor would help shed some light in that regard. Good luck and keep us up to date.

Hi Simon. Wiredgeorge makes some good points about data monitoring to make sure you are being treated correctly. However, if you do suspect insomnia, the treatment for that condition is quite different from using CPAP. There are a number of people who have insomnia, or who have been treated for insomnia, and still use CPAP. I encourage you to talk to your sleep physician to see how well your treatment is working these days and about whether you need another sleep study. I would also talk about the insomnia to see if he or she recommends any treatment. Insomnia can be miserable for people who suffer from the condition, but there are even online programs that have shown great success. Best wishes, and I hop this information is helpful!