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Your description of a sleep cycle is mostly correct. It does not necessarily consist of 5 different stages of sleep. Early in the night it will involve either 3 or 4 stages of sleep (largely depending upon whether you are using the current rules for classification of sleep) but later in the night a sleep cycle will often only contain 2 different sleep stages.
I can also tell you that the data from a DreamStation Auto cannot tell you which stages of sleep you have had. It also cannot tell whether you are asleep or awake. It is quite a stretch to claim that level of information based upon the data obtained from a DreamStation or any other PAP device, and it would be a rough guess at best.
It does sound like your treatment is not quite doing the job, based on your original post. This may be due to being set too low. Also, if your O2 was consistently low in your study, not just dipping when you have an event, you may have a secondary problem which requires more than just CPAP. A further complicating factor is the RLS. Limb movements are very often counted as respiratory events by a CPAP machine, so that may be another cause of your elevated AHI.
Having said all of that, it also sounds like you are simply not getting enough sleep. If you are only getting 2 sleep cycles, this would certainly be the case. The way to fix this is to work out what is disrupting your sleep (eg OSA), correct it (eg with CPAP) and then sleep long enough to get more sleep cycles.
Overall, it sounds like you need to have a discussion with your specialist about refining your treatment.
What sort of machine is telling you how many sleep cycles you are getting? Also, what do you mean when you say "sleep cycle"? I have never heard of any CPAP machine (or anything similar) that can monitor sleep cycles. To do so would require EEG data, so unless you are attaching electrodes your head every night I suspect that the sleep cycle info you are getting is wrong.
Is it possible that you have adjusted you ramp control without noticing?
When you say that APAP/CPAP doesn't seem to help, what exactly does it do? What is your AHI when on treatment? It is possible that you sleep anpoea is not obstructive. If this is the case then CPAP would be ineffective and some form of bi-level ventilation would be required (BiPAP or ASV).
There is no dietary supplement that can cure OSA, although weight loss can in some cases.
Do you know if your machine has the ramp turned on? It may help you.
That it true. I forgot to mention that. I have seen it happen.
What you describe, feeling more tired in the morning when first using CPAP, is common. Without going into great technical detail, it happens because your sleep cycles are adjusting to the change. It should pass with time. Hang in there.
What you describe is called rain out in CPAP circles. It happens when your humidifier is set too high. The air cools as it passes along the tube, causing the evaporated water to condense in the tube. That's where all the water in your mask and tubing is coming from. There are a few approaches to fixing this. You can turn down your humidifier a step at a time until the rain out stops. You can use a heated tube to reduce the condensation. Wrapping your tube in a scarf to insulate it and tucking it under the covers with you to keep it warm can also help. Lastly, you can try placing the CPAP machine lower down so that the condensation drains back into the humidifier rather than toward the mask.
CPAP can't make you sleep "too deeply". All it does it stop your sleep from being disrupted, allowing you to sleep normally. If your pressure is too high, pretty much the only problem is discomfort due to more leaks, tighter mask straps and so on. This does not seem to be the case for you.
In some rare cases, if the pressure is too high it can cause central events to develop, but since your AHI is so low this is clearly no the case. I hope this helps you rest easy.
12 is quite high for a minimum pressure. Your machine should have a ramp to make it easier to fall asleep. What model of CPAP do you have?
