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It's common, when new to CPAP, to wake often in the night, then have trouble getting back to sleep. Even though your AHI now is so much improved over your untreated AHI, these nightly "awakenings" are fragmenting your sleep and it is for this reason that you aren't feeling any better yet. It takes time, persistence and patience to adapt to CPAP. A few fortunate folks breeze right through this acquaintance phase and adapt within a night or two. For most of us though, our acclimatization to CPAP takes anywhere from 2 weeks to 6 months. So, it's very hard to predict when we will feel better when we first start using CPAP.

Our brains deeply resent the change from our old and familiar way of sleeping (the norm). However, the amazing thing about our brains is, any new stimuli, when repeated persistently over time, eventually becomes perceived as the new norm and the little things (they might not seem so little) that annoy us at first about our treatment become accepted and expected. We start to think less and less about the annoyances until they fade into the background and are finally not noticed at all. This is the adaptation process. After awhile, our brains start associating our treatment with "relaxation" and "sleep". From then on, our brains look forward to our new way of sleeping each night and we're home free - fully adapted and CPAPPERS for life, just as we need to be. It's simply the way we sleep. We can't even imagine sleeping any other way. It feels good.

Our adjustment to CPAP happens faster when we persistently mask up and turn on our machines every time we are sleeping.

Congratulations on your great sleep data. Your CPAP therapy is really helping you out every night. There is no need right now for further sleep testing. Keep on posting as things crop up. We can troubleshoot ways to make your therapy more comfortable.

Great suggestion! Thank you, Sierra.

Hi renrenbri

You mentioned that you think the apnea is subsiding. What has led you to believe that? What was his AHI from his original sleep test? Having to get up frequently in the night to use the bathroom is one of the signs of obstructive sleep apnea. I'm so sorry for the failed surgeries. Has your husband had a more current sleep test done since he had the surgeries?

My husband and I are both on CPAP and share the same bedroom, but it's very quiet now that we are both being treated for our severe apnea. His apnea is worse than mine, but not by much.

If your husband wishes to wean off the pramipexole, you probably already know that the withdrawal must be done slowly and under his doctor's supervision. A good calcium/magnesium supplement would probably help him if it is balanced carefully (the ratio of calcium to magnesium is 2 to one, meaning twice as much calcium as magnesium. Milk of magnesia is used as a laxative and straight magnesium without the proper balance of calcium will have the same effect). Hopefully, the supplement will have some vitamin D in it to help with the absorption of the minerals. You don't mention whether your husband has impaired digestion or not, but if he does, my husband and I have found a very good cal/mag named Solaray (the brand) Calcium Citrate supreme, which you might find at your local health food store. This one is very easy on the digestion. If you can't find it locally, consider buying it online. I get mine through nutritionexpress.com (out of Redmond, Washington State). They've given me excellent service over the years and I wind up saving almost $10 per bottle. We never take more than 2 of the capsules at a time, each, 2-3 times per day.

I hope this helps you.

It's also good to keep an eye on your leaks. The sleepyhead application (you can download this for free online) provides sleep data that is easy to follow and to understand. Excessive leaks can affect your nightly AHI.

Hi sleepydiane and welcome to the forum:

Yes...only I was able to keep up with school...I just couldn't seem to make it to the school bus on time. This was very vexing to my mom, because then, she would have to get up and drive me to school. I was often late. I was even late for school in England, as a 12-year-old when we lived there for a year. The schoolmaster didn't take kindly to this and I wound up in the headmistress' office. This wasn't fun. I still couldn't seem to get myself out of bed. When I did make it to school, I was always rumpled up and not quite awake yet. The schoolmasters thought I just didn't like school. Fortunately, enthusiasm was not a graded subject...

Hi redwood:

Have you mentioned this to your clinician, especially the part about it seeming uncomfortable to exhale? Your clinician may respond by suggesting some changes, perhaps to auto instead of fixed CPAP or increasing the EPR or doing something else to your therapy according to your particular needs and after reviewing your current sleep data.

I wouldn't leave this to amateurs such as ourselves here on this forum - even if you think the changes would be just for comfort. Besides, any changes will go into your medical record, which will leave you at a distinct advantage in a medical emergency or when you get passed around among providers. If you live in Canada, well...it would seem your medical record doesn't matter and your clinicians don't care...you're left to your own devices.

Wait...do you mean that you talked to your sleep doctor about your chest pain? If so, what did he say about your chest pain?

It often takes several tries to pick out a mask that seems "right". Keep trying and making adjustments or changes as needed.

Where do you apply the essential oil? I was told by my respiratory therapist not to use essential oils because they can damage your equipment.

Hi Chris1979:

The higher oxygen levels should not give you a headache. Instead that should help you feel much better. It's easy to associate the headache with the change in your treatment since they seem to coincide, but they may not be related at all. If this is a headache enough to get you to take Ibuprofen to quell it, then perhaps you should check in with your doctor to find out what's going on.