Pretreatment, I would pass out as my head hit the pillow and wake up with my alarm 7.5 hours later (minus 2 bathroom breaks).  Now in those same 7.5 hours, I get maybe 6 hours of sleep.  It now takes me longer to fall sleep, mask leaks wake me up and I seem to wakeup right before the alarm. I do feel that the quality of sleep is better, but the quantity is just not enough for me to feel rested.

On the weekends, I can dedicate 10-12 hours to being in bed and this gives me 8-9 hours and then I feel great.  I don't know how I can dedicate that much time during the workweek on sleep.

Has anyone else experience this shortfall and if so, what have you done?

Linnea -  The reason you passed out the minute your head hit your pillow (pre-treatment) was because you were totally exhausted.  My MD told me that it should take a little while to fall asleep.  I usually sleep 7 - 7.5 hours each night, but sometimes do wake up earlier (something I haven't done in a very long time).  I wonder if you may still be repaying your "sleep debt"?  You don't say how long you've been on CPAP.

Sorry, I've been using cpap for one month, but I've had a lot of problems in that month - leaks in ff mask, change of machine, change in settings.

What I'm asking is this.  To get 7.5 hours of sleep, do you go to bed 9 hours before you have to wake up, to compensate for the time it takes to go to sleep and wake up in the middle of the night or are you in bed for 7.5 hours and sleep less than that?

Linnea wrote:

What I'm asking is this.  To get 7.5 hours of sleep, do you go to bed 9 hours before you have to wake up, to compensate for the time it takes to go to sleep and wake up in the middle of the night or are you in bed for 7.5 hours and sleep less than that?

You should not have to do this.........in a perfect world.

Any idea what's causing the leaks ? Tossing & turning maybe, or are you comfortable with your mask........please post back.

Ideally, and it is very possible and achievable, that you fall asleep quickly and wake up feeling refreshed with no breaks.

There is also a distinct possibility because of the disuptions you have had that you still have a sleep debt to repay.

Kind regards,

Daniel.


_________________
The untreated Sleep Apnoea sufferer died quietly in his sleep.......
Unlike his three passengers who died screaming !!!!!!

(Anon)

If there were a sleep debtors prison, I'd be sentenced to life imprisonment.  

As I've mentioned in other posts, I'm still using the first ff mask that leaks like crazy and feel that the entire medical team has been pretty incompentent.  I'm going back to the sleep doc on Thursday where I will hopefully finally get the results of my sleep studies and then call my pcp and insurance co to see if I can go to someplace else to have the results read and perhaps come up with some better treatment plan.

As for how long in bed versus how much sleep. The answer (as lame as it may sound) is - it depends.  I try to be in bed by 10:00 and set my alarm for 6:00.  Sometimes I fall asleep within 10 minutes and sometimes 30 minutes - again, it just depends.  Most times I wake up before the alarm goes off - but not always.  I'm sorry I can't give you a definitive answer - but everyone is different from day to day.

Ha!! I'm a truck driver and you talk about differences from day to day. . . !! Yeah, quality versus quantity is a major issue with me. How long it takes me to fall asleep depends on -- well -- how sleepy I am. I hit my break at different times from day to day and my life revolves around freight pick-up and delivery schedules. On a given day, I might get ten hours or more of sleep, then hit my break early the following day and toss and turn for two hours because I'm not really that tired when I hit the bunk. Other days, I'm drop-dead exhausted and can't get but five or six hours sleep because I have to get up and get rolling in order to deliver on time. Even with my trusty CPAP on board with me, I still at times accumulate a sleep debt that rivals the government's deficit.

But it's the nature of my job and I can go on six hours per day. Can't spend too much time in the bunk or I can't make a living. Just have to roll with the punches. The CPAP therapy has greatly improved the quality of my sleep. I am much more rested, even after only four or five hours sleep. But the quantity is lacking sorely at times. It's just something I have to deal with on a a daily basis.


_________________
Larry

I've only had my BiPap machine for about a week, and the first night I got a full 7 hours of sleep!  I got up once to use the bathroom.  I used to wake up frequently, and get up to use the bathroom just for something to do.  I wasn't getting any good rest, and hadn't been for years.  

To answer your question; I suggest switching your mask for Swift Nasal Pillows.  They haven't caused my any problems at all.