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Permalink Reply by Judy on July 3, 2009 at 8:33am

What brand and model CPAP are you using? How long is the Ramp option set for?

You obviously are seeing and feeling improvement in your sleep - even if you don't feel like jumping out of the bed and greeting the world w/a smile in the morning.

Yep, once we get acclimated to the right pressure for us and w/a comfortable, relatively leak free mask for us, we don't notice a difference between room air pressure and CPAP pressure. There are times most all of us xPAP"ole timers" have to open our mouth or lift our mask off our face to determine if our xPAP is turned on or not. And some of us can even open our mouth and not leak pressure we're so accustomed to placing and holding our tongue just right.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on July 3, 2009 at 11:39am

your experience sounds very normal to me. the part about not sleeping longer is fine. in fact, sleeping fewer number of hours on CPAP than without CPAP is a sign to me that the CPAP is working well. think about it: what counts is quality of sleep, not quantity of sleep. If you're sleeping better in a fewer number of hours of sleep, you're sleeping more efficiently, and that's a good thing. your dad who's sleeping 10-12 hour "marathons" of sleep with his machine might need to get his machine checked out and his therapeutic numbers analyzed. i would guess that sleeping 10-12 hours is too long, and that there's something wrong with his sleep still, and that he might be sleeping a greater number of hours to compensate for the poor quality sleep he's experiencing.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Morgan on July 3, 2009 at 11:45am

Thanks Mike.

With Dad, mom has said he is absolutely unbearable the next day, if he does not sleep with his machine. And like I said, I know I feel horrible if I don't use it.

Really, thus far, my biggest problem was some mask leaks, but I think I've got myself adjusted to deal with that.

If only I could sleep on my tummy.

Mike said:

your experience sounds very normal to me. the part about not sleeping longer is fine. in fact, sleeping fewer number of hours on CPAP than without CPAP is a sign to me that the CPAP is working well. think about it: what counts is quality of sleep, not quantity of sleep. If you're sleeping better in a fewer number of hours of sleep, you're sleeping more efficiently, and that's a good thing. your dad who's sleeping 10-12 hour "marathons" of sleep with his machine might need to get his machine checked out and his therapeutic numbers analyzed. i would guess that sleeping 10-12 hours is too long, and that there's something wrong with his sleep still, and that he might be sleeping a greater number of hours to compensate for the poor quality sleep he's experiencing.

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Permalink Reply by Mike on July 3, 2009 at 11:54am

clearly, your dad is benefiting from his cpap machine. no question. the question in my mind is whether he can do even better if he has his data analyzed, and his equipment tweaked slightly. i just say that because 10-12 hours sleep sounds high.

Clay Morgan said:

Thanks Mike.

With Dad, mom has said he is absolutely unbearable the next day, if he does not sleep with his machine. And like I said, I know I feel horrible if I don't use it.

Really, thus far, my biggest problem was some mask leaks, but I think I've got myself adjusted to deal with that.

If only I could sleep on my tummy.

Mike said:

your experience sounds very normal to me. the part about not sleeping longer is fine. in fact, sleeping fewer number of hours on CPAP than without CPAP is a sign to me that the CPAP is working well. think about it: what counts is quality of sleep, not quantity of sleep. If you're sleeping better in a fewer number of hours of sleep, you're sleeping more efficiently, and that's a good thing. your dad who's sleeping 10-12 hour "marathons" of sleep with his machine might need to get his machine checked out and his therapeutic numbers analyzed. i would guess that sleeping 10-12 hours is too long, and that there's something wrong with his sleep still, and that he might be sleeping a greater number of hours to compensate for the poor quality sleep he's experiencing.

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Permalink Reply by Clay Morgan on July 3, 2009 at 11:57am

Sounds high to me too. I'm glad it is helping him, though. Not sure when he goes back to the doctor.

My "update" with the sleep doctor is in a couple weeks.

Interesting note. My dad is a firefighter. He said previous to the cpap, if he got a call in the middle of the night, it'd take him a minute to get his head clear. Now, on CPAP, he said he jumps up and feels pretty clear headed, even if the tones go off at 2 or 3 in the morning - and yes, he takes his to the station with him.

Me...I'm just thankful I sleep through the night now!

Mike said:

clearly, your dad is benefiting from his cpap machine. no question. the question in my mind is whether he can do even better if he has his data analyzed, and his equipment tweaked slightly. i just say that because 10-12 hours sleep sounds high.

Clay Morgan said:

Thanks Mike.

With Dad, mom has said he is absolutely unbearable the next day, if he does not sleep with his machine. And like I said, I know I feel horrible if I don't use it.

Really, thus far, my biggest problem was some mask leaks, but I think I've got myself adjusted to deal with that.

If only I could sleep on my tummy.

Mike said:

your experience sounds very normal to me. the part about not sleeping longer is fine. in fact, sleeping fewer number of hours on CPAP than without CPAP is a sign to me that the CPAP is working well. think about it: what counts is quality of sleep, not quantity of sleep. If you're sleeping better in a fewer number of hours of sleep, you're sleeping more efficiently, and that's a good thing. your dad who's sleeping 10-12 hour "marathons" of sleep with his machine might need to get his machine checked out and his therapeutic numbers analyzed. i would guess that sleeping 10-12 hours is too long, and that there's something wrong with his sleep still, and that he might be sleeping a greater number of hours to compensate for the poor quality sleep he's experiencing.

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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on July 3, 2009 at 12:02pm

Not that you are wrong Mike something could be wrong with dad's therapy. Also there is no such thing as normal sleep. At least not on a grand social scale. What might be normal to me may seem odd to you. I like to think of sleep as a mental fingerprint. No 2 will ever be the same. lab standards are set up on averages and patterns based on hundresds of thousands of sleep srudies. rarely have I seen what a textbook might consider normal sleep. Clay your sleep wake cycle and circadian rythm could just differ from your dad's. Your father could need 10-12 hours of sleep each night while you need less. Your father could be a "long sleeper" meanign that he might need 10 or more hours of sleep per night.

http://www.sleepeducation.com/Disorder.aspx?id=24

As everyone else has posted you seem to be doing well with your therapy. Good luck.

Mike said:

your experience sounds very normal to me. the part about not sleeping longer is fine. in fact, sleeping fewer number of hours on CPAP than without CPAP is a sign to me that the CPAP is working well. think about it: what counts is quality of sleep, not quantity of sleep. If you're sleeping better in a fewer number of hours of sleep, you're sleeping more efficiently, and that's a good thing. your dad who's sleeping 10-12 hour "marathons" of sleep with his machine might need to get his machine checked out and his therapeutic numbers analyzed. i would guess that sleeping 10-12 hours is too long, and that there's something wrong with his sleep still, and that he might be sleeping a greater number of hours to compensate for the poor quality sleep he's experiencing.

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