ButtterflyLady
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,291
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Acceptance of health treatment claims that are not adequately supported by evidence. I dislike it when people sell ineffective and even harmful alternative health products to exploit the desperation of people with chronic illness.
If your sleep apnoea is adequately controlled with CPAP, then you shouldn't feel the need to nap during the day. Also, naps can make it harder to sleep at night, which can make it harder to keep your mask on. It can be a good idea to resist the temptation to nap so you have better sleep at night.I must admit I do still feel very fatigued during the day quite a bit, often having to grab s nap when time allows. My dietician says this could be a symptom of both diabetes and sleep apnea.
The big change is feeling lots better in the morning and feeling more refreshed when getting up.
I hadn't realised how bad I was feeling as it had been so long since I had a more normal sleep pattern.
I also now remember dreaming on occasion. This means REM sleep, which I hadn't been getting.
My understanding is that when we remember our dreams, it's because we have woken up during REM sleep, when the normal sleep cycle that lasts about 90 minutes means we go down through sleep stages 1-4 then into REM sleep then back out through stages 4-1 before waking up. If you have an apnoea event during REM sleep, you may briefly wake up enough to be aware of your dream.
It might be a good idea to ask your sleep clinic to download the data from your machine, which will tell you how many hours it is being used each night, and (hopefully) what your average number of apnoea or partial apnoea events per hour are (AHI). This is really the only way to know if your sleep apnoea is well controlled or not. Depending on your machine, you will either have to bring it in to the clinic or insert a memory card and send that in to them.
Under 5 events per hour is considered normal. 5-15 is mild, 15-30 is moderate and 30+ is severe. When I was diagnosed, I was having 41 events per hour, and these days my machine tells me I have an average of 1 event per hour. (As it's an average, these events are probably clustered at the start and end of the night, so I am confident I am having many hours of uninterrupted sleep).
As for usage, research has shown that less than an average of 4 hours use per night means uncontrolled sleep apnoea. If your machine settings or mask seal are not right, your AHI or number of events may be too high.
If your CPAP therapy is shown to be optimal, then your fatigue and sleepiness symptoms will be caused by another condition. Even so, avoiding naps and practicing good "sleep hygiene" by getting enough hours of sleep each night are important.