CPAP drowsiness is a common side effect experienced by new users of CPAP. CPAP drowsiness as the name suggests is a condition wherein you will feel tired and drowsy throughout the day during the initial few days of CPAP therapy, even though you would have gotten a good night of sleep.
Why does CPAP Drowsiness Occur?
Over time your body will adjust to the lowered hours of rest from sleep apnea (but it will still be tired in the inside). When you initially switch to CPAP therapy, your body will finally get the rest it needs, but since it will take a lot of days to cover up for the sleep that you have lost, during the initial days you will continuously be drowsy and sleepy even though you had slept peacefully throughout the night i.e. CPAP Drowsiness.
How to Cure CPAP Drowsiness?
The best way to cure CPAP drowsiness is to simply let your brain adjust to the increased hours of sleep. I know it seems funny, but your body will take time to adjust to anything new. So even if your body is getting more rest than normal, it will take some time to adjust to it since it needs to pay the CPAP dept. So keep using your CPAP machine for a few weeks, only then will you notice the real results of the treatment i.e. waking up earlier than usual, fresher than usual, and having an increased amount of energy.
You can speed up the process of adjusting to your CPAP therapy by changing your CPAP mask. Different people will prefer different masks. So make sure to try on different masks when purchasing the machine, and select one which gives you the most comfort. This will allow your body to adjust to the treatment and increased amount of peaceful sleep faster.
If you experience CPAP drowsiness when you start using CPAP, then it is a sign that the treatment is working, so stick to it and you should be just fine.
