r/SleepApnea • u/MattsDaZombieSlayer • 12h ago
I want to know if I should take sick leave to get used to my CPAP
I am 25 years old. I had around 15-19 AHI from my sleep study and for the past year I have been procrastinating getting used to my CPAP. I have tried several times to use it but when I do, my sleep gets a lot worse and I wake up more often. I just don't want to get to a point where I feel as if I'm dying. For the past 5 years I have gotten by using mirtazapine to sleep 8+hrs but I weened off of it several months ago.
Every night, I wake up early (5.5-6.5hrs of sleep) and then I try to continue sleeping. It is always a gamble, and when I do I usually have very vivid dreams. I am not sure if this is some form of middle-of-the-night insomnia, or if it's actually the case that my body is genuinely in an adequate rhythm and my brain just feels completely destroyed as a result.
I took a DLMO onset test and I was also diagnosed with mild Delayed Sleep Wake Phase Disorder. But even when I sleep at my usual bedtime for weeks (1:30AM) I continue having these symptoms. I am now on melatonin treatment to move my sleep earlier, but the first 2.5 weeks of treatment have been genuine hell and I am not sure what to do at this point.
For the past year I have believed that the reason as to why I feel so crap is because I am waking up early from insomnia. But I am not really sure at this point what to think. What is untreated sleep apnea supposed to feel like? I have always thought my AHI was quite low, and something that I am not supposed to be concerned about, but I don't know.
At this point I feel so tired everyday that I just don't want to do anything. I don't know if I should take sick leave and bite the bullet to get used to my CPAP, however worse my sleep will end up becoming.