Confused with sleed disorder?

I am 47 years old and I was diagnosed with sleep apnea last year and use a CPAP.  There are a lot of times I cannot use the machine beacause of congestion, etc.  When I went for the sleep study the first night they woke me up within 1-1/2 hours saying I had sleep apnea really bad and they needed to put me on the machine.  I did not need to go for a second night.  According to the sleep study I quit breathing 15 to 16 times per hour.  there are times I can go to bed at a decent time and when I wake up the next morning I have apparently shut off my alarm clock and unfortunately late for work.  There are times when I am waken by someone I just fall right back to sleep and keep waking up but unable to wake up enough to even get of out of bed and end up sleeping all day.  On those days I just feel so out of it.  I have to work a night shift for a week every eight weeks and at least twice that week I cannot sleep but only for a couple of hours which just makes me exhausted.  I have worked for the same company for 28 years and I was always reliable but these past several years I have become very unreliable which really bothers me.  Hopefully you can help!

[Steven Y Park, MD]

You have mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea. Your best bet is to use your CPAP machine every night when you sleep. This is the best way to treating this condition. For whatever reason you can't tolerate CPAP, talk to your sleep doctor.