why do I rip my mask off in sleep and cpap questions?

[Pugsy]

It still is not syncing data to it. I'm wondering if for that to work, a provider has to have registered my device to them? It has no provider since i bought off amazon. Is my theory correct?

I don't know for sure. I think machine registration for DreamMapper is tied only to the serial number and it doesn't matter who inputs the serial number. I don't think not having an official provider input the machine information has anything to do with the machine not syncing.

[jmblack6307]

I'm going to post my screenshots later. My ahi was around 5 last night. One thing I've noticed is when i am breathing if i have any sort of change in breath in the very slightest, my uvula in my throat gets sucked backward. I can feel it create a weird sudden vacuum. It only lasts a split second but it's pretty odd and I'm thinking i should adjust my exhalation setting? I think the option was 1 to 3 and mine is on 2 i think. I should try 1 or just shut that off?

[axxell6307]

With my min pressure set to 10, my stats are looking pretty good. However, I'm still waking up every 2 or 3 hours and takes a few minutes to go back to sleep. This is from being uncomfortable sleeping on my back, which I need to do due to bad shoulders. This may be as good as it gets. See anything that stands out at you?

[img][img]http://i.imgur.com/rq5WZCrl.png[/img][/img]

[Pugsy]

Nothing stands out just screaming "fix me".
I don't know if the pressure changes themselves are a factor or not but at some point you might consider a really tight range (but you would have to increase that minimum quite a bit) and see if you can sleep any more soundly without the pressure changes.
Since you already have a known culprit for the awakening...I am not so sure that the pressure variations are going to play a very big part.

You could try cleaning up the small amount of "clutter" (snores, FLs & RERAs) and see if that helps or not...with maybe another 1 cm increase in that minimum pressure.
It's a minor tweak and may or may not impact anything.

If you think about it when you do wake up and go right back to sleep....turn the machine off and right back on again. That way you can see exactly when you did it and then look at the pressure to see what it was maybe doing...or what the leak was doing...see if anything stands out as maybe contributing to the wake up.

[axxell6307]

Nothing stands out just screaming "fix me".
I don't know if the pressure changes themselves are a factor or not but at some point you might consider a really tight range (but you would have to increase that minimum quite a bit) and see if you can sleep any more soundly without the pressure changes.
Since you already have a known culprit for the awakening...I am not so sure that the pressure variations are going to play a very big part.

You could try cleaning up the small amount of "clutter" (snores, FLs & RERAs) and see if that helps or not...with maybe another 1 cm increase in that minimum pressure.
It's a minor tweak and may or may not impact anything.

If you think about it when you do wake up and go right back to sleep....turn the machine off and right back on again. That way you can see exactly when you did it and then look at the pressure to see what it was maybe doing...or what the leak was doing...see if anything stands out as maybe contributing to the wake up.

Good suggestion. I'll try it at 11cm and I'll see if I notice anything when I wake up. When it happens, it takes about 5 minutes before I realize I'm awake and sitting on the side of my bed without my mask lol. If I woke from a leak, how would I know by looking at the lcd screen?

Tomorrow I get a new nasal wisp I've been wanting to try. Perhaps I'll sleep a little better. Today I also see my dr and am going to try lunesta while using cpap. Not long term but hoping I can train myself to get used to the back sleeping. Last night I took a lorazepam and it didn't help. Melatonin helps somewhat. I hate taking any pills at all but I'm dying here not being able to sleep on my sides.

[Pugsy]

If I woke from a leak, how would I know by looking at the lcd screen?

You can't see anything about leaks on the LCD screen other than the total leak average. Useless for spot checking.

In fact I don't advise even looking at anything on the machine (in the middle of the night) in an effort to figure out what caused the wake up.
I think doing that would wake you up even more.
Don't do anything that might cause you to be more alert.

Read up on sleep maintenance insomnia...that's where we either wake up when we don't want to or have trouble going back to sleep when we do wake up.
It's normal to have some awakenings during the night...like after REM stage sleep. Most of the time we go right back to sleep and don't remember waking but some people just remember more awakenings...and maybe especially when compounded by other issues like discomfort.
I know it's extremely rare that I don't remember waking at least 4 to 6 times a night but I know why..mine is pain. Hurts like hell when I roll over onto my back.

Your sleep position preference is on your side but you aren't able to do that because of the shoulder issues...it's no wonder you are waking often.
But it's not an easy fix unfortunately. Once we go to sleep we move around and don't even know it and sometimes doing extraordinary things to stay in one position also will impact sleep quality. Talk about damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Now as to why you remove the mask...your brain has yet to come to grips with the mask. For some reason it is wanting to blame the mask for your problems and in reality it's not the mask's fault. Instead it's probably the fault of the shoulders and the back impacting sleep quality.
I don't see Lunesta being much of a solution since it is mainly for sleep onset insomnia.
Likewise Melatonin mainly for sleep onset insomnia but some people do have some luck with it helping them stay asleep.
Instead of masking the problem....maybe try addressing the root of the problem ...the shoulder issues preventing you from sleeping in a position that you prefer.

Talk to your doctor...in my case between me and my doctor we came up with something to help the pain issues so that at least I didn't wake up 30 to 40 times a night...and didn't leave me in a total hang over fog the next day. It took a lot of trial and error to get it sorted out...and a lot of time. It's still not perfect but it's a lot better than it used to be.
So I do take a little bit of meds to help with the pain which in turn helps the sleep quality.
I would rather not take the meds...I do get a tiny bit of a morning hangover from them but I learned a long time ago that little bit of a hangover fog was much less than the hangover fog I get if I wake up a gazillion times a night from the pain. We have to pick which devil is the worse devil and then do what we can to keep the really bad devil away.

Talk to your doctor....and read up on sleep maintenance insomnia just in case there is something else involved too.

[axxell6307]

Talk about damned if you do and damned if you don't.

Exactly how I feel.

Yes, I will be talking to my docs about this. I already am on a narcotic painkiller for my shoulders, neck and back which all have chronic issues. The shoulders are the priority now as they have the best chance of solving via surgery. However, the painkiller actually keeps me up at night if I take it too late in day. Thus, I know a pain pill won't be the answer, unless it's some other class of drug besides opioid. Will look into it.

Thanks again.

[Pugsy]

However, the painkiller actually keeps me up at night if I take it too late in day.

It to

I have this issue as well. That "may cause drowsiness" sticker is useless for me. Insomnia is a known side effect for a small number of people and I am in that small percentage. Let's see...I can take a pain pill that helps the pain but keeps me awake or I can not take the pain pill and be awake from the pain...damned if I do and damned if I don't.

I will share with you what my doctor and I came up with as a viable solution. It may or may not be a viable solution for you but you can talk to your doctor about it.
He told me that Amitryptiline in very small doses was found to significantly help people like me with chronic pain issues. We are talking 10 mg here....tiny dosage. I know it is a "depression" drug mainly but I don't have depression and at first I balked at the idea but he felt it was worth trying because there was research behind it that showed it helped chronic pain.
It has a known side effect of causing drowsiness (hence my morning fog) especially if I don't take it early enough (and I often forget what time it is) and it seems to help me sleep through the pain a little better. I still will wake up some but nothing like I did when I didn't take it.
I think it was last summer that I tried going without it...so I did a 3 month experiment and I discovered that not only did I wake up during the night a LOT more often...I wasn't sleeping quite as long either.
I only take the 10 mg at night...none during the day..and I try to take it around 8 PM so that by my 11 PM bedtime it has time to work and be mostly gone out of my system by 7 AM. It took quite a bit of experimenting to come up with an optimal time for dosage.
It's fairly benign especially in such a small dose and while it doesn't always help all people...it's worth talking over with your doctor.
Like any medication there's always a risk vs rewards component and it's up to you and your doctor to evaluate both sides of any medication you take.

[axxell6307]

However, the painkiller actually keeps me up at night if I take it too late in day.

It to

I have this issue as well. That "may cause drowsiness" sticker is useless for me. Insomnia is a known side effect for a small number of people and I am in that small percentage. Let's see...I can take a pain pill that helps the pain but keeps me awake or I can not take the pain pill and be awake from the pain...damned if I do and damned if I don't.

I will share with you what my doctor and I came up with as a viable solution. It may or may not be a viable solution for you but you can talk to your doctor about it.
He told me that Amitryptiline in very small doses was found to significantly help people like me with chronic pain issues. We are talking 10 mg here....tiny dosage. I know it is a "depression" drug mainly but I don't have depression and at first I balked at the idea but he felt it was worth trying because there was research behind it that showed it helped chronic pain.
It has a known side effect of causing drowsiness (hence my morning fog) especially if I don't take it early enough (and I often forget what time it is) and it seems to help me sleep through the pain a little better. I still will wake up some but nothing like I did when I didn't take it.
I think it was last summer that I tried going without it...so I did a 3 month experiment and I discovered that not only did I wake up during the night a LOT more often...I wasn't sleeping quite as long either.
I only take the 10 mg at night...none during the day..and I try to take it around 8 PM so that by my 11 PM bedtime it has time to work and be mostly gone out of my system by 7 AM. It took quite a bit of experimenting to come up with an optimal time for dosage.
It's fairly benign especially in such a small dose and while it doesn't always help all people...it's worth talking over with your doctor.
Like any medication there's always a risk vs rewards component and it's up to you and your doctor to evaluate both sides of any medication you take.

Thanks! I will look into this and also for my father as he is going through a very similar sleeping problem as myself due to pain.

Best wishes to you. You sure do devote a lot of time to helping people here.

[axxell6307]

Hello all. Just an update and a question. It's been awhile since I've been here.

I've been using my cpap every night but continued to wake up and see mask on floor. My data still consistently indicated I was removing it after my first sleep cycle. My dreamstation cpap was on a minimum pressure of 10. I went ahead and raised it to 11 yesterday and last night I did NOT rip it off. My theory is that my breathing changes during sleep cycle transitions, and I can vaguely remember many nights waking up feeling suffocated by the mask, as if it was not enough pressure and restricting my breathing, yet having very minimal AHI's (always under 3) as reported on sleepyhead and my machine. Thus, last night I finally increased the pressure one point.

My question is, isn't it unusual that one would need their minimum pressure so high?

Also, I suspect part of the suffocation feeling is stuffy nose. I don't have allergies or sinus problems but for some reason my nostrils feel stuffy at times when wearing my nasal masks. Would it be better to lower or raise the heat on my cpap? Any other suggestions?

[Pugsy]

My question is, isn't it unusual that one would need their minimum pressure so high?

No. Not unusual at all. Many people need a lot higher than 11 (which really isn't considered all that high )
There are people needing 16 or 18 or even 22 fixed or as a starting pressure.

[palerider]

My question is, isn't it unusual that one would need their minimum pressure so high?

no.

and, as to "so high", take a glass, put 4" of water in it, stick a straw all the way in, blow bubbles.

that's 10cm/h2o pressure you just blew through.

[KTinTexas]

I am reading this thread with great interest because I, too, rip my mask off in the night. I'm fairly new at this (diagnosed in January). I'm on my 2nd mask - a Dreamwear. I like it but I still take it off. Last night I taped it to my face with surgical tape but that didn't help at all (surgical tape is easy to remove). I just keep trying.

[palerider]

funny, I never "rip" my mask off... I remove it, I take it off, sometimes it slips off by itself... but never rip... dang thing's too expensive and essential for ripping

[axxell6307]

funny, I never "rip" my mask off... I remove it, I take it off, sometimes it slips off by itself... but never rip... dang thing's too expensive and essential for ripping

Lol. Thus is the life for somnambulism sufferer like myself. At least the nightlife.

I'm two for two now. Left it on all last night also. This is encouraging. Perhaps I can finally soon consider myself cpap compliant after all these years...