Claustrophobia and CPAP use

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
HoseCrusher
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by HoseCrusher » Fri Feb 11, 2011 5:31 pm

Go to a hardware store and buy a package of "dust" masks that they sell for painting. Wear one for a few minutes, then take it off. Next time go longer and repeat and repeat. This is not the same as a xPAP mask, but it will desensitize you to having something on your face.

Even better, go to the sleep lab and tell them your concerns. They may loan you a mask to "play" with and offer instructions on how it should fit.

Check in early to the sleep lab and have a discussion with them prior to being hooked up.

Visualize how wonderful you are going to feel after getting a good nights sleep with the mask on.

Take is slow and just go one step at a time.

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Muse-Inc
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by Muse-Inc » Sat Feb 12, 2011 12:12 am

The goal...preventing crippling if not fatal effects from untreated apnea...has got to become more important than the fear. Keep reminding yourself of that goal, it's WHY you are trying find ways to ways to cope with, outwit, or de-sensitize yourself to the fear. You can do this. The more I read about the outcomes of untreated apnea, the angrier I got at my former doc who missed it when it was beginning and the more scared I became of those outcomes while I waited months for an opening for my PSG. Too brain-dead to recognize that treatment meant wearing a mask -- that's how badly my thinking was affected was back then. During the study they showed me the small pillow-style mask I would wear if the first half revealed I had apnea -- my doc had already warned them I had severe clastrophobia. I tried it on, wasn't too bad...wasn't too bad when they put it on with the nostril sensor, etc, and turned it on with lowish pressure either. I recommend finding a lab that will let you wear a pillow-style mask and then getting used to wearing it.

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DocWeezy
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by DocWeezy » Sat Feb 12, 2011 9:51 am

Hi Already....I really understand your phobia.

HOWEVER, you also need to realize that right now you are SEVERELY SLEEP DEPRIVED and that is impacting how you think and how you react. Fears and phobias are magnified from sleep deprivation. Of course, it doesn't make it any easier to start treatment, but you need to understand that by getting some good sleep many of the other issues may lessen or even resolve.

If you can't borrow a mask from the sleep center or a DME, buy one. JUST GET ONE.

The desensitization suggestions are great and that is key to learning how to use a cpap. Getting a mask before the sleep study and even just sitting with it in your hands and playing with it will help tremendously (I wish I had done that, but then I didn't find this board until after I had my machine.) Also you need to learn that you CAN still breathe with the mask on...and it will also help to realize that you still have control and YOU can remove the mask at any time. YOU REMAIN IN CONTROL WITH A CPAP MACHINE. Even during the sleep study, you have control and you can remove the mask at any time.

Start by playing with the mask while you're watching TV....look at it carefully, feel it, smell it. Twiddle with it until you're not thinking about it any more. Play with the clips and learn how things fasten. Fuss with the velcro. Then hold the mask to your face and take one breath. Just one. Remove it. Now just play with it some more. In a few minutes, hold it to your face and take two breaths. Keep doing this every night and during the day as much as possible, and gradually increase the number of breaths you take with the mask held to your face.

When you can hold the mask to your face and take breaths feeling pretty normal, try putting it on using the headgear. Remember that you've played with the mask so much that you can work the clips without thinking. Put the mask on with the headgear and take it right back off. Practice putting it on and taking it off right away...play with the clips and feel how you can easily release it. Also play with just taking the whole headgear/mask off without unclipping. It is possible and it helps to know how it feels. Remember that YOU are in control and can remove all of it whenever you want.

Then start putting on the mask/headgear and take a breath. Take it off. Now do the increasing the number of breaths with the headgear on and fastened. Take is slow. Do it often. YOU CAN DO THIS.

Have you thought about hypnosis? It might really help, and usually a good hypnotist will also teach you how to do self hypnosis to help you learn how to get yourself through the phobic situation.

Good luck! YOU CAN DO THIS!

Weezy

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Already freakin IT WAS THE WORST MISTAKE GOIN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by Already freakin IT WAS THE WORST MISTAKE GOIN THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! » Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:16 pm

OMG!!!!!!!!!!! SHE WOULDNT LET ME PLAY WITH THE PILLOW ONE SHE MADE ME HURRY UP AND DECIDE WHICH ONE I WANTED TO USE, THEN WITHOUT TELLIN ME SHE TURNED THE DAMN THING ON AND I FREAKED!!!!!!!!!!!! I RAN OUT IN TEARS AND SAT IN MY CAR FOR TWO HOURS BEFORE I WAS OK TO DRIVE BACK HOME...

It was a nightmare

Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by It was a nightmare » Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:51 am

Worat thing ever! I whigged out and the nirse was not at all nice. she was in a hurry... she placed it on me without allowin me to get use to holding it or anything.. so I left and requested the nirse I had for the original study. I go back on Feb 26. My Doctor put me on a nerve medication , it makes me very tired, but I am going to do this some way or some how because I need some sleep... I havent slept in 2 days becaUSE i FEAR i WILL STOP BREATHING.. silly aint it.. Thanks everyone

JDS74
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by JDS74 » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:19 am

Gone

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Muse-Inc
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by Muse-Inc » Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:33 pm

It was a nightmare wrote:...I havent slept in 2 days becaUSE i FEAR i WILL STOP BREATHING.. silly aint it...
Nope, not silly at all! I bought a baby monitor so my mom bless her heart could listen to my breathing and if it got weird or I started making strange noises could come wake me. Did that for the several months it took to get me into the sleep doc and then into a sleep study. She only had to wake me a few times. Knowing what I know now, I'd buy a recording oximeter with an alarm I could set. That way when my oxygen levels dropped too low it would go off and wake me up. We breathe much deeper when awake which is the whole problem with sleep apnea...our brain learns to never let us sleep deeply.

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amelia76
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by amelia76 » Sun Feb 20, 2011 3:46 pm

Have you thought about hypnosis? It might really help, and usually a good hypnotist will also teach you how to do self hypnosis to help you learn how to get yourself through the phobic situation.
I used hypnotherapy for ten years for sleep apnoea, that was my only treatment until I had a second sleep study and started using CPAP recently. A good hypnotherapist will make you a personalised tape or CD which you should listen to every night just before sleep. I use mine with the mask on but before I connect to the machine and believe that it helps me immensely.

I had lapsed with hypnotherapy but the apnoea had taken a bizarre turn and for a year I had been sporadically leaping out of bed in my sleep. Since listening to my hypnosis CD every night I remain IN my bed. Also, I am far less restless than before.

Incidentally, I also use hypnotherapy for getting over my fear of dentists.

I hope this works for you; claustrophobia is frightening.

SleepySurvivor

Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by SleepySurvivor » Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:04 am

Hi. I'm a survivor of childhood abuse and I was diagnosed with sleep hypopnea. I have a deathly fear of the mask, to this day, but I tolerate it now. When I get panicked and start having flashbacks with the mask on, I remember one thing that gave me comfort in my life. When I was in the hospital, in the delivery room, with an oxygen mask on, awaiting a c-section to deliver my daughter, they put a nice warm blanket over me. In that cold room, it was the most comforting thing I ever felt. So, when I lay down at night, I put my blanket over me, and remember that while I have the mask on. Find your comforting memory and think of that when you put the mask on. Remember that it's there to help you, like that warm blanket helped me.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:10 am

I really like the blanket image.
My solution was to imagine myself on a space ship, headed out for a fantastic adventure--(I love sci-fi)

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archangle
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Re: Claustrophobia and CPAP use

Post by archangle » Mon Jul 25, 2011 11:53 am

A mind is a terrible thing.

I find that a ComfortGel Blue or original ComfortGel fits over my glasses quite fine and gives pretty good vision.

avi, do you know where you can buy a "non-rebreathing" valve that fits between the mask and hose?

The idea of taking the mask, turning on the machine, and simply putting it to your face momentarily without using the straps is a great idea. You can also turn the pressure down for "panic practice" as long as you're not actually sleeping at that pressure.

One other point is that after using the machine for a few days or weeks, you won't even feel the pressure and won't have to feel like you're fighting to exhale. I sometimes have to open my mouth to check that the machine is actually on.

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