Hello fellow cpap people! I'm the new guy; I’ve had my M series machine for about a month now and hadn't been able to use it much because it would dry my throat out something awful. I finally got my insurance to approve a humidifier for it, which seems to work a little better. I also use a chin strap to keep my mouth from opening because the first couple of nights my wife said I was still snoring with the machine, however I’m still tearing my mask off in the middle of the night (2 a.m. to be exact,) for some reason I feel like I am being suffocated by the pressure, but I am determined to stick with it. Already the muscles around my throat are starting to relax, for the last ten years I’ve had CFS and chronic pain in my neck and shoulders which has caused me many doctor visits and a lot of anxiety. I now believe OSA was the main contributing factor due to the breathing muscles straining for air. Many times I woke up in the middle of the night gasping for air; I never really had connected my other symptoms with OSA. Anyway I’m thrilled to be here and hope I can be as helpful to you all as I know you will be to me.

Thanks!

PS: My wife says I look like Hannibal the Cannibal with my mask that’s how I came up with my username.

WELCOME! Glad you found us!!!

It took me 8 masks in 6 weeks until I could find one that I could sleep with all night every night. I ripped it off, I took nights off, did all the icky things one does in the early period of getting used to therapy.

One thing you might try is http://www.pur-sleep.com This product is also sold on http://www.cpap.com. Many newbies report this helped them relax and get more comfortable with their mask, and to keep it on for longer periods. Some folks here report they can actually see their AHI lowering when they use certain scents. I use it every night, just for the "nice" factor of having something pleasant to breathe. I have never correlated my data with the scents.

You might also look at your pillow, and see if that's a problem. I was sleeping on a memory foam pillow before therapy, so it was no problem to just scoot over to the edge and hang the mask and the front of my face off the edge so there was no impact there. If you are mashing your face into a pillow, you may be slipping the mask off, and causing leaks, which causes you to rip the mask off, even in your sleep.

Ripping the mask off while you sleep and having no memory for it is very common in the early stages until you get used to therapy.

Also, please tell us which model M Series you have - Plus, Pro, Auto? This makes a big difference. The Plus model will only give you very limited data - usage hours is about it. The Pro and the Auto models will give you detailed reports that you can read yourself at home, via the SmartCard and a card reader and some software on your computer. This data can help you pinpoint problem areas, and help you determine if changes you are making are helping or hurting.

Best of luck and WELCOME!!!!
Barbara

Welcome to the message board, hams.

Ditto to what Barbara said:

Babette wrote:please tell us which model M Series you have - Plus, Pro, Auto? This makes a big difference. The Plus model will only give you very limited data - usage hours is about it. The Pro and the Auto models will give you detailed reports that you can read yourself at home, via the SmartCard and a card reader and some software on your computer. This data can help you pinpoint problem areas, and help you determine if changes you are making are helping or hurting.

Welcome 'Silence of the Hams' (explains why it is so quiet in a meat market..... )

As well as posting your equipment, I wonder what your pressure is. Ripping your mask off in the middle of the night may also be symptomatic of too low a pressure. Even if it is enough to correct your apneas, few people here are comfortable with a CPAP pressure less than 7 cm/H2O. Another thing that has been mentioned here is that people taking some sleeping drugs have noticed a tendency to rip off thei mask in the middle of the night, and not even know they did it.

Ditto, ditto and ditto.

In case you want to fill out your equipment profile, and we highly recommend you do:

1. Click on User Control Panel.
   
   
   
   
2. Click on Profile.
   
   
   
   
3. Click on Edit Equipment.
   
   

Thank you all I will make it a priority to add my equipment info tonight. Interesting thing regarding the pressure; my machine is set at 10 prescribed by the sleep clinic, and I had lowered it to 8 thinking I was getting blasted with too much pressure. I think tonight I am going to kick it up to 11 and see how that goes. Thanks again for the guidance.

silence of the hams wrote:Thank you all I will make it a priority to add my equipment info tonight. Interesting thing regarding the pressure; my machine is set at 10 prescribed by the sleep clinic, and I had lowered it to 8 thinking I was getting blasted with too much pressure. I think tonight I am going to kick it up to 11 and see how that goes. Thanks again for the guidance.

It may be helpful to make your changes slowly, and in smaller increments, especially if you are having mask problems. Some people wait a week between a change of 1 cm. I have to wait a month to see a difference.

Alright it looks like I’m on the right path now; bumped up my air pressure to 10.5 last night and set my humidifier to 4. I was able to sleep with the mask all night without ripping it off. I did have some dry throat issues on a couple occasions, but am learning to take a few seconds to swallow some saliva to quickly alleviate the problem. I also switched to a smaller pillow to keep the mask from getting bumped, and tightened up my headgear straps to get a better seal.

This morning was hard getting up because I was getting such a good sleep I didn’t want to move. I usually spring out of bed because I am typically in such a shallow sleep I wake to any little sound.

I feel good this morning I found myself being more pleasant to people at the coffee shop on the way to work. The girl making my hot chocolate must’ve noticed too because she added some extra chocolate syrup on my whip cream.

Good progress, keep it up! I ditto the make change and wait before making another change; sleep varies even without OSA! Get the mask fit and leaks taken care of and then concentrate on the other aspects. Welcome!

silence of the hams wrote:This morning was hard getting up because I was getting such a good sleep I didn’t want to move. I usually spring out of bed because I am typically in such a shallow sleep I wake to any little sound.

Hi,

If you can, you want to take advantage of the times where you seem to be sleeping very well like this. Your body is probably has a pretty big sleep debt from years of not sleeping well, and it will take time to repay that sleep debt. It would be good if you could arrange to have a flexible schedule so you can sleep in on those mornings where things are going well. For example, I haven't set my alarm clock in nearly a year. It is no longer part of my plan.

I also noticed a lack of a spring in my step the first two weeks on the machine. I found that was a side effect of actually sleeping. Before CPAP, I would get up every 60 to 90 minutes. As a result, I was staying loose and limber. Once I started sleeping, I'd be in the same position for hours on end, and wake up a bit stiff. My body got used to this after a bit, but it was kind of unexpected.

silence of the hams wrote:I feel good this morning I found myself being more pleasant to people at the coffee shop on the way to work. The girl making my hot chocolate must’ve noticed too because she added some extra chocolate syrup on my whip cream.

Extra chocolate is well worth the hassle and issues of CPAP all by itself. Enjoy!

-john-

silence of the hams wrote:PS: My wife says I look like Hannibal the Cannibal with my mask that’s how I came up with my username

My husband tells me I look like a Japanese 'Kamikaze' pilot!
Welcome to the forum, Hannibal the Cannibal, this family is growing fast

Little bit of a set back last night yep. I took off the mask because I felt like I was suffocating again. I did put it back on after some time, not sure how much, but since my humidifier was still 3/4 full I have to assume; I slept longer without cpap. Fortunately I feel rested this morning… so I guess I didn’t deprive myself of too much quality sleep, also I didn’t need to get up to go to the bathroom last night like I usually do, nor did I have to get up to get a drink of water.

I did come in a little late to work to catch up on the great sleep I was getting this A.M. after getting my mask back on. My boss didn’t seem to mind because he knows I’m using cpap now, in fact he just got his machine earlier this week so we’ve had a lot in common lately.

Welcome to the forum! I love the explanation of your username. Very funny!

It sounds like you're working through the difficult spots. It's great that you'll be able to help your boss adjust to CPAP too.

~ DreamOn