Started APAP, days one and two

Got everything in I needed to start my treatments. Set up the machine and adjusted settings. Opted to go with a 6-20 cmH20 range for the APAP, automatic/78degrees F for the humidify and a five minute ramp to 6cmH20. These were my basic start settings.

First night: Tried to go right to be at 11PM. Initial mask I ordered was a bit too wide and hurt my cheek bones while I was sleeping. Woke up after a couple of hours. Struggled with claustrophobia initially with the associated fast/deep breathing (the lower pressures during ramp felt like I wasn't getting enough air) but finally feel asleep. When I woke up after a couple of hours due to cheek bone pain, I had a panic attack and had to get out of the mask. I decided, since I had other masks, I'd wait till the next night and try a new/different mask and not try to make adjustments in the middle of the night.

Second night: Turned the temperature down a bit to 76 degrees F. Eliminated the ramp and went straight to 6cmH20 of pressure. Also changed to a Respironics Nuance Pro gel pillows mask set with three sizes Bugsy sent me. (Thank you Bugsy! You saved me!) Used the medium pillow and the gel pillow mask helped a great deal to reduce claustrophobia anxiety.

In addition, I had done a good bit of "old thread" reading on the forum here and how people handled getting used to a mask and CPAP. I followed the advice given. I laid down, let my breathing calm down with the mask near my head. When I felt calm and started to get sleepy, I placed the mask on my head, left it a bit loose and began to breathe into it, activating the S9 to start up. It did, I adjusted the mask down lightly enough to seal good and the 6cmH20 were exactly what I needed.

I was quickly able to assimilate breathing through the mask and began to relax. My mind did remain active during the falling asleep waking period, but I did have some odd dreams somewhat like a video game I play with my son occasionally. I slept for four to five hours, then I think my wife woke me up going to the bathroom.

I felt a strong need to remove the mask, get up, use the restroom and then go sleep on the couch like I have been doing for a long time, so I didn't fight it. I went ahead and did that. I slept peacefully on the couch from about 4 AM till my wife got up around 6:30AM. I don't feel perfect today, but more rested than I have in a long while, though I still want an afternoon nap, I'm not doing the head dipping down going to sleep thing.

Right now I think I will continue in this vein, gather data over a few days, then make adjustments. Let myself get more and more used to the mask and not worry too much about things as long as I'm able to increase the sleep time each night a bit. 4-5 hours of sleep was the longest stretch of sleep I've gotten in about a year.

So far, so good. Slow, but steady progress seems in store, which is okay to me.

Sounds good. The more you use it and see benefits, the more you will look forward to therapy. Keep it up!

Dave,

Believe it or not, you are doing really well. Just getting your first hour of sleep on the machine is a major win, let along sleeping for several hours at a time during the 2nd night. Your goal right now is to simply get as much sleep as you can. The more you sleep, the more you will get used to it, the more you will trust it, and hopefully, the less claustrophobia. Over time, the night urge to go to the bathroom should drop off. I used to make 4 to 6 bathroom trips each night, but now on CPAP, I never get up for the bathroom. And the dreaming that you mention is good. That means you hit REM sleep. Some new CPAP users have a month or so of crazy vivid dreams--I know I did, and people write about it from time to time.

Good luck, and keep posting updates and questions as things come up.

-john-