About 3 months in........

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
jnew71
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About 3 months in........

Post by jnew71 » Fri Jan 30, 2015 9:46 pm

and think I'm about to give up. CPAP is causing so many issues with my breathing during the day (over breathing and feeling like I'm being forced to breathe when I don't want to) that I don't think I can do it anymore. My ENT thinks it's anxiety, which may be the case. However, I've never had the issue before CPAP, so no doubt that it's related. If I was confident that it would subside, I'd power through it, but just don't see it happening.

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Wulfman...
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Wulfman... » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:03 pm

Oh, come on.......you don't want to quit. And, your health probably depends on not quitting.
There has to be some element of the therapy that can be tweaked to make it work better for you.
Mask.....pressure.....Flex setting.......something.


Den

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chunkyfrog
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by chunkyfrog » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:17 pm

jnew71 wrote: . . . feeling like I'm being forced to breathe when I don't want to
Don't want to . . . BREATHE? You cannot really mean that! The alternative would be . . . very quiet

I would suggest a mask liner, but they don't make them for pillows--maybe a barrel cozy?

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jnew71
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by jnew71 » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:34 pm

chunkyfrog... wrote:Don't want to . . . BREATHE? You cannot really mean that! The alternative would be . . . very quiet

I would suggest a mask liner, but they don't make them for pillows--maybe a barrel cozy?
Pardon the ignorance, but what would liners have to do with my daytime breathing?
Wulfman... wrote:Oh, come on.......you don't want to quit. And, your health probably depends on not quitting.
There has to be some element of the therapy that can be tweaked to make it work better for you.
Mask.....pressure.....Flex setting.......something.
.
I've made changes to all and while my numbers have improved and stabilized, the feeling during the day have not improved. I did wonder if the concentrated stream of air that accompanies the nasal pillows could be an issue for me and considered another mask, but who knows.

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Wulfman...
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Wulfman... » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:42 pm

Then I'd suggest looking at all the masks at CPAP.COM and do some evaluating as to whether some other design may be more to your liking.

What are the settings in your machine (pressure, humidity, exhale relief, etc.)


Den

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jnew71
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by jnew71 » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:46 pm

Wulfman... wrote:Then I'd suggest looking at all the masks at CPAP.COM and do some evaluating as to whether some other design may be more to your liking.

What are the settings in your machine (pressure, humidity, exhale relief, etc.)
.

Pressure @ 9, flex disabled (just recently), humidity@3.

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Julie
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Julie » Fri Jan 30, 2015 10:48 pm

I think it probably is anxiety... some kind of reaction, which wouldn't be very abnormal considering most of us take a while getting used to be Darth Vader, but have you no distraction that you can go to that would take your attention for a while so that you forget about breathing (as we do when not on Cpap)? You may not be a yoga person, but is there something to put in place so you aren't conscious of your breathing, and in time (maybe even a short time) you'll forget altogether and doing it at night will be no more than another domestic habit? Arrange something active with friends, or find something you like that forces you to concentrate for a while... you never know, you might even enjoy it.
Last edited by Julie on Sat Jan 31, 2015 6:05 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Wulfman...
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Wulfman... » Fri Jan 30, 2015 11:13 pm

jnew71 wrote:
Wulfman... wrote:Then I'd suggest looking at all the masks at CPAP.COM and do some evaluating as to whether some other design may be more to your liking.

What are the settings in your machine (pressure, humidity, exhale relief, etc.)
.

Pressure @ 9, flex disabled (just recently), humidity@3.
Does it feel like 9 cm. is too much or not enough? (with or without Flex?)

Does the humidity setting feel like too much, not enough or just right?

Can you describe the daytime breathing sensation a little better? I was trying to think back to when I started and some of that experience. I think I can recall that periodically during the day I had to take some deep breaths.......like I wasn't getting enough air. Does that sound familiar?


Den

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palerider
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by palerider » Sat Jan 31, 2015 12:59 am

jnew71 wrote:I did wonder if the concentrated stream of air that accompanies the nasal pillows could be an issue for me and considered another mask, but who knows.
when you put the nasal pillows on your nose, there is no "concentrated stream of air". there's just the pressure to hold your throat open, and then the air flows in and out of your nose, just like normal without the cpap...

no stream, just a little pressure to help you live.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by chunkyfrog » Sat Jan 31, 2015 10:22 am

I don't think I could have used nasal pillows right out of the chute.
The first one I tried, (Swift LT) just did not feel right.
Some nasal pillows masks do not match the angle of my nares, I rejected the Aloha in minutes.
The PR Nuance Pro is incredibly soft, (but my head is too small for the headgear)
Sometimes one must kiss a lot of frogs . . . (puckering)

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jnew71
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by jnew71 » Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:00 pm

palerider wrote: when you put the nasal pillows on your nose, there is no "concentrated stream of air". there's just the pressure to hold your throat open, and then the air flows in and out of your nose, just like normal without the cpap...

no stream, just a little pressure to help you live.
Thanks for the lesson - I've seen you post this a few times and now understand what you mean. That being the case, I'm assuming that changing masks will do nothing for my daytime symptoms.
Wulfman... wrote: Does it feel like 9 cm. is too much or not enough? (with or without Flex?)

Does the humidity setting feel like too much, not enough or just right?

Can you describe the daytime breathing sensation a little better? I was trying to think back to when I started and some of that experience. I think I can recall that periodically during the day I had to take some deep breaths.......like I wasn't getting enough air. Does that sound familiar?


Den

.
Hard to describe - Neck tightness on either side of my throat and a feeling like once I start to take a breath, that the air is sucked in more forcefully without any control (I realize breathing isn't supposed to be controlled, but natural), resulting in deeper and more frequent breathing. Of note, when I do CPAP at night, it does feel like it's causing me to over breathe (although I don't feel anxious). The daytime just seems like a continuation of what CPAP is doing at night if that makes sense.

As for pressure, 9 feels fine and I am good without the flex if I ramp (if you recall, you and I had a small back and forth about Cflex settings - my numbers were cut in half when I disabled flex and have remained this way). Humidity feels fine.

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Tatooed Lady
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Tatooed Lady » Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:18 pm

Are you normally such a shallow breather that therapy is simply making you breathe more deeply all the time?

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jnew71
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by jnew71 » Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:38 pm

Tatooed Lady wrote:Are you normally such a shallow breather that therapy is simply making you breathe more deeply all the time?
This is a great way to describe it - yes. I've always been a shallow mouth breather to the point that it's caused chronic neck pain for 9+ years. My journey began when I made the connection between my breathing and pain. I started concentrating on breathing through my nose during the day and had great success. My neck pain and muscle tone were greatly improved. However, I wanted to optimize, so I decided to see an ENT to see if there was any physical reason I had been inclined to breath through my mouth. After inquiring about sleep, he ordered an at home sleep study and said I had moderate sleep apnea. After 3 months, here we are -

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palerider
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by palerider » Sat Jan 31, 2015 3:32 pm

jnew71 wrote:
palerider wrote: when you put the nasal pillows on your nose, there is no "concentrated stream of air". there's just the pressure to hold your throat open, and then the air flows in and out of your nose, just like normal without the cpap, no stream, just a little pressure to help you live.
Thanks for the lesson - I've seen you post this a few times and now understand what you mean. That being the case, I'm assuming that changing masks will do nothing for my daytime symptoms.
it's easy to make the mistake of thinking that cpap is some (as others have put it) gale force wind, but the truth of the matter is that it provides less pressure than you would use to blow bubbles through a straw in the bottom of a tall drink.

10cm/h2o is just that, about 4 inches of water, if you can stick a straw into a 4 (or more) inch deep drink, and blow bubbles, you've just blown harder than the average cpap setting is pushing at you. and it IS a push.

the only stream that's happening is coming up the hose, and then going out the vents... it doesn't go into your nose until you inhale.

now, when you take the mask off, the blower in the cpap ramps up to full speed, trying to maintain that gentle pressure... of course, it can't, since there's nothing pushing back, but it TRIES.

I wish that there was a tachometer on the blower motors, you could see how it's loafing along under normal circumstances, when it's on your nose, and then how it spins up to the redline when you take the mask off.

I can't speak to whether changing masks would make a difference or not, I have no data on your condition... my *feeling* is that mask choice may not matter, and it's something like what tatooed lady is suggesting... that, and who knows, maybe your neck muscles getting some rest after all these years

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Tatooed Lady
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Re: About 3 months in........

Post by Tatooed Lady » Sat Jan 31, 2015 4:23 pm

Careful...I might just start feeling brilliant here, if people start agreeing with me.

So...maybe it's not a BAD thing that you're breathing deeper now. It feels "wrong" because you aren't used to it, but getting enough air to let your body relax as you sleep can't be a BAD thing. I had many aches and pains in my back, shoulders and neck pre-therapy...don't get me wrong, I'm NOT ache free now, but since dinking around with being able to breathe and not keep waking during the night, my body can finally relax. It takes time. It takes patience. I agree that you might just need to distract your brain from overthinking how deeply you breathe during the day. Music, meditation, wild naked dancing on tables while singing show tunes at the top of your lungs...whatever it takes.

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