Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
lisee13
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Joined: Mon May 04, 2015 10:18 am

Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

Post by lisee13 » Mon May 04, 2015 10:28 am

Hello. I have been on CPAP for about 3.5 weeks now. I started out with a F&P Nasal Mask but had some issues so I was switched to Nasal Pillows. I understand that it can take some time to adjust to sleeping with CPAP on, but I am not sure if I am even doing this right.

First few nights, slept great! Mask on 6.5-8 hours straight. Next few nights, I do good to hit 1.5 hours before my mask is removed sometime during my sleeping. I keep repeating this pattern.

How long does it normally take to STOP removing the mask while sleeping? I mean, I go to sleep with it on and will wake up in the middle of the night, machine is off and mask is on the floor next to the bed.

Any suggestions, advise or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

JDS74
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Re: Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

Post by JDS74 » Mon May 04, 2015 10:55 am

I only had that happen once. On my machine at that time, I had auto-off enabled so the machine shut itself off and quit making noise that might have awakened me.

It's important that when that happens, you mask up again and go back to sleep. Don't allow yourself to get in the habit of knowingly sleeping at night without the mask on and machine running.

If your machine has auto-off functionality, turn that off so the machine will make more noise when you take the mask off (I use a Respironics machine so I'm not familiar with what the new ResMed machines have in terms of auto-on and auto-off.)

_________________
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LSAT
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Re: Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

Post by LSAT » Mon May 04, 2015 10:59 am

There are many posts with suggestions on this topic...the most common suggestion is to wear a chinstrap on top of your mask..or..use tape to secure the mask to your face.

_________________
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Sheriff Buford
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Re: Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

Post by Sheriff Buford » Mon May 04, 2015 12:57 pm

Use the tape as Lsat stated. It will awaken you and eventually you'll stop doing it.

Sheriff

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Wulfman...
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Re: Removing Mask at night - Unintentional

Post by Wulfman... » Mon May 04, 2015 2:53 pm

It's a very common problem (it happened to me, too), but the solution depends on what works for you. I've suggested wearing tube socks on one's hands or doing some other things that would tend to bring it to the person's attention when it happens. The important thing is to be able to recognize when it happens and to put it right back on to continue therapy.


Den

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