Six Months To Get Used To Wearing A Mask And Six Months To Respond Positively To Therapy..

[GearChange]

....which is how long it took me to finally start seeing repeatable therapy results.
So if you are relatively new to PAP therapy, don't be too hard on yourself. This is a process. Let's face it, getting your face into a mask every night, is not a natural thing to do and your mind won't simply be accommodating to the new and strange way that you turn yourself in.
Add the flow of air hitting your nostrils (and mouth if you wear a full face), , will also feel like you are trying to get a shuteye with your head stuck out the window of a speeding car on the highway...It is simply not something that your mind will be ready to accept, unless you have a very special character.
So if you are wondering how you will ever get used to falling asleep wearing the contraption, don't sweat it too much because getting used to wearing the mask and feeling that air hitting your lungs, is only a part of the journey
I'd say that if you are somewhere between a very docile and accommodating character to an extreme one who just can't get used to doing something new (on a regular basis), you will need to give mask wearing about 6 continuous months to get used to, and then just as you get used to wearing your mask without it leaking like a sieve all night and keeping you awake, you will notice that you need to start tinkering with your machine, if you are targeting a low AHI and a good night asleep.
This process (also known as titration) also needs a good few months to get used to. In my case this part didn't take that long because I am on an ASV equipment so my machine pressures are set wide open and it works on demand for my CSA. All I had to do was to get used to being automatically ventilated during those events when I stop breathing for 20, sometimes 40 minutes at a time.
If you persevere, you will end up with perfect therapy for your condition, whether you are suffering from OSA or CSA.

[clownbell]

My experience was similar to Gear. It took much longer than I thought. I was able to sleep with the mask on pretty soon, probably because my pressure needs are low. And with respect to Gear, I'm not sure we can get "perfect therapy." On the other hand, it clear to me at we can get significantly better sleep and improved therapy if we remember that time, patience and perseverence will accomplish all things.

[GearChange]

My experience was similar to Gear. It took much longer than I thought. I was able to sleep with the mask on pretty soon, probably because my pressure needs are low. And with respect to Gear, I'm not sure we can get "perfect therapy." On the other hand, it clear to me at we can get significantly better sleep and improved therapy if we remember that time, patience and perseverence will accomplish all things.

You raise a good point, what is a "perfect" sleep"?
For me it is all relative to my life (dictated by my sleep) before therapy and what I have now, which seems perfect as compared to then.
I have a very stable MV, stable mask pressure, stable SpO2, and pretty much an uninterrupted and very stable sleep these days, with near zero AHI, which is very hard to get with a Dreamstation, given the fact that the DS-1 algo checks a lot of parameters, unlike any other machine that I know of.
This is last night:

sorta perfect sleep.png

[coolbranch]

I can relate. Back in 2014 when I started therapy, it took me 100 days before I began to stop looking like warmed over death. I eventually got used to the hose and mask and became unaware of wearing it, unless I am aroused by a leak.

[Janknitz]

I took a good three months or so.

I set reasonable goals for myself beginning with being able to wear the mask for 1 hour without a panic attack. Having a mask that didn't leak or tear up my skin.

Sleeping for 1 hour. (The rule I made myself is that I had to have the mask on whenever I was in bed, even if I'd had a panic attack and thrown it across the room). Then 2 hours, then 4 hours, then 6 hours, then all night.

It took a good three months, several masks, several adaptations until I could sleep through the night. But the first morning I woke after sleeping all night with the mask was AMAZING. I felt so calm and comfortable. Then my next goal was to have more "good nights than bad nights. That took several more weeks.

My final goal was to just be able to strap the mask on my face, lay down, and go to sleep without much thought to the CPAP. That took longer (especially because the algorithm of my PRS1 machine made it harder!).

In reality, at least 6 months to reach that last goal, probably more. But I did it. My sleep apnea was so bad that failure was not an option. And I am here today because of it.