First night with a CPAP

I opted for the small nose mouth mask. The machine is a Philips Respironics unit. Took a while before I felt it wasn't leaking air upward on my face. I didn't sleep a wink over 4 hrs. I felt like I was on a respirator (don't know what that's like, really), but it felt like I was forced to breathe. Maybe, like someone else said, it was difficult to exhale. Tell me this is normal and it gets better. ZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........

Ok...this is normal and it gets better. First time with anything new is awkward.

I believe it's an auto and the pressure is set at 6 w/o ramp. I need a nap.

Register and fill out your equipment profile.

For many of us, successfully using CPAP took some education and some effort. Are you willing to get educated and put forth the effort?

Hi FlameOut,

Welcome to the forums, glad you're here! Like the others said, there's an adjustment period to this therapy. I wish we could just take the machine and mask home and it work perfectly on night 1, but that's quite unusual.

Stick with it, and if you want more assistance, go ahead and register and enter your machine and mask information like GrannyChicago mentioned. Let us know the pressure settings (you said it's an auto machine and the minimum pressure is set to 6? What's the max?) and the issues you're having and some more experienced users may be able to assist.

Just a side note, I started with a full face mask (the "nose mouth mask" you refer to is called a full face mask, or ffm), but I got so frustrated with fiddling with it during the night to stop small leaks. I ended up purchasing a nasal pillow mask (this one) and it was like night and day. After a week or two if you're still having trouble with your full face mask and if you can generally breathe fine through your nose you may want to try one of these types of masks instead.

If you have trouble exhaling, there may be a feature on your machine that can help that, but please give us the full name (not just 'Resmed' or Phillips') and model # and we'll try to help. Also the name of your mask, and pressure settings. Model # of unit may be underneath (e.g. "Ref #...) but empty the humidifier before turning it over!

Thanks for the help. Second night went no better than first. Small leaks from nose portion, especially turning on side and noise kept me awake. Mouth becomes dry although closed? After 3 hrs, ripped it off and had a coffee. Here are the rig stats. How do I attach these rig stats to my posts. My equip't is not listed in the 'edit equip't' section in the Control Panel
CP-CPAP-Rempro460ph / cont airway pressure device
Philips/ respironics/ DS460S
CP-HTDHUMSYS1-60SR/ HUMIDIFIER HEATED
PHILPS RESPIROICS DS6HFLG
MASK/ RSP. aMARA VIEW- M
MINIMAL CONTACT FULL FACE MASK

Ummm - how can you be sure your mouth's closed when you're asleep? Because if you're trying to gauge things while awake, it won't give you accurate info - the machine's geared to sleep rhythms and events, not conscious ones, which are definitely different from those when you're awake.

And PS - coffee doesn't seem like a great idea to have when you're trying to sleep!

How do I know what's happening when asleep? I was never asleep..I believe...
Coffee doesn't keep me awake. I'm gonna take a nap on the couch w/o the cpap and with full body pillow and and pooch to keep my feet warm. Cheers
Is this a British forum?

Only when UKer's chime in (the owners of Cpap.com - best online dealers there are - are in Texas, and sponsor the forum, but very hands-off about it, which is great). There are lots of UK members though, and others all over the world.

FlameOut wrote:Coffee doesn't keep me awake.

lol

Science has proven over and over that caffeine interferes with sleep. Let's keep nonsense out of this forum.

I had the WORST dry mouth with the full face mask. What do you have the humidifier set to?

I had the humidifier set to "waterboard." If I remove the mask for awhile w/o turning off the rig, Is this harmful? Does it log it as still being used?

FlameOut wrote:turning off the rig

We need to know exactly what equipment you are using. Go to User Control Panel/Profile and fill out the equipment section.

FlameOut wrote:If I remove the mask for awhile w/o turning off the rig,

You probably have not damaged the machine, but ...

Why not just turn the machine off, and then you don't have to worry about it?

FlameOut wrote:I had the humidifier set to "waterboard."

If you need help with rainout, you need to be more thorough in you explanation of what is happening and more specific about what settings your are using. Rainout is a problem that is fairly easy to solve.

FlameOut wrote:f I remove the mask for awhile w/o turning off the rig, Is this harmful? Does it log it as still being used?

It will log it as "no breathing detected" during that period of time when you let the machine run and you aren't attached. It knows....if you are there or not. It does NOT count as usage time.