HELP! overwhelmed

Hello,

I wish I looked act what machine i'm using so I could have the specifics. I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea my number is 65. I'm 6'2 and weigh 235 lbs and i'm 33.

I got the surgery to fix my septum but it didn't really help lowered it to a 55.

I finally gave in and got the mask. Its a small machine with a built in humidifier and i'm using the nasal pillows mask so its only over my nose?

After some sever depression and reluctance to use the machine i'm really trying to give it a go since sleep apnea is really affecting my life. I'm missing tons of work even with the machine and I dont want to go on short term disability because then I dont go to work at all but i'm out of sick time and vacation time because I have used it all to make up for the time i'm missing and the surgery. I"m on sedwick so thank god I can't get fired but it's holding me back and its def affecting me financially.

I keep taking the mask off at night around 2-3 hours in. I'm not really noticing the effects of the machine. I dont know what else to do. I've tried wearing it around the house. Tried wearing it a while before I go to bed. A bunch h of stuff you all recommend in the forums.

This is literally ruining my life and i need help to get it under control. Can anybody recommend anything else?

sevendark wrote:Can anybody recommend anything else?

Yes. First, go here and fill out your equipment profile - https://www.cpaptalk.com/ucp.php?i=prof ... pment_info

Second, drop the emotion and tell us in clear terms what problems you are having using CPAP. After you take the mask off at night, what do you do? You should put it back on. Are you saying you are not aware that you take it off, and you then sleep without the mask?

If the latter is the case, you are going to feel like crap all day.

See a doctor about anxiety

Hi and welcome. Stick around and you will get lots of help here. First, please fill in your profile with what make and model machine and mask you are using. If we know what equipment you have, we can make better suggestions.

sevendark wrote:I have been diagnosed with severe sleep apnea my number is 65.

I got the surgery to fix my septum but it didn't really help lowered it to a 55.

It would be rare for septum surgery to cure sleep apnea. The airway blockage is usually where the tongue and soft palate meet.

The difference between an AHI of 65 and one of 55 is not significant. Normal night-to-night variations are greater than this.

sevendark wrote:I"m on sedwick

WT??

sevendark wrote: I keep taking the mask off at night around 2-3 hours in. I'm not really noticing the effects of the machine.

Until you are actually sleeping with the machine on for the full night, you are not likely to see much improvement in terms of your daytime functioning.

Are you aware/awake when you take the mask off 2-3 hours after you go to bed? Or are you waking up much later only to find out that you must have taken the mask off in your sleep? Until you figure out more about what's going on and can tell us more about it, there's not much we can suggest that will clearly be relevant to your situation.

I dont know what else to do. I've tried wearing it around the house. Tried wearing it a while before I go to bed. A bunch h of stuff you all recommend in the forums.

Wearing it around the house during the daytime does help establish compliance so insurance will pay for the machine. It can also help people who are claustrophobic get used to the feeling of the mask on their face. But it doesn't really address the problem of taking the mask off after 2-3 hours of sleep.

When you say you've tried wearing it a while before you go to bed, what exactly do you mean? Are you reading in bed with the mask on? Or are you using the machine in a different room and then going to bed? In either case, does this make it easier or harder to fall asleep with the mask on your nose?

Can anybody recommend anything else?

Have you tried taping the mask to your face? You don't need a massive amount of tape---just a couple of strips of tape on each side of the mask will do. The idea is to make it just painful or difficult enough to remove the mask to force yourself to full wakefulness when you start to remove the mask. Once you are fully awake and realize what you are doing, you can then consciously decide to NOT remove the mask or to put the mask back on before you go back to sleep.

Also it would help us help you if we knew more about what seems to be the specific problem(s) that are leading to your inability to keep the mask on at night: Are you claustrophobic? Does the mask cause anxiety? Can you breathe comfortably with the mask when you are trying to get to sleep? If not, does the problem seem to be that there's too much air to exhale comfortably or does the problem seem to be too little air to inhale comfortably? Is the mask comfortable or uncomfortable? If the mask is uncomfortable, where does it hurt? Does the mask seem to leak a lot? Does that wake you up enough to take the mask off? And finally, are you dealing with aerophagia (air in the stomach) or rainout (water in the hose or mask caused by condensation)?