Just got an APAP

Hello everyone! I am new to these parts. I came across this forum by googling "first night with an APAP."

I was diagnosed with OSA in 2012 and given a SomnoDent appliance. That thing hurts. When I take it out in the morning my jaw and teeth hurt. It takes several hours before my jaw is normal again. I was afraid it would do permanent damage to the tendons or whatever holds your jaw in place. Sometimes it pinches the side of my mouth too.

Anyway, they said I had mild OSA, hence the dental device and not a CPAP. I had kept waking up at night and had lots of headaches. When I went to the ENT about waking up and mentioned the headaches, he asked how often I had them. I told him no more than anyone else. He asked, how many times I thought that was and I replied 4 times a week or so. He told me most people only get a headache maybe once a month. So, that started a whole bunch of stuff.

He also determined I was not breathing out of my left nostril hardly at all and diagnosed a severe "acquired" deviated septum. So, after three doctors all said the same thing, I let them fix it. It was amazing how much better I could breath! Because of this, I thought I would get another sleep study done and perhaps I would be cleared from having OSA. No such luck! The second sleep study in 2014 was much worse than the first!

After some of the adjustment parts of the dental appliance broke and the manufacturer said I had to go to the dentist to get them, I made an appt to get a CPAP. Yesterday they gave me a Dream Station APAP, a mask and nasal pillow. I tried the mask first and had a terrible time getting to sleep and staying asleep. Sometime during the night I switched to the pillows and I think I only woke up once after that. It freaked me out the first time I opened my mouth though! LOL

I must admit, even though I had terribly disturbed sleep last night, I didn't feel like I had been run over by a truck when I woke up this morning. I usually feel horrible for a while. Well, that is my story. I hope tonight goes much better.

yay!! So glad that you feel a little better. Pillows are what made the difference for me. Not always a perfect thing, but I get a lot more sleep using pillows than a full face mask (which I have simply for when I have terrible nasal congestion from a cold). For mouth opening issues, consider getting a chin strap, although I found after 2 or 3 nights, I rarely open my mouth any more at night. Good luck!!

Second night results are in. Again I didn't feel like I was ran over by a truck when I woke up. I only got a little over 6 hours of sleep too. I used the mask and slept pretty good. It took a bit to get the adjustment right. It hurts the bridge of my nose if I am laying certain ways, but I can usually get it situated right.

It sure is nice waking up feeling better and without my teeth and jaw hurting!

edit: I do have a concern though. While I am trying to fall asleep, I notice that I will just stop breathing now and then. Not a blocked airway apnea sort of thing, I just quit breathing for a few seconds. Not sure what to think about that.

billferd wrote:Second night results are in. Again I didn't feel like I was ran over by a truck when I woke up. I only got a little over 6 hours of sleep too. I used the mask and slept pretty good. It took a bit to get the adjustment right. It hurts the bridge of my nose if I am laying certain ways, but I can usually get it situated right.

It sure is nice waking up feeling better and without my teeth and jaw hurting!

edit: I do have a concern though. While I am trying to fall asleep, I notice that I will just stop breathing now and then. Not a blocked airway apnea sort of thing, I just quit breathing for a few seconds. Not sure what to think about that.

Sounds like you are having a good start. With the bridge of the nose hurting, you could try a bandaid or mask liner until you get more used to the mask. You can buy liners at PadaCheek.com or make your own from an old tee shirt. This will help comfort. Some people say liners cause worse leaks but they decreased mine and were soft on the face. You can monitor leaks with the software.

On the breathing stopping, this is probably just transitioning to sleep breathing. At times we all hold our breath without being conscious of doing it. You are probably more focused on your breathing now and noticed the difference.

Get the free software SleepyHead and read the data on your SD card to see what is happening through the night. This link will instruct you how to do that.
https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead

billferd wrote: I notice that I will just stop breathing now and then. Not a blocked airway apnea sort of thing, I just quit breathing for a few seconds. Not sure what to think about that.

ignore it.

Thanks everyone. I think I will try some padding on the nose and see if that helps.

I did download Sleepyhead software and took a look at the 2 nights so far. I need to figure how out how to interpret the data though. When I looked at the first night I could see where I switched from the mask to pillows. I also noticed that the leak rate is sort of odd. Need to figure out that chart for sure.

When I first started treatment, I had a large sore on the bridge of my nose caused by my first mask. I used a band aid on it every night until it healed, then I started using a piece of moleskin on my nose at night. The tech I was working with when I first got my machine told me that is what her husband used every night to keep his nose from getting sore. I did that up until I started using the Amara View mask.

I was thinking about mole skin. Last night I used a trimmed band-aid. I had a devil of a time keeping that mask sealed last night. I switched to the pillow and that wasn't any better. I keep getting an air backup in my mouth for some reason. I had to switch back to the mask and tighten it to get it to stay sealed, but that causes nose bridge pain.

I am wondering if the mask and pillow is the right size. The tech said she thought the pillow was too big and I agree. Not sure about the mask though.

Boomerang Gel Pad for sore nose
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/boomer ... -cpap.html

You can have breathing events while your awake or in the transition stage to sleep. The machine will blast you with air and remind you to breath. It happens to me fairly often. During my first sleep study I was laying in bed trying to sleep and they asked me if I was sleeping yet, because I had stopped breathing. I said no, what was that about, I'm still awake. That's when I first learn that it's not uncommon to stop breathing or breath very shallowly when you are still conscious.

Glad you are finally starting to see some signs of relief. Since I found this forum I also am starting to see signs of relief after three years of improper treatment. It seems the medical community still has quite a ways to go in doing a good job of treating apnea. 4 year of headaches and feeling like being run over by a truck for me and quite a few on this forum have had problems much longer.

Glad your here. The more people we have sharing their experiences the better.

Rob K wrote: The machine will blast you with air and remind you to breath.

only an asv or a timed bilevel.

I forget not everyone has a machine with variable pressure. Mine is set to auto so it changes the pressure as needed. It increases the pressure to give me a blast of air if I stop breathing. Thanks for clearing that up.

Rob K wrote:I forget not everyone has a machine with variable pressure. Mine is set to auto so it changes the pressure as needed. It increases the pressure to give me a blast of air if I stop breathing. Thanks for clearing that up.

what kind of machine do you have?

if it's a system 1 auto, then no, it doesn't "give a blast of air" it slowly, over a period of many minutes, increases pressure.

there are machines that DO pump up to 25cm of air, *in a single breath*, but they are specialized.

Yeah, S1 auto and it does blast me with air occasionally when I'm transitioning to sleep. Maybe I'm not noticing the pressure increase until it gets high enough. My pressure is set in a range of 8-12. For me it does seem like a a blast of air and it does remind me to breath when this happens.

Thanks for straightening out my mistake. Anyway, this is not my thread, we are supposed to be helping the original poster.

Regular apap machines will increase the pressure in response to certain warning signs that the airway is trying to collapse or maybe has already collapsed repeatedly but they absolutely will never "give a person a blast of air to either blow open the airway and clear out the obstructive stuff or in the case of a central apnea forgetting to breathe..jump start the breathing"... When an apnea event is actually currently in process...the machines sit back and twiddle their little thumbs and then after the event has passed it tries to decide if it needs to do something different to better prevent that apnea event from happening again.

They (regular apap machines) are incapable of responding that fast. It simply can't be done. It actually takes a few minutes to climb and a few minutes to come back down. If you have a PR S1 model 560 or 550...your machine won't/can't do it. Now if you have a model 960...yeah, it could do it but then you wouldn't have a regular apap machine.

Rob K wrote:Yeah, S1 auto and it does blast me with air occasionally when I'm transitioning to sleep. Maybe I'm not noticing the pressure increase until it gets high enough. My pressure is set in a range of 8-12. For me it does seem like a a blast of air and it does remind me to breath when this happens.

Rob K wrote:Anyway, this is not my thread, we are supposed to be helping the original poster.

Yes...and this is why we try to correct information that is potentially incorrect and could maybe confuse someone who is new to therapy.
This stuff is confusing enough without adding misinformation into the mix.