Big step backwards

I have been on this treatment since the end of July. Things started great and I have been feeling much better. In the last two weeks things have taken a nose dive and I feel like I am back to square one. I am nodding off at work, drowsy driving home, constantly have a headache, and feel like I need to nap when I get home. What happened?

My wife has noticed an increase in "puffing" at night and I am waking every few hours to make adjustments to the mask. I mentioned this to my sleep doc at my visit last week and he prescribe an auto in place of my straight CPAP with C-flex. I get my new machine tonight. I am hoping that the auto will make a difference.

I have been so frustrated and just needed to vent. Thanks for being there for encouragement.

Do you need a new mask maybe? Insurance companies seem to think a mask lasts 6 months, but there are probably variables that increase the life of the plastic or decrease it as well. Have you lost weight or anything that might affect your facial contours so the mask doesn't work well for you any longer?

Just a thought....good luck on getting back on the wagon so to speak...

Jan in Colo.

I was feeling like my treatment was going backwards and found that I was also diabetic which makes you feel tired. You might have that checked.

Yes, I am seeing if this is true firsthand since I was just dianosed. But I was really dead before cpap.

Hi DrainedDad,
What mask are you using? Maybe you need to switch to another one for a few days. I tend to favor the Swift but I get frustrated with it leaking too. It will be really good for a week or two and then I have a bad week with lots of leaks. When I get really frustrated, I switch to my Activa for a few days. Let us know how tonight goes with the APAP.

Good luck,
Amy

One experiment to try is to go a night with CFLEX off & see if the puffs & leaks drop markedly.

If not then nothing lost by the trial, if they do then you will have an additional insight into what helps cause puffs & leaks.

I would be very interested to hear your results should you try it before switching to the AUTO.

Cheers

DSM

I got my auto yesterday and last night went much better. I really don't like the low pressure that it started with; I felt like I was sufficating. But once I got used to the low pressure and quit panicing and started to relax things went much better. I slept well for almost five hours and feel much more rested this morning.

I have been using the comfort lite and really like it. However, my sleep doc has recommended that I try a full-face mask next time I purchase one. I noticed last night that my sinuses tend to block just before bed time and the nasal mask becomes hard to use. Maybe if I rotate between full-face on the nights that I am congested and my comfort lite on the others I will have better success.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I guess that with this treatment we just need to be ready to make adjustments when the need arises!

A nasal pillow mask (such as the Swift) actually helps aleviate sinus congestion by splinting your nasal passages open in addtion to splinting your palate!

At least, it works that way for me and some others have commented on the same thing.

Drained Dad,

Maybe your low number on the auto is set at 4? That makes you feel like you're suffocating. I remember when mine was set at 4 and I started to seriously panic, and I'm not the type to get panicky like that. Getting used to CPAP was rather easy for me. But when I went to auto and had the bottom number too low, it did cause a bit of a semi-panic reaction in me.

What was your titrated pressure? Rule of thumb is usually 4-5 above and below for auto. But like many have recommended on this site, you can EVENUTALLY try bringing your low number up a little closer to your titrated number if you feel it's too low for you. I did. My pressure is 10, but I use auto at 8-12. Now my numbers stay at 8 or 9 sometimes.

I, too, felt a little while back, that I was going in reverse. Blamed it on everything machine and mask related. Turned out it had nothing at all to do with it. I have been on treatment since the first week in June. It eventually subsided after about a week and I went back to feeling well.

We have to realize that a lot of times, as in life in general, things go up and down. Even prior to when we had OSA, we had our good weeks and bad weeks. I guess it's not so far fetched to think that it will happen while we are on treatment, too. Such is life, ever-changing.

Hope your auto helps you to feel better in the meantime. Hang in there. Let us know how you're doing.

Mask air leaks and mouth air leaks, if either are significant enough, can really wreck treatment. Those possibilities would be what I'd be looking at first.