New user, tips??

Welcome to the Forums =)

First I would go to your User control Panel just under the forum search box and then find Profile and select your mask and pap machine and any other things you have that are listed there. In this way Forum members who have the same gear can post tips that they have discovered as they learned how to make the gear work better.

Condensation or Rain Out in the hose or mask can be helped by using a heated hose or buying a Hose cover ( http://www.padacheek.com/ ) and slipping the hose in between the blankets and you.

This warms the hose and helps stop the condensation form getting into your mask. Some find that by putting the pap machine on the floor helps because then the water that does form runs right back into the humidifier. If your hose is to short you can buy a longer one that gives you more room to move. There are above the head wall hangers, that some find helpful as well.

These can be found here as well ( https://www.cpap.com/cpap-hose.php )

Mask fit is very important for comfort and treatment reasons. You may need bigger or smaller pillows on your mask. These normally come with the mask when you get it. The headgear can be changed on some mask for a better fit or after market pads can be bought to help stop strap marks and for better fit. http://www.padacheek.com/ and or like ( https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... -cpap.html ). Once we know what mask you have we can give better tips on how to stop leaking.

Once you fill out your gear we on the forums can give you more specific tips, the things I posted here can be bought or made at home I posted them as examples mainly but they all can be helpful.

You can do this it just takes a little time and practice. =) This board will do what it can with answering your questions and supporting you in this, the rest is up to you.

Don't expect miracles overnight. Accept the fact that, most likely, a long road of trial and error lies ahead before you stumble onto the combination of equipment that works for you. I experienced a year and a half of total frustration prior to finding something that worked for me. Take advantage of the knowledge available from experienced members of this forum; their suggestions and guidance can be invaluable. Hang in there; don't give up; things will get better.

This whole sleeping with the mask and hose and air blasting at you is a strange new thing. You haven't slept this way before, ever. Your subconscious probably still hasn't accepted it fully, so you're not sleeping as deeply as you were. Also, when stuff happens, your autopilot doesn't know what to do, so you wake all the way up and remember it. That will all change when your get more used to the mask and that just takes practice. The stuff that really annoys you needs fixing and usually involves a lot of trial and error (and helpful hints from other forum members).

When I started out, I felt like I'd traded one sleep disorder for another. It took months before the complexities of CPAP stopped interfering heavily with my sleep, and even now I still have trouble now and then. But the disease was worse than the cure for me, so I kept at it.

Every face is different, and every user has different sleep behavior, pressure settings, tolerance for machinery, etc. You'll have to work out for yourself what works for you, and that usually takes quite a bit of trial and error. Don't be dismayed, the sort of problems you are experiencing are par for the course, and you will get past them eventually.

There is plenty of help available here. If you're not getting the answers you need, I suggest posting specific questions in a new thread, with a very descriptive title so that people who have had similar problems know without even opening the thread that they know something about it. This is a busy board, and many of us don't have time to read every thread, so design your titles to attract the attention of the people who have the knowledge you need. Also, don't be afraid to bump your own posts if they go off the first page and you're still needing help.

A hose cozy or a heated hose is necessary equipment for people who need high humidity, but some people do better with lower humidity, so don't be afraid to experiment.

One of the problems I had was that I had to wake up to fiddle with the unfamiliar equipment, and then I had a very hard time getting back to sleep. There are some things you really need to be able to do almost in your sleep, and the good news is you will develop that skill eventually. Unfortunately, it takes time, and to make it worse, it's hard to learn when you are sleep deprived. But hang in there. Eventually you will get the sleep you are dreaming of.

With nasal pillow masks sometimes the condensation in the nasal pillows actually comes from the condensation of the moisture in our own exhaled breath.
This little comfort feature helps insulate the area that the hose cozy can't reach.
http://www.padacheek.com/PACSwiftII_Barrel_cozy.html