It finally Happenned!

[Admiral_Schmidlap]

It finally Happenned,
I fell asleep with my mask on and slept for a full 90 minutes!! I never thought this day would come. Even though I only got 90 minutes of sleep I can say without exaggeration that I feel better than I normally do. I actually woke up hungry instead of naseaus and with a headache.
I would like to say that I accomplished this feat through doggged determination and sheer force of will but that is not what happenned. I went to my doctor and got a prescription to help with anxiety. He prescribed vybrid for me. I have been taking it for two weeks now. It has calmed me down to where I am able to fall asleep again, however, I started sleeping on my couch in the living romm becasue I was unable to sleep in my bedroom any longer, I just got too nervous when I went in there. I eventually moved my CPAP machine to the living room with the thought that I would practice with the CPAP on while watching TV. Well, I practiced all of one time. I kept making excuses as to why I was not practicing, such as tonight was laundry night, or grocery night, or the coffee table was too cluttered, etc...
So last night I once again fell asleep on the couch without using CPAP and woke up at about 3:45 a.m. choking and gagging. It felt like I had regurgitated bile, it was a horrible and frightening sitation that has happenned once before several months ago.
I then put the CPAP mask on with the air this time and just sat and watched tv. And then it started to happen. I am sure it was because I was exhausted and had only about 4 hours of sleep for the last two days. The night before we had a huge windstorm here and I spent the night fightning water leaks in the kitchen and beroom. I started out by sitting on my love seat in an upright position and after about a half hour I started to lightly doze and found my breathing seemed to "sync" with the machine. There were a few fits and starts but I then moved over to the couch and layed down. Again, I started to lightly doze and had to make several adjustments to the mask becasue of leaking air. Well, I finally got the mask to where it was not leaking anymore and turned the tv down and then I fell asleep and then woke up and it was light outside!
I can't wait to tell my Respitory Therapist. I am still tired right now becasue I only got about 3 hours of total sleep but I am psyched now becasue I have proven to myself that I can sleep with the CPAP mask on and eventually wake up.

[quietmorning]

AWESOME!!! CONGRATULATIONS!! This is wonderful wonderful!!

[49er]

Great job Admiral. I am so happy for you.

49er

It finally Happenned,
I fell asleep with my mask on and slept for a full 90 minutes!! I never thought this day would come. Even though I only got 90 minutes of sleep I can say without exaggeration that I feel better than I normally do. I actually woke up hungry instead of naseaus and with a headache.
I would like to say that I accomplished this feat through doggged determination and sheer force of will but that is not what happenned. I went to my doctor and got a prescription to help with anxiety. He prescribed vybrid for me. I have been taking it for two weeks now. It has calmed me down to where I am able to fall asleep again, however, I started sleeping on my couch in the living romm becasue I was unable to sleep in my bedroom any longer, I just got too nervous when I went in there. I eventually moved my CPAP machine to the living room with the thought that I would practice with the CPAP on while watching TV. Well, I practiced all of one time. I kept making excuses as to why I was not practicing, such as tonight was laundry night, or grocery night, or the coffee table was too cluttered, etc...
So last night I once again fell asleep on the couch without using CPAP and woke up at about 3:45 a.m. choking and gagging. It felt like I had regurgitated bile, it was a horrible and frightening sitation that has happenned once before several months ago.
I then put the CPAP mask on with the air this time and just sat and watched tv. And then it started to happen. I am sure it was because I was exhausted and had only about 4 hours of sleep for the last two days. The night before we had a huge windstorm here and I spent the night fightning water leaks in the kitchen and beroom. I started out by sitting on my love seat in an upright position and after about a half hour I started to lightly doze and found my breathing seemed to "sync" with the machine. There were a few fits and starts but I then moved over to the couch and layed down. Again, I started to lightly doze and had to make several adjustments to the mask becasue of leaking air. Well, I finally got the mask to where it was not leaking anymore and turned the tv down and then I fell asleep and then woke up and it was light outside!
I can't wait to tell my Respitory Therapist. I am still tired right now becasue I only got about 3 hours of total sleep but I am psyched now becasue I have proven to myself that I can sleep with the CPAP mask on and eventually wake up.

[DreamStalker]

That's only one REM cycle.

You need to work your way up to 5 REM cycles. So your 20% of the way there.

Don't give up, it's well worth it once your body has a chance to recover. Once you get there, you will feel that you are 10, 20 or even 30 years younger.

[Sheriff Buford]

Admiral: you made my day! I know how you have been strugglin' and I've been looking for an update from you. I have to say, there are probably folks here that have struggled as much as you have, but I can't think of any. Last night was a life changing night for you! Stick with the routine you spoke of. Try wearing the mask at sleep time and see if you can keep it on all night. Once you can sleep with it on, you need to deal with the leaks, if you have some (you may not). But first things first. You go guy.... KEEP GOING!! Salutes to the Admiral!

Sheriff

[zoocrewphoto]

Congratulations!

Over time, as you get some more of these short sessions down, your brain will begin to trust that this is really helping you and will begin to crave it. It has already had a taste of feeling better. So, that will help.