Struggling Newbie

[Super Iridium]

I had trouble with the Swift FX too until I realized the Zen secret of these masks -- you absolutely, positively must keep your mouth shut for them to work.

The whole CPAP system depends on pressurizing your body's main air passage, from nostrils through esophagus down to lungs -- like inflating a balloon that's gone a little limp over time. If you have your mouth open while you are trying to "blow up" the balloon, it's just not going to work, and all of the air pressure that's being injected into your nostrils is just going to come right out your mouth.

That's why you're gasping for air at night, and I suspect that's why your mask always end up off your face -- because after you fall asleep, your natural inclination is to open your mouth (probably the way you've been sleeping for years before you got the CPAP machine).

Here's what worked for me -- change POSITIONS for sleeping. Turn over and sleep on your stomach or your side, and put your arm or hand directly underneath your jaw to keep your mouth closed. It feels weird at first, because you're probably so used to sleeping with your mouth open, sleeping with it closed feels like you might suffocate. But your body will soon get comfortable with the fact that you're getting more than enough air through your nose alone, and then you'll find its actually a lot more comfortable to sleep with your mouth closed.

Once you get this "sleeping with the mouth closed" habit ingrained, you'll see that you can use just about any mask on the market and all of them work equally well.

[Koz]

FINALLY SLEPT!!! My DME and Insurance comapnay worked with me and set my machine to a 14 Day Auto Trial with my pressure set from 6-12cm. Sooo much easier to fall asleep without fighting the pressure. My data is below and although I am a rookie and don't really know what I am looking at, the max pressure last night says 10 and not the 11 I was initially prescribed with.

Felling pretty good this morning! Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement, especially Pugsy!

[steve_b]

FINALLY SLEPT!!! My DME and Insurance comapnay worked with me and set my machine to a 14 Day Auto Trial with my pressure set from 6-12cm. Sooo much easier to fall asleep without fighting the pressure. My data is below and although I am a rookie and don't really know what I am looking at, the max pressure last night says 10 and not the 11 I was initially prescribed with.

Felling pretty good this morning! Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement, especially Pugsy!

Great to hear that Koz! I'm a newbie myself, only having the machine for a week now but it has given me my life back! I'm glad you were able to get the great support, encouragement, and wisdom from the awesome people on this forum. I've learned a great deal from them myself over the past couple months since my Dr. ordered my sleep study. I'm claustrophobic and a mouth breather which is kind of a bad combination because they started me on a full face mask. I wanted to panic when the therapist put it on me at the sleep study, but I kept thinking to myself "do you want to continue to be tired all of the time for the rest of your life, or do you want to get better?". I'm surprised how quickly I was able to get used to the mask and I actually kind of like it already because I can breathe easier at night. My C-flex is set on 2. They started my ramp pressure at 4 but I have it up to about 9 now because 4 didn't seem to be nearly enough. I don't like the suffocation feeling either! My therapy pressure is set at 18 which can cause some mask leak problems, but I'm dealing with it. Its all worth it for me because of how much better I feel now and my wife sleeps much better too!

Keep up the good attitude and stick with it!