Need more than 2.5 hours

[PoolQ]

Alpha,
I started out doing exactly what you do, now I get 8-10 hours of sleep a night, but I do wake up 2-6 times a night and get out of bed. I do however go back to bed with the mask on, so I am getting treatment with interrupted sleep.

The problem I encountered is that what bothers me about CPAP happens when I am asleep and I don't remember what it was when awake. This makes it difficult to make changes. Also since I am not used to having an alien sitting on my face blowing air up my nose, when I did feel something I usually interpreted it incorrectly: I kept thinking I was congested and it turns out that this was a combination of humidity, EPR, and temperature. I had no experience describing what CPAP felt like.

What I did is make one step changes to one setting a night and in the morning decide if this made a difference in how I felt or how long I slept. I kept a journal with my numbers (from sleepyhead) and what changes I had made. I got to the point where my numbers were down lower and I was getting okay (livable) sleep. then I went back and readjusted the settings all over again, starting from what I had not changed recently and found some that I did not, at the time, think made a difference, now did matter.

My big issue has always been a feeling of not getting enough air. Logically I knew I was, but it felt like I was suffocating. This is where I ended up:
1. humidity off-some people need it at max
2. temperature 65 degrees-I prefer cold air
3. EPR set to max-this is exhale pressure relief and I still have an issue breathing out into pressure

I had no interaction with my Doctor or the DME during this time, it was all based on using this forum.


4. start up ramp set to auto-my issues was getting to sleep so if the pressure did not start until after I was asleep, I was better off
5. pre-ramp pressure 5.6-I am very sensitive to this

[Wulfman...]

Last night, 45 minutes. UGH! Machine was set to CPAP 13. I am so frustrated. I am exhausted all the time, and NEED to get some sort of treatment for my OSA. Im trying everything.

And then what? You aren't specific on what you did. Did you put it back on and resume sleep? (I suspect not)

You're allowing your mind to say that it's OK to do that and you're (your mind is) sabotaging your efforts.

PoolQ made some good points.


Den

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[alpha752]

Yes, once I wake up, I instinctively take it off and go back to sleep. I remember doing this, but seem unable to will myself to leave it on once awoken.

[knothead]

Last night, 45 minutes. UGH! Machine was set to CPAP 13. I am so frustrated. I am exhausted all the time, and NEED to get some sort of treatment for my OSA. Im trying everything.

And then what? You aren't specific on what you did. Did you put it back on and resume sleep? (I suspect not)

You're allowing your mind to say that it's OK to do that and you're (your mind is) sabotaging your efforts.

PoolQ made some good points.


Den

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Try the method I told you that worked for me, what can u loose. Its worked for quit a few folks here. Its just getting your mind to say what Den said, its OK to have this on your face.

[Wulfman...]

Try wearing your mask while sitting. I wore mine watching tv just so my brain would get used to having something strange on my face. After I was comfortable sitting while wearing my mask I hooked it up to the generator while watching tv, eventually moving to bed. I don't remember how long I did this BUT it worked. Taking my mask off at night got less and less, now I sleep like a baby. Try it, just may work for u too...

In my previous reply, I neglected to mention that you had some good ideas, too. Some of the things we've recommended for years to users with this problem.

Lots of us went through this in our early months of therapy.......I did, too. The trick is to break the habit.


Den

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[knothead]

Yes, once I wake up, I instinctively take it off and go back to sleep. I remember doing this, but seem unable to will myself to leave it on once awoken.

Alpha, look at this like fine tuning your car. If its running rough you take it to a mechanic to tune it. I see this as the same, we are fine tuning our brain to accept something that we were not born with. The more we tinker with and try things the more our sub-conscious should accept the mask, therefore no more taking off at night, just purring, fine sleep just like a fine tuned car...

[partialpaul]

I had the exact same experience and, for me, the solution turned out to be a chin strap. What I didn't realize was my mouth was falling open after a couple of hours and I'd always pull the mask off without even remembering doing it. You would have thought my data would have indicated severe mask leakage but if it did, I didn't notice it. There's commercially available chin straps, like the papcap, but I just went to Sally's Beauty Supply and bought a nylon "sports cap" like a lot of the athletes wear..sort of like a doo rag but you don't have to tie the sports cap. Then I bought a 2" or 2.5" flexible head band that ladies use to hold their hair back. It only took a few minutes to sew these 2 items together so that the head band acted as the chin strap and held just enough pressure on my chin that the problem was solved 100%. My teeth were little sore the first few nights but I knew the very first night that I'd solved the problem as I wore the cpap all night...all this after a year of trying to wear the cpap.

Hope this helps you, I know what you're going through.

[alpha752]

I'm not crafty enough to make one like that. I have tried chin straps before, but they always end up shoving my jaw back and are very u comfortable. Are there any that help hold the jaw closed, with out pushing the jaw back? Like something that goes under the jaw not into the chin?

[Wulfman...]

I'm not crafty enough to make one like that. I have tried chin straps before, but they always end up shoving my jaw back and are very u comfortable. Are there any that help hold the jaw closed, with out pushing the jaw back? Like something that goes under the jaw not into the chin?

Just reposition the chin strap so it goes over the top of your head and under your chin.


Den

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[itsjustme]

With just under a week with my machine I have been doing similar things. The first night after 4 hours I took it off because i just couldnt get comfortable. The second night I kept it on all night and slept for 8 hours. And man did I feel great the next day since 3-4 hours of sleep a night had been my norm for awhile. Now I am also in a bad habit of turning the machine off and removing the mask at 2-3 am. But I am going to stop that no matter what because I know the machine can't do its job if it's not being used. I too have started wearing the mask while I am sitting around watching TV or on the internet for a couple hours before bedtime and it definitely does help with getting used to the mask. I have a feeling that OSA isn't the only thing causing my sleep problems though. Gonna discuss that with the Dr. on my next visit.