clenchingtobreathe wrote: ↑Tue Jul 24, 2018 10:49 am
This morning I got out of bed and cried. I had a bad, sleepless night. The mask and the pressure was making me crazy and couldn't get to sleep! Very dry nose/throat one hour (woke me up)....very wet nose and fluttering noise (rain?) the next hour (woke me up).....pressure up to 12 next hour and couldn't exhale against it (woke me up). I seem to be going backwards and I'm having to take more sleep medication than I want to to get ANY rest....and to top it off, I'm clenching my teeth harder. My Sleepyhead charts show I'm having a lot of leakage. I don't mouth breathe, so I suspect I will have to go back to the small nose pillow instead of the XS (which is more comfortable). Look at this wild night!
Sorry to hear you had such a hard night. It won't always be so much effort. There are solutions for all these little pesky problems that come up. I would just keep searching this forum for each issue. I've had 9 yrs experience with CPAP, and overcame many pesky little problems. On the other hand, my machine is old. People on this forum seem to have the latest and greatest tips. But here's what I've got for what it's worth:
Sleepless night: You could try to gradually increase the number of hours you attempt to use the PAP. (I woke up and found that I had torn the mask off in the middle of the night a couple times.)
Dry nose: I struggle with dry nose. Nose pillows were just way too much air directed right in my nose. I opted for a full face mask at first. Then they came out with ones that go over your mouth and just have holes for your nose in the top of the mouth cushion. That works well for me. For dryness, I use cocoanut oil in my nose, but one doc cautioned me against using food oils, because they can feed bacteria if food gets blown into your sinuses. Pugsy on here recommended lanolin cream, like breastfeeding mothers use for nipples.
Dry throat: No pointers, except that I wonder if nasal pillows direct air too directly into the throat.
Wet nose... Wet hose? And fluttering noise: I have gotten the fluttering noise when I've put the PAP on the floor (much lower than the mattress), when I've filled the humidifier too full, when the humidifier is not set warm enough, or in cold weather. The fluttering can be the water fluttering, or a flap from the hose into the mask getting hit with water drops. You could try taking the hose off and blowing through it to dry it. You could also try heated hoses (I think they are standard now. If your hose snaps in in some way when you connect it to the machine, it's heated. The snap in part is where it connects the heating mechanism. The non-heated hoses just slip on to the connecter on the machine.) If you don't have a heated hose, I'm sure you can get one. But there are also flannel hose covers called "Hose Huggies" from MARS. I used to have a hose dryer-thing that pulls some cloth through the hose to dry it. But I didn't end up using it much. If I had two hoses I'd just switch. But all that became passe when they came out with the heated hoses. I assume you have one?
High pressure, hard to exhale: Pugsy taught me how to set the EPR pressure so that the machine gives less pressure when you exhale. Before that, when I was getting used to it, sometimes I'd lift the mask off my face and take a few breaths without the air, just to "press the reset button" on my lungs. If the pressure is high, I will also turn off the machine and turn it back on. That way, it starts the pressure ramp-up over again. They know it's hard to fall asleep to high pressure. That's why they make ramp-ups. You could check that your machine's ramp up time is as long as you'd like it to be. You can also try getting used to breathing through it by putting it on a bit during the day, like 20 minutes while watching a movie or something. Just so that you're "getting used to it" time isn't all during the time when you really need your sleep. (There are trade offs in everything, though. Some people have problems swallowing air, and say not to have the machine on too much when you're not asleep, because you swallow more. I never had this problem at first, and they used to recommend watching a movie or something to get used to it. I only had to do that once or twice my first week and then I was used to breathing with it. I remember being in the medical supplier's office getting fit with it. He turned on the pressure and then asked me a question. I couldn't talk with the air blowing in my mouth. Thought he was crazy thinking I could. But now I can talk through the mask with the machine on just fine. It's just like riding a bike or something. Hard and first but becomes natural.)
Leakage: I wouldn't worry too much about leakage at first. Just getting used to tolerating the machine is a good step 1. Improving the effectiveness of the machine can be step 2.
Mask fit and leakage: Remember that leaks can come from masks being too loose OR too tight. Gotta find the balance. For me, nose pillows didn't work for pressure and leak reasons. If it was just barely tight enough not to leak, it was too much pressure upward on my nose and pinched off my nasal passage. Have you tried different kinds of masks? (Sorry if you already said that and I forgot. Can't seem to see the original post in the "topic review" window below as I type this.) Finding a mask that works for you is a process for a lot of people.
Speaking of happy mediums, I hope I don't overwhelm you with too many ideas. It can seem like such a huge world of problems and solutions that it's overwhelming. But if you just take one problem at a time, they do get crossed off your list. For me, the CPAP became a comfort. It would be my body's "sleep que" telling me that it's time for sleep now.
