Compliant with PAP?

[revken]

I am very interested in everyone's onpinion about CPAP compliance. What makes some people quickly adapt and others vehemently refuse? I'm interested in all your thoughts.

[ProfessorSleep]

That's a really good question. In my case, I have been totally compliant since starting (admittedly recently, though) except for one night the mask and I just couldn't get along. I felt terrible the next day and have been back at it with greater fervor since. Initially I needed some time to work through what it all meant, got all the information I could about apnea and treatments, and learned a lot about options for machines, masks, etc. I was absolutely desparate for some help. So armed with knowledge and able to make informed choices about equipment, combined with high motivation based on desperation, I have been more compliant than I even imagined. And that gets reinforced daily through the change I feel now that I actually sleep! I do think it helped that I had extreme daytime sleepiness. I kind of feel for people who need cpap but are not symptomatic other than someone else telling them what they do in their sleep. If I had to put up with this just because someone told me I snored or kicked a lot in my sleep, but I didn't have the sleepiness to go with it, it would be a lot harder for me.

[Sleep Pilgrim]

Four year-old son and an earplug wearing spouse = compliance.

There's more truth in the above than not.

But the biggest reason? Sick and tired of being sick and tired. In my mind, the difficulties (and there are difficulties) pale before the alternative. In light of that--the placing of things in hard cold perspective--not complying is not an option. And once you feel the difference, once you know the therapy works... strapping on that mask becomes the very least of your problems. In fact, to me, it's no problem at all.

-Will

[ehusen]

Well I'm one of those people who doesn't have (or didn't notice) daytime symptoms. But I snored like crazy and my BP is inching up where it should not be going. After a sleep test revealed severe apnea, I got the APAP.

I don't know why I got used to it so quickly, but I did. That fact that I don't snore anymore and all those little warnings about dying suddenly in my sleep keep me doing it. Those are the reasons I stay compliant but I don't know what I would have done if I could not tolerate the mask and such.

For me now, it is at most a minor annoyance to use. I can fall asleep easily with the mask and usually only have a few red pressure marks on my face in the morning. Since I don't snore anymore and I'm "doing it for my health" I can overcome the minor annoyances. I still have occasional bad nights but they are pretty rare now after 4-5 months of usage.

To keep me motivated I do try and look for subtle changes. Weird things like waking up before my alarm goes off. No midnight acid reflux. Far fewer headaches occuring. It can be difficult sometimes since a "bad night" with CPAP can result in you feeling pretty cruddy the next day. And it's easy to blame the "evil machine". But you have to evaluate the total affect not just one bad night now and then.

I do still get tired now and again but I think that is due to being overweight and a rotten diet.

[ozij]

What makes some people quickly adapt and others vehemently refuse?

Ken,
Did you ask those who vehemently refuse why they refuse? Ask and listen to the answers? We are often so busy trying to convince others that we don't really listen to what they're telling us. Try to make a list of all the refusal reasons you were given - and think about thoser reasons. Not about how to rebut them, but about what the refusers are feeling.

I didn't adapte quickly - but I knew I needed the therapy, and fought for getting it right. Reading the TAS forum and this one gave me lots of info. It also helped to make this a very human problem - I heard the whole spectrum of users - from frightened beginners, like me, to experienced happy and successful one.

I found many very important technical tips, like:
*Use KY jelly or AYR gel for sensitive nostrils
*Hang the hose from the wall above your head
*A heated humidifier makes a world of a differnce.

And I was speaking to people who had been through it, knew the pain, the difficulty, the fear, and persisted, and were now happy. That is very different from an RT of doctor who give you a feeling of brushing you off by saying: it'll pass.

And some of these strangers said - tell us how it goes with you. Nobody in the sleep clinic did that.

O.

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): humidifier, hose

[Jan in Colo.]

Is it vanity that makes people adamantly refuse? Both physical vanity...let's face it, the masks are pretty hideous, especially to those of us who sleep with a partner....and perhaps mental vanity as well? Not wanting to acknowledge that we are at a place in life where our health isn't as perfect as when we were teenagers and we now need "durable medical equipment" to survive?

I know my 82 year old mother refuses to be compliant with her asthma inhalers. If they were pills, she'd pop them in a minute. But she has a "thing" about needing inhalers....to her that is one step away from hauling an oxygen tank around everywhere she goes and she'd rather just lay down and die before she'd do that. Go figure. Somehow she associates inhalers with old age, lol, and there is no changing her mind.

I love my CPAP and I've only had it a few weeks. I've been 100% compliant. Sure I'd rather not use it. I was used to going to bed looking as attractive as a middle-aged woman without makeup can be, lol. I THINK of myself as being 30-ish....wrong, I'm in my 50's actually. EARLY 50's, thank you very much. But I put those goofy masks on and keep them on all night long, no matter how humiliating and irritating it can be. I'm going to wear those darn masks if it kills me!

If I'm sick, I'm sick. If I have a medical condition, well, oh whoops. Nobody's perfect. I believe in modern medicine and treating whatever ails you. Plus I felt horrible, lol. I have severe apnea and I'm going to treat it effectively. So I think it is all a mindset thing. All about adaptability.

Jan in Colo.

[WAFlowers]

Jan, I think you are exactly right for some people; maybe many. I know that fear is also a cause of failure, although I've yet to understand what people are afraid of.

For some it is claustraphobia (but the same people can wear glasses on their face and a hat on their head it seems). For others it is the fear of being labelled "disabled" even if it is only in their own mind. And I don't know what other fears drive some people away.

As to the vanity issue where people would rather die, that was literally true of my father-in-law. He would rather die than have scars from heart surgery that would save his life. So he did ... die that is. It was 4 months after I married my wife. He was visiting us at the time just after we'd moved to Europe.

Personally I'd put up with an enormous amount of personal discomfort, disfigurement, medical equipment, medication, etc. in order to live. I have so much to live for!

[Mary]

Compliant since got my machine April 22, except for 2 nights when I guess the mask needed a rest and I put it under my pillow.

Have had the usual problems learning how to deal with leaks but so far so good.

[ehusen]

Some interesting stuff here. The stuff about vanity and "denial" really hit home with me. I find a lot of things that I should be doing (diet, exercise, etc.) aren't done because of all the standard excuses.

I think it is human nature to try and ignore the bad things we do to our bodies and think it won't affect us. It's only one big fatty meal or one day we skip the workout. And then those get strung togethor and we are back in really bad straights.

For me the only thing that seems to work is to put it as "I need to do this or I will die..." that can usually motivate me a bit.