FRUSTRATED I think i get more apneas from CPAP mask

[stewzo]

I've been using a CPAP mask for 5 years now, I still do not like it, & I'm not sure if it really helps me.
I find I wake up throughout the night because of the CPAP mask. It's uncomfortble & cumbersome — it feels like a vacuume cleaner attached to my face. I am always conscience of it... which often keeps me awake. It also makes it very difficult to breath when I have a slightly stuffy nose. If it shifts the slightest millimeter off my face it creates a sound which wakes me up. I find that I often throw the mask off in the middle of the night & I find it the next morning on the floor. I'm not sure if it really helps me. Has anyone else had similar experiences?

[jules]

why don't you start by telling us what machine and mask you are fighting - perhaps then someone can chime in and offer ideas

[stewzo]

I'm using a REMSTAR machine & an Ulrtra Mirage Full Face Mask

[jules]

is it safe to assume you got your machine back 5 years ago and it hasn't been replaced?

which model exactly?

[Julie]

Have you tried lowering the humidifier setting to see if it helps your stuffiness (it does for a lot of people)?

[stewzo]

Thanks to all who responded.
Yes — my machine is 5 years old. Not sure of the model — but it works fine and is very quiet.
I don't use the humidifier. It makes me stuffier and is too warm.
I don't believe there is anything wrong with the equiptment. I just don't like using it. I put it on every night
and 80% of the time the mask winds up on the floor by morning.I've tried many different masks and the Ultra Mirage is the only one that sort of fits — but not great, and it's not something that feels comfortable. I just wish there was a better way.

Still frustrated
Stewzo

[ozij]

stewzo,
Chances are that if the treatment had been giving you the sleep you need, you would like using the equipment. The sense of relief and happiness after getting a good night's sleep is very powerful when you experience it.
5 years of nightly sleep with the mask still ending up on the floor means something is not working as it should.

I just wish there was a better way.

If you mean you wish there were a better way of getting therapy without a machine and mask, then that might explain the mask ending up on the floor. It's an understandable, but rather useless wish - and since you're not involved in research into sleep apnes - nothing rational you can to make it happen. So, whenever hear yourself wishing that, and especially before you strap the mask on, you really have to listen to the wish with great sympathy, and then add -- kindly, gently but very firmly, "but I won't take off my mask to make that wish come true".

That's the psychological aspect. However,your mask may also be ending up on the floor as part of your body/brain's rebellion against having something on your face when you're not breathing properly.
Many of us have found that

1. the pressure recommended by the sleep lab, based on one night's sleep is not the correct one
2. our pressure needs change as the years go by --

There are better ways of getting this therapy to work with mask and machine, and that's through making sure you're getting the right pressure.

5 years without a follow up PSG is a long time -- and things have happened in sleep medicine during that time as well. One of them being the discovery of a group of people who have breathing disruptions caused by simple cpap therapy. They need a machine of a more sophisticated kind. A repeat PSG is a good idea.

Whether you decide to do that, or whether you don't, the better way way of doing this therapy is getting the means to monitor what it does (or does not do) to your breathing. Assuming you have garden variety OSA, you can give yourself much better therapy than you're getting now by getting a new machine withou a PSG. I'm not making that assumption, just giving you information.

What you need is:

• Curiosity
• Persverance
• A data tracking machine -- there were few of those 5 years ago -- many more do nowaday
• Software to track your data (highly recommended)
• Patience to monitor and log

I would get those after a new PSG (that's "sleep study")
Good luck.
O.

[jskinner]

I just wish there was a better way.

Have you considered trying a dental device rather than CPAP. If your taking the CPAP off %80 of the time it can't be helping that much?