Frustrated above and beyond right now!!!

[pitrow]

I would definitely increase the beginning ramp pressure if you use it. My prescribed pressure is 10 and my initial ramp was set at 4. I too would have the suffocating feeling like you're not getting enough air. I went in and adjusted my ramp to start at 6, and through a process of trial and error found that I like my ramp time set at 5 minutes. This gives me just enough of the "fighting against the machine" time that I know I won't fall asleep and I can check and make sure the mask is on right and not leaking. I find that within a couple minutes the ramp is up around 7 and I'm getting more than enough air. You really can feel the transition. It goes from "sucking hard to get enough air" to "feels like a natural breath" to "slight feeling of air being forced in" within a minute or so. After that I'm out like a light.

Also, make sure your mask is on correctly. Many times I've noticed with mine that if the pillows aren't at the right angle, then the breathing gets harder again. Often I wake up in the middle of the night because the mask has slipped slightly and I have that struggling to get air feeling. A simple re-adjusting of the mask and I'm good to go and back to sleep.

[qjosea]

I know how your feeling. I've been there and all I can say is stick with it. It takes time to adjust. I hope your DME is not APRIA, they never return calls or are not helpful if they do call you back. They refer you to your doctor. I hope he is good and understanding, I've had no luck with my doctor he's an ass, I just keep on telling myself it has to get better. I relive stress by posting and reading other people on this site. I try to find others that are worst off than me and think how lucky I am. Sound pityfull, but whatever floats your boat.

[PurpleSwan3033]

Hey, you must perservere !!! I know exactly how you feel. I am going through a lot of what you are experiencing, too, but you must adopt a positive attitude and you must stay positive. One good way to do that is to remember how miserable your sleep and rest were before beginning the cpap therapy. You must look ahead and dwell on the satisfying feeling you will experience with good, restful sleep. I also can to relate to the experience you are having with your cpap machine providers, too. I am having the same disappointing and frustrating experience with my machine's providers. At the start, my doctor told me my machine's providers were "the people who will help (me) get adjusted" to the machine and the therapy. I literally took her at her word but everytime I called the salesman, I got the feeling I was bothering him. He took his time returning my calls. Sometimes, I had to call him again before he would get back to me and then he would make committments that he did not follow up on. He just made up answers to my questions instead of getting me the right answers. He was rude and he even lied to me, deliberately about certain informations rather that admit he did not know the answer. You see, he was just interested in making that big fat commission off this overpriced equipment! When I tried to get passed him and speak to other people in the company, I got recorded messages that said someone would get back to me but they never did. I finally went off on the operator answering the phone and she got me to someone but I got the feeling that person was just tolerating me and patronizing me. Then I started paying more attention to specific postings in this forum about "taking charge" of my own therapy and that's what I am doing now. I am being persistent in calling and leaving messages to my machine's salesman but I am not waiting and depending on him solely. I am experimenting and tweaking a bit here and a bit there. When I have my 2 month initial assessment of the start of cpap therapy, I will share my frustrations with her then go full speed ahead with taking charge of my own therapy. (I will also tell her I do not want to give any repeat business to this provider and I want to order the rest of my supplies from someone else.) I can tell my life is going to be a lot better because of this therapy. I have energy again and I am beginning to feel alive again. I look forward to exercising every day. I look forward to sleeping and waking up feeling rested, more-and-more-and-more. I have a few down times every now and then but I fight them off. My main stumbling block is the mask(s) and finding the right one and the right fit. I will, it's just a temporary hurdle on the way to good sleep. Perservere, okay, and keep coming back with a positive attitude. Good luck and God bless you.

[drdebi]

HI, I am claustrophobic and just the thought of putting on a face mask gives me the willies...I use the nasal pillow. Sometimes I feel that suffocating feeling sometimes, though not often. NO ONE has told me anything about the Ramp. Don't have any idea what that setting is, and thinking I should ask someone about this.

[RedBackFur]

I am a Newbie here, and my DME was actually very nice and helpful. She even gave me a loaner Swift LT along with my Mirage Activa LT mask just to let me see if I could get used to the Swift.

The Swift LT was a disaster. Even with my humidifier going, my nose would be extremely painful inside of an hour. And, when I would roll over a bit, it would distort on my face and press against my nose and make it worse.

The Mirage Activa LT, is more cumbersome and feels more claustrophobic. Too much stuff in the way to see the TV to fall asleep. However, it is very comfortable to me, and important (of course, not a problem for you) it can adjust for my ample mustache and beard without leaking. That magic inflating cushion really does the job. I rigged a hanger with velcro over my headboard that holds the hose up over my head, as my APAP sits on the headboard...so that tube would make noise when I turned over, and the feel of it would wake me up. The hanger also keeps condensation out of my hose, which, at one time I inhaled and woke up coughing.

This sounds like a lot, but believe it or not, tonight will by my 5th night on the hose...I just am determined to be comfortable and start a better life not being sleepy and grumpy in the daytime.

[Section1]

I would suggest trying the next larger size nasal pillows. I know for me the small seem to fit the best but I can't seem to get enough air through them to sleep well. Once I changed sizes it was better. Hope you find something that works for you.

[ardneham]

I am just 35 days into it and welcome all the frustrations revealed here - which I too have gone through.

My Machine (Weinmann) was rented out by the "Sleep Clinic" on a day-to-day basis (practised in Switzerland
under the Medical Insurance Scheme) and do not face the "salesman" attitudes!

The write-ups in the Forum is most helpful to all Cpap users. Thanks to all.

[PurpleSwan3033]

I can relate to how you feel, especially about trying to get help from the cpap machine provider and not being able to get them to return your calls or even give you a credible answer. It seem that after they deliver the machine and make their money off it, and, tolerate you for the first 30 days, they are not as friendly and responsive as they pretend to be. The sad thing is that I was told they would be the people to help me get adjusted to my cpap machine but the pure truth is I am on my own and that's why so many people are having problems with compliance. There ought to be better accountability considering the big bucks involved but there is not.

[Autopapdude]

Persistence. It was an adjustment for everybody to get used to something over their face, and a machine roaring away. It isn't natural to have air forced up one's nose, and to deal with soreness, and noise. However, as experienced users found out, it is so well worth it. There is no comparison to how you feel once you begin to get regularly relaxed, controlled sleep with a Cpap. Yes, you do get used to the feeling of claustrophobia. Yes, you get used to the noise of the machine and the feeling of air rammed up your nose (like a jet engine). Eventually you will find that the slight sorenesses are so far outweighed by the fact that you're not nodding out at work, and are actually able to read a book or watch television at night, without nodding out constantly. Please do feel free to post your woes and those of us who have done this for a longer time will reassure you, as we've all been through it, and it is so well worth the adjustments you might have to make.

[Mtnviewer]

As others have said, we've probably all been where you are. I'm on month 10 and just feeling like I'm getting this figured out and with consistant results, and I've been quite serious about my therapy and 100% dedicated and compliant. Using the system is THE ONLY WAY to figure out what works for you. We are all such different shapes and sizes that it's pretty difficult to instantly know what is going to work.

IME, finding the right mask is VITAL. My first mask provided by a horrid the horrid Optilife DME, was useless and cost me $120. I quit CPAP because of the mask. My next try, I did lots of reading here and of reviews at CPAP.COM and I used CPAP.COM's mask fitting web pages and with eventually figuring out that I'm a mouth breather, I settled on a mask, only my 2nd, which works and fits very well, and acutally made CPAP use easy, most nights.

With CPAP there are many variables and a perfect night's sleep is a moving target and many perfect nights for me is the Holy Grail. Like others have said, take your time, be kind to yourself, use mind over matter, read many of the articles and discussions here to learn as much as you can, and then be concious of YOUR OWN situation, how you breathe, how you sleep, your sleeping positions, side or back or front and which may be best and have the fewest apneas (and then figure out how to stay there), how many times you wake up or get up and why, does your pillow interfere with your mask and or cause leaks, the results of your data software, and probably most important, how to find a great mask and how to get it set up so it leaks as little as possible.

Also, a pressure of only 8 IS WORTH IT. I've settled on an APAP pressure range of 8-9 after MUCH trial and error, and studying the data results and paying attention to how I feel after each change all over 10 months of use. In the end, for me at least, it's achieving the best compromise for the best results (but never so far reaching perfection).