Can't sleep

[Jim C.]

Perhaps someone can help me. I recently purchased my Remstar auto with c-flex. I have tried it on every setting and still can't get any sleep with it on. I have the "no-mask" system and it is very comfortable. but I just lay awake listening to the noise of the machine and the air flowing into my nose. Last night was the longest in two weeks that I had it on (5 hrs). I actually did fall asleep, probably about ten times. I keep waking up wondering if it is morning yet and listening to the machine. Should I take drugs to sleep? Would ear plugs help? I spent over a thousand bucks on this stuff, I would like to make it work.

Thanks for any advice,

Jim

[TXKajun]

I vote for drugs. Yep, definitely drugs! Ohhhhhh, you didn't mean those kinds of drugs!!! Oops!

Seriously, Jim, I think most of us here have gone through what you're experiencing. After all, you have this thing that resembles the alien from the movie voluntarily strapped onto your face, wrapped around your head and hooked up to a reverse vacuum cleaner blowing you up like a balloon (ok, so I exaggerate a little.....but only a teeny little!! lol) and then try to lay down and get a good night's sleep. I've found that, for me at least, alternating different sleep aids with not using any sleep aids works pretty well. One night I'll take a single Tylenol PM, another night a Celebrex, another night a melatonin pill and in between all of these, I'll take nothing. I've been doing this for almost 8 months now and sleeping pretty darn well most every night. Also, having a good, steady routine before bed helps. No stimulating beverages after about 2PM, regular bed time, trying not to get spun up over anything in the afternoons and evenings, not eating too late.....all these help.

Good luck, and stay with it. It does get easier.

This therapy WORKS!!! (ok, so maybe it doesn't get easier..you just get used to it better)

[george45]

Just to inject a note of realism. Cpap has a 50 % compliance rate, meaning half the people just give up on the damn thing. A goodly number of the 50% remaining stuggle with it night after night so you are not alone. Try to have a positive attitude and keep trying for a while longer. I suspect that those who have success would be considered sound sleepers if they did not have OSA. Those who could be labeled light sleepers would have the most trouble. Remember that if you have severe or perhaps even moderate OSA, your health may be at risk if you do not use the cpap.

[rested gal]

Cpap has a 50 % compliance rate, meaning half the people just give up on the damn thing.

That would be bad enough, but I bet if truth be told, 75 or 80% give up by the time a year is over, if not sooner.

I've always wondered where the "compliance" statistics come from. Pathetic as the "compliance" is, I think the usage picture is much more dismal.

If it's a poll of DMEs, most of them do such inept follow-ups that I can imagine the DME reporting, "Oh, 90% of our patients are fully compliant with cpap...OUR patients are doing great!"

The DME may have made one phone call in the first week:

"How are you doing, Mr. Smith?"

"Not so good...this mask has made a big sore on the bridge of my nose, and I have to pull the straps so tight."

"Well, put a bandaid on the spot, keep trying, and let us know if you have any further trouble."

Mr. Smith never calls them again. They never call him again. They keep him on the rolls as a "satisfied compliant patient" because he never calls them back.

After all, no news is good news. Right? It is for the bottom line profit, anyway. Insurance pays like clockwork for that machine sitting in a closet.

When's the last (or first!) time anyone checked your machine or your card for "compliance?" I don't call using it for the official minimum of 4 hours a night and then taking it off to struggle with OSA for another 4 hours really "using cpap" anyway, but that's a whole other story. (I'm not fussing at you, JimC...you're really trying hard. I'm just on a rant in general!)

The DME did its part. Right? They told Mr. Smith to let them know if he had any more problem. With the bandaid advice he got first time, do you think he's going to bother to call back and hear "keep trying" again?

Oh, and they continue to tout their Comfort-this and Profile-that as their "most popular mask" when the next hapless newly diagnosed person comes through the door.

After all, Mr. Smith was a satisfied customer, wasn't he? He never called them back with another problem - ever.

[ProfessorSleep]

I know what you mean, Jim - as tired as I always was, could fall asleep standing up, practically, put that mask on me and start the machine and no way was I gonna sleep with that getup! So, I tried some relaxation techniques, pictured in my mind the sound of the breaths going in and out as something really soothing and helpful to me, focused on the rhythm and how it was helping me breathe easier, deeper, relaxing, relaxing, and

zzzzzzz!

(except I don't snore any more)

[BP]

Earplugs work great for me, although I have been using them for years. I like Flent's EarStopples. They are wax impregnated paper and become very comfortable once warmed by body heat. Keep in mind that some machines, the pb420e in particular, sound louder with earplugs, but I don't have the problem with my Remstar Plus. Should be a similar (or identcal) blower mechanism as Remstar Auto.

Hang in there, and don't panic about sleeping (I tend to do this), try to relax as much as you can and sleep will begin to get better and better.

-BP

[Sleepless on LI]

I think most of the people on this site barring a few, such as MissAmethyst2U, are not youngsters. So what does that have to do with the price of tea in China? It means we are set in our ways, not only with how we handle our daily activities, but our sleep habits, too. To be told after 30, 40, 50 years of living to now go to bed with a mask on your face which interferes with every move you make, not to mention that it blows air either into your nose or in your face, and has a hose attached to it that you have to worry about all night, well, that would put a crimp in anyone's sleep patterns.

It takes everyone a different amount of time to get used to sleeping in this new way. Unfortunately, too, it comes at the time in your life where all you want to do is get some good, wholesome, restorative sleep and now you're forced to deal with this! Just stay positive and remember what the rewards are if you give it time and stick with it. They far outweight the negatives. You just have to hang in there long enough to start to feel them and you usually change your tune. I know I did.

[Jim C.]

Thanks, folks, for the help. I thought I was the only one who had a problem with the thing. I guess I'll stick with it and try your suggestions. No doubt I'll eventually fall asleep. Hopefully it will be in bed.

Jim

[crazyone]

I think I am probably the youngest cpaper here.....I can barely remember any of the TV shows you guys mention. Now I do remember when they finally came out with digital microwaves. But look at it this way, I have to deal with this contraption longer than the rest of you.

Now back to the main subject........I HATE THE NOISE!
And I'm one of those people who has to have noise to sleep, but just that of a ceiling fan. This thing is like 20 ceiling fans (possibly exagerating). My husband can't stand noise when he sleeps, but says it's a whisper compared to my snoring (which luckily I can't here).

Not to mention the fact that now I have to admit I'm not only crazy, but closter phobic too. Even though the damned thing is giving me air.....I feel like I can't breathe with it on. Even so, I keep trying because of the very few successful cpap nights I have had where I've actually been awake the next day.

Liam, if your still around, sorry about my horrible gramatical errors.

[Sleepless on LI]

crazyone,

Last night, for the first time since starting therapy the first week in June, the noise of my inhalations was driving me nuts. Usually I find it relaxing, but not last night. I seriously considered, at one point, taking my mask off and "roughing it."

I have had a cold since Friday night and last night refused to toake any medications as I don't want to continue to rely on them. So I put up with one side of my nose being hard to get air through, not to mention that itchy urge to sneeze all night with the mask on (that would be a good trick). Also, my daughter had the phone ringing till almost 1 AM, which I finally had to put a stop to. Seemed like every time I almost was in a sleep, the phone rang and got my adrenaline going. I fought getting out of bed to tell her to get off it, but finally had to. Not to mention I started water pills yesterday and had to make a few trips to the old bathroom. But I slept horribly, and I mean horribly, and found the noise from the mask unbearable.

I pray I am just so tired tonight that nothing gets in the way of a restful sleep. I don't think I could take another night like last night...

[WAFlowers]

crazyone,
Every machine and mask has its own distinct noise. Your profile doesn't say what equipment you have. Perhaps if you updated your profile some people could give you some specific recommendations.

BTW, I'm just across the bay from you. My 420e is very quiet, but it is at lower pressures (typically 6.5-8.5 -- I don't think I've seen it higher than that) and I have it much lower than the bed so an sound it does make is lost "down there".

If you wanted to hear/see my equipment, PM me and we can setup a mutually convenient time and place.