Why do some folks take to cpap so quickly and others do not?

[elena88]

Im wondering if there are things that people who take to cpap quicky have in common?

Same for the people who struggle so much?

How are they different?

What has been YOUR experience? was it easy for you, or was it difficult.. and do you know why?

Lets say each person has found a mask that works, and does not leak..

What do you think the issues might be? heavy sleepers vs light sleepers?

allergy sufferers vs people who can breath thru their nose easily?

Gerd sufferers vs non gerd sufferers?

Claustrophic vs not claustrophic..

medical issues?



is there a pattern of people who do so great the first night vs the people who do not?

Is it high pressure vs low pressure? What do you all think..

would love to hear from some sleep study experts too!

thanks,

elena

[snuginarug]

I am up at the moment, NOT sleeping because I am having trouble adjusting. No allergies, normally a heavy sleeper, no claustrophobia to speak of (got over a mild case the third night), low pressure (9), good sleep hygiene, comfortable bed/bedroom, everything you can think of in my favor. But somehow I can't adjust. Not yet at least. I am assuming i will adjust at some point. Maybe tonight? (she says hopefully)

[Do nurses have OSA?]

Ahhhhh the adherence piece,

You may find interesting that adherence in general is approximately 50% across the board. Research shows that individuals who have received a transplant (kidney, heart, pancreas, etc) AND individuals who are on fertility treatment to get pregnant are included in this group. I find that very interesting! So NOT choosing to use your CPAP is not unique to sleep apnea.

You are asking the million dollar question. Some research shows individuals who receive additional extra education and TLC are more adherent, but many other studies refute this. There is some interest that empowering some people with their data and them taking control of their treatment may help BUT again this does not work for everyone! There does not seem to be any one answer. Choosing not to adhere to life saving treatment is interesting whether it is CPAP, blood pressure medications, diabetes / insulin medications, anti-rejection drugs, etc.

Just my 0.02 cents worth. It will be interesting to see what you hear back. But your findings will be skewed as people reading this forum are interested in treatment or they probably would not be here.
Connee (PhD candidate beginning to do research on CPAP adherence and dose response and outcomes on quality of life, cognition, blood pressure, etc)

[Sleepy Taz]

Elena98,

I think that adapting to Cpap starts with acceptance. For most the thought of sleeping with a mask on their face and air blowing up their nose makes them uneasy at best. Add to that the fact that each person is responsible for putting on that mask every night leaves room for many to either just use it part time or not at all. Once there is acceptance, there needs to be a desire to make the therapy work. Finding the right mask, changing sleeping habits and keeping track of the AHI goes a long way towards not only getting used to Cpap, but getting optimal results as well. Have I wanted to give it up at times? You bet! Am I willing to go back to haw I was pre Cpap? No way in hell!!!! I have a coworker who I know from talking on the telephone that was diagnosed last winter with sleep apnea. She has a nephew who is an RT and had the support of many others but after 3 months she was still sleeping for only 2-3 hours a night with the mask. I suggested to her to wear the mask for a couple of hours a night while watching TV or reading and within a week she was sleeping 7-8 hours a night with the mask! What changed? She was ready to accept and was willing to optimize her therapy. I have always believed that a good attitude is essential towards successful therapy.

Taz

[SleepingUgly]

A doctor once told me that those with severe apnea often feel better more rapidly than those with more mild apnea, but I don't know if there is any truth to this.

[BlackSpinner]

I read somewhere that truck drivers and pilots have better success because their careers depend on it.
I had instant success but I also had many years of mind control practice dealing with migraines and pain control. I also felt that this had to work or I was checking out and I didn't want to check out yet because it would have devastated my youngest daughter who was going through her own issues - that was what really motivated me to make this work first shot. She is now almost flying on her own but my whole attitude to life changed as soon as I was on cpap.

[Duckie]

I feel it is mind or matter. I have an many ortho procedures and you wake up with different types of brace and cast on and they can not be removed. So I treated the Auto Pap the same way. I had to keep it on for my life to improve. So I have been on the auto pap for one week and so far sleep at least 8 hours a night with the mask on. I do wake up to adjust it and to "itch " my nose. I do have problem with it blowing cold air but I am working with Apria about that.

[nanwilson]

Failure was not a choice.
Cheers
Nan

[Hawthorne]

I have no idea why some respond quicker than others. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and from night 1 (almost 8 years ago) I have used the machine every night and sleep through the night. Once I got a data capable machine (2 years ago), I saw that things were very good. I did a little pressure adjustment early on (with help from forum members) with the new data capable machine and then things were fine.

I had an in home auto trial in fall 2007 and another sleep study in 2008. I was feeling more fatigued during the day again so did this. Got the data capable machine, help from the forum and back to good. My pressure needed to be raised slightly at that time.

Sometimes I have mask seal troubles during the night but I have a couple of masks always ready and I just get up an change my mask and off to sleep. There is no telling which mask might give me trouble on any given night. The next night I may be just fine with the mask I start out with. I usually am then fine for many weeks, even months and then will come a night when I have to change masks during the night. No pattern.

That's the only problem I have had and I do not consider it a problem. I'm just always ready for it. I carry 2 masks if I travel.

[Goofproof]

Mainly because some of us embrace trying to make our health and life better. Others embrace, why poor me, I can't do this, this is a bother, this isn't that important.
It's only as important as your life and health. Many here have problems larger than Sleep Apnea, but Sleep Apnea is at the root of many of them. Sleep Apnea is something you can do something about.
All you have to do is accept that your are going to be successful in making your treatment work.

Don't Drown in De-Nile! Jim

[Telle]

I'm only one night in so far, so I'm not sure I'm qualified to fully answer this. But I was prepared for last night to be hard.. really really hard. Especially after trying on masks with my high pressure (16 cm/h2o) and feeling like my head was being blown up like a balloon and struggling to breathe properly with it.

But then last night was a breeze! Set the ramp, curled up on my side in bed watching tv, and fell asleep. And the few times I woke up over night I had no problem with the high pressure and simply rolled over and went back to sleep as I normally would have done.

So honestly, I think some of us are just lucky. Maybe people's physiology is different and that makes it easier for some and harder for others. Or maybe it's in part being lucky enough to find the right mask that fits you properly sooner than others do.

I think strong will and determination are likely to make people more successful in the end, but I don't think that necessarily makes it easier to take to.. it just means you don't give up when you have a hard time.

[needsomezees]

Attitude, patience, attitude, luck, attitude, support, and attitude!!!

[allen476]

Im wondering if there are things that people who take to cpap quicky have in common?

Same for the people who struggle so much?

How are they different?

What has been YOUR experience? was it easy for you, or was it difficult.. and do you know why?

Lets say each person has found a mask that works, and does not leak..

What do you think the issues might be? heavy sleepers vs light sleepers?

allergy sufferers vs people who can breath thru their nose easily?

Gerd sufferers vs non gerd sufferers?

Claustrophic vs not claustrophic..

medical issues?



is there a pattern of people who do so great the first night vs the people who do not?

Is it high pressure vs low pressure? What do you all think..

would love to hear from some sleep study experts too!

thanks,

elena

I think that success and struggling is dependent on the attitude of the person. While many succeed at PAP therapy because they believe that it will benefit them and work to make it work, others hate the stigma of having to have a medical device to survive. How many times have we seen a person say they are quitting because they can't take the mask, can't take the pressure, feel claustrophobic, and every other excuse so that they do not have to use it. Anybody can overcome anything mentally but they have to be able to say to themselves that they can do it.

I have been on a Bi-Pap for about 3 weeks now. I hate it. I really, really, really hate it. I am having trouble falling asleep because the pressure is too low (I am coming from a pressure of 19cm on cpap to a pressure of 13cm Epap/7cm Ipap) and when I wake up in the middle of the night to roll over, my breathing gets out of whack from the machine timing. But I know that I don't have the breathing problems in the morning that I was having, so I need to get over it and accept it. I have been going to bed and put the mask on after I get in bed which has helped some. Many people would have thrown the machine in the bottom of the closet and given up because they didn't like it.

Some of the issues of failure are broad. Education of the individual (how to use the equipment) and equipment fitting I think are one of the main reasons of failure. Poor fitting masks contribute to the "It isn't working for me" or some other associated complaint. Then they have no idea how to adjust the mask or that there are different masks to try. So to many, what they were given is what they believe there is. How many people received there equipment either in the mail or it was dropped off with no instructions at all. Quite daunting if you have no idea of what you are doing.

Would being able to see the data help people. Yes and no. I think if people were to see the AHI and Leak that maybe some that were destined to fail might succeed. Teaching people that a high leak rate indicates a poor fitting mask and thus little therapy is achieved would be a start. An AHI above 5 indicates that therapy is not as good as should be and a trip to the doctors might be indicated. Simple things. Getting in depth would be overwhelming to most people.

But do we as a whole blame the DME's for the problems? Yes and No. While there are many good DME's out there, the sad part is that the biggest ones are the least competent. They have let profits interfere with patient care. They really don't care whether you fail or succeed because they know that you will keep the machine no matter what. They made their money, now go away. The smaller DME's genuinely like to see a patient succeed because they know that it is repeat business. The smaller DME I use has a good selection of masks on display that you can try on and are quick to point out comfort upgrades. They don't hand you a mask and say that it will work.

Medical issues I think are only a small part of the equation. Each individual is different in that they use another medical condition to justify their actions. More than likely, if they are not adhering to PAP therapy, they are also not adhering to any other therapy and making problems worse. Those that do succeed are ones that make sure that any other medical condition is getting treated as well. There is a small amount of people that would like to adhere but can't because doing so makes another medical condition worse. Where do we put them in the spectrum.

Mindset is the key, everything else is treatable.

Allen

[reallyneedsleep]

this really is THE question (or a whole lot that make up the question)

I am on week 2, and have only had 1 bad night, i did nothing the conventional way...and this at some level may be a big contributing factor for my success. I picked and bought a machine I researched on my own and it came with 3 different masks, which I known nothing about. Tried it and it worked, AHI and leak rate dropping every night. I knew something was wrong for years and when my wife told me to "wake up and not die" I took action. I feel better then i have in years and it's not even 2 weeks, I used to truly fear sleep, had to read , watch tv listen to music to try and fall asleep now, I can't wait to hit the sack, i put that mask on, feel sleepy and in 5 minutes i am out! I get 6-7 hrs every night for the 1st time in years, every day I wake up i feel just a little better then the day before...I guess it was real simple in the end for me:

recognizing a problem

Accepting the solution

Action and active involvement

I don't think I would even take a nap with out my new buddy Ms. remstar

Oh, and the people and advise from this forum play a major role as well!!!!!

[KatieW]

Great thread Elena. Some insightful answers so far. I agree that it has to do with the mind. For me, it was giving up the struggle against cpap, and approaching with an attitude of curiosity and problem solving. And, reading and learning as much as could, especially from this forum.