New here husband has apnea.

[reginaalear]

Hi everyone I found this board while looking for info on cpap machines. My husband wore his for the first time last night so it's really new to us. He only wore It about 4 hrs. then took it off. I was up all through the night and this is what I found: he slept sound and never moved, but on a few occasions he did snore for a few seconds. He woke up and took it off because he says it gives him a headache. He also complained of headaches from it when he had both sleep studies. Has this happened to anyone else? If so does it go away or should he bring it up to his dr? He uses a nasal pillow because he said he felt closterphobic with the full face mask. His setting is on 10 but they have it started at 4 and it works it's way up over time. He hasn't tried using the heat because he heard it's better without it. Does anyone know if it's ok to start out wearing it 4 hrs per night or should he wear it a full 8? I did notice when he took it off because he woke me up snoring, tossing & turning, and hitting me like he usually does. I'm trying to encourage him to put the machine back on but he refuses. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Perrybucsdad]

Welcome to the group. I'm a bit new to CPAP too, so I don't know if I can answer all or even many of your questions, but I will try my best.

Last night was the second night I wore my mask. The first night I had a harder time with it, but I did manage to go a full night with it on. The first night though I battled leaks all night and didn't get much sleep. Your husband for wearing it four hours is great. I don't know about the headache's as I didn't get those, so I will let someone else answer that.

You say he hasn't used the heat, do you mean the heat & humidity? I don't know what device he has, but with mine, they go together. I kept my humidity low the first night, and I woke up with a sore throat (and now have a cold, but I don't really know if this is from the machine). I turned the humidity up almost all the way last night, but I had to go drain my hose about 2am because I had rain-out in the hose. I feel much better though this morning even though I was coughing and sniffling all night.

Have him practice with the mask on during the day. SIt in front of the TV and wear it for an hour or so. I think a lot of it is just getting used to it, and having a good attitude about it. I know I was so tired of being tired, that I couldn't wait to get my device.

Best of luck to your husband and yourself.

- John

[reginaalear]

Yeah his holds water and you can select heat or not. He just puts the water in it but doesn't turn the heat on to it. I really hope he notices some difference when he gets up from the 4 hrs because he is always very tired. He will fall asleep anywhere and everywhere. During his sleep study they said he had 180 occurrences during the night and oxygen kept dropping to 70%. My sister in law is a respiratory therapist and does the sleep studies and she said my husbands is the worst she has seen yet. Thanks for the replying. I can't wait to let my husband know about this forum.

[jabman]

Hi reginaalear and welcome.
If you could fill in his equipment (Text preferred) in the User Control Panel, it would be of great help. As far as treatment being better without the heat I think that is a personal preference. a lot of people like the higher humidity. There are any number of things that could be causing his headache's. from the mask its self to the pressure being to high/ low. Also this treatment can take time for people to get used to, but you came to the right place for helping get your husband feeling better. I suggest doing some reading on the forum, go up to the CPAP wiki and read there as well. I wish your husband well and again welcome to the forum.

[Gaga58]

Hi regina...new here too and only a couple weeks into therapy myself, but I suffered with headaches BEFORE therapy and that is caused from the lack of o2 and raising the bp. I also have sinus troubles, so my thoughts would be he needs the warm humidity to help the sinuses as they may be causing him to have the headache from getting too dried out. I use heated humidity and honestly cannot tell it's there, and my sinuses are actually better while using the mask than during the day when I'm not...just a thought. Also, he might try adjusting his straps on the head gear, perhaps they are a little too tight? I can't stand to wear hats because they tend to give me headaches and I worried about the headgear straps causing the same thing...the only time I've had any problem was when I attempted to tighten too much to stop a leak! This a great forum with lots and LOTS of good information and advice so stick around and good luck to you both!!

[Curmujeon]

Wearing the mask and using the machine while awake is a good idea. It also helps add usage time for the compliance data if your insurance checks that. Mine counts >4 hour nights. > is key. I had one 4.0 hour night that did not count. Woke up another morning at 4.0 and put the mask/machine back on for another 7 minutes, knowing that I wasn't going back to sleep, just to get that .1 over.

Sweet dreams,

[JointPain]

Hi reginaalear. Adjustment to CPAP is a tough process. For some it's relatively easy, but most people have a variety of issues to work through, so we appreciate what your husband is going through. Four hours is a great start.

I don't know about the headaches either. Could the mask be too tight? Lots of newbies make it too tight in order to reduce leaks.

You also said he started snoring just before waking up. Could he be having major leaks, or breathing through his mouth? If he's mouth breathing, the CPAP isn't being effective. If so, the best thing to try first is a chin strap, but that's a whole other conversation.

To help us give you more specific advice, it would be very helpful to go into your profile and enter your husband's machine, mask, and pressure so that we can see them at the bottom of every post. Choose "display as text" because the pretty pictures are way too small to distinguish the various machines.

It's very, very, very important to always sleep (including naps) using the CPAP. Initially this is hard, and may be impossible until your husband gets past some of his initial issues like the headaches, but the sooner he commits to always sleeping with the CPAP the better. It is the sleeping without the CPAP and having the apneas that is damaging to the body: your body literally starts to suffocate and pumps adrenaline into your system, which causes your heart to work hard all night all long and eventually leads to increased risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney damage, and lots of bad other stuff. So your husband's goal should be to always sleep with the CPAP.

Wearing the mask during the day while watching TV etc. is great advice to help get used to the mask. It's a bit of an unusual feeling at first. If he wakes up during the night and can't face putting the mask on again, it is far better to get up and do something else until he's ready to try the mask again than to sleep without it.

Best of luck to him, and keep us informed. Lots of people will chime in with bits of advice.

[robysue]

I was up all through the night and this is what I found: he slept sound and never moved, but on a few occasions he did snore for a few seconds

Be sure to point out to hubby that you know he slept very, very soundly with the mask on and that he did not sleep soundly without the mask on. It will help hubby realize that as much trouble as the mask seems to be, it really is doing something positive for him. Hopefully you won't be up every night watching him in the very near future.

. He woke up and took it off because he says it gives him a headache. He also complained of headaches from it when he had both sleep studies. Has this happened to anyone else? If so does it go away or should he bring it up to his dr? He uses a nasal pillow because he said he felt closterphobic with the full face mask.

Lots and lots of folks have had this happen to them. Many of us describe our titration studies (the sleep studies done with the mask on) as among the worst nights of sleep we ever got in our lives. And headaches from an overtight mask are not uncommon. Have him loosen the headstraps just a bit. That might help. Make sure he doesn't jam too much of the nasal pillows into his nose---they are supposed to rest against the outside of the nostrils with only the tippy-tip inside. The headaches may also (ironically) be caused by the fact that he's not moving around as much---possibly because of getting deep restorative sleep for the first time in a long, long time or possibly because of being his being afraid to move for fear of dislodging the mask. But if the headaches are "new" (in the sense he did not used to get them pre-CPAP) or if they get worse, then he really should report them to the sleep doc.

His setting is on 10 but they have it started at 4 and it works it's way up over time. He hasn't tried using the heat because he heard it's better without it. Does anyone know if it's ok to start out wearing it 4 hrs per night or should he wear it a full 8?

Re the ramp (starting at 4 and having the machine increase to 10 over time): Lots of folks here will tell you they feel as though they cannot breathe at 4cm. If hubby is not uncomfortable at 4cm of pressure there's nothing wrong with using the ramp. But if hubby starts to complain about how he just can't seem to get enough air right after he turns the machine on, then the ramp setting is too low. In that case, he has a choice: Skip the ramp altogether (as many folks do once they're more comfortable with the whole "sleep with a hose attached to my nose" thing) or increase the beginning ramp pressure up to something closer to his therapeutic setting of 10cm.

Re the heated humidifier: This is a matter of personal preference. I'm someone who typically cranks it up all the way almost every night since I'm more comfortable that way most of the time. But my brother can't stand any humidity at all. As long as hubby is not complaining of a dry throat or a dry nose or additional congestion that was not present when he went to bed, the humidity level is fine. But if he complains of any of these, tell him to try using the heat (on a low setting) to see if there's any improvement.

I did notice when he took it off because he woke me up snoring, tossing & turning, and hitting me like he usually does. I'm trying to encourage him to put the machine back on but he refuses. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Tell hubby this: He sleeps like log with the mask on: No moving, no thrashing, no tossing&turnig, no snoring, and no hitting you. And he sleeps like a restless caged animal when he sleeps without the mask on.

And while 4 hours of mask time is much better than no hours, he really will need to wear the mask all night long, every night in order for him to notice a real difference in how he feels. Part-time wear of the mask leads to bad habits ("Do I really feel like putting up with the discomfort while I'm trying to get to sleep? Nah, I think I'll skip it.") and half-nights without the mask are half-nights full of sleep disordered breathing---the apneas and hypopneas all return just as soon as you take the mask off. And so the damage the OSA does to his body continues to occur during the time he sleeps without the mask on. And the damage caused by OSA is cumulative: A tiny bit of damage happens with each and every apnea/hypopnea with its associated O2 desat and/or arousal.

As to how to encourage hubby to both put the mask on at the beginning of the night AND not take it off during the middle of the night? He'll need lots of understanding and an acknowledgement from you that you really don't know how it feels. If he asks you to try putting the mask on your nose for a few minutes to see what he's going through during the time he's trying to get to sleep with mask on his nose, take him up on the offer and have him fit the mask to your face and turn the machine on for 5 or 10 minutes. Knowing what it feels like will help you not make comments that he'll misinterpret.

Have hubby focus on the positive. If hubby is lucky enough to have a full efficacy data machine, have him check the numbers and see how many fewer apneas and hypopneas he's now experiencing. Help hubby develop a new bedtime routine so that all the last minute CPAP-related stuff doesn't overwhelm him just as he wants to go to bed. (It is really, really frustrating to not be able to just fall into bed---particularly right at the start.) And be sure to continue any meaningful bedtime routines the two of you share: Be sure to kiss hubby good night and snuggle with him if that's how you've been going to sleep for years.

And if hubby is one of the few unfortunate folks who feels worse (perhaps substantially worse) after starting CPAP, try to get him to come here with his own questions. As someone who experienced a significant crash and burn after starting CPAP, the sense of isolation---that I had to do this all by myself was overwhelming. And that was in spite of my hubby's excellent support and help in getting me through the worst nights and days. And finding the fine folks here was a godsend because I had a chance to talk with folks who really did understand what I was going through night after night in my own bed. And who understood the anger I had at my own body (for having OSA), at the OSA, at my hubby for insisting on me getting the sleep test, at the machine, and at the insomnia monster that moved in with the machine. As supportive as hubby was and continues to be, he just couldn't fully understand what I was struggling with, and the fine folks here could.

And keep an eye on hubby overall for a while: If you think things are going roughly and that he needs to call the sleep doc for some advice, but he won't, then make the call yourself. Best thing hubby did during my early rough adjustment period was make phone calls for getting me into the doctor's office even when I didn't want to go. And if you can, go with hubby to his follow up so you can tell the doc what you're noticing about hubby's sleep with the mask (it's good in spite of what hubby thinks) and what you're continuing to notice about hubby's sleep without the mask (it's not good in spite of what hubby thinks). And if possible, get hubby to put your name on the HIPPA paperwork so that the doc's office can talk to you about what's going on when you make phone calls that he won't.

[Pugsy]

He also complained of headaches from it when he had both sleep studies.

You already have some excellent advice so I want to just address this part of your statement.
Both studies? As in with the mask for the titration study and the initial sleep study without mask?
Without mask headache we can't blame mask headgear being too tight.
Probably the headache is from the sleep apnea (it is common) He will continue to have them until he sleeps all night with the mask and machine. Taking the mask off and sleeping allows things to go immediately back to the way they were. The events will happen and if his Oxygen levels dropped...they will do so again. While 4 hours on the machine is better than no hours...we can't expect the next 4 hours without mask to be improved because of the first 4 hours.
Those 4 hours without the mask will do the same damage that was done prior to the sleep study.

So until he uses the mask all night...we can't even hope for marked improvement.
It is hard to get used to using all this stuff. It is common not to sleep well with it at first. Just keep working at it.

If headaches were only during sleep studies and he never had them prior to the sleep study...perhaps they are the headaches we get from not having enough sleep with or without the mask. Should they persist after he gets adequate hours of sleep using the mask all night...for sure bring this to the doctor's attention.

[chunkyfrog]

Headache from the sleep study?
I bet they had the mask cinched way too tight because it DOES NOT FIT!
Sorry, but that happens all the time.

[reginaalear]

Thanks everyone for all of the wonderful replies. As far as the headaches it has only been with the cpap machines on each of the times. He gets them at other times also but always after using cpap. He did complain about his nose burning so I think I will have him try it with heat on. I will have him get on the forum also because I think he feels alone in this. I did try the machine yesterday because he asked me to. He just held the hose up to my nose and I have to admit it also gave me a little bit of a headache afterwards for about 30 mins. I will fill out all of the machine info soon. Thanks again.

[Pugsy]

Add the heat to humidifier. While some people can get by without the added moisture from heat most people will need the added moisture.

Which nasal pillow mask? Strap placement?

If only when using cpap machine then headaches from headgear would be my first suspect and sinus headache from needing moisture would be a close second suspect.

[wolewyck]

Not sure what kind of "nose burning" you mean... if dryness, then people's responses about adding humidification are on target. If he has nasal pillow-type mask, and the pillows are causing irritation in his nares, he can use a tiny dab of Lansinoh (or generic lanolin) ointment in the nostrils, which helps a lot. Don't use anything petroleum-based, though.

[Terri from Oklahoma]

Will try humidifier tonight. Used cpap 3 times this week but could not use it last night. I have such a burning and dryness almost a headache the burning
one recommend something over the counter that might help? Got a mild cold too so that doesn't help

[archangle]

If he wears the CPAP for half the night, the apnea will kill him twice as slowly.

Most insurance requires you to use the CPAP 4 hours a night, but that doesn't mean 4 hours is enough from a medical standpoint.

Taking the mask off is a really bad habit. Once you get started, it's hard to stop. Lots of people claim they take it off in their sleep if they get into that habit. I think they actually wake up, take it off and go back to sleep, and just don't remember it.

If he really must take it off in the middle of the night, see if you can get him to get out of bed, and go into the other room and stand up for a few minutes until he's fully awake. You really don't want him to develop the habit of taking it off without waking up. Once he's fully awake, if he simply refuses to put it back on, there's not much you can do, but maybe you can at least get him to be fully awake when he does it so he has at least a chance to fight it.