Keeping the darn thing on at night?

[deju357]

Some of you all may remember me, i was on here years ago, when I first started on it, and was having troubles, and most of my education about cpap came from here! I had a horrible experience with a mean cpap provider, well, anyway, to get up to date, I got a divorce, moved, been sick having lots of surgeries, and things, so I quit using my cpap for a long time...I know...bad... but Im sure we all have done it one time or another. Anyway I was using a nasal mask, now Im using the pillows which I love because I can read, watch tv, etc. My family physician said stress had probably caused me to quit it, and now that Im back on it, *has been 2 months), he wanted me to have another sleep study, well insurance wont pay for one till May, so he did oximentry test, and now I am on oxygen with the cpap, hooking it up through a concentrator? I guess? Is this the same as bypap? Well, anyway, what Im getting at is, I CANNOT KEEP MY MASK ON NO MATTER WHAT AND I DONT REMEMBER TAKING IT OFF...What can I do to prevent this, as I feel horrible, as I don't sleep much, and when I wake up, the mask is off no matter what I do, so I have no way of knowing how long its been off. I live alone, so I dont have anyone to ask...what im doing, and my machine is the older model with the big card in it, not the little sd card, so i would have to get a card reader for it to read it i guess. My girl that helps me with the masks, she has been wonderful, but I dont know what I can do to remedy this problem, and I want to wake up with it on...i want to use it and feel better...and my oxygen went pretty low the dr said, so its absolutely necessary for me to wear it...any suggestions? When I do fall asleep, I must do it so sound, I dont remember...then i take it off, go back to sleep, and wake up hours later without it.
I have major health problems, so I really do need this to help me, I am on an insulin pump, fibro, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune disease, whew, im tired just naming them! lol, but anyway, glad to be back, and find you all again, its like a reunion, i was so happy when I found the board again!
Sherrie from Ky

[BlackSpinner]

Some people tape the mask to their face so they know when they take it off. Some velcro it to their hair. Some wear socks on their hands with velcro straps so you can't get it off.

Welcome back!

[porete]

I have the same problem...the last few nights I've been clipping my head gear into my hair with a hair clip (I have long hair). It seems to be working because I haven't taken my mask off since Saturday night!
This link has a lot of great (and funny) suggestions.
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=73507&p=675218#p675218
,
porete

[deju357]

thank you all for the tips, i did some better last night, and seemed to be able to stay awake long enough to put it back on...i will keep trying...i noticed i need to put my equipment on here, i will do that tommorrow when im more alert!

[DynoDad]

I had that experience once, and it was the weirdest thing. I woke up after about 5 hours sleep, lay there thinking how great my new mask was and it was so comfortable I could hardly feel it .... then I opened my eyes and noticed it was placed neatly on the floor by the bed! I have no idea how it got there.

Since then I've woken a few times with the mask in my hand, obviously I'd taken it off to scratch my nose or something and fallen asleep before I put it back on.