venting moment...uggh

[texmels]

Ok, so I've only been on cpap a few months and am doing everything I can do to adjust to the therapy. Product education, very recently started reviewing my data to help me understand, and of course joining this forum and learning more than any doctor or DME would ever care to share.

I'm on my 4th mask in 4months- still trying to work out the kinks with my new hybrid mask. Every night I go to bed trying to figure out which mask to wear, fight with my long hair under the headgear, fight with my bed pillows ( I have so many kinds of pillows), and deal with the leaks and discomfort of the masks. ( I know, i'm not the first to have to deal with this crap lol)
I look and feel like crap every night struggling at bedtime...I finally I get exhausted fiddling with things and I eventually conk out not caring about the leaks and discomfort. Of course having RA does not help because just getting my neck, back etc comfortable in bed is a task on its own( but that's a whole other topic).

So.. here is my pity pot moment...while I am very thrilled that my husband is doing well with his cpap therapy( since oct 2011), all he does is get into bed, stick on his mirage quatro fx mask, put on the machine and he is in lala land within 2 minutes. He sleeps all night long, maybe has to make a mask adjustment or two, but not often. Damn! his first mask...no fuss, no problems. I am totally jealous it is so damned easy for him, though let me say if it was not, he would have ditched the cpap therapy a long time ago.

Last night, I ditched my new hybrid mask after 2 hours and put on my swift fx with chin strap.I threw off the chin strap after an hour cuz my jaw hurt, and i guess I fell asleep. So, for the 5 hours and 6min that my machine recorded, I had a total of 14 apneas and two hypopneas. My ahi was 3.1 which is still low, but my 30 day average is 1.3 , so bad night for me. Mostly I feel crappy and have had a headache all day today.

Ok, now that i have vented, sorry to burden you all in my moment of weakness. I'm usually not whiney, and am usually a proactive problem solver BUT I've given myself permission to act like a baby today for a little bit...

Anyway, i am hopeful tonight will be a better night, it's got to be right???...Uggh!!!!

[eaglett1111]

Hi Texmels.

This is my first day on the forum and my eighth on the CPAP, so I am probably jumping the gun here on giving ANY advice, but here goes:

I couldn't get my face mask adjusted for the first few days, until i realized the straps needed to be much looser than I was keeping them. It seems as I loosened them the suction in the mask got better.

Now of course this might just have to do with the shape of my face and the mask, etc., but I thought I'd just share that in case you hadn't tried loosening things.

Please forgive if this is just a classic newbie response.

[texmels]

check your pm message eaglett1111...thanks

[archangle]

Well, if you read around here, you can probably figure out some way to make hubby's CPAP treatment more annoying.

[texmels]

Haha, i would love to, but a grumpier husband makes for a grumpier me...and I already feel maxed out on that one right now. I will seek out some tips from the forum though in case I get into a devilish mood.

[Tino2You]

Hi Tex,

I feel your pain...and frustration. I was there doing battle with my mask and AHI and leak numbers and then Pugsy came to my rescue.

Pugsy, I can't agree more with your thoughts. Comfort over minor leaks. Good sleep over fighting with masks, straps and things that go ping in the night.

My FX Pillow head gear is set loose, the pillows held in place with just a wee bit of Lansinoh and my ruby red tight enough to not fall off and to to remind my unconscious brain to keep my mouth shut.. (AHI < 2 for over a month ... life is good)

-tino

[jweeks]

...while I am very thrilled that my husband is doing well with his cpap therapy( since oct 2011), all he does is get into bed, stick on his mirage quatro fx mask, put on the machine and he is in lala land within 2 minutes. He sleeps all night long, maybe has to make a mask adjustment or two, but not often. Damn! his first mask...no fuss, no problems. I am totally jealous it is so damned easy for him...

Hi,

That is so "not fair". There are two options...(1) torture him, or (2) keep trying to find that magic combination that works. I hope you pick #2, but I guess I am OK with either option.

I struggled for about 9 months to get dialed into something that works. I tried several full face masks, each of which was worse than the previous one. I simply lived with the face marks and the discomfort because I had no other option but to get at least some marginal sleep. The breakthrough was mask #8--a Swift LT. I actually bought it as mask #5, then discounted it because I opened my mouth, and the hurricane force winds startled me. It went into the mask graveyard for a few months until my desperation level hit its peak. The trick for me was using a loose chin strap (to avoid the jaw discomfort), tape (to keep my lips from leaking), and the Swift LT (smallest lightest mask that I could find). I also had some hip pain that was waking me up, and I found that Advil PM along with 6 inches of memory foam solved that issue.

I wouldn't say that my solution will work for you. Rather, I am pointing out that there might be a combination of mask and environment out there that finally works for you. It is a frustrating process, and since I didn't have insurance, it was a very expensive process. But at least there finally was a solution, and I have been good for 4 years since that time.

I fully understand your frustration, and I really hope you find that one right combination that works for you.

-john-

[cflame1]

Every night I go to bed trying to figure out which mask to wear, fight with my long hair under the headgear, fight with my bed pillows ( I have so many kinds of pillows), and deal with the leaks and discomfort of the masks

Just a suggestion... I have my hair coming out on top of the low neck strap... seems to keep the mask more stable.

[zoocrewphoto]

Another suggestion for hair. Have you tried braiding it? My hair tends to get tangled badly if I leave it down while I sleep, so I have always slept with it braided. Adding the headgear to that has worked fine for me.

I'm not familiar with your mask, but you might try searching for topics discussing that mask or ask as a separate topic for tips for fitting that mask. I have the Quattro FX, and the sleep tech fitted it for me perfectly at the sleep study. I slept great, so I asked for that mask when I went to the DME. Then the struggle began. I knew it was possible to fit well, but I couldn't do it on my own. People here gave me their tips, and it started getting better. I also discovered that I needed smaller headgear, which I got, and now it usually fits well on teh first or second try. And it has been at least a week since I have adjusted the velcro. I used to adjust it several times in the first hour.