The suction: Do I need a mouth piece?

[synonymous]

I'm going to try and make this short.

When I go to bed, I take meds. These are tranquilizers and diazipam meds that I got hooked on. When I sleep, I feel I sleep well. The machine says I am too. I see my doctor once a month and he's always happy.

I noticed that if I sleep in the afternoon, taking a nap, that I get these terrible headaches and feel like my body is dieing and I wake myself up. Horrible feeling. Saw a neurologist who said that the only way to know if it's something to with the meds I'm on (Since I'm not on them during the day) that I'd do an afternoon and night PSG test.

One afternoon, I needed a nap. I took my meds anyways, but not a full dose. It didn't help. I still got those awful feelings. I was confused but determined to find out what was happening. There were some days it didn't happen, I would wake up 20 or 30 minutes later and feel like I had slept for hours. Other days, most days, not.

Then the other day I noticed that my mouth would drop open and my tongue lay flat and no real suction happening to create that pressure (Nose mask). So, one morning I woke up, did a little exercise, decided to shower and go back to bed and sleep a couple more hours. Normally, this wouldn't happen and I would feel those head pains and body pains. However, during the waking/sleeping process, I created (Not sure how to explain it) the suction effect that would prevent my mouth from opening and after being in and out of shallow sleep, I actually fell asleep and was good.

I plan on telling my doctor at the next visit in a couple of weeks. I'm wondering if a mouth piece is in order or something more. Any ideas?

[BlackSpinner]

You may want a full face mask for those afternoon naps. Maybe the med make your muscles more slack in the afternoons and you can't keep the mouth closed.

[Goofproof]

Do you use your xpap, when you nap? If not you are not treating your sleep apnea, that would account for your symptoms, duh. If you do use your pap for naps, you need to check your leak rate, to insure that the data isn't false.

The drugs aren't your friend, if possible they need to be weaned off by your doctor, unless their is a medical reason they must be taken. Jim

[jencat824]

Sleep using your PAP device is always advisable, you should use, even for naps. Meds - I think that is best decided by each individual, of course we all would like to live with 'no meds' but that isn't always possible for everyone. For meds, I think the best range is what both you and your dr feel comfortable with.
Jen

[synonymous]

Yes, I use my machine for naps as well. Sometimes if I feel tired and just lay down, I will put on my mask and turn on the machine even if I don't actually sleep and end up with just closing my eyes. I do it just in case. So the machine and mask are on. There are no leaks (According to the data). A full face mask, for some reason, doesn't have the same 'pressure' feeling and, while it might be a placebo effect, I think I get better sleeps with the nasal mask. I will get a face mask and try it out though. When I had the full face mask I did have leak issues, with my beard and what not. I'm going to have to find a way to keep the leaks out before actually trying it.

As for the meds, they are slowly (Very very slowly) being reduced. Because of the type of meds, I can't go cold turkey. If I could go through a week of withdrawal and have it out of my system, I'd take time of work and do it. Unfortunately, withdrawal can last months with this stuff. My doctors didn't warn me about this...but at the time, they were life savers. Severe panic disorder, depression which led to insomnia. Panic attacks and depression aren't a problem anymore, just insomnia if I forget to take meds and being way to sensitive to caffeine to even have a cup of tea.

[BlackSpinner]

Yes, I use my machine for naps as well. Sometimes if I feel tired and just lay down, I will put on my mask and turn on the machine even if I don't actually sleep and end up with just closing my eyes. I do it just in case. So the machine and mask are on. There are no leaks (According to the data). A full face mask, for some reason, doesn't have the same 'pressure' feeling and, while it might be a placebo effect, I think I get better sleeps with the nasal mask. I will get a face mask and try it out though. When I had the full face mask I did have leak issues, with my beard and what not. I'm going to have to find a way to keep the leaks out before actually trying it.

There is a setting on the machine for full face masks. You may feel more comfortable with the Hybrid, there is a sense of pressure with it that doesn't happen with the quatro full face mask I have, though the end result is the same.

[archangle]

Have you checked your data for leaks while sleeping? Sounds like you need a chin strap.

[pj]

Personally I cannot wear the full face mask, however initially, I used a chin strap which helped keep my mouth from opening. It's easy and not uncomfortable and easy to adapt to.