My 5th night

[thousandeyes]

My 5th night on my CPAP trial tonight. I'll have to look the machine up as I don't know the brand, but I was surprised it was whisper quiet. I have those nasal cushions and they make my nose hurt a little, but not too much. Lying there breathing feels strange, as if I have to tell myself to breathe 'now in' 'now out' as if I was new to the whole business. Goodness knows what the machine is registering -- am I still snoring? no idea but I am not waking with a mouth that feels and looks like the Sahara so maybe its closed some of the time. What about this mixture of obstructive and central apnoea I have? From reading the comprehensive report I received from my home sleep trial a lot of not breathing is going on when I lie on my back, which seems to be about 40% of the time. If I try to sleep on my side the hose gets in the way and I end up 'supine' again. I have slept all night - I think - but I am not a good judge. I didn't know I had 'severe obstructive sleep apnoea associated with cortical arousals, fragmentation of sleep and moderate-severe oxygen desaturation, obstructive apnoeas predominating but many central and mixed events'. 60 hyponoeas to a maximum of 42 seconds over about 7 hours sleep' . Good grief.
So I am glad I found you, online CPAP community. I've read some posts today when I was supposed to be working and you seem like a supportive and hopeful bunch. I thought I just snored, and it wasn't so bad. Turns out it is, and I can really improve my health and energy by this amazing technology. I've got lots of questions though, so bear with me! Cheers, Thousandeyes

[Sheriff Buford]

Thousand: welcome to the forum! Please register your equipment in your profile. This will help us help you. If your mouth is desert-dry then you are breathing thru your mouth... which is ok with a full face mask, but not with the nasal mask you referred to. If you continue to use the mask, you need to close your mouth. Some folks use chin straps or tape. You are losing therapy when the air escapes thru your mouth instead of entering your body. I would also use landoish (spelling?) ointment for the nose. Lots of folks use it to prevent the nose (honker ) from getting sore. You can find it in the baby section of the drug store. For most folks... sleeping on their back will cause more apnea events. Your airways tend to collapse more when you are sleeping on your back as opposed to sleeping on your side. Looks as though you are doing good! If you can adjust to the mask you are using, you are probably better off because it is less intrusive than the full or total masks. Be sure your leak rates are low and you stop mouth-breathing. A hose management system will reduce the hose fighting at night. Again, you seem to be doing better than most (myself included) when they first start out. Be sure to work all your issues here.

Sheriff

[thousandeyes]

Thanks Sheriff. At this point my mouth breathing has definitely reduced. This can only be good. 'Loud snoring 39.1% of sleep time'? that's what the report said. I was appalled. And I have woken feeling peaceful - that's a good feeling. Its an adventure going to bed too, and I am not quite so fearful that I will wake up in the middle of the night suffocating.

[Julie]

Hi, two things that might help you - one is to get what is known over here as a Hose Buddy - looks a bit like an IV stand that goes beside the bed and holds the hose up and away (or you can rig something over the headboard, etc.). The other is called a 'Pap Pillow' (Google it) and allows you to sleep on your side without the mask being jiggled too much... hopefully you can find them in Oz, but if not you could order from the US.

[Slartybartfast]

Glad you are finding CPAP helpful. A couple tips: If you can sleep on your side, things will go much better. Position your cheek on the edge of your pillow with the mask hanging over the side. Make sure your lower jaw up to your chin is resting on the pillow. The mask and hose then should then be hanging off in space. Don't know what kind of mask you have, so can't get more specific than that.

The irritation you described can be eliminated by applying a very thin layer of K-Y jelly or the equivalent on your nostrils. It washes away with water and has no odor and works well.

When you get a chance fill out your user profile by clicking the User Control Panel in the upper left corner so we can better help you. Advice will depend to a great extent on what specific equipment you have.