first night with CPAP

[John from Brookston]

Well, that sucked. I was uncomfortable, I kept waking up. My mouth kept opening. At one point I woke up feeling like the tubing was "pulsing". I finally yanked the mask off at 3:30 (after trying since about 2 to keep it on). I don't like this at all

Sounds like my first night (Feb. 15) I was able to put up with it for about 20 minutes. That weekend, I spent Saturday afternoon watching old sitcoms with the machine hooked up and running. Spent 3 hours like that, and I think I lasted longer that night. At this point I had given up sleeping horizontal for chair sleeping, so I started off on the machine in the chair. More TV with the machine on Sunday. I think I went back to bed after 3 or 4 nights and until last night when I fried my nose I've been in bed and averaging 6-7 1/2 hours a night.
I had claustrophobia and anxiety in the beginning so my doctor gave me Klonopin to settle the heeby-jeebies, and I'm now off that.

Now that it's been over a month i have the most amazing mornings. I wake up and I have no sense of the machine or anything. Breathing is effortless and it takes me about a minute to wake up a little more and realize I'm wearing a mask and hose. I think "this is kinda nice", hit the snooze and go back to sleep.
There's lots of people here who will help us newbies, everybody started out at the same place.

[pandatx]

The other thing I don't like about the mask is that it whistles. Is this just what the nasal pillows do or is it fitting incorrectly? Thank you Janknitz for the fitting info. I'm printing that off right now.

[Pugsy]

The other thing I don't like about the mask is that it whistles. Is this just what the nasal pillows do or is it fitting incorrectly?

If it is whistling something isn't fitted properly...maybe wrong size...but it shouldn't whistle at all.
They are silent when fitted properly with exception of maybe a little vent noise from the vent holes and at your pressure that should be minimal.

You know your pressure is minimal...maybe too minimal...not inflating the pillows properly...make sure you don't get it too tight or it can't inflate.

[pandatx]

thanks Pugsy...will try loosening the straps tonight. The DME guy is supposed to call me on Monday afternoon so if the mask is still driving me nuts by then maybe I'll try another kind. I did well with the nasal mask in the study but it really left a mark on my forehead/bridge of my nose.

[Pugsy]

I thought you had used the nasal pillows during the titration. No wonder you are having problems.

Have you watched the video on fitting?
http://www.cpaplibrary.com/nasal-pillows.html

[pandatx]

No, the night of the study the tech put the masks on me really tight and the nasal pillows hurt (also he had them a size too big). But you know what? I just tried loosening the straps like in Jankitz suggestions and the whistling stopped. I'm happy but also a little bit pissed off. When I was at the place and we tried the mask I mentioned the whistling and the guy just said "that's what they do...if you can't get used to it, we'll try another type mask". I have some choice words, but since I'm new here I will hold my tongue, lol. Will watch that video right now

[Pugsy]

It's real easy to get nasal pillows too tight and that's probably the most common error people make.
They are supposed to rest gently against the nostrils...if it squishes the nose upwards...that's piggy nose and usually from the top strap being too tight.

[quietmorning]

Look at the good side, you kept it on until 2:30! Great job! I think I took mine off a few times in the first few nights - though something I found that I've been told by my DME that was actually more helpful - I put it right back on as soon as I got my nerve up. Within a day or two, I couldn't feel the pressure or the pulses - or even my mask. The fit IS very important - if it floats on your nose, you'll hardly know it's there, and your sinuses will thank you.

In a few days, you'll reach up to make sure it's still 'blowin' air' through the vent, because you won't feel it.

Then we can all party with you!



Keep up the good work!

And this is a grand time to test out your cussin' vocab!! You have a great excuse! I think I actually shocked my husband a few times those first days!

[Xney]

My initial reaction to CPAP was "OH HELL NO, F*** THIS S***"

it gets better with an open mind and some elbow grease and ingenuity

[Chilimon]

This from a fellow newbie who only had his about 5 weeks now.

For about the first 4 or 5 nights I was pulling at my mask or taking it off after only a couple hours, didn't even make the 4 hours required by my insurance, I use the Swift FX. I dealt with the sore nose, complained about it, said there has to be a better way. After a month I actually look forward to going to bed now knowing I'll have a good restful sleep, I hardly even feel the mask now. A normal night is a good 8 hours sleep which has been at least 15 years since I had a night like that, Its been mostly 4 - 6 hours a night.

I got my straps adjusted just right where I can roll over on either side without creating a leak. The velcro strap is just below my cranium and just snug, not tight, the rubber strap on top of my head is just loose enough to slide a key card underneath it without forcing it. A key card is about 2 or 3 credit cards thick.

As far as noise, I am near deaf so I do not hear a thing, my wife has super sonic hearing, don't all women she can hear be eating chips in the next room. She said she hears a slight hum but she is used to it now and the vent air does not even bother her. The light from the unit did though so I took one of my business cards and laid that across the readout screen to block the light.

[Deenie-deen]

I started with a nasal mask and had a soar nose in the morning. I had the straps to tight and I had to change the angle of the straps on my head. It took sometime to find what I call my sweet spot but I can sleep through the night and the mask is comfortable. I also asked to have the ramp time longer so I had more time to get used to the air flow. Ayr nasal gel helps too. Just keep coming here with any problems you encounter and someone will have been there and will help. Good luck!

[pandatx]

Night number 2....suckage.

I did keep it on until 4:30 so that's an improvement. And I felt like I slept a little better with the mask adjustments. But my numbers were worse. Maybe that's just b/c I had it on longer. Its irritating too b/c instead of the DME giving me all 3 sizes, they gave me 3 XS's. So I can't even try the next bigger size until at least Monday when I call to bitch at them again.

[Pugsy]

If you know you spent a lot of time awake fiddling with the mask or just in general...don't worry about the numbers on the machine right now. It's real easy for the machine to get fooled and flag all sorts of awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event. So the numbers and the reports can and will look ugly because of awake/semi awake junk that clutters up the reports. The machine doesn't have any way to tell if you are asleep or not. It just calls things like it sees them and often we do things with our breathing while awake or semi awake that the machine thinks qualifies for some sort of apnea event.

[John from Brookston]

If you know you spent a lot of time awake fiddling with the mask or just in general...don't worry about the numbers on the machine right now. It's real easy for the machine to get fooled and flag all sorts of awake breathing irregularities as some sort of apnea event. So the numbers and the reports can and will look ugly because of awake/semi awake junk that clutters up the reports. The machine doesn't have any way to tell if you are asleep or not. It just calls things like it sees them and often we do things with our breathing while awake or semi awake that the machine thinks qualifies for some sort of apnea event.

I sometimes log an OA event or 2 before I'm even asleep. I think that's because while I'm squirming around getting settled I tend to hold my breath.