40 Days in to the CPAP trip and what I did to get used to it

[17spots]

Well, Im 40 days in. My diagnosed AHI was 74 and I am at 1.6 now and averaging 6.5 hrs a night though I have 7.5 hrs the last two nights. I still subconsciously take it off in the middle of the night sometimes but usually realize it within a half hour and put it back on and go right back to sleep. For the first week I would wake up feeling like I was 20 years old again (I'm 44) but I have since leveled off. I do feel much more alert and focused and I have more energy. In short, i'm not a walking zombie anymore. Most importantly my hypertension is trending down into the upper normal range. I'm still trying to get the humidifier right as I've gone from rain outs to letting the machine do it automatically which seems to be too dry. All in all its pretty routine now.
I did not adjust well at all the first couple of nights. What I did that really helped was wear it when I was awake at home just watching a movie or reading for a couple of hours a day during my first weekend. I cant really explain it but doing that seemed to tell my brain it was ok to wear the mask (I use the nasal Wisp). After that the chlostrophobic feelings really subsided.
This forum has been a real help too.

Sleepyhead sez:
AHI 1.59
RERA Index 0.54
Hours per Night 06:52
Pressure 14.00

[chunkyfrog]

Congratulations!

[STL Mark]

I'm glad your journey has been a positive one. It sometimes takes longer for people to see the benefits of the machine. Welcome to the forum. I will look forward to your future posts.

[2 B Sleeping Soundly]

Congratulations, may your health, sleep, and energy continue to improve!

[jdm2857]

Thanks for your post. Posts yours are exactly what newbies need
to see to encourage them to keep at it.

[RestedRebel]

Amazing what a series of good night's sleep can do for the body, isn't it?

[ellen1159]

Thanks so much for posting. I'm 60 days into the CPAP trip and I'm still in the adjustment period of wearing it while awake: that works fine but once I lie down either I can't get comfortable enough with mask to sleep, or there are leaks, or because of my high pressure settings my throat gets dry and I feel the gagging reflex set in. But I'm glad to know that you had success doing the same things I'm doing to get over the mental and emotional denial and anxiety about the machine. I hope I'm writing a post similar to yours in a month! Continued success.

[17spots]

Thanks for the encouraging comments. RestedRebel: I didn't realize how sleep deprived I was. I was just existing. It's much better now. Using the cpap machine has its struggles but the pros far outweigh the cons IMHO.
Ellen: I wish you the best. For me it is about the mask, I knew the full face mask would freak me out because of the chlostrophobic feeling. I told my nurse this at my sleep study and she was kind enough to specifically have new nasal masks for me to try at my follow up. I knew no matter what I could just open my mouth and breathe if I had to. I ended up trying a couple of sizes before I found a comfortable one that didn't leak a lot.