Got my CPAP, still no rest

[DEXSUZ]

Give this a try, preach:

Here's the four-step program I devised. I had a wonderful sleep study at the local krankenhaus but - like many - ran into a granite roadblock as I attempted to get accustomed to masks on my own.

My main advice is to back away from immediately trying to do all-nighters with your CPAP equipment. Use my four-step weekly plan WHICH WORKED WONDERFULLY for me:

1) During the first week sit, watch TV, or read with your equipment whirring away next to you. Get accustomed to the sounds, feelings of the moving air, and all the external trappings of the great chance at quality sleep you are nearing. Do NOT go to bed with the equipment.

2) Take the phone off the hook, draw the shades, evict everyone from the house, don't think about any nearby clock, and loosen your clothing as you lie on your bed in mid-afternoon. Turn on the CPAP gizmo, put the mask on your face, and close your eyes. Think peaceful thoughts, whatever they are to you. At some point in the week you WILL fall asleep. After you have this nap, you'll be amazed at what a refreshing experience it was.

3) During the third week have all your CPAP gear ready for action as you go to bed for the night. As you've done so many times throughout the years, you'll awaken far before morning. When you do, slap the mask on your face and turn on the CPAP gear before your groggy brain has any idea what's going on.

4) After successfully completing the first three steps at your pace, decide on a night (mine was March 3rd) when you have full confidence and will retire for the night WITH your mask on. You'll succeed!

My biggest mistake was expecting everything to go perfectly from the first night. One must be patient and keep anxiety as far away as possible. Come March 3rd, I plan on some sort of goofy celebration to mark one year of refreshing sleep I never had - over four decades - before last year.

Best of luck and God bless.

[kteague]

If you lay down without the mask on do you still get congested? Or is this congestion something new that only happens with the mask on?

Seems to me this question should be your first consideration. Your answer helps determine which direction to go next. If your process is methodical you'll avoid a lot of trial and error trying to fix something that isn't really the problem and could have been ruled out earlier.

[49er]

I had my deviated septum fixed. It really help with breathing!
Cpap therapy was extremely difficult before having it fixed.

That is exactly why I am having mine fixed plus the turbinates reduced on 3/6. I have been unable to get any significant amount of sleep on the machine for two years in spite of trying everything I can think of.

I did try nasal rinsing several times but it definitely made things worse. Perhaps the OP might want to consider having this fixed if following the other excellent suggestions in this thread doesn't work after a reasonable amount of time.

49er

[newpapper]

I have a deviated septum and use a Wisp mask. I can breathe and fall asleep but it is difficult to breathe and it takes me awhile to fall asleep.

[knothead]

I just looked up a Wisp mask, that would stop up my nose too. I cannot have anything touching or squeezing my nose, thus I use the Mirage Quattro, works like a charm. Only place it touches my nose is high near the eyes. No breathing problems with it...may give a FF mask a try. I also use a neti pot daily for cleansing my sinuses. This helps with allergies also. Good luck.

[gavinpreacher]

To answer an earlier question, I have some daytime congestion but I get through the day with no problems. At night when I lay down it seems to feel much worse. Tonight I will try the humidifier on high to see how it works. I might have to consider a different mask if the pressure from my wisp is what is making the nasal congestion worse. I am not giving up at all. I hear so many of these stories ending in success. Just seems like I have to do a lot of tweaking until I find what works for me

[Bill44133]

You might try putting it up a little at a time and see how it goes.. Some times to much humidity is the problem.
Every one is different.

[breakfast]

I have a deviated septum. Using a nasal mask was dreadful for me, I felt congested like I was going to suffocate and if my mouth dropped open to breathe, I couldn't fight against the pressure of the mask. Was there a reason you chose the Wisp? A full face mask might be easier for you to get used to.

[herefishy]

I have a deviated septum and use a Mirage Activa LT nasal mask. It is large enough that It doesn't actually touch my nose and I don't have congestion problems at night.

[Pugsy]

I might have to consider a different mask if the pressure from my wisp is what is making the nasal congestion worse.

I wasn't able to tolerate the Wisp past 90 minutes due to it causing congeston..and I never have congestion of any significance.
It just happens to put the right amount of pressure (and it's tiny pressure I know) on just the right area of my nose.
That's why I mention this so often.. It's fairly common for people to get congested just from something being on the nose in the right spot but they don't think that it might be the mask itself.

I was able to get to sleep with the Wisp on...but woke up what I thought was a gazillion times with nose totally blocked and I simply wake up when that happens...I don't revert to mouth breathing...and thought I had made it through most of the night and switched out to my regular mask because I was tired of waking up.
Next morning I was really surprised to see I switched out after 86 minutes.

If you like the Wisp otherwise....the Swift FX Nano is very similar but it didn't cause any congestion for me and I was able to keep it on all night without any issues. It's similar but not exactly the same...I guess it rests on a slightly different spot on my nose.

My primary preference is still nasal pillow masks...nothing at all on my nose and I find that on the nights where I might have a little bit of congestion that the humidified air using the pillows actually opens up my nose pretty quickly.

[HerbM]

It seems like the Wisp would be one of the poorest FIRST choices for someone with your nasal problems so if you have a 30-day return policy on the mask (which a lot of DMEs offer), consider taking it back for something more suitable after a bit of research and listening to the suggestions being offered by people here (and watching videos on YouTube.)

If you can't breath through your nose it is obvious you can't use a Wisp.

Go see an ENT and specifically discuss how to make CPAP work. I did that and was lucky enough that my wife's ENT (who we already liked) is also a sleep doctor.

Are you using (isotonic) saline irrigation?

Lots of docs recommend saline; never met one who recommended against it.

When you say you lie down and can't get to sleep, how LONG do you lie quietly without external disturbances before you give up?

I tried my first mask at the sleep study very quietly for 3 hours. Another new mask at home for 2 hours one night, 1.5 another, and finally got a 1 hour nap out of 2 hours the third time.

The only reason that I stopped at 3 hours during the sleep study is they kicked me out when the time was up.

The only reason for giving up the first 2 times as SOON with the mask at home was that there was another mask available to let me sleep -- had this been my only mask the tests would have gone on MUCH longer.

Put the time in, even if you have to do it watching TV, then put time into it while eliminating all other possible sleep disturbances.

Add relaxation and self-hypnosis drills to your routine if you don't fall asleep soon enough for your liking.

[gavinpreacher]

Last Night was an Interesting Night.....I put my mask on and laid down on the opposite side i had been trying, so that the passage that clogs is facing down toward the bed.....My nose did not seem to feel as clogged and I was able to lay on my side for a long while without feeling terribly clogged.......I still did not fall asleep, though.

[library lady]

For those with deviated septum or other nose issues, I just figured out a few days ago that if I use Breathe-right strips in addition to the mask, maybe I'll be able to breathe better. I had a deviated septum fixed years ago as it was causing problems with my swollen sinuses when I had sinusitis, and I haven't been able to breathe properly with my right nostril. It has been just over two weeks since I got my cpap, and biggest problem was the mask, but after I got some remzzzz liners for my Quattro air a week later, I was able to go the whole night with the mask. Zero leaks that I'm aware of, and then two days ago, almost 2 weeks in, I put a breathe-right strip on, and it did help me breathe better so that I didn't wake up with as much of a cotton-mouth.

[aj43]

I had the same problem. I found that turning the heated humidifier off helped me a lot. Many others have had success turning the humidifier up. Finally gave in and visited the doctor and had my deviated septum fixed. Getting the nose fixed was the best thing I ever did!

[SleepDisturbed]

I tried the Wisp,and it clogged me up immediately. Went back to the Mirage FX and no problems -- the Wisp was definitely a no go for me. You might try something else soon before you get too discouraged.