Getting used to CPAP mask

[Bubbles1]

I am using a CPAP machine on a 3 week trial. It is a new machine that senses when you are awake and when you are sleeping. I have mild sleep apnea but want to be proactive in preventing health issues that go along with having apnea. I have had the machine for 10 days now and faithfully wear the mask every night. I have the air pressure set comfortably and I have the humidity where I like it. I have tried the nasal mask but quickly found out that as soon as I fall asleep, I breath through my mouth. I have tried two full face masks and found one better than the other but it leaks as soon as I relax so I cannot lay on my back at all and it is not too comfortable laying on my side. BUT, I cannot go to sleep and lay awake for hours and then when I do fall asleep, every time the machine kicks on I wake up. I have never yet made it through the entire night with the mask on. I am now more tired than usual and just feel frustrated. Any suggestions??

[Wulfman...]

I am using a CPAP machine on a 3 week trial. It is a new machine that senses when you are awake and when you are sleeping. I have mild sleep apnea but want to be proactive in preventing health issues that go along with having apnea. I have had the machine for 10 days now and faithfully wear the mask every night. I have the air pressure set comfortably and I have the humidity where I like it. I have tried the nasal mask but quickly found out that as soon as I fall asleep, I breath through my mouth. I have tried two full face masks and found one better than the other but it leaks as soon as I relax so I cannot lay on my back at all and it is not too comfortable laying on my side. BUT, I cannot go to sleep and lay awake for hours and then when I do fall asleep, every time the machine kicks on I wake up. I have never yet made it through the entire night with the mask on. I am now more tired than usual and just feel frustrated. Any suggestions??

Sign up as a member of the forum.
Then, fill out your profile with all of the equipment and settings you're using (and have tried).

Your experiences as a new user are not uncommon and this new way of sleeping can take some time to adjust to.
But, it's hard to offer you suggestions if we don't know what your machine settings are.
And, if your humidity setting is too high, it could be causing more nasal congestion.......which can lead to mouth-breathing.
If you're congested before bedtime or are a typical mouth-breather, try doing nasal cleansing before you go to bed.
If your machine is an APAP (auto-CPAP) and is set to a range of pressures, maybe setting it to a fixed pressure may help.


Den

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[PoolQ]

It sounds like you are having problems exhaling into pressure, but without knowing what equipment you have there is no way to offer suggestions.

+1 to Den

Please edit your profile and tell us what machine you are using, there is a sticker on the back that gives the full model number

[LSAT]

Since you have "sense awake"...it means you may have a Fisher & Paykel Icon machine.

[Tdub210]

Assuming you're using a F&P with sense awake (which I am), my suggestion is to ignore the sensawake. I haven't found anything useful in it. It registers a ridiculous amount of wake ups that I know are not happening. It doesn't really know when you're waking up, it's just measuring your breathing pattern though some algorithm that I doubt works. But to your question, I'm about 4 weeks in myself and you can see the equipment Im using in my profile below. I start out on my side sleeping with the full face and stay either there or in a pseudo stomach position (head to the side on the pillow). I had trouble getting to sleep at first but now its not a problem, I'm out fairly quickly. I've managed to position my head at the edge of the pillow with the front of my face right at the edge so the mask is hanging off the pillow. As I relax and sink into the pillow, the mask never hits it. I fold a corner of the pillow in under it right where my face is too. It helps provide a little more stability to my head while keeping a slightly crisper edge to the pillow/mask border. There's a lot of topics here for this so I also recommend using the search function to see what others have done for this same problem. Some people use a cpap pillow but I haven't so maybe read what others have said here by searching it.

I try to stay off my back because my events go up when I do. However, I do roll onto my back sometimes at night in my sleep. It's obvious from the sleepyhead data when I do. If you're having leaks while on your back, due to relaxing and your face shifting, try adjusting the tightness. Try a few different things (tighter, looser). I ended up loosening mine from what it was originally and got a much better leak rate and it was more comfortable. If your mask is like mine, you need that soft cushion around the edge of the mask to "inflate" properly so it forms a cushiony seal. That way it'll take a lot more movement. While obviously there's a "too-loose", there's also a "too-tight"

While I do seem to fall asleep fairly easily, I still have a few wake ups at night which I think is when I'm moving or shifting. I think I'm waking to ensure my move doesn't mess up the mask (unproven hypothesis). I think this will probably soon pass as I get more used to the whole process. Good luck and stay with it.

[JasonK94Z]

I'm having the same issue. I have a nasal mask, and I hate the hot breathe I feel on my nose on exhale.

[Tdub210]

I don't know about the nasal masks, but on my FFM I unplug my machine in the morning so it doesn't keep the water warm. and I keep the temp down to 2. So far it's been fine on the sinus and it significantly reduces that heat feeling.

[Bubbles1]

I am using the Fisher PayKel SensAwake machine with humidifier set to 5. The beginning air pressure is set to 6 and according to the records, does not go above 10 during the night. But how can that be accurate since I hardly ever get to sleep???

[Tdub210]

You're probably using the same or similar machine to mine. F&P Icon. There's a couple other F&P's but I think they're essentially the same. Mine has sense awake so thats why I'm thinking its similar. Maybe you're seeing the 10's because of the times you do fall asleep. My range is set at 6-18 but I rarely get above 10. Sometimes the pressure change will wake you up and you dont even realize its the pressure change. I think this was happening to me at first. I'm in week 4, the first couple weeks I was up several times a night. Now I'm down to 1, maybe 2. You're probably just still getting used to it. You might also try adjusting the humidity. For me, 5 would be like a sauna. Makes my face hot and my whole body hot. I keep mine at 2. It's quite a bit cooler.

[RogerSC]

I'm having the same issue. I have a nasal mask, and I hate the hot breathe I feel on my nose on exhale.

If you're already using a nasal mask, you should be able to use a nasal pillows mask, and you won't feel your hot breath on your nose when you exhale. The AirFit P10 or Swift FX are good nasal pillow masks to try, they're both pretty light weight, and a little lower impact than a nasal mask. The AirFit P10 has a little unusual (not adjustable) headgear, and if that works for you you're good. The Swift FX is more adjustable, but a little heavier and a little noisier.