Takin' It All Off!!

[Sleepy Boy]

Does anyone on here ever take it all off??? Now that I have you interested I wake up 2-3 times a week laying on my mask, or find it hanging on the end of the bed. I also wear a chin strap which has been removed. Sometimes I remember doing this, for whatever reason, but a lot of times I don't. Is that normal to do all the time?? I wear the Mirage Swift Lt. It fits good and I like it. Just curious if this happens to others...Thanks, Larry.

[hose head]

I went through a period where I would wake up and mask would be off. No memory of turning off machine, or hanging up mask. I have worked past it now. Last week I took off mask for some reason known only to my sleeping self(my machine is set to auto on/off now) I woke later in the night and thought, where's my mask? Reached for it, slipped it back on and slept the rest of the night. Keep at it.

[san_fran_gal]

Yes! It's like stripping amnesia! I go to bed sure that I'll last the night, confident in how things are going, and I sometimes wake up a few hours later with the machine off, the mask on the floor, and no recollection of what happened. Weird! It's not happening as much lately (if things are going bad with leaks etc, I usually recall taking it off now) but it happened almost every night when I first started.

[Chris61]

I have had the same problem. The doctor is not really sure why people take it off at night. He felt that it was helping because I was getting at least 3-4 hours a night. What does your recorder show? I would talk with your doctor about it. I wound up going with a dental device and that was much better. Also for me was loosing about 70 lbs also.

Chris

[Georgio]

I stripped my mask off when I was on straight cpap every night. Then I purchased an auto machine from cpap.com. Then I would strip off the mask occasionally for the first two or three weeks and then stopped. I have only done it once in the past three months. I think I must have had a cold.

Good luck with your therapy, your probably won't be stripping for long.

Georgio

[san_fran_gal]

Chris 61, do you do a dental device with CPAP, or on its own? If on its own, have you had a sleep study with it? I'd love to know how effective that was for you. (and if it's a boil and bite or a custom-made one) Congratulations on your weight loss! That's awesome!

[Chris61]

I can use the dental device with the CPAP if I wish to. The doctor said I could do it either way. I did have a sleep study about 16 months from the first one. Iam down over 75 lbs. The doctor did say that the numbers would go down with loss of more weight. Here is the study of before and after. I went to a dentist who deals in nothing but sleep apnea and she is an expert on this. I have a herbest retainer. It is the same type of device that orthodontics use expect it is set up in a differant way. If you have any questions just ask.

Here are the results:

Original study (pre weight loss)
Breathing event per hour: 68
Total breathing cessation per hour: 49
Lowest recorded oxygen level: 70%

New Study: post weight loss

No treatment:
Breathing events per hour: 19.4
Total breathing cessation per hour: 19.4
Lowest recorded oxygen level: 91%

With the Herbst device:
Breathing events per hour: 4.6 (counting little bitty ones 6.2)
Total breathing cessation per hour: 4
Lowest oxygen level: 92%

It turns out that with the Herbst, you are worst when you lie on your left side. Then you have 8.3 events per hour. In dream sleep, you have 10.2 events per hour

Your weight loss had the biggest effect!

B. Gail Demko, DMD

She has her own website. sleepapenadentist.com

Chris

[Babette]

Larry, yup, lots of people do this in their early stage of therapy.

Definitely try the Pur-Sleep, many report it helps with this.

Another idea is to just keep tweaking all your variables - humdifier heat setting, pillow, mask tension, chinstrap tension, the heat of the room, etc.

Once you find the perfect setup for you, you'll find that you can sleep longer and longer, until you reach the point of keeping the mask on all night long.

For me, it was finding the perfect masks. The Nasal Aire II was the first mask I didn't want to rip off at 3 am in the morning. The Swift LT gets high marks from many people - you might try tweaking the size of the pillows you're using with it, or the tension of the straps.

Good luck!
B.

[georgepds]

Larry, yup, lots of people do this in their early stage of therapy.
....

That was my experience too.. these days it's on all night

[Sleepy Boy]

Thanks for all the comments. Chris, I live in Northern Mi. I barely have computer service, so dont get involved with all the extras. Babette: My pillows are comfy. I did'nt do this till the last month or so. I'm using PurSleep, Melatonin, and Dr. got Ambien for me. I got to bed, sleep an hour or so, then wake back up. Last night I went to bed at 11 and got up at 1am. then I took off the mask and slept till 7am. My wife is going to have heart surgery in a couple weeks (not the first) so I could be worried more than I think about it. I had no trouble with the Swift Lt. in fact thats why I choose it to begin with, but now , everythings "buggin" me..Thanks all of you..Larry...

[alexcue]

touch wood, but haven't done it yet!!! I've been sleeping so well that i actually am starting to enjoy it. It's like that pavlov response that some have referred to. Put the mask on sleep comes on rather quickly and i wake up maybe once to go to the bathroom then it's lights out. I'm actually feeling like I'm sleeping too much now.

I'm a very, very light sleeper. Always have been, if my GF moves i can feel it, but so far I'm able to just quickly fall back asleep. Before CPAP it was wide awake and go to the bathroom.

I think the luckiest thing i had going for me was the availability of a comfortable mask, the LT. I'm claustrophobic and it took a lot of self control not to rip the thing off at first! Guess I've been lucky.

[SleepyDragon]

A couple of weeks ago I woke up with the groggy feeling I had removed my mask in my sleep again, something I hadn't done in several months. I gropped around in the dark for it only to find it still on my face blowing at full throttle. The hissing noise as I disturbed the seal by moving around was my first clue to its true location. I realized at that point I must be a complete hosehead (hoser?) now.

[Sleepy Boy]

touch wood, but haven't done it yet!!! I've been sleeping so well that i actually am starting to enjoy it. It's like that pavlov response that some have referred to. Put the mask on sleep comes on rather quickly and i wake up maybe once to go to the bathroom then it's lights out. I'm actually feeling like I'm sleeping too much now.

I'm a very, very light sleeper. Always have been, if my GF moves i can feel it, but so far I'm able to just quickly fall back asleep. Before CPAP it was wide awake and go to the bathroom.

I think the luckiest thing i had going for me was the availability of a comfortable mask, the LT. I'm claustrophobic and it took a lot of self control not to rip the thing off at first! Guess I've been lucky.

I know, I couldn't wait for bedtime, actually looked forward to it...Now I struggle with it and that probably makes it even worse..

[crossfit]

I have done this consistantly but only on nights I took ambien. I no longer take ambien. I no longer wake up having taken it all off. At least not my mask. <wink>

Oh yeah, Babette mentioned playing with mask straps. I found that with the mask slightly looser, it held a better seal and I didn't have problems. This was counter-intuitive to me. It seemed like my swift LT should stay on better if tighter. This doesn't seem to be true, at least for me.