I took the sleep test and doctor found I stopped breathing an average of 64 times an hour and prescribed a CPAP. I tried it for several nights and was completely miserable. After the first night, I woke up feeling like a zombie and needed a 3 1/2 hour nap after breakfast. I cannot make it through the night without waking up at least once or twice .. and when morning comes I am still tired and have no energy to get out of bed.
Prior to trying CPAP, I NEVER felt tired in the morning or took more than a 45-minute nap on my day off from work.
In addition, the nasal mask is very irritating. It feels like someone is rubbing sandpaper across and inside my nostrils. I tried coating my nose and nostrils with Vaseline, but it didn't help much.
At this point, I feel like saying "the hell with the machine" and have slept without it (feeling far more refreshed) the past three nights.
Since first visiting the doctor, I have dropped 15 pounds and my wife says my snoring is less intense. The doctor says if I can lose another 15 pounds (which would put me around 170) he will re-test me and my apnea might be cured on its own.
Any suggestions?
I hate my CPAP
10 posts
• Page 1 of 1
RE: CPAP hate
Do you have a heated humidifier? It sure helps me to not wake up all dried out. I can't imagine being without it!
Hi Turfeye,
Starting CPAP therapy can be challenging. I myeslf had the same issues that you are experiencing. It took me roughtly 6 weeks before I would stop ripping my mask off during the middle of the night.
What you are doing is conditioning yourself to wear a mask all night. That in itself can make the strong shrink to a quivering mess.
One of the keys to sticking with it, it getting the right gear. The mask you are using may not be the most ideal interface for you. The more advanced masks and machines can easily make a difference between sticking with treatmen and giving up.
Starting with the mask, the most comfortable mask on the market is the Resmed Mirage Activa nasal mask. You don't have to tighten the mask down much to get and keep a really good seal. This has been a very sucessful mask for new commers.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... allow.html
Another style of mask uses nasal pillows. They do not stick very far into your nose, so it makes it more comfortable than other nasal pillow type masks.
The Breeze Sleepgear with nasal pillows is my all-time favorite mask and the one I use most of all. You can side sleep without the interface touching the pillow.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/purita ... llows.html
There are auto-adjusting cpap machines that will sense your breathing and deliver only the amount of pressure that you need at the time you need it. The most popular of these is the Respironics Remstar Auto w Cflex. Cflex drops the pressure on exhale giving you a more natural sensation of breathing.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... ifier.html
As you will learn from the old timers on the board, technology can be a good friend to the sleepless.
Regards,
Ted the Titrator
Starting CPAP therapy can be challenging. I myeslf had the same issues that you are experiencing. It took me roughtly 6 weeks before I would stop ripping my mask off during the middle of the night.
What you are doing is conditioning yourself to wear a mask all night. That in itself can make the strong shrink to a quivering mess.
One of the keys to sticking with it, it getting the right gear. The mask you are using may not be the most ideal interface for you. The more advanced masks and machines can easily make a difference between sticking with treatmen and giving up.
Starting with the mask, the most comfortable mask on the market is the Resmed Mirage Activa nasal mask. You don't have to tighten the mask down much to get and keep a really good seal. This has been a very sucessful mask for new commers.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... allow.html
Another style of mask uses nasal pillows. They do not stick very far into your nose, so it makes it more comfortable than other nasal pillow type masks.
The Breeze Sleepgear with nasal pillows is my all-time favorite mask and the one I use most of all. You can side sleep without the interface touching the pillow.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/purita ... llows.html
There are auto-adjusting cpap machines that will sense your breathing and deliver only the amount of pressure that you need at the time you need it. The most popular of these is the Respironics Remstar Auto w Cflex. Cflex drops the pressure on exhale giving you a more natural sensation of breathing.
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/respir ... ifier.html
As you will learn from the old timers on the board, technology can be a good friend to the sleepless.
Regards,
Ted the Titrator
titrator
Titrator:
Thanks for the words of encouragement .. I was beginning to think I was just too stubborn to learn to adapt to the CPAP.
Your suggestion about changing masks sounds good. The therapist who provides the equipment says she has a variety of masks and I am free to choose the one that I feel the most comfortable using. I am due to get a follow-up call this week. If I don't hear from her, I will initiate a call myself and ask about sampling the two masks you recommended.
Thanks for the words of encouragement .. I was beginning to think I was just too stubborn to learn to adapt to the CPAP.
Your suggestion about changing masks sounds good. The therapist who provides the equipment says she has a variety of masks and I am free to choose the one that I feel the most comfortable using. I am due to get a follow-up call this week. If I don't hear from her, I will initiate a call myself and ask about sampling the two masks you recommended.
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nodding off
- Posts: 133
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- Location: Central Mass
- Contact:
Hi Turfeye,
Hang in there. Titrator gave you some great advice in his reply to you. Like him, I also had an awful time getting used to cpap. I even quit for a short time. Now, I lay there in the morning dreading remoiving my mask. Once you get used to it and have the right equipment for you, it's very comfortable, and you will feel so much better with a good night of sleep. Don't be afraid to make changes in your equipment if it means better compliance. Equipment has gotten much better over the last 10 years, but the 2 biggies for me have been heated humidification, which you are using, and mask improvements. It sounds like you have found a good DME who is willing to work with you to make your treatment comfortable. That is a huge benefit. I rotate between an Activa and a Breeze, but there are a lot of good masks out there. Also, don't be afraid to crank up your humidifier to a point just short of rainout. I find that the more humidification, the more comfortably I sleep, and I am never stuffed up in the morning any more. The weight loss will help some. I have lost 47 pounds since the end of February (Weight Watchers) and have seen my AHI go lower as my weight does, but I was thin when I started on CPAP, so I'll probably be on it when I am thin again. Good luck on your journey to good rest!
Hang in there. Titrator gave you some great advice in his reply to you. Like him, I also had an awful time getting used to cpap. I even quit for a short time. Now, I lay there in the morning dreading remoiving my mask. Once you get used to it and have the right equipment for you, it's very comfortable, and you will feel so much better with a good night of sleep. Don't be afraid to make changes in your equipment if it means better compliance. Equipment has gotten much better over the last 10 years, but the 2 biggies for me have been heated humidification, which you are using, and mask improvements. It sounds like you have found a good DME who is willing to work with you to make your treatment comfortable. That is a huge benefit. I rotate between an Activa and a Breeze, but there are a lot of good masks out there. Also, don't be afraid to crank up your humidifier to a point just short of rainout. I find that the more humidification, the more comfortably I sleep, and I am never stuffed up in the morning any more. The weight loss will help some. I have lost 47 pounds since the end of February (Weight Watchers) and have seen my AHI go lower as my weight does, but I was thin when I started on CPAP, so I'll probably be on it when I am thin again. Good luck on your journey to good rest!
Turfeye, it sounds like you're where many of us were when we first started. As for me, I was more sick and tired of being sick and tired and not able to play with my 8 year old son that I was desperate. I had a single night split study, so I didn't have to go through but one night at the sleep lab and then got a straight CPAP from my local DME. Finding this board was about the best thing that happened to me, though!! It gave me the info I needed to make an APAP purchase from cpap.com and to work with my insurance company to get reimbursed. It sounds like your RT is willing to work with you on the mask. That's great!!
The folks here have been where you are and can give some invaluable information, such as making sure that you have a mask that you not only tolerate, but actually are comfortable with. That's one of the most important factors in being compliant, IMHO.
Hang in there, ask questions here, make a nuisance of yourself to your DME and Dr. until you get what you're comfy with! After all, you're paying for it one way or another. This therapy WORKS!!! But you have to use it, and to use it, you have to have some comfort level going for ya.
The folks here have been where you are and can give some invaluable information, such as making sure that you have a mask that you not only tolerate, but actually are comfortable with. That's one of the most important factors in being compliant, IMHO.
Hang in there, ask questions here, make a nuisance of yourself to your DME and Dr. until you get what you're comfy with! After all, you're paying for it one way or another. This therapy WORKS!!! But you have to use it, and to use it, you have to have some comfort level going for ya.
_________________
| Mask: Ultra Mirage™ Full Face CPAP Mask with Headgear |
| Additional Comments: APAP, 8-14 cm H2O. |
This therapy WORKS!!!
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Fatigue Fighter
- Posts: 118
- Joined: Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:24 pm
- Location: California
I had this same experience and quit for a week after 30 days of treatment because I actually felt worse. I told my sleep doc and my pulmo doc that I felt better without it. My pulmonologist said the magic words that got me to get back on it (ie "for you, sleeping without XPAP is like sleeping at the top of Mt. Everest because your oxygen saturation at its lowest dip is like sleeping on Mt. Everest."). Of course, he said this in addition to all the other terrible things that can happen to a person if they don't continue with treatment. ..... the scare tactic works sometimes.At this point, I feel like saying "the hell with the machine" and have slept without it (feeling far more refreshed) the past three nights.
My sleep doc thought I needed to be retitrated if increasing the air volume wasn't enough. For you, it is still early so you may just need time getting used to the mask and having to sleep differently. It is invasive if you've never had to use it before. At least I thought it was. I am slowly getting used to it and, now that I am at higher pressures (from a 10 to a 17 in only 3 months time), it is even harder. But time and persistence will take care of that! Hang in there.
FF
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Sleepless on LI
- Posts: 3997
- Joined: Mon May 30, 2005 6:46 pm
- Location: Long Island, New York
DON'T GIVE UP!!! Get the right mask. Makes all the difference in the world. You need this treatment more than you know. May be a good idea to read up on OSA and see just why you shouldn't give up. Not to mention how incredible you can feel once the therapy starts to work. Trust me, I'm one of the ones who has tremendously benefitted from it.
PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!!! Continue posting and getting support here. But do yourself a huge favor and work at it until you get it right. If someone you loved had an illness which left untreated could eventually kill them, would you let them forgo treatment? Don't sell yourself short and do that to yourself.
We are here to support you, give you suggestions and many, many shoulders to lean on. Please just don't give up.
I think one of the really ironic parts about this condition is, when you are as tired and fatigued as you've ever been and all you want to do is get some refreshing, restful sleep, they shove a mask on you, attach some blowing air into your face and tell you this is the way to get that sleep. But it takes some time to get it right, and if you keep at it, you will succeed!!!!
I will repeat, DON'T GIVE UP!!!!
PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP!!! Continue posting and getting support here. But do yourself a huge favor and work at it until you get it right. If someone you loved had an illness which left untreated could eventually kill them, would you let them forgo treatment? Don't sell yourself short and do that to yourself.
We are here to support you, give you suggestions and many, many shoulders to lean on. Please just don't give up.
I think one of the really ironic parts about this condition is, when you are as tired and fatigued as you've ever been and all you want to do is get some refreshing, restful sleep, they shove a mask on you, attach some blowing air into your face and tell you this is the way to get that sleep. But it takes some time to get it right, and if you keep at it, you will succeed!!!!
I will repeat, DON'T GIVE UP!!!!
L o R i
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OldSeaRock
- Posts: 116
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 4:48 pm
- Location: Earth
10 posts
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