uh oh, mask removal - help!

[Rick B]

Okay, I am about 2-1/2 weeks into this. Everyone has been great in reassuring me I will get used to this thing. Actually, I am starting to. I have been waking up 3 times every night until the last couple days. The last few nights I have slept through the night! However, before you say congrats, I need to say that when I woke up in the morning, I found my mask laying beside me on the pillow. I guess I'm removing it in the night in my sleep. I have no idea when or how. Is this usual? How can I remedy this? Help!

[RBernier]

Okay, I am about 2-1/2 weeks into this. Everyone has been great in reassuring me I will get used to this thing. Actually, I am starting to. I have been waking up 3 times every night until the last couple days. The last few nights I have slept through the night! However, before you say congrats, I need to say that when I woke up in the morning, I found my mask laying beside me on the pillow. I guess I'm removing it in the night in my sleep. I have no idea when or how. Is this usual? How can I remedy this? Help!

Rick,

I am about 5 weeks into this. Up until last week, I was doing the same thing as you. In fact, I would wake up and find my mask hanging on the bed post. I would have no memory whatsoever of removing the mask during the night. Now, I am sleeping through the night and not removing the mask. I have managed sleep through the night without removing the mask for the past 6 out of 7 nights. I think a big part of my problem was the humidity setting. I experimented with settings of 0 to 5. I finally settled on a humidity setting of 2. I don't know of any tips that might help you, but I would definitely say try experimenting with the humidity setting. Hang in there and let us know how it goes.

[Rick B]

No, it's definitely not the humidity setting. I rectified that right away at the sleep study and set my humidifier accordingly. I have my setting at 2, which is quite comfortable. In fact everything is really starting to get quite comfortable and tolerable. It's just that I find the mask beside me in the morning now. Can't figure out why.

[Roman Hokie]

Rick,
Based on the specs listed on CPAP.com, your unit DOES have a mask removal alert. As I am not familiar with that equipment, I can't tell you how to set it, but someone at your DME or perhaps one of the tech folks at CPAP.com might be able to help you. The user manual for your BiPap unit says this:

Auto-On, Auto-Off, and Mask Alert are convenience features that may not work with some mask types, circuit configurations, or at extreme altitudes. This will not adversely affect the therapy received from the System. In the settings menu, make sure the display reads “Mask Alert=On.”

I hope this helps.

[resistance]

Rick,

I had the same problem in my first 2-3 weeks, and just got rid of that bad habit.. I've found two issues causing mask removal for myself:

1) Poorly adjusted mask fit: My mask seemed to be ok, but in fact it wasn't adjusted well enough. When I moved during sleep, it was moving on my face too, starting to leak strongly towards my eye. That was disturbing me and I was unconsciously removing the mask.

2) Power outages: I found out that we sometimes have power outages at night, not lasting too long, but long enough for me to suffer from insufficient air flow and take the mask off. I woke up with breathing difficulties during one of these and noticed the outage. I checked Resscan, we had lost power twice for 10 min. that night.

[Rick B]

I checked the settings and set the mask alert on and tested it. It didn't work. I called the DME and they asked me to bring in the unit and they would test it. Sometimes they got t to work and sometimes they didn't. Just before replacing the whole unit, they noticed an air leak in the hose! Bingo! Mask alert now works. I just hope it's loud enough to wake me when I'm sleeping. Doesn't sound very loud. Thanks everyone.