Report: My first week on cpap

[zeeclass]

I got my machine last Thursday, so I've been using it for a week now.

Overall I would say that it has been very successful, with a few bumps in the road. Most nights I can sleep with it at least 4 hours, and sometimes 6 hours to the entire night. I really like my mask. It is comfortable and I don't find it very claustrophobic or itchy or anything. No really awful marks on my face in the morning, but maybe a few indentations which go away within a few hours. My AHI has gone from 19 (sleep center test) down to 1.9. No major leaks, no major problems so far. I'd say it has been an extremely successful first week. I didn't wear my mask at all last night because my neck has been very stiff and I needed an unbroken night of sleep on my regular pillow without encumberment. That worked, and today my neck and shoulders felt much better, although my overall sleep was rather crappy without the cpap. But I do plan to wear it again tonight, at least for part of the night.

I would say that at this point I have these main problems:

1. Finding a pillow that addresses both my neck problem and my desire to sleep on my side(s).

The pillow issue is difficult. I've been sleeping on a foam contour-type dense, thick memory foam pillow for several years. I have herniated discs in my neck and a thick pillow helps my muscles to relax. I can't sleep with a pillow that is too thin. My regualr pillow *almost* works with my mask. There is a slight channel in the middle of it where the mask can fit -- but it isn't quite deep enough, and when I'm lying on my side it pushes my face up ever so slightly, causing a lot of neck and shoulder stiffness in the morning.

So I bought a Contour Cpap Pillow (the standard one which is 4"). Great design, but the neck support part isn't thick enough for me. I couldn't even sleep on it a whole night. I am going to return it, and instead try the "high profile" Contour Cpap Pillow that is larger (5") to see if that addresses the problem. If that doesn't work, I see a few other types of pillows on Cpap.com which might work, and some people here have given me other suggestions, such as a buckwheat pillow, a water pillow, or even taking a foam pillow and making cutouts with an electric carving knife!!


2. Preventing myself from mouth breathing when I start to fall asleep, or sometimes in the middle of the night.

When I use my regular old pillow, I don't find myself doing much mouth breathing. But the night I tried the Contour pillow, I was doing it a LOT when I was on my side -- I even found myself drooling at one point. I think it's because the cutouts on the Contour cpap pillow don't put as much pressure on the side of my mouth as my regular pillow, allowing my mouth to open easier. This can be solved with a chin strap, of course. I have one that my DME dealer gave me, but it's too large and bulky. Last night I ordered three different lower-profile chin straps from cpap.com and I'll see if those are any better. In the mean time, I can just use the other one, even if it isn't terribly comfortable. It's such a weird experience when I wake myself up because of mouth breathing. I usually have earplugs in (because my teenagers can be noisy in the morning), and when I catch myself mouth breathing, I hear myself make noises I've never heard before because of all the air being pumped down my throat! Really bizarre sounds!


3. My nice large eye mask doesn't work so well anymore.

I have a terrific eye mask made by Bucky. But it doesn't work very well over my cpap mask. My bedroom is already very dark (blackout shade) but in the morning light still comes through the cracks and winds up waking me up unless I wear a sleeping mask. I can't fit the eye mask under the cpap mask because it's too large. And when I put it over the mask, the cpap mask gets in the way and lets a lot of light through the eye mask, rendering it virtually useless. So I decided to try to rig something up for myself. I hand-sewed a very crude eye mask from several layers of fleece fabric I had lying around. I also put on thick elastic and velcro to make it fit my face. The mask looks like a third-grader made it in Girl Scouts, LOL, but it works pretty well.

I saw these cpap sleep goggles on the web somewhere (I think I found them on Amazon) but they look rather strange and unless they're super soft, I can't imagine that you could lie on your side wearing them. Has anyone tried those?


4. My need to move at least a little bit in my sleep!!!

I sleep so still and soundly with the cpap on that it's actually hurting my back! I have herniated discs in my back and chronic sciatic problems down my left leg. If I sleep in one position for too many hours, it makes my back hurt. I NEED to turn from side to side, or onto my back on occasion. Not sure how to address this weird problem. Perhaps as time goes on and I get the proper pillow and get more acclimated to cpap, this will work itself out.

My husband is happy because I am no longer twitching in my sleep. Which is a relief, because I was afraid I had the beginnings of a neurological disease!

BTW, my husband and I have matching cpap machines. He was diagnosed with severe obstructive apnea a few months ago. He feels much more energetic now and I'm thrilled that his awful snoring and snorting has stopped. We'll be married 25 years in September, and we laugh about our 25-year Anniversary Matching Cpap Machines! He's on this forum too, although I don't know his user name offhand. He has only posted here a few times.

[70sSanO]

Wow! For your first week you really have this wired. Congratulations!

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure out the best comfort for your back.

John

[Pugsy]

Congratulations on getting past the one week hurdle.

Bed pillow preference will require some detective work as we all have different needs.

Is there something you could do to make staying in one position more comfortable? To reduce the need to change position? Make the bed itself more comfortable? It sounds weird that sleeping so soundly (not moving) can create problems but it sure can for those of us with bad necks and bad backs. I have this problem myself.

[gpap]

You are doing good.