First on CPAP was not good, any suggestions?

[brvoltz]

I was hoping that someone could give me some insight. My first night on CPAP was not good. While I slept over 6 hours, when I wake up I'm extremely tired and feel extremely jittery, to the point I have never felt before and I need to sleep more with out the mask before I can move. I have never felt this way in my life. The auto pressure is at 6, the pressure to go to sleep is at 4 which is what I need to feel like I can get a breath.

I know many people have a positive experience with CPAP, but mine has been a very negative.

Any ideas to what is going on.

[purple]

What did the doctor prescribe for a pressure?

Perhaps create a profile of what machine you have, mask on your login. Do you feel you had a lot of leaks?

[brvoltz]

Doctor set the pressure to start with at 4 step in 10mins to 6, which I felt comfortable, and then it is auto while sleeping, which the top side is set to 10. No leaking, just not comfortable with the hose, it is driving me nuts.... I roll until I go to sleep....

The equipment I need to try to figure out what it is....

My question is this normal to feel like a I have been hit many times by a train the next morning? I'm so exhausted after using this device.

[chunkyfrog]

You are amazing! First night and you logged 6 hours! Congratulations!
It was several days until I was able to do over 4.
You are ahead of the game already; the good feeling will catch up.
Every hour on CPAP is health, taken by hose.
Just make sure your mask is not making you sore. Protect even the littlest ouch so it won't get worse.
Now when checking what kind of machine you have, you can write down all the print on the
various plates on the machine (empty or remove the water tank before looking at the bottom)
You can also read any manuals you were given.
Our host site (cpap.com) has many machines listed, with pictures, etc..
Unless you've been sold something VERY old, yours may well be there.

[Pugsy]

Here's how to add your equipment to your profile.
wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile

Once we know which machine you are using we can hopefully point you to some software to help evaluate your therapy and see if anything stands out that could be a reason why you are feeling like you have been hit by a bus.

Did you have a lot of wake ups last night? Wake up often fiddling with mask or hose? Fragmented sleep will sure make you feel horrible.

If mainly hose placement..there are hose management systems that will route the hose upward so that it is out of your way when tossing and turning. You can make your own and there are several models available. This one is popular and inexpensive and you might find some materials to make something similar in your garage.
http://www.pur-sleep.com/products/prodD ... rch=&page=

[brvoltz]

First many thanks for the all the feedback....

I can tell you I'm ready to toss this whole CPAP, because I feel so crappy the next day.... I have never felt this bad in my whole 46 years on this earth, other then the one time I was recovering from surgery that was not when I came home, but in recovery.

Is it really normal to feel this jittery the next day, while I have never done this, but I feel like I have had like 4 energy drinks, but I could lay down and go to sleep in 5mins? I HATE this feeling... My heart is racing, my chest feels tight, no issues with breathing.... And if I sit down I'm out like a light..... This just does not feel normal....

I have figured out it is a Resmed S9 loaner from the doctor and using the Resmed nasal pillow mask (Swift FX)

[brvoltz]

Did you have a lot of wake ups last night? Wake up often fiddling with mask or hose? Fragmented sleep will sure make you feel horrible.

Nope... Not messing with the mask in the night, only to go to sleep. I find that my mind is VERY focused on my breathing patters, which makes it hard to go to sleep. Playing with the breathing patterns, to the point of stop breathing.... and it is all my mind at work....

I have added the equipment....

[brvoltz]

Let me add, there is NO way I can go into work after using this device (if this continues)... I will not be able to make the drive, will fall asleep at the wheel or if I make it to work someone will get hurt, or I will pass out from exhaustion....

That is why I started on a Friday to see what reaction I would have.

[IndyDave]

Everything you describe is exactly what I went through in my first week or so. Yeah, the paying attention to how you breath is a killer. You have to learn to turn your brain off, that you know how to breath. Try wearing it in the evening - away from bed, while sitting watching tv, web browsing, whatever... so you are distracted from your breathing pattern. You will fall into that pattern when you get in bed and have nothing to distract you. I also had a radio that I can set to turn off after a half hour, and would listen to talk radio or news station while I fell asleep- again just something to distract me.

Unfortunately everyone adapts at a different speed. I'm 6 weeks into it now, and just this past week (other than a new problem) got to where I wasn't waking up more tired than pre-pap. Fortunately for me, I work out of my home, so having to go slow wasn't a problem for me. Any chance of you job allowing you some flex time for a few weeks, so you can adjust your mornings as needed? Most Docs will be glad to write you a note explaining the need.

But, 6 hours the first night is great! I didn't make a full hour for the first 3-4! Don't get discouraged by reading about the people who took to it the first night. It does take persistence.

[Pugsy]

I find that my mind is VERY focused on my breathing patters, which makes it hard to go to sleep. Playing with the breathing patterns, to the point of stop breathing.... and it is all my mind at work....

Brain is hyper sensitive to all that is going on.
So you had trouble falling asleep and staying asleep????
Again fragmented sleep for any reason will sure mess with how we feel. Doesn't have to be from mask issues.
Talk to your doctor about your issues.
Sleeping with this alien thing stuck on our face and hearing our own breathing is not normal and for some people it is very hard to adjust to.

[insylem]

Keep trying keep trying keep trying keep trying keep trying keep trying!! Thats what I had to do when I first started....
I couldnt even get 1 hour the first night but woked my way up, got more used to the pressure. The air in the stomach
died down ect... Id get one problem sovled and find another one.. So Im still working too, but I'm keep trying keep
with it.... It's better then the alternitive.

[Guest]

When I laid on my back, the sleep study showed that I didn't actually sleep more than 5 minutes at a stretch. And during that 5 minutes, my oxygen saturation fell to upper 60's at times. In other words, I was absolutely unable to sleep without risk of death, on my back. So, for me, it really wasn't an "option". And, I have to say that like you, I had a HORRIBLE first night, and it didn't really improve dramatically for a little while. However, I WAS able to sleep on my back. Yes, I woke up 5 times a night, had to yank the mask off and regain my composure. However, over time, I found the mask tension levels that worked, and once I learned the habit of NOT mouth breathing while trying to put on the mask, things began looking up. I actually found that after doing the mask on, mask off exercise literally a hundred? Maybe 200 times, I finally trained myself to breath with the mask on, and then I actually had to turn off the "ramp" feature.

Previous to now, I had to live with 3-4 days of every 7 with a terrible headache. I fell asleep while driving constantly, never made it through a TV show, and had a terrible time working. And, during the time I got acclimated to it, I was UNABLE to work effectively. I know that sounds bad, but please contrast that with now, which is 8 months later. I now sleep about 6 to 7 hours MOST nights, and when I go to bed, I can fall asleep within 10 minutes, and if I don't fill my bladder, I can sleep without any interruption I remember, and my headaches are gone, I stay awake, even during boring events, or 3 or 4 hour road trips, with NO sleepiness at all.

I won't presume to tell you what to do.. .but here's what worked for me. I did my first two nights sitting mildly reclined in a Laze-e-boy chair. It helped reduce the smothering feel of the mask over my nose. It took me 2-3 weeks to get the temperature and humidity settings so that I didn't feel smothered by steam, nor wake up feeling like I'd just used a flame up my noise. I spent a lot of time learning to lie still and NOT focus on my breathing, then pull the mask on. I had to do it over and over and over again, so that it eventually was not such a panic-inducing feel. I found that reading DILBERT cartoons was just the diversion I needed. It was far too many interruptions to read a book, the humor keept my spirits up, and it kept my mind off both breathing and the contraption stuffed over my nose shoving air into me. I read Dilbert on my Android phone while looking past the mask with one eye!

For the first time, yesterday, I found the software and read the data on my card from my S9 Autoset. It showed that despite how I FELT, I actually started getting good sleep in less than 10 days. My sleep study showed my sleep condition was extremely bad. And now, my AHI index is a .6 average since I started, the last 3 months are .3, which is, as I understand it, incredibly good. I can now have a terrible night, where I work until 4 am and get up at 8 and I'm still more energetic and rested than I did with 8 "sleeping" hours before.

Go about this methodically, first learn how to be able to comforably get the mask on and off, and then once you can do that without problems and the mask feeling comfortable, then find whatever distraction / concentration / relaxation technique you need to not be stressed with the mask on and machine running. The benefits are absolutely real and they will help you in a world of ways. Keep it up. But don't attack blindly, just perservere in a rational way, and you'll succeed.

[brvoltz]

After night 3 I'm still tring to find the licence plate number to the truck that has ran me over and over... I have no problems with the mask, the breathing issue are reducing, as in my mind is not so focused on breathing. Last night I had a very big problem with leakage, I took the mask off at 3:00am (bed time was 12:00am) I could get it to stop leaking but then it would start. This was the first time for this issue.

I feel so beat up it is unreal. My chest still hurts, I'm still very jittery, and I feel so VERY tired. 10x more then when I was not using the mask.

[kb3cxl]

hi what i did was went i went to bed was put it on right away to get used to it and then just gradually feel asleep but but about five hours of sleeping i had enough and was fighting it the rest of the night so now i wait until i get tired before i put it on and i love it but the last couple of nights been rough but another bump but i get it firgued out i start out at 4 and ramp up to `13.5 sometimes i can go with out the ramping up and just start out at the max started snoring again the wife says i will post what other numbers are as soon as i find out only a week or so into this but its going well atleast i think so not giving up.
thx

[LSAT]

After night 3 I'm still tring to find the licence plate number to the truck that has ran me over and over... I have no problems with the mask, the breathing issue are reducing, as in my mind is not so focused on breathing. Last night I had a very big problem with leakage, I took the mask off at 3:00am (bed time was 12:00am) I could get it to stop leaking but then it would start. This was the first time for this issue.

I feel so beat up it is unreal. My chest still hurts, I'm still very jittery, and I feel so VERY tired. 10x more then when I was not using the mask.

If you are waiting for someone to tell you to give up...it's not going to happen. You say that you have 'no problem with the mask'...but...a big problem with leakage. If you have a 'large' leak problem, you are not getting the pressure needed for your therapy.