Another newbie with questions

[savant222]

Sorry if these questions have already been answered but I've been trying to find threads and post related to my questions without much luck.

Let me start by saying I've been on the machine for 6 nights now and I'm loving it. Feeling better and my wife LOVES the quieter nights.

I have only had one night where I was able to keep it on for a more than 4 hour straight period but I've done it in stages 2-3 hours on, 1-2 hours off (then the wife wakes me to put it back on) and the next few hours on. Is this common? How long does it take on average to adjust?

Also, what kind of sleep habits / sleep preparation rituals can anyone recommend? Prior to the machine, my wife would go to bed first and I would stay up as long as I could and then crash out. She would get a few hours of good sleep and then I would come in and neither of us would sleep well. Some mornings I would wake to find her in the guest room. I'm still finding myself staying up later than her and this has become a habit that I want to break.

And finally, I'm kind of a technology geek so when I saw that others could monitor their sleep habits on a computer (and the many awesome graphs and charts in the threads here) I decided I wanted to track this myself as much as possible. This morning I logged into the mysleepmapper.com site (got to it from a link on the Philips Respironic site) and uploaded my SD card. Two things happened, I was disappointed in the graphics shown (I want those awesome wave graphs) and I was only able to upload 1 day of data even though the card has been plugged in from the beginning and not touched. Is there a reason my card only uploaded on day? Is this something I must do daily? Should I be doing it at all? If not, I'll just let it be, but if so, can anyone recommend a better software that will work with my SD card and give me more details?

Thanks,
Scott

PS. Maybe I should mention I have a REMstar Pro C-Flex+ (REF 460P) with humidifier and use a ResMed Mirage FX mask.

[123.Shawn T.W.]

Yes, it may take some time for you to keep the mask and machine on for the whole night ...

Go to bed when your tired.

SleepyHead is the software you want!
http://sourceforge.net/projects/sleepyhead/files/

Then thanks to Pugsy ... read this thread - viewtopic/t88983/Pugsys-PointersSleepyH ... nding.html

[Sir NoddinOff]

The Mayo Clinic has extensive online info on sleep hygiene... this is a good place to start:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/insomn ... ION=causes

Check out this CPAPtalk thread for solutions to sleep problems:

viewtopic/t14494/Newbie-would-like-to-h ... lease.html

[Deenie-deen]

Hello,
I am in my 4th month now and I am sleeping really well and I have the mask on all night. Here are some of the things I did that really helped me.
1. Hung a rope and tied my hose so I could move around with no pulling on the mask.
You can buy a hose management pole but my rope works well and it is cheap.
2. I put the mask on and read a book so I could get used to the feeling of the mask and the air flow.
I used a book light so my hubby could fall asleep.

3. I use a nasal mask and the straps on it are really adjustable. The way the straps are situated on my head does not look like the picture at all. I put my mask on and got onto my back and kept adjusting until it felt the most comfortable.
I made the mistake of making the side straps to tight and my nose was sore. I relaxed them and was happy with the results.

4. I just got a new mask of the same make and I am suprised that the straps are not in the same place as the mask I just retired. I was lucky and got used to the mask and air flow almost immediately. This is not always the case so if it takes you more time to get comfortable that is ok. Actually I think it is probably the norm. I was really excited about having a cpap machine and the idea of a good nights sleep. Maybe my happiness helped me adjust so quickly. Not sure but I am thankful.

5. I am not into the tech side so I can't help you there.

I hope this helps.
I love how much better I feel now.
Deenie-deen

[6PtStar]

If you want to use Sleepy Head you will need the patch to use it on the 60 series machines. I will PM you a link to Encore Basic from Respirionics. You can try both.

Jerry

[Pugsy]

SleepyHead now has a version with the 60 series Patch file already included in the install set up files. So no need to go to the extra work to get the Patch file in place. It makes things much easier.

Just download the full 0.9.3 version from the list of downloadable files...dated May 19, 2013.

[savant222]

Thanks to all who responded here and with private messages. Things are improving nightly. Had my first 6 and a 1/2 hour night and woke up feeling great.

Got the EncoreBasic and the Sleepyhead software setup and will be playing with them and trying to learn all the terminology over the next few weeks. Thanks again.

Scott