CPAP a month later

[DerDrache]

After my initial problems falling asleep with my mask on I was on Ambien to assist. While that did help me fall asleep, I felt all too familiar pangs of depression setting in. I was treated for depression five years prior but had been fine since. Sure enough, I found that severe depression can be a side affect of Ambien. Since then I haven't touched it.

Has CPAP helped my sleep? Undoubtedly. There's a night and day difference between how I used to feel and my energy levels. I used to have an extremely hard time getting up in the morning, once I was up I'd be exhausted all day with a severe crash around 1-2pm each day to the point where I almost fell asleep at work a few times. Now I wake up feeling refreshed and while I still wouldn't consider myself a morning person, I'm doing much better. I think I've also noticed how much more refreshing a simple 20-30 minute nap can be using the CPAP machine. Previously a nap would just make me more tired.

While I'm definitely impressed with the results, I do have two areas of concern.

Cleaning/changing my water. I suck about this. Part of it is laziness and the other part is ignorance I think. The one time I've cleaned my hose it took nearly 20 hours to dry. To dry it I hung it over a clothes hanger in my closet as I've heard that there are nasties in the bathroom that you should avoid. Since I have cats and their litterbox is in the bathroom I'm particularly paranoid about this. I tend to change my water every other day with distilled water, simply rinsing out the water chamber with hot tap water. I clean the mask about once a week, but in all likelihood probably closer to once every 8-9 days. What soaps do you all use as everything I've found is either anti-bacterial or scented and I've heard that those are both no-nos.

Congestion. I use the humidifier at a pretty low setting and it never fails, each morning I wake up with one of my nostrils congested and just last night I was able to track down what determines which one. Whichever side of the mask I have the hose coming into, that side is fine. The other one gets congested. I suppose this makes sense as more air is being forced through the closer nostril but is there any way to deal with this using a swift mask? Should I drop the humidifier all together?

[Bonnie]

My cleaning routine with the humidifier is pretty much like yours. I add distilled water to it as needed and give it a good cleaning about every 4-5 days. For that I add about a 1/4 cup vinegar & a squirt of baby shampoo after filling up the humidifier with hot water, swish it around, leave it for 20 minutes or so and rinse thouroughly. I have a gas stove and I set my glass cutting board over the burners and place the hunidifier on it to dry. Doesn't take long at all. For my unheated hose & Swift I would fill up the kitchen sink with hot water, vinegar and baby shampoo, soak the hose for 20 min. or so and rinse. I have a patio door in the kitchen and hung a heavy duty long twist tie over the curtain rod and attach the hose to it and air dry. If I do this in the morning it is dry by night. The nasal pillows I rinse out daily with a squirt of baby shampoo. Everyone has varied cleaning routines but I think the bottom line is getting it done at least weekly.

A higher setting on the humidifier will help with congestion as does the Swift (seems the blowing air right into the nose helps, it was a Godsend to me when I had a really bad cold last fall). The problem with a higher humidity setting is the chance for rainout which I had, big time. I went to a heated hose 6 weeks ago and no rainout since! Now cleaning a heated hose is an all together different procedure......

[ozij]

I think I've also noticed how much more refreshing a simple 20-30 minute nap can be using the CPAP machine.

Ditto.

Great to hear you're doing so well.
You might want to consider drying your hose by letting the machine blow through it for a while - with no mask attached - in the evening; or you could buy a second hose and alternate them.

I hang my hose and mask(s) - separated - on hooks on the back of the bedroom door.

The congested nostril is always the one on the whichever side you lie on - gravitation does it. I found my congestion - one sided or two sided - got much better when I added the fine filter to the standard one

Don't forget to wash the washable filter.

And you can always try what it feels like without the humidifier.
O.