Week 3 & suddenly struggling

[LizaLouise]

Hi All,

I had a great first two weeks of CPAP. At the one week check in the technician said my results were 'as close to perfect as possible' and didn't change any settings.

Then all of a sudden a couple days ago I became hyper aware of the sound of my exhale and I just couldn't stand it. At the same time, i started waking up in the night struggling opening my mouth and feeling like the pressure was overwhelming. For the past two nights I have stayed awake for 3 hours, feeling like the pressure was too much to bear, like i couldn't slow or relax my breathing, and getting annoyed at the sound of my own exhale. I am sad to say the last two nights I have given up in the early hours of the morning, and slept without my CPAP.

I don't understand how it was all going so easily and then it just became so hard!

Is this normal? is there any advice? I am looking at the headband type headphones to help with the noise aspect, but i don't know what to do about the breathing issues.

Can sinus troubles cause this sensation? I have been feeling like i'm on the verge of getting a cold, but nothing significant.

[Julie]

What machine do you have - most come with a feature that gives relief of exhalation pressure at different settings, and we can tell you how to access the feature if we know more. As far as feeling on the verge of a cold, you may have your humidifier setting higher than needed (if needed at all)) depending on your climate, season, etc. What are your pressure settings?

[Sheriff Buford]

I'm assuming you are in the autoset mode. Sometimes my machine ramps up to treat an apnea, and when finished, it doesn't retreat to the low pressure setting. This doesn't happen much. I use the moment to go to the restroom. If I don't need to go, I reach over and shut the machine off for a few seconds. Then I turn it back on. The machine will start at the lower setting. This only happens maybe once every month or two.
The machine doesn't retreat to the lower setting and bottoms out at a higher pressure and it wakes me up. I wouldn't recommend stopping and and starting the machine too much. It's probably not good for it.
Sheriff

[LizaLouise]

I have a ResMed Autoset 10, the settings look like they're on 5-15. It starts on 4 and the average is 9. I don't think humidity is the issue, it's a dry summer here and it's been really nice having some moisture. It's on an automatic setting for that too.

The good news is yesterday I got really tired, so put on some calming music, left my earplugs out and successfully had a 1 hour nap with my machine on. Then at night I was able to sleep with it again because I knew I could again. It was definitely all in my head. Isn't the brain incredible?!

[OkyDoky]

When you get the chance put your equipment in your profile then it will show in each of your posts. Here is a link to show you how. wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile

[LizaLouise]

When you get the chance put your equipment in your profile then it will show in each of your posts. Here is a link to show you how. wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile

Thanks all done. I had thought I would wait until I had my own setup purchased but I can see now that makes it difficult to anyone to offer help at this stage