1. How do you fall BACK asleep with this on and can I try something else if I can't? I have gotten used to falling asleep with this, at the beginning of the night, but after I get up to go to the bathroom (usually, like clockwork, at four hours, ha!), I can't seem to fall back to sleep with it. I lay there, awake, with machine on trying to sleep for 30-60 minutes and then have been giving up, feeling super aware of the gear and thinking, "well, 3 more hours of sleep with 48 breathing interruptions is better than no sleep at all." (?) I have a history of having trouble sleeping so this whole process has been a challenge for me (and, like many others, I avoided the sleep study for far too many years for this reason.) I just can't wait to get the thing off my face in the middle of the night and be...free! CPAP, when it's on, is getting me down to 1-4 apneas per hour, which tells me that it works, much as I dislike it. My understanding is that getting up to 6 hours gives you the most benefits, so I'm kind of stumped. I'm wondering: what if I use this for 4 hours and then try something else for the next 3 hours - do people supplement this therapy with another "therapy" or other things, such as that elevated pillow (?) or the dental/oral devices (?) for when they can't sleep, or they are stuffed up, or when they are traveling?
2. What is the best soap to use? And how often do you clean the tubing? I guess I fell into the beginner's trap and got the SoClean (my supplier recommended it, I dunno) but am reading here that it may have been a foolish fear purchase...and I'm bummed to accept that I wasted $300 but will stop using or use it like once a week or so it if it really isn't that effective, but just want to make sure I'm doing what I should be doing to get it clean and not degrading the materials.
Thanks in advance for any advice - this is my first time posting on any forum.
