Brand New

[jerseybrat611]

So I'm only on day 2 and last night I didn't make it an hour with this machine. Tonight I'm already ready to rip it off. It feels like it's suffocating me. How do you get past that? Being slightly claustrophobic, that too makes this difficult for me to adjust. How do you do this successfully? Am I alone or has anyone ever felt this too?

[palerider]

So I'm only on day 2 and last night I didn't make it an hour with this machine. Tonight I'm already ready to rip it off. It feels like it's suffocating me. How do you get past that? Being slightly claustrophobic, that too makes this difficult for me to adjust. How do you do this successfully? Am I alone or has anyone ever felt this too?

Generally, you turn up the pressure.

[chunkyfrog]

You need the manual--not the half-ass, lame-o pamphlet they give to patients,
but the operators manual, misnamed the "clinical" manual to limit accessibility.
You can download it FREE from apneaboard.com.
Too many cpap machines are delivered at factory defaults--which is WRONG,
because it is ineffective and borderline sadistic.

[Julie]

Make sure you know the EXACT model name and # of your machine - many sound alike - and what min. and max pressure settings you have, as well as any other info you'd like to post here- and please stay in this thread for any Q's etc and we'll help with whatever possible. So, which machine model and mask do you have? Take any meds? The feeling you described is common to those whose doctors 'prescribed' the machine's default low setting because they did not know how to do otherwise... the science of apnea is one thing, the practical stuff like understanding the numbers is another!

[LSAT]

What is the exact machine you are using? If it's a Resmed, the model name will be in the lower right front. Your pressure setting will show on the screen when you turn on the machine. What specific mask are you using? Let's start with that information.

[JLROhio]

So I'm only on day 2 and last night I didn't make it an hour with this machine. Tonight I'm already ready to rip it off. It feels like it's suffocating me. How do you get past that? Being slightly claustrophobic, that too makes this difficult for me to adjust. How do you do this successfully? Am I alone or has anyone ever felt this too?

I have a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet CPAP machine - I felt similar to you when I first started.

For ME, I found that turning on the Expiratory pressure relief (EPR) setting on my ResMed allowed me to feel like I was able to breath a little better.
EPR allowed me to actually feel like I could exhale within my mask (at the time I was wearing a mask). Prior to EPR, I felt that I could not exhale - thus feeling like I was suffocating like you.

If you have a ResMed, you can access the clinician menu and turn on/off the EPR setting and change the settings (1 - 3) and see if that helps!

Let us know what you are able to do, your machine, your settings....everything you can think of - this place can help you!!!

[ChicagoGranny]

It feels like it's suffocating me.

Many (brainless) prescribers order the pressure set at the lowest possible setting - 4.0 cm. I would feel suffocation at that level. What are your pressure settings?

[JLROhio]

It feels like it's suffocating me.

Many (brainless) prescribers order the pressure set at the lowest possible setting - 4.0 cm. I would feel suffocation at that level. What are your pressure settings?

Hopefully they come back...

Because now I'm really curious as to what is causing their "suffocation" feeling.

What you say about a low pressure setting could be what the issue is but when I heard them say it felt like they were suffocating, I remembered back to feeling similar in that I could not exhale (note: breathing requires both inhale and exhale) until I learned about EPR and turned that on and set it at 2 or 3 - I felt so much better to be able to both inhale and exhale without trouble!

[ChicagoGranny]

breathing requires both inhale and exhale

Holy zidzaks, Batman!

Yeah, they need to come back and state what their pressure settings are.

[zonker]

breathing requires both inhale and exhale

Holy zidzaks, Batman!

Yeah, they need to come back and state what their pressure settings are.

op came in yesterday at 6:40 am.

chose not to answer questions.

oh well.