That first night of sleep is eluding me now

[TheDreamer]

The first two nights with the CPAP, I slept pretty good....5 hours the first night and 7 hours the second night. But, since then, I keep getting up through the night. Seems to be getting worse and worse.

Last night I tried the nasal cushion....couldn't get it to not leak whenever I moved, so I switched back to nasal pillows. It is hard to fall asleep now, and this night I was up numerous times...and got out of bed around 1am and 4am. But was sleeping when my alarm went at 6am. At least I didn't feel worse in the morning than I had the night before....especially since its a Monday. So, that's an improvement.

Guess it is progress that I get up around the same time my alarm goes off. Before I had my alarm set to 5:30am, under the premise that is what I needed to be able to roll out of bed at 6am.....though last the couple of months it had been more like 6:30am before I rolled out. I had actually changed my alarm back to 6am before starting CPAP, because I had stopped caring about trying to get into work on time.

Last night I had extra fun, because it felt like somebody was spraying me with water...but when I woke, I couldn't find the source....no water came out when I shook out my hose/mask.

Debating what I'm going to try tonight....tempted to take the humidifier off and see if it really was the addition of that on night 3 that is affecting things. It is making an annoying sound every time I inhale. Which I guess from messages I found on here, is normal....maybe have to see what my options are for making other changes.

The CPAP is already lower than my bed....

I tried putting it further away from my bed last night, but that caused some problems when I tried to roll over last night.

The Dreamer.

[Bluebonnet_Gal]

Guess it is progress that I get up around the same time my alarm goes off. Before I had my alarm set to 5:30am, under the premise that is what I needed to be able to roll out of bed at 6am.....though last the couple of months it had been more like 6:30am before I rolled out.

Boy, can I relate! I still set my alarm clock to 4:30 so I'll be up by 5:30. At least not I'm getting up at 5:30. Recently (before APAP), I wasn't able to roll out of bed until 6:00 or 6:15! So I guess I've seen SOME improvement there. Also, I no longer have the nearly overwhelming urge to crawl back in bed for the first hour or so after getting up!

[Babette]

Yeah, the break in period is rough. I went through 8 masks in 6 weeks before I found one I could sleep with all night every night - the Nasal Aire II.

I suggest you just try a different mask. You can try before you buy on these test drives:

viewtopic/t35991/Mask-Test-Drives--Try- ... uy-it.html

Good luck and keep plugging away at it! You'll get there!
B.

[Sleepy Boy]

I started cpap in July. The first morning after my hospital sleep test, I walked out of there feeling 20 Yrs. younger. The last 3-4 nights, Ive had about 2-4 hrs. sleep each night. I cant lay still, I get up, lay back down, get up, lay back down. I wear my mask a while, then take it off and sleep without it. I'm sure that dosent help. I'm not sure whats going on. They said I had RLS, they gave me Ropinrol, that stuff made me worse. This only happens once in a while. Most of the time I sleep great. I know how the "not sleeping" thing feels. It's pretty frustrating. But its only temporary. So if you dont give up-I wont...Larry...

[Babette]

Try another mask....

Good luck!
B.

[TheDreamer]

Well, I contemplated taking the humidifier off to see if that would cure my problem...but I chickened out.

Instead I moved the CPAP to the lowershelf on my nightstand (dumping everything that was on that shelf onto the floor ). I could still hear the noise of air whooshing through the humidifier in sync with my breathing.... And, I still woke up numerous times during the night (more than before)....though I only got out of bed once.

So, I guess I need to figure out where I can stash it...so that its noise won't bother me....wondering about doubling the hose so I can find somewhere distant to put it. Wonder if the DME will just give me new hoses every 3 months, or do I have to exchange for them? Though don't know I can wait that long for a second hose.

Or will I just take the humidifier off....

The Dreamer.

[Babette]

Did you try a Whisper Cap? Lots of people report it really helps with the M Series noise. You can get them on cpap.com

Cheers,
B.

[OutaSync]

Would you happen to have a cheap, styrofoam cooler? If you do, you could cut out holes for the hose and the air inlet and turn it upside down over your cpap. I had to do that when I first got my machine to help deaden the noise. Now, it either got quieter, or I got used to it, but I don't need to do it any more.

Good luck,
Bev

[BeanMeScot]

The humidifier can certainly keep you awake. It can close down your sinuses so you can't breath as well, you can get sprayed with water, etc. I have a hose huggie for my hose and another one for the short hose on my mask. I also have a Reptile Cord to warm the hose on really cold nights. Sometimes there is still a good bit of moisture.

Nothing ever stays exactly the same. Things will change from night to night because of a variety of reasons including the temperature and humidity of your room and your own sleep cycles.

[TheDreamer]

I hoping to slip away from work early today (for a change)....apparently, my cpap.com order is with UPS.

Wish I had known about using a styrofoam cooler trick....of course, I hadn't even had my sleep study then....but I had gotten a shipment from Omaha Steak for Thanksgiving....

The Dreamer.

[TonySanDiego]

Perhaps you can try some "white noise" in your room.

I run a floor fan on high and it drowns out everything. Of course, it is like sleeping on a DC-6 crossing the Pacific, but the noise is constant and just becomes part of the background.

Works for me.

Tony

[OutaSync]

The Omaha Steak cooler is the exact one I use. Perfect fit!

Bev

[Peaktagger]

Well, I contemplated taking the humidifier off to see if that would cure my problem...but I chickened out.

Instead I moved the CPAP to the lowershelf on my nightstand (dumping everything that was on that shelf onto the floor ). I could still hear the noise of air whooshing through the humidifier in sync with my breathing.... And, I still woke up numerous times during the night (more than before)....though I only got out of bed once.

So, I guess I need to figure out where I can stash it...so that its noise won't bother me....wondering about doubling the hose so I can find somewhere distant to put it. Wonder if the DME will just give me new hoses every 3 months, or do I have to exchange for them? Though don't know I can wait that long for a second hose.

Or will I just take the humidifier off....

The Dreamer.

I use foam earplugs ... don't wanna hear myself do a Darth Vader impression all night long ...

[TheDreamer]

I've had other suggestions for white noise machines or methods.....might try it, I'm pretty sure my alarm will still work if I use it to make white noise....maybe later when I don't need to be in to work at a specific time.

I'm not sure when will be the next time I order stuff from Omaha Steak....could be next Thanksgiving....could be next year....well, I'm sure there'll be some special occasion where I'm too busy to not be lazy this year. But, it could be a while.

Maybe I'll buy something else in the meantime that might work.

I've tried ear plugs for other reasons in the past...the hurt my ears....so want to avoid that option.

Meanwhile, I got a bunch of stuff, like whisper cap, hose cover, hose buddy, pur sleep starter package....

Though off to a bad start...there's a combination smell coming from the package, its oily or something...and 3 of the sample vials are empty (PurSleep Fresh, PurSleep Deep, AirCandy Strawberry)

Also got EncoreViewer and a card reader...

The Dreamer.

[TheDreamer]

Well software is interesting.

First I didn't know that you can't scroll to see all pages of the report....so I was a bit disappointed seeing just 'compliance' information. Is there a clock in there, or is it somehow all relative?

Interesting how does show the fragments of sleep I do, etc. So, first night, a bunch of fragments for the first 40 minutes and then a nice 4:58 chunk of time. Second night, a rough 30 minutes and then a nice 6:54 chunk of time. Third night, first with the humidifier....2:42, 3:56, 2:12.

Night 4: 3:05/5:31
Night 5: 2:49/4:22/2:14
Night 6: ??/3:00/?? (6:40 total)
Night 7: 4:38/?? (6:39 total)

Not sure I understand the Leak information...

Though the nightly leak graph does generally match what seemed to happen that night. Like that night I woke up to find mask half off, mouth open and dry. Or that this morning I opted to use the auto-off feature (since I had moved the machine to a less accessible location....)

AHI seems to get progressively worse....except for last night....yesterday it hit 5.7.

Though I was okay when I woke up yesterday...but this morning, I so wanted to stay in bed after the alarm...and without the CPAP.

The Dreamer