Removing mask at night

sleepylite · Post by **sleepylite** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 9:01 pm

I had been on CPAP for a month with no problems. Suddenly, about a week ago, I started taking my mask off at night, falling back asleep without it, and getting apnea events. My supplier recommended increasing humidity and the sleep lab recommended increasing pressure. I did both and neither helped. I have two masks that I use, a nasal gel and Swift pillow, which are very comfortable. I have no problem falling asleep or wearing the masks while watching TV before I go to sleep. Any ideas why this problem would all of sudden start? Any ideas on how to fix it?

rested gal · Post by **rested gal** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 10:13 pm

This sounds too simple and may or may not work for you. Of course it requires a reasonably comfortable mask that suits them, which you apparently have. Some people report that just talking to themselves (or thinking to themselves) while lying there waiting to fall asleep helps do the trick. Enouraging or stern words - whatever works best for you:

"This mask is soooo good for me...I'll keep it on all night."

"This treatment is saving my life...I'll wear the mask all night."

"I absolutely need to wear this mask...I WON'T take it off tonight."

Of course, even with a comfortable mask, if you have mouth air leaks while wearing a nasal mask or nasal pillows interface, the lack of real treatment during a massive mouth leak episode, and the subsequent events (apneas/hypopneas) might cause you to arouse enough to "get that thing off my face" without remembering doing so. The same kind of suffocation arousal that was happening before you ever got started on cpap.

sleepylite · Post by **sleepylite** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 4:00 am

How do you know if you have mouth leaks at night?

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Thu Aug 18, 2005 6:51 pm

Last night, for the very first time, I woke up to find my mask beside me on the pillow. It was the sound of the high volume of air blowing out the pillows that woke me. I put the mask back on and fell asleep again.

That was fine for an hour but then I woke up sick; I think it was a food allergy. I spent the next 45 minutes being ill. To make matters worse I'm on a business trip, but I do have a well stocked kit of meds with me (I never know when a 1 week trip will turn into 4 weeks, usually to some back of beyond in Mexco ... luckily it is Richmond VA this time).

In my case I think I was restless because of stomach discomfort and literally rubbed the mask off against the pillow.

When I got back to sleep at almost 3am I was able to keep the mask on the rest of the night.

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 5:00 am

And 3 times last night I found my mask beside me. However I'm getting some rainout here in my hotel room (cooler than at home) so I think the moisture is causing me to feel that there is an annoyance on my face and remove it.

Tonight I'll be home and have a chance to check out that theory.

And I can see a Aussie heated hose in my very near future!

Janelle · Post by **Janelle** » Fri Aug 19, 2005 6:28 pm

Most sleep drs will tell you if you remove your mask in your sleep the pressure is too low. I think it could be because it is too high, too. I know when I started having runaway pressures they woke me up every time. But I don't sleep deeply, normally, so I might have removed my mask if I'd been deeper asleep.

Or it could be a number of things. You didn't say if you were on APAP or CPAP

gracie97 · Post by **gracie97** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 1:02 am

Have had the same problem of removing mask in my sleep. I think the major reason may have been nasal congestion in the middle of the night.

For complex biochemical reasons I've read about but don't really understand well enough to attempt to explain, it seems that congestion peaks around 3 - 5 a.m. In fact, I didn't know I even had congestion until I read that and started paying attention to breathing conditions (nose clogged and always switched to mouth) when I awoke during those hours (before CPAP).

Since starting CPAP, I've noticed that when I treat my sinuses a bit, I don't remove the mask. When I forget to do that (because I don't have waking hours congestion to encourage me to do it), I tend to remove the mask.

This may not be the case with you unless you, like me and many others, use some means of holding your mouth shut so that if your nose route stuffs up, something has to give and the mask is fair game.

[I use just a couple sprays of NasalCrom per day. NasalCrom is an OTC mast cell stabilizer that must be used for about a week before it kicks in well. But it can be used safely indefinitely and has a very low side effect profile.]

Grace

DaveMunson · Post by **DaveMunson** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 8:00 am

Mine was the sudden ramp up with the previous machine I had. I would wake up with it off. When the wife woke me up right after I took it off I looked around: pressure really high. She told me that it ramped up.

I guess at the higher pressure, it was difficult to breath so I had to take it off. The only way for me to figure it out was when she woke me up right after I did it.

I was on the "rent before you buy" and said magic words to get the doctor to switch me to cflex machine.

WAFlowers · Post by **WAFlowers** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 5:18 pm

I"m quite sure it was the slight rainout irritating me. Every time I woke up I found my nose and cheeks to be damp.

Last night I was home and had no rainout. The mask stayed on all night, no problem .

seagull · Post by **seagull** » Sat Aug 20, 2005 9:03 pm

I took someones idea and got a great surge protector with lots of sockets. My fan, light, clock, 420e, and answering machine are all plugged in it. It is SITTING ON THE FLOOR, and I think one of my cats must have stepped on the switch and turned everything off!!! Normally I would notice right away as I have to have the fan noise. Unfortunatley I have another fan on the other side of me plugged into a different socket. It kept running, so I did not wake up because all my electricity did not go out. Only that one cluster. Anyway, the point of this story is I HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG I LAID THERE BREATHING OLD AIR. An alarm would be a nice feature.
I also found my swift on the floor one night, just blowing and blowing. I am surprised that it only happened once.

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): 420E, swift

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): 420E, swift

Mask	Humidifier

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