Can't sleep without cpap machine :-))))

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:18 pm

Well, you old-timers know this already. But I sure verified it good and well Saturday night.

You newbies won't be at this stage yet. Yeah, you can probably sleep without your machine. I did in the early days. Felt like HECK in the AM, but I could do it.

Now I can't do it at all.

Forgot my cannula Saturday night. Took it home to wash, and forgot to bring it back to BF's house. Took 3 Benadryl. Nada. Dog Tired. Nada.

Got up to watch TV. I often doze off while watching TV, made some sense... NADA.

Went potty like 27 times. Still no sleep.

Took 2 more Benadryls and a couple of Ibuprofens. Nada.

More TV. Same story.

Good news: 5 Benadryls won't kill you.

Somewhere around 4 am I reckon, I finally dozed off. Had a great nightmare about people at work yelling at me.....

And woke up with a RAGINGLY painful throat. Drier than a desert.

Newbies, XPAP is for life. You will get to a point where you can't even sleep without it.

But the lesson I've learned is - ALWAYS HAVE BACKUP!!! I already packed the washed cannula for next weekend, along with an emergency back up cannula and chinstrap. Next time I think I need to take something home to wash, at least there will be backup there remaining.

Sigh.....
B.

SaltLakeJan · Post by **SaltLakeJan** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:36 pm

Babette,

I have only been on CPAP since January, and it doesn't work too well because of my UPPP surgery, BUT when my nares have been sore again, again. It is almost impossible to get to sleep without the whoosh, whooph of the machine.

Your post is a

Jan

Babette · Post by **Babette** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:43 pm

You just gave me an idea.... I wonder if I just turned the machine on, if I could sleep? Not WELL, admittedly, but at least SOME.

Twice now I've forgotten something. First time I just drove home. Saturday it was after midnight and I was too tired for the 30 mile drive.

I might try that next time I bozo something....

Cheers,
B.

harry33 · Post by **harry33** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 4:55 pm

the dey throat suggests periods of mouth breathing with a nose only mask, this stops all CPAP benefits

kteague · Post by **kteague** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:20 pm

Babs, I hear ya. I won't get in bed without mine - mainly because I'm too chicken. Memories still vivid of dreams of dying. I recently made a choice to stay up all night rather than lay down away from home without it. A couple nights ago my PLMD was acting up and the meds weren't helping. When it's like that I get real agitated and everything irritates me. Couldn't stand the chin strap touching me. Couldn't stand the lightweight tights straps holding on my mask. My legs were swollen from little too time in bed for a couple weeks, so I needed the downtime, so my solution was to position myself on the pillow so the mask was supported and my chin propped up, and I held my mask in place the next couple of hours. What we won't do when we're desperate!

Now, if you can just figure out how small of a gap to leave for vent purposes, if you leave your cannula again, just hold the hose in your mouth all night. Might not be totally therapeutic, but could trick you into sleeping.

Kathy
Whose suggestion is totally innocent!

6PtStar · Post by **6PtStar** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:08 pm

Babette wrote:Forgot my cannula Saturday night. Took it home to wash, and forgot to bring it back to BF's house.
Sigh.....
B.

Who needs a cannula. Just pull those connectors off your hoses and cram them up your nares. Run the hoses around you neck and go Beddy By. Reason number 57 why the NAII is a good mask!

Jerry

elader · Post by **elader** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 6:15 pm

I cant sleep without it. The noise of the house keeps me awake without the whoosh whoosh. Also I am now constantly aware of suffocating to death when I try to nap without it.

sleepycarol · Post by **sleepycarol** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:02 pm

Yep, I know the feeling. Last winter we were without power for a few hours in the night. I don't have a battery back-up and ended up not sleeping very much, if any. I was a nut job the next day at work, but that convinced me I am doomed to be with my bed partner for life.

Wulfman · Post by **Wulfman** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:40 pm

Sounds like you need some more "spares" (of everything), Babs.

But, welcome to the "old timers" category.

Den

dsm · Post by **dsm** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:55 pm

Babs,

Download some photos of machines & hang em on the wall - not quite as good as the real thing, but who knows until tried

But, must confess that having got weight down below 85KG, have spent several nights without a machine (only if I felt sure I was ok)
& all I took was a nasal spray. It has worked thus far. Most I did was 3 nights just using the nasal spray.

But am back on every night because I am sure it would bite me sooner or later if I stayed off for any longer.

Good luck

DSM

#2 Maybe we need to invent some pretend cpap device (battery powered, fits in handbag) to use when we forget the real one
hmmmm, is there a patent looming here

builta · Post by **builta** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 8:59 pm

Hi,

Maybe you could record the sounds of yourself sleeping with your XPAP and then try playing it back.

At least you would have the sounds. just kidding. But, who knows maybe????

BleepingBeauty · Post by **BleepingBeauty** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:41 pm

Well, I guess I'm one of the "old timers" on this subject, because I definitely cannot sleep without la machine. First clue was a four-hour power outtage last year, which occurred just as I was getting into bed. I twisted myself into every shape I could come up with in an effort to find a position I could sleep in without my machine. Nothing worked. I even tried to sleep in my recliner (which I'd done many times before being diagnosed), but I couldn't sleep there, either. It was the most frustrating four hours I can remember.

Shortly thereafter, I bought a nice battery backup unit so I'll never have to experience that kind of hell again. Honestly, at the time, I was surprised at just how dependent I'd become on my machine. In fact, I'm thinking now about how important it is to have a back-up machine on hand at all times...

Kiralynx · Post by **Kiralynx** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:12 pm

I established when I had the respiratory infection that sleeping without my machine was a Bad Idea.

I thought I slept just fine. I woke up in pain like I haven't had since pre-Bipap, and with my surgery incision on fire.

NOT going to do that again!

deerslayer · Post by **deerslayer** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:39 am

Good news: 5 Benadryls won't kill you. ....holy Crapachino child, easy on the meds already ! ...yer gonna zap all them little voices up there in yer noggin

MoneyGal · Post by **MoneyGal** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:02 am

It is such a relief, honestly, for me to read this thread. I went away this weekend to sleep somewhere else than my house since being diagnosed at the end of January. I packed up my CPAP but forgot the power cord! When I realized that I was so terrified at the kind of sleep I might get that I resolved to stay up all night - surely it would be better than the kind of not-sleep I would get.

I made it until about 4 a.m., when I just couldn't help but fall asleep, and the sleep I had was terrible. Also fascinating, because the contrast between my CPAP-assisted sleep and non-CPAP sleep was so great. And scary all over again, because I realized how NORMAL that horrible sleep had become for me. I used to feel like that all the time. I felt like I was choking and suffocating, and my body was radiating with pain. And then I stumbled through the next day in an irritable fog.

I got home as soon as I could and had a CPAP-assisted nap. Now I'm very seriously considering buying a backup machine - not that it would would have helped in that situation, but to avoid repeating that situation for any reason.

Can't sleep without cpap machine :-))))

Can't sleep without cpap machine :-))))

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Machine	Mask

Additional Comments: straight cpap 12.20 AHI avg.0.79

Mask	Humidifier