New user

[Greg A 701]

Just wanted to make a quick post to say hello to everyone. I'm new to the CPAP thing - had my machine only about three weeks. I'm not having too great of of success... yet. Thought I did have one red-letter night last week where I slept for four hours with it on! I'm currently using a Swift LT with the ResMed S8 Autoset II CPAP. I really like the nasal pillows and don't seem to have any trouble keeping my mouth closed (awake or asleep) - but have flare ups of bad sinuses, which is what has plagued me for the last week or so, so a full mask may be where I end up - but I really don't like having that thing sticking out, banging into the pillow, etc. I'm on my 7th mask and just picked up another one (Hybrid?) today, so we'll see how that works out.

Anyway, enough about me - It's great to find a group of folks who understand all this and what it takes to get used to the CPAP. I look forward to getting used to it and not hating to go to bed because you know the CPAP is waiting for you.

Greg
Champaign, Illinois - USA

[6PtStar]

Welcome Greg!! You will find a great and knowledgable group of people on this board. Glad to have you join!!

Jerry

[KatieW]

Welcome to the forum Greg. Good luck on finding a mask that works for you.

[pagebypage]

Wow! You must have some cool insurance to be able to go through 7 masks in only 3 weeks!
I use the Liberty hybrid and like it. It is less bulky, requires no humidifier (at least for me in this climate) and doesn't dig into the bridge of my nose. Do you still have all those masks?

[bdp522]

Welcome to the forum!

Here are Roosters fitting tips for the hybrid mask, I think they are the best instructions for getting this mask to work for you;

viewtopic.php?t=14422

Brenda

[Greg A 701]

Wow! You must have some cool insurance to be able to go through 7 masks in only 3 weeks!
I use the Liberty hybrid and like it. It is less bulky, requires no humidifier (at least for me in this climate) and doesn't dig into the bridge of my nose. Do you still have all those masks?

It's really my medical supplier who is so good to work with! I have returned the ones that I ruled out already, but right now have 4. Eventually I'll be down to one (or maybe two, which I'll pay for the second one out of my pocket). The Swift is my favorite, thus far.

[RipVW]

Hello & Welcome, Greg A 701! Glad you found this forum—SO much useful info and everyone here is so willing to help!

You're lucky to have found this forum as you begin CPAP—took me almost year before I found this place and, with the help of folks here, got my CPAP therapy working as it should. It does take time to get everything tweaked and working at its best, so patience is key as one begins CPAP.

"You are getting sleepy . . ."

[Greg A 701]

Hello & Welcome, Greg A 701! Glad you found this forum—SO much useful info and everyone here is so willing to help!

You're lucky to have found this forum as you begin CPAP—took me almost year before I found this place and, with the help of folks here, got my CPAP therapy working as it should. It does take time to get everything tweaked and working at its best, so patience is key as one begins CPAP.

"You are getting sleepy . . ."

Thanks Rip. My patience is wearing VERY thin at the moment. I had the wrong mask name for the full face that I'm trying, it's the Liberty, not the Hybrid.

Tried the Liberty tonight, but didn't care for it - made my cheeks puff out and since I sleep on my left side, I drooled like a new born!

I couldn't get the Swift LT to stop leaking tonight for some reason. Fiddled, fiddled, fiddled, tightened, loosened, wiggled, got up and cleaned the nose piece, etc., etc. After messing with it for about 90 minutes, I finally gave up and took it off.

Patience is growing thin - after a little over three weeks - I desperately need something to work. I'm very close to giving up.

I'm headed back to bed. Doubt I put the CPAP back on tonight.

*sigh*

[123breathe]

Hi from Bloomington/Normal.
Starting my second night with CPAP and nasal pillows tonight. Today was bad sinus day--but I took a benedryl, and much better. Tonight, I'm starting with humidifier on high, and will back down if I'm drowning. I really like the nasal pillows, and the fit. I have a pressure of 14 which I understand is mid to high, so there's a lot of air that's new to my sinuses, and I will try to work through the side effects for a while. Can I ask what caused you to change? Thanks, and good luck.

[bdp522]

Here is a link to discussions on the swift LT (put together by RestedGal) that may help;

viewtopic.php?p=276703#276703

Brenda

[2flamingos]

Greg -

Welcome! And don't give up. I can understand being discouraged, but believe me once you get the mask thing down, you will be so happy you stuck with it!

There are soooo many nice folks here, and they are all willing to give you help and encouragement. Most have been through exactly what you are going through, it is not uncommon. In fact, I believe that more people have problems finding the right mask and acclimating than do not. I was one of the fortunate ones. Only once in the year that I have been on PAP have I taken my mask off during the night. While I have had a few nights where I could not sleep (not PAP related), I have not had a single night that I did not sleep with my PAP.

Over the past year I have had the Switft LT, Hybrid, Opus 360, and FullLife masks. I live by my Opus, and keep the LT as back-up. The hybrid and FullLife are in the corner waiting on met to either give them to a friend or put them on Craig's List or CPAPAuction.com.

We all have to experiment some to get it right, so please do not give up!

Good Luck!

[Greg A 701]

I'm still trying to get used to the CPAP. My RT had suggested the auto setting, so she got approval from the PA I was working with when I went through the sleep study. That seemed to be a little more tolerable, but today, due to a schedule mix up on my part, I saw the actual Sleep Disorder doc and he changed that and bumped my pressure up from 10 to 12 and had the auto function removed.

I've not worn it the last few nights and boy have I been sleeping well! I went to bed about 11 tonight and put it on - only to take it off about 5 minutes later, hating the pressure, not feeling like I can breath, just hating it! Hating it!

I'm beginning to think that since my symptom is not directly sleep related (1 round of a-fib) that I just can't seem to get my mind to accept the CPAP. When I say it's not sleep related, I mean that I have never been tired during the day, fallen asleep while driving, had headaches, etc.... the types of things I see so many people discussing. Not that I want any of those things in order to accept it, but the truth is that I sleep better without it, than with it. Period.

So I'm going to stay up for awhile and get good and tired before I go back to bed and try again. And again. And again.

*sigh*

Greg

[kteague]

Paul, few thoughts on your sleep issues....

Are you tracking your data either from the screen every morning before noon or by the software? Wondering if doc downloaded data and used that to justify increasing the pressure to 12. Do you know what range the PA had the auto set to? Too often it gets set wide open from 4-20 and that alone can cause trouble due to taking to long to climb to an effective pressure. What was your pressure range?

But about the current problem of not being able to keep it on 5 minutes... Did your doc enable the ramp, and if so, at what pressure? Again, it is common for them to get set up with a ramp starting at 4, and most can't breathe at that pressure. When I had so much trouble keeping my mask on even for several minutes, turned out the ramp was the culprit. So simple, but the doc didn't get it. Found this place and took care of that right away and was able to improve my mask time. Ramp is a comfort feature that you can feel free to increase the pressure and/or shorten the time as works best for you.

Do you have copies of your sleep studies? If not, keeping a copy for your personal files is a good idea. Peruse them at your leisure till you fully comprehend what's going on with you. Maybe if you read in black and white the specifics of your sleep apnea, you'd be more convinced. It would be interesting to read the data on someone who had no daytime symptoms. So your doc referred you for a sleep study based on an episode of A-fib? Wow! Personally, A-fib (or any other arrythmia) with untreated sleep apnea sounds scary to me.

I'm not surprised you sleep better without the treatment than with it at this point. The OSA your body was familiar with, all these new sensations have your brain on high alert. Once your treatment is tweaked and things bevome increasingly familiar, your sleep time should increase. In the meantime, check that ramp.

Kathy

[KatieW]

Hi from Bloomington/Normal.
Starting my second night with CPAP and nasal pillows tonight. Today was bad sinus day--but I took a benedryl, and much better. Tonight, I'm starting with humidifier on high, and will back down if I'm drowning. I really like the nasal pillows, and the fit. I have a pressure of 14 which I understand is mid to high, so there's a lot of air that's new to my sinuses, and I will try to work through the side effects for a while. Can I ask what caused you to change? Thanks, and good luck.

In one of my newbie posts, I mentioned "I took a benadryl", and received this advice, so I'm passing it on to you:

by SleepyT on Sat Nov 07, 2009 9:11 am
Katie...glad your night was better. Wondering about the benedryl though. Some of the posters here say benedryl can make apneas worse. If congestion is a problem, I use the generic version of Zyrtec (called Equate Allergy...cetirizine hydrochloride)...which is not supposed to interfere with apnea issues.

Just a thought!

When I did a search on benadryl, I found lot's of information on the side affects (it's sedating, and can make apneas worse), and alternative meds to try. I'm now using 1/2 of a 10 mg. Equate Allergy Relief (generic Claritin) at bedtime. It's OTC and $4 for 30 tablets, which I cut in half.

[Greg A 701]

I just wanted to post a follow up (now that it's been nearly a year). A couple friends of mine are on the forum here and have run across my post and asked how I'm doing now. This made me think that others might be reading my post and wondering. So.... here is a little update.

I struggled from day one last October when I got my machine. Through the excellent efforts of my RT helping me find the right mask and providing personal encouragement and all the time spent reading stories on this forum, I finally made it. The chat room was another god send when I would have 'one of those nights". There was almost always someone in the room that could lend an ear or offer advise. On March 7 of this year, like someone flipped a switch, I "took" to the CPAP and have been using it 100% of the time since. I'm not sure why it took me so long to adjust to it, but it did. While I never had the sleepiness symptoms, I do find that I feel more rested and ready to go when my feet hit the ground in the morning. Rarely do I feel foggy or does it take me very long to clear my head when I first wake up. I find that I sleep much more soundly and am truly getting good, restful sleep. This is confirmed by the fact that I seem to be dreaming more. I know that my overall health is greatly improved by using the CPAP and my partner says the bedroom is much nicer now that there isn't a fog horn in the room all night. I travel a fair amount and even bought a second (same equipment) machine to make getting ready to go easier.

My advise to anyone struggling would be to hang in there. Read the forums, chat in the chat room, and talk to your friends. I think you'll be surprised once you start talking about it just how many of your friends also use CPAP's. I know I was.

I also wanted to thank everyone on the forum who either knowingly responded to one of my posts or had contributed to another thread that was of benefit to me. This forum was, quite possibly, a life saver!

Thank you!

Greg