Four nights and getting more tired by the day

[leebrown]

Well, I've now made it through 4 nights on the hose sorta. After a few nights of waking up terrified that someone was trying to suffocate me, I realized I was feeling stuffy so I cranked up the humidifier from 2 to 4 and I can now breathe freely all night. However after 4 nights I've only managed 2 nights over 4 hours. Additionally, as someone who was rarely consciousness of being awake at night, waking up 3 or 4 times a night is getting old.

The first night I hit 3.9 hours, last night I'm not even sure, but it wasn't four hours. I woke up about 1:30 after sleeping for an hour or so with a leak. I tried readjusting but for the second night in a row, I couldn't get comfortable, the end of my nose was hurting. So I took the mask off intending to put it back on in a few minutes, but fell asleep for a few hours. I put the mask back on at 4:45 and slept until 6:15, but woke up with a sore nose again.

I think the reason I'm waking up is I keep losing the seal. I've tried sleeping both with the hose in the clamp on top of my head and hanging down. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I don't sleep a lot to begin with, so any loss tends to have dire consequences. Oddly enough, if I manage to sleep for an hour or so the last time before I wake up in the morning, I feel refreshed, like I've had a better quality of sleep. But the quantity is not enough. I'm crashing about 12:30 every day.

Thanks,
Lee

[imtired]

i use the swift FX, not the LT but i find that i get a better seal if i loosen it, not tighten. this also helps so it doesnt hurt as much. it took 2-3 nights to stop pulling the hose after i loosened it and sleep a lot better now

[leebrown]

imtired,

Thanks for the response. I'll give that a try. The nose soreness feels like someone is pushing up the end of my nose trying to make a pig face ... so maybe it is too tight. It could be that rotating the hose pulled up on the end of it enough that it needs loosened. I'll give that a try.

Thanks,
Lee

[Coolhandl]

FWIW, I had a really bad week when I first started. After a couple weeks I was only waking up briefly once or twice a night. Now, after a couple months I'm used to wearing the mask and it isn't a problem. So hang in there.

It took me 2 tries to get the right mask. The Dr., who tends to be a bit of a control freak, wanted me on one of those masks that covers the whole nose, but I couldn't get that to seal w/o too putting too much pressure on my lip, and I didn't like having all that stuff in front of my face. The Opus 360 I'm using now is a lot more comfortable. It is very similar to the Swift LT.

The next trick is getting the mask adjusted correctly. It sounds like your mask is too tight. Start with it too loose to seal and tighten until it just seals, maybe slightly more. Past a point, tighter makes it leak more. If it feels like your nose is getting pushed up, loosen the top strap. On mine, the top strap doesn't really do much anyway, other than hold the hose.

It usually takes me (only) a minute or two to get the mask set. It helps, once the air is on, to pull the mask forward until the seal breaks and then reseat it, and wiggle the straps a little to get the tension distributed evenly. Repeatability is real important.

Watch out turning up the humidifier, lest you get condensation (rainout) in the tube or mask.

[ozij]

Lee, if your nose is very painful, ask your doc or RT if you can give it a break.
That's the route I had to go when I started out with a nasal pillows mask: My RT said: "it's the beginning of a pressure sore, no sense in letting it develop" -- amd instructed me to take a 3 night break. 2 were enough -- and I used nasal pillows successfuly after that for almost 5 years.

[harry33]

soee nose is normal until you adjust to the nasal pillows
take melatonin it sometimes helps to regularise the sleep cycle

[sheep1234]

Sometimes I wake up with a sore nose too, like someone has been pushing my nose up to make a piggy face. LOL I think my mask was too tight. Or maybe I scooted down on my pillow and pushed it up too far.

I also switched my pillow from the S to the XS. It fits my nostrils better and I don't have to put so much pressure on the pillows to make them stay sealed to my nose. Plus the part that actually goes inside the nostril doesn't tickle anymore. That used to drive my crazy!!!!! Look on your pillow and see what letter it is. I was given 3 different sizes: M, S and XS.

I received my equipment on 10/29. Believe it or not, now, I actually look forward to putting it on. The white noise of the airflow soothes me to sleep. Hubby can't sleep with a fan on, which I hated, so now I get to listen to the gentle whooshing noise. lol Plus I KNOW I won't wake up with a headache and feel horrible the next day. So on the hose goes.

As for the actual setup....my machine is set up on my nightstand and the hose runs under the bottom of my bottom pillow (I sleep with 2 pillows) and then comes out the top to my face. The pillows keep it in place perfectly. I can flip back and forth with no problem. I tried it with it clamped to my head but felt that that was weird. At first I slept with it kinda tucked under my belly, but that made it pull downward too much and that was a pain when it would slip off of the bed and rolling over was a pain!

You'll get there! It just takes time. Before you know it it will be second nature to you!