Discouraged

[Elsh]

At first, the first few nights, I thought the CPAP was helping. You see, my apnea had me sleeping 12-13 hours a night/day. The first few days on the mask, I slept loads less and felt loads better. However now, once again, I'm finding myself still tired in the morning. And in the morning, I'm sick of my mask and it's hurting my face, so I take it off and go to sleep for 2-3 hours longer. So it seems I'm not sleeping less at all, and the mask isn't doing anything. It could be that I'm on a pressure of 4, but I just spoke with my doc yesterday, and he does not want to increase it at all. Feeling very discouraged and don't want to use the mask at all anymore. It's just a big pain and I'm having trouble adjusting to it, and now it doesn't even seem to be helping.

[Sireneh]

At a pressure of 4 I'm surprised you can breathe at all! What is your doctor's reason for leaving it so low?

[Elsh]

At a pressure of 4 I'm surprised you can breathe at all! What is your doctor's reason for leaving it so low?

He has not said.

[Ms Piggy]

I'm surprised too, I thought 4 was a normal breathing pressure without equipment.
I would go back and see him and get a copy of your test results, always best to do that anyway.
if you don't get any satisfaction from Dr. I am sure that someone here more knowledgeable than I would help
you decide on pressure level to use once you post your test results.
Do NOT be discouraged, we all go thru ups and downs from time to time, just keep on plugging, as Red Green
would say, 'We're all pulling for you!'

[Pugsy]

If you go back to sleep and don't use the machine you can expect to feel like crap. The body will remember those 2 or 3 hours of untreated OSA first.

Have you looked at your data using the software to see if the 4 cm is even working?
Edit....forgot using Escape for now so disregard this question.

To be honest, I probably could not breathe well at 4 cm either even if it was adequate pressure. Simply not enough fresh air movement. Heck, even at my titration study they started at 5 cm.

If the mask hurts it is too tight.

OK, I was nice when I said give 4 cm a try..in theory it could work for therapy but might not for comfort.
Raise the pressure yourself to 5 or 6 and see how you feel before you use this bump in the road as excuse to not use the machine.

[Emilia]

Unfortunately, the machine you have won't give you any efficacy data so you are at a loss to know what is happening. That said, a pressure of 4 is horribly low and it is a wonder you can breathe at all with a mask on. You just got this machine so I would try to exchange it for one that will provide you with better data ... a S9 Elite or the S9 AutoSet are the preferable machines. Your doctor sounds hard to deal with and not forthcoming with info to help you so you will need to be assertive and TELL him what you want.

1. Get a copy of your sleep study...the full report not just a summary

2. Get a copy of the Rx for the machine/mask... and if it specifically says S9 Escape, ask for a new Rx for the S9 Elite or Autoset

You are entitled to have these copies, by law, so don't let them tell you otherwise.

You CAN adjust your own pressure, and it would not hurt to bump it up to at least a 6 or 7 for now until you can get your sleep study results to share with us. Once we know what those results are, we can advise you better.

In the meantime, get rid of that dataless machine while you are in the 30 day window to do so!

[Elsh]

If you go back to sleep and don't use the machine you can expect to feel like crap. The body will remember those 2 or 3 hours of untreated OSA first.

Have you looked at your data using the software to see if the 4 cm is even working?
Edit....forgot using Escape for now so disregard this question.

To be honest, I probably could not breathe well at 4 cm either even if it was adequate pressure. Simply not enough fresh air movement. Heck, even at my titration study they started at 5 cm.

If the mask hurts it is too tight.

OK, I was nice when I said give 4 cm a try..in theory it could work for therapy but might not for comfort.
Raise the pressure yourself to 5 or 6 and see how you feel before you use this bump in the road as excuse to not use the machine.

Thanks. I put it on 5 and will try that tonight.

[SleepingUgly]

I think you point blank need to ask your doctor why you are using 4cm when he titrated you to 6 or 7, or whatever the deal was. You don't wait for a doctor "to say", or you will be waiting for the rest of your life.

[robysue]

I'm surprised too, I thought 4 was a normal breathing pressure without equipment.

No. Normal breathing pressure is normal air pressure plus 0cm of "extra pressure." The minimum setting of 4cm of CPAP pressure IS therapeutic for a few people. Not many, but a few. And for a few of those few who only need 4cm of extra pressure, even a modest increase in pressure up to 6cm can result in increasing aerophagia issues.

Now, since the OP's titrated pressure is 6 or 7cm, "Why leave the machine at 4cm?" is a good question to keep pestering the doc about until he/she gives an answer.

If you go back to sleep and don't use the machine you can expect to feel like crap. The body will remember those 2 or 3 hours of untreated OSA first.

To the OP: Pugsy's correct here. And not only will those 2 or 3 hours of untreated OSA continue to damage your body each night, allowing yourself to "take the damn mask off just to get some sleep" allows both your conscious mind and your unconscious mind to continue to believe that sleeping with the mask is "optional" and hence that they do not really need to accept the necessity of learning to sleep with the mask each and every night, all night long.

CPAP is a process: There's a lot to get used to and some of us have more work to do than others. For me, during the darkest of the early days, having the daily feedback from the machine that showed my AHI was below 2.0 was critically important at keeping me motivated to keep trying each and every night in spite of the growing insomnia and the fact that I was feeling much worse during the daytime. Many months later? I'm still dealing with insomnia, but I am now finally beginning to feel better during the daytime. It's important to keep working at it for as long as needed.

But alas, you are using an Escape. So you have no data about how well the machine at 4cm is actually working for you.

[Sireneh]

So how did you do last night at 5?

[Elsh]

So how did you do last night at 5?

Seemed fine, maybe better. I did end up sleeping a lot still, though. I also took off my mask at 11 or 11:30 am and slept until 12:30 pm. That is something I'm going to have to not let myself do anymore in the future. I just felt sick of it and still felt tired somewhat, so I made a bad decision. I'm just not sure why I'm still requiring so much sleep. I guess we will see if 5 is helping after I get my data machine tomorrow. Once I have more of an idea if it's technically helping, I can decide whether or not to try to get in with the sleep specialist sooner.

[Pugsy]

I'm just not sure why I'm still requiring so much sleep. I guess we will see if 5 is helping after I get my data machine tomorrow. Once I have more of an idea if it's technically helping, I can decide whether or not to try to get in with the sleep specialist sooner.

Will have better idea what is going on when we can see some data. Till then do the best you can and please don't give in to the temptation to go back to sleep without mask. That is bad habit to start. But you already know that.