Having a hard time adjusting

[sexylikeapeanut]

I have been on the cpap machine for just over a week now and I'm still having a really hard time adjusting. I have a mask that only goes over my nose and I keep waking up choking on air when my mouth falls open. It's not so bad having the thing on my head, I have a high headboard on my bed and put the hose up over that so I seem to be able to move around just fine. It's mostly just the breathing part. And I like to breathe fresh crisp cold air and I feel like I'm breathing in stale air. I usually can't even sleep with a blanket next to my face because I feel like I'm suffocating. I think that if I were to get a mask that I could breathe through both my nose and mouth that might make me a lot more comfortable. I have my follow-up appointment this Friday and I'm going to talk about it with them then. I also don't feel all energized like a lot of people I've talked to report. I even stopped taking the meds they gave me to help me sleep to make sure that I wasn't just having aftermath drowsy effects from those. That impoved my sleepiness a little bit, but not by much and now I'm having trouble staying asleep at night. I'm really frustrated.

[devinf]

All I can say is keep at it. A full face mask might help.

I got so frustrated with this whole CPAP thing that I ended up shelving it all and gave up for almost a year. Then my doc said do it or else. I made a point to stay on it and had a couple of weeks of incredibly crappy sleep and long periods of insomnia, but finally I settled into it and now I can't imagine sleeping without it. It's been about 3 months or so since I've been at it and only now am I starting to see any tangible results in my energy levels, etc.

So just keep at it! Baby steps and all that stuff. Find a mask that works for you and experiment around a bit until you get comfy, but it will come.

Devin

[Madalot]

It sounds like a full face mask may be what you need. Please keep at it. You're already doing well -- and the mask is the hardest part to get just right.

[LSAT]

Whatever machine you are using should problibly have the humidifier turned off if you like .."fresh crisp cold air".
A FF mask or hybrid is definitely in order. Please update your profile with the equipment you are using.

[Mary Z]

Sounds like you're doing good for only one week in. It takes some of us months to get all the kinks worked out, but it sounds like you are identifying your problems and working on them. I think the idea of a full face mask- that might be a good choice for you. As to humidifier- you can use it in passover mode- just put water in the tank, but don't turn it on. Be sure the intake on the machine has plenty of free space around it to ensure the freshest air possible. Good Luck

[OutaSync]

You may not be feeling any better because your therapy is leaking out of your mouth. I use a nasal mask, too, and every night I cut a 4 inch piece of medical tape and cover my mouth with it so the air cannot leak out. You might try that until your appointment when you ask for a full face mask.

As far as breathing cool air, just fill your humidifier up with refrigerated water and do not turn the heat on. It should remain cool enough for you to get to sleep.

Good luck and let us know how your appointment goes.

[JohnBFisher]

As others noted, a full face mask might help.

You might also want to use your CPAP in the evening while watching TV or reading or ... just get used to having it on ... You will be surprised how quickly you can adjust to it. But it sometimes helps to adjust when you are not trying to go to sleep. This allows the headgear and the experience of breathing against pressure to be more acceptable when you do try to sleep.

Hang in there. It does get better. But sometimes we need to fight with it for a while before it is an effective therapy.

[archangle]

You definitely need to fix your mouth breathing. The next step should be a chin strap. You can buy one or experiment with making one from a 3 inch Ace bandage wrapped under your chin and over the top of your head to keep your mouth closed.

Avoid a full face mask if you can. However, if that's the only way to avoid mouth breathing, do it.

Taping your mouth can theoretically lead to suffocation if the power goes out or the machine fails and you don't wake up. You can also get aspiration pneumonia if you vomit and don't get the tape off in time. Several people here on this board do it anyway.

[Resister]

You definitely need to fix your mouth breathing. The next step should be a chin strap. You can buy one or experiment with making one from a 3 inch Ace bandage wrapped under your chin and over the top of your head to keep your mouth closed.

Avoid a full face mask if you can. However, if that's the only way to avoid mouth breathing, do it.

Taping your mouth can theoretically lead to suffocation if the power goes out or the machine fails and you don't wake up. You can also get aspiration pneumonia if you vomit and don't get the tape off in time. Several people here on this board do it anyway.

This frightens me. On the other hand, being claustrophobic, this seems like the most viable option. Has this happened to people on the board who can tell me a bit more about this? I'm weighing the pros and cons, and would like more info.

THX!

[CatherineF]

Hmm try to take a nap with taped mouth firts, then maybe sleep with someone else in bed, it is safer, of course you can have the alarm of power outage also.

[Pugsy]

This frightens me. On the other hand, being claustrophobic, this seems like the most viable option. Has this happened to people on the board who can tell me a bit more about this? I'm weighing the pros and cons, and would like more info.

It's a remote possibility. I had some mouth breathing issues when I first started therapy. I had read all the horror stories. I decided to try tape because due to my neck issues, using a full face mask and those straps would mean I wouldn't wear the mask at all. First night I taped we had a power outage. I woke up. I was not suffocating. There is some air movement through the vent holes. I was not stressed. I woke up thinking "what's odd", then realized the machine wasn't on. BTW the tape seal is does not set up like cement, it is easily broken with minimal effort like a yawn.

Vomiting.. with the exception of once when I tried to drink all the Tequila and Wild Turkey in the bar, I have never even come close to vomiting in my sleep. Even then I woke up and hung my head over the bed. If someone is going to puke in their sleep, a full face mask doesn't hold much volume. In theory one could aspirate contents from it also.

I taped for 2 months only. I quit when I realized that I seemed to have broken the mouth breathing habit. Some are lucky that way.

[Resister]

Great to know! It makes sense that a FFM could pose the same trouble.

Generally, I breathe through my nose--until I hit REM. That's when most of the trouble starts. (Of course, air puffs out my mouth, and I'm hardly getting to REM anyway yet, but that's another story.)

THX!

[pap4life]

A slightly contrainian point of view;
I have never heard of anyone suffocating from the use of a CPAP, BUT, I guess it could happen. If it were a problem, I would think that the manufacturers of the mask would have to have a warning label:: The use of this mask could cause death in case of power failure. Geeze, the govt makes industry put warning labels on everthing because we are stupid.
I think the use of a full face mask would lead to futher feelings of suffacation and air stuffiness. IMO, maybe you should try a nasal pillows style to help with the sufficating feeling, however thats not going to help your mouth breathing, so you might have to use a chin strap. Lots of folks use them.

As, Outasink, suggested fill your humidifier up with cold water or maybe even a few ice cubes. THat should give you cooler air until you have fallen asleep.
Just don;t turn on the humidifier, but keep it filled with water (cold water).

[melissainfo]

I had a hard times the first 2 weeks or so also You can expect a few week of bad sleep until you adjust to the c-pap I have a full mask and it seems to work really well for me. My doctor also said it is better to use full mask. I know some people just can't use them. Find what works for you and do that, but do not give up it may take a few weeks but stick to it and you will be surprise how you feel and thee improvement of you mood. When your not waking up every hour and your body actually is getting restorative sleep you are a changed person. good luck, good cpapping, good life to your ultimate success. Keep up the good work

[archangle]

You definitely need to fix your mouth breathing. The next step should be a chin strap. You can buy one or experiment with making one from a 3 inch Ace bandage wrapped under your chin and over the top of your head to keep your mouth closed.

Avoid a full face mask if you can. However, if that's the only way to avoid mouth breathing, do it.

Taping your mouth can theoretically lead to suffocation if the power goes out or the machine fails and you don't wake up. You can also get aspiration pneumonia if you vomit and don't get the tape off in time. Several people here on this board do it anyway.

This frightens me. On the other hand, being claustrophobic, this seems like the most viable option. Has this happened to people on the board who can tell me a bit more about this? I'm weighing the pros and cons, and would like more info.

THX!

Stop and think about what would have to happen for us to get a report of this.

1) Someone on this board would have to die from mouth taping and a power/machine failure.

2) Someone other than the deceased would have to figure out the connection between death, mouth taping, and power/machine failure. I suspect that most of the time when one of us CPAP people dies quietly in our sleep, there's not a lot of investigation by the local authorities. "He musta been pretty sick, Barney, he's got one of them thar iron lung things." Unfortunately, I'm not kidding about the quality of the local coroners and such in the US.

Even if they did check up on the death, what are they going to figure out? The deceased had breathing problems, probably a number of other health problems and died quietly in their sleep. Even without taping, we're always telling apneacs they'll die in their sleep without CPAP. "No murder here, no mystery, my job is done."

3) One of the deceased person's survivors would have to know about this board, know the deceased's userid, know about taping, etc. and take the effort to log on here and tell us that TaperJoe had died when the power went out.