Dreaming of insects - frustrated with CPAP

[cowlypso]

Twice this week I've been woken up quite suddenly out of a dream. In my dream, there are insects crawling on my face, and I wake up ripping my mask off and brushing off my face, before realizing that it was just a dream and there's nothing there. Then I put the mask back on and go back to sleep.

But I'm beginning to wonder what's up with this. Perhaps there's some sensation from my mask that is prompting these dreams and responses?

I'm not really sure what to change, though. I'm currently using the ruby chinstrap and a nasal pillows mask that barely touches my face. I have been entirely unable to tolerate a full face mask, regular nasal mask, or total face mask (the only style I haven't tried is a hybrid). My sleep is still disturbed at this point by air leaking from my mouth in the night, but I have been unable to find any tolerable solutions (tried taping, couldn't handle it. My AHI is excellent (almost always below 1.0), and my leak rate isn't awful, so I'm not leaking much out my mouth, it's mostly a comfort issue. So far, all of the solutions to mouth leaks have interfered more with my sleep than the mouth leaks do.

So at this point I'm totally frustrated. I feel so much better using CPAP and would never stop using it, but it's just not working out for me. I'm trading miserable sleep for slightly less miserable sleep. Waking myself up with obscene noises coming from my lips, dry mouth, sores on my nose (it gets chapped, even with Lanisoh), crazy dreams, the presence of the mask waking me up each time I roll over... It used to be that I'd fall asleep and stay asleep all night, but wake up feeling exhausted. Now I wake up feeling better, but feel lke I've woken up dozens up times during the night. And some days, like today, I'm still exhausted all day because I slept so miserably because of the equipment. It's a no-win situation.

[Mr Bill]

Here I am no expert at all. It sounds like the nasal pillow mask irritates your nose. If you try switching to a nasal or full face mask, try the smallest one that still fits. That is my only advice, but here is why. I have a very big head, can hardly find hats. So, I was surprised that they gave me a small nasal mask. After a few months, I thought I would ask for a large one since I had worn out the straps of my old one. It turned out the larger mask is much harder to get a good seal. So, I kept the new straps and gave them back the large mask. Mine has a bridge that reaches up to the forehead. So, there is very less pressure on the face and non on the nose other than the inner soft silicon seal. Good Luck!

[robysue]

So at this point I'm totally frustrated. I feel so much better using CPAP and would never stop using it, but it's just not working out for me. I'm trading miserable sleep for slightly less miserable sleep. Waking myself up with obscene noises coming from my lips, dry mouth, sores on my nose (it gets chapped, even with Lanisoh), crazy dreams, the presence of the mask waking me up each time I roll over... It used to be that I'd fall asleep and stay asleep all night, but wake up feeling exhausted. Now I wake up feeling better, but feel lke I've woken up dozens up times during the night. And some days, like today, I'm still exhausted all day because I slept so miserably because of the equipment. It's a no-win situation.

I can really identify with this.

For the first 4 months of xPAP therapy my sleep was much, much more disrupted by equipment issues and sensory overload (from using the equipment) and I easily felt 100 times worse than I had in the three months immediately beginning therapy.

For months 5--9, you description pretty much was spot on with how I felt: By that point, I'd begun waking up feeling a bit better on the best days, but still felt that my sleep was severely disrupted. However, my sleep log was definitely showing that the number of wakes was indeed beginning to drop. And significantly the length of time I was awake for each wake started to drop way down to less than 5 minutes or so per wake. But I still felt severely sleepy (not some much exhausted as sleepy) during the day on the worst days.

But by the 10th month of therapy those "good" days finally started to become much more frequent and the number of wakes started to be consistently as low as 1--3 wakes per night.

I tell you this to give you some hope: If you keep plugging away at making this crazy therapy work for several more months, then eventually your sleep should start to feel less disrupted by all the equipment related and comfort related problems.

And maybe keeping a sleep log might help you see that those "dozens of wakes" each night are not as numerous as it feels you your insomniac self.

Best of luck

[Starlette]

Hey there Cowly.

I can give a witness too. It wasn't till a year after that I FINALLY started making this cpap therapy work for me.

I'll just add my 2 cents worth...
Just a thought - What about returning back to ground zero like getting reacquainted with your mask.
Like wearing it while relaxing, watching TV, reading the paper, just relaxing in general. Wonder if it has to do with anxiety.
Or even for like 15 - 20 minutes play the game of pretend sleeping - lay down, close your eyes and act if you're ready to go to sleep just to relax with the mask. I've done that several times and I went out like a light when I didn't intend to.

RE: Mouth leaks: It took a long while (even as I wore a chin strap) for my mouth to stay shut. Now it does.

RE: Nose sore: Someone on the forum suggested keeping the top straps looser than the bottom. I started doing that and never had tightness issues again.

Just my 2 cents.

Starlette