first night in the books

[gypsylounge]

hello everyone.

first post...

my first night was last night. i do think it helped really well, for the record. the home health tech and our family physician said it's typically ok to build up the usage of it, so i used it for about 4+ hrs last night before waking up with sneezing so i left it off after that. my plan is just to keep going as long as i can with it on from night to night. have any of you had to use it for shorter times to build up to the full night? is this common?

the night i had my sleep study done they hooked me up for the second half of the night. when i woke up i felt more well rested than i have in years, so i know how well this works for me. i'm excited but a little worried about this new journey; mainly just a little skeptical that it won't help long term. have any of you felt that way as well??

[Maxie]

Welcome. From this forum I have determined that some of the nicest, most helpful people have sleep apnea and are here helping others!

[robysue]

gypsylounge,

Welcome to the forum.

You write:

i'm excited but a little worried about this new journey; mainly just a little skeptical that it won't help long term. have any of you felt that way as well??

Many, many, many of us felt that way at the beginning. Many, many newbies feel that way when they hit the inevitable bumps along the way of figuring out this crazy therapy. The real trick is to NEVER GIVE UP.

my first night was last night. i do think it helped really well, for the record. the home health tech and our family physician said it's typically ok to build up the usage of it, so i used it for about 4+ hrs last night before waking up with sneezing so i left it off after that. my plan is just to keep going as long as i can with it on from night to night. have any of you had to use it for shorter times to build up to the full night? is this common?

I think many people try to do this. Some are successful and some aren't. My own take is that learning to sleep with a CPAP is rather like going for a swim in a very, very cold swimming pool. Some people are successful in managing to get into the water by first dipping their toes in and then their feet and then their legs and so on. But many of us will never get past putting our big toe in the water doing that; and we, alas, just have to suck it up and jump in and start swimming like mad until we warm up.

So if you plan on gradually increasing the amount of time you are sleeping with the mask, make yourself a real schedule and stick with it: By one month in (at the latest) you need to be sleeping with the mask on your face all night long, every single night. And part of the adjustment to CPAP is learning how to fall back asleep with the mask on your nose after you wake up in the middle of the night for some reason. So if you managed 4+ hours last night, you should be aiming for at least 4+ hours every night during your first week of PAPing. Commit to Increasing the minimum amount of time with the mask to 5+ hours for week 2 of therapy. And then follow through and don't backslide. Commit to increasing the minimum amount of time with the mask to 6+ hours for week 3 of therapy, and so on, until you reach "minimum amount of time with the mask equals usual amount of time in bed." And at that point, you need to commit yourself to sleeping only when wearing the mask. And if one hour jumps in minimum mask time seem too drastic to you, try more frequent, but shorter jumps. Add a half an hour of mask time every three days, for example. Or add 10 minutes every single night.

And keep an eye out for backsliding: It's easy to fall into the trap of telling yourself something along the lines of "I did really well last night, so I'll give myself a treat to night and not worry if I want to take my mask off before my targeted minimum mask time has been reached." And that's the start of a slippery slope to non-compliance. It is equally important to not allow yourself to get into the habit of waking up at the same time each night (typically about 4 hours into the night) and yanking the mask off without giving it much critical thought. This kind of back sliding typically makes your adjustment period both longer and more difficult than it really needs to be.

And set reasonable expectations of CPAP therapy if you're only using the machine at the beginning of the night: The more mask-free time you have at the end of the night, the longer your OSA has to make you feel wretched the next morning. (And all too often, it's tempting to blame the wretchedness on the part of the night with the CPAP rather than without it.)

the night i had my sleep study done they hooked me up for the second half of the night. when i woke up i felt more well rested than i have in years, so i know how well this works for me.

Hang onto that good memory and use it as motivation. Many of us didn't have that kind of a good titration experience to look back on when we hit difficulties during the early days of therapy.

[teachcsg]

Congratulations on a good first night!
I have a lot of patients that start off just like you. They start slowly and increase their time on cpap over time. I do agree with RobynSue though...commit to it and stick with it.

Good Luck!

[gypsylounge]

used it all night last night...even though i woke up a few times i'm definitely noticing better sleep. i didn't wake up with a headache, and woke up feeling rested rather than groggy. thanks for the encouragement, folks!!

[jweeks]

my first night was last night. i do think it helped really well, for the record. the home health tech and our family physician said it's typically ok to build up the usage of it, so i used it for about 4+ hrs last night before waking up with sneezing so i left it off after that. my plan is just to keep going as long as i can with it on from night to night. have any of you had to use it for shorter times to build up to the full night? is this common?

Hi,

Your plan sounds good to me--use it when you can, and build upon your success over time. It will quickly become second nature.

On my first night, I was too chicken to use the machine. I just stared at it. On my second night, I lasted about 2 hours. On my 3rd night, I thought about tossing the machine out the window, or tossing myself out the window. That was almost 4 years ago. I cannot fathom attempting to sleep without my machine these days. My OSA was so bad that I was essentially disabled. This machine has been a miracle cure.

-john-

[gypsylounge]

one more successful night in the books, 100% usage and yet another morning of waking up well rested. 4 years from now, John, I want to be able to say the same thing about my treatment.