I've only had CPAP for two nights and haven't even been able to keep it on all night. The first night, I had it on about half the night and kept waking up every hour with the dryest mouth I've ever experienced. I have the full face mask (I know I'm a mouth breather) so I had to take it off every time just to take a sip of water. I tried it last night, and after 2 hours, I couldn't fall asleep (usually it only takes me 5 minutes) so I just took it off because I figured - after already losing 2 hours of what may have been poor quality sleep but would have been sleep nonetheless, it was doing me more harm than good. I know it takes some people a while to get used to it... I figure I'm one of those, so I'm going to stick it out and not focus on the negatives too much. But I did wake up this morning and google "I hate CPAP" and found your post.
I hate pretty much everything you've described too. I hate only being able to sleep in two positions (one side and back). I hate how it feels - I did not expect the mask to feel so tight, and it must not even be tight enough because I kept having air leakage problems last night. I hate not being able to turn over and snuggle with my boyfriend or cat (the cat also used to sleep on the corner of the bed by my head, but no more thanks to CPAP hose). I hate the dry mouth (mine does have a humidifier and turning it up does help, but not solve the problem). I also have to wear a retainer at night, which was attractive enough, but now this too? good grief, I feel like I'll never have sex again! The whole thing is dreadful. The only good thing is that it's a lot quieter than I thought it would be.
Right now the thought of having to wear this the rest of my life seems dreadful. I didn't read through all the posts on here -but it seemed like most people were telling you to suck it up and be grateful to be alive (and now they'll probably say the same thing to me). Well, I don't know about you, but my apnea wasn't near a point where I was really in danger of dying - I was just tired. And I'm still tired. And right now being tired seems worth not wearing the mask. ugh. I know that it could start causing more and more problems as time goes on, but the only problem I really had was being tired - and not to the extent where I was falling asleep while driving. My apnea score was 20, which they say is moderate, so maybe I'd be more grateful for the CPAP if I was in the severe range? I don't know. Again, I'm going to stick it out, but it's also helpful to vent a little to someone who knows what it's like.
I'm about 2 months into my treatment, and I had some of the problems you mentioned. I also use a full face mask due to being a mouth breather. I had dry mouth at first, and it is better now. I do occasionally have it again, but most nights I do not have it anymore. I had to adjust the settings on my humidifier until I found what worked well for me.
I do sleep in all my normal positions. I do toss and turn a lot less, mostly sleeping on my sides. So, I am more comfortable than before cpap, and my position and pillow do not affect my mask.
And my cat is totally able to snuggle with me. She did sleep a little further away for a couple weeks, but she is back to snuggling up against me. I wake up with my arm around her, and her paws around my arm. She just needed to get used to it.
Most of the problems do go away. You just have to work at each one, on its own, and it will get better. My main problem now is sleep fragmentation. For awhile, it was pretty noticeable, but it is getting better now. My wake-ups are fewer and shorter, and the last few nights, I have only had 1 bathroom trip per night. My normal, even before cpap, was 2-3 trips to the bathroom.
It does get better with time. I know that I spent a lot of time in the middle of the night, swearing at my mask when I couldn't get it to fit without leaking. I couldn't figure out why I could get it perfect one time, and then the next time, I would have to put it on and take it off 10 times or more to get a decent fit. I still don't know what I am doing differently, but I seem to be getting better at it. I usually get it right with the first or second try now.
Who would have thought it would be this challenging to sleep and breathe at the same time?
