First full night using CPAP

[chris-p]

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to let you know of my first night using CPAP. In general things went pretty smoothly!I literally felt my heart beating at first since I was really nervous doing this for the first time at home! I did have some minor problems of waking up and missing air and wanting to breathe through my mouth (which I usually do) and wanting to swallow a lot for some reason but calmed down and kept breathing through the nose, which for me is quite remarkable. I also had an episode where the mask started leaking when I turned to sleep on my left side. I tried adjusting the mask ( Mirage FX nasal) but couldn't quite make out what I was doing in the dark so ended up having to get up and re-adjust using a mirror as my strap got unbuckled on that side. I will have to keep fine tuning the mask to accommodate side and back sleeping Other than that I believe it was a success.

I woke up feeling much more refreshed and found I needed less sleep hours to feel good! An amazing thing was that my mouth was not dry at all! I briefly checked the general info and found that my AHI was at 0.1, which is pretty good compared to 55. My pressure setting is at 8 and I use, at least for now, my ramp at 45 min. Humidity is 3.0 and no condensation or anything.

Oh and thanks to this forum I made a homemade hose management system, which is pretty crude but worked! I couldn't find one of those key chains with the telephone wire thing so what I did was buy a regular phone wire, cut of the plastic jacks and secured the ends with some tape, forming a circle. The wire is then attached to a hook on the wall ( higher than I had anticipated), and I then put one of those velcro wire organizers at the bottom which is where the hose goes through. Works perfectly though if I move to the other side of the bed ( I have a Queen) I think my mask would leak but I rarely do that. I may end up simply getting on of those hose hangers online eventually.

So that's basically my night in a nutshell. Hope all continues to go smoothly and end up fixing my mask problems, although minor. Thanks to this forum!!!

Oh and I was wondering if you guys daily remove your mask parts and do the 15 minute soak thing or is it OK to simple wipe with a mild soapy washcloth? I am a little worried soaking the mask cushion for some reason. Is it OK to do so?

Thanks again

Chris

[TerBear]

Congrats! Sounds similar to my first night back in June. I can't say I have had no adjustment issues, but mine seem very minor to those experienced by others, and I am grateful. Just offering you the encouragement of another user.

[chris-p]

Thanks TerBear and congrats to you too! I really hope my future adjustments will be minor and my therapy successful. I really need this to work, as do all of us.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, and again, thanks for the encouragement

Chris

[Sheriff Buford]

You can wipe the mask down as you stated. I use cpap wipes or baby wipes. Be sure the wipes you use doesn't have alcohol (it will break down the silicone) or aloe (it will leave a film). Pampers thick wipes for sensitive skin will work. On Saturdays, I wash my pad-a-cheek liners in the washing machine and scrub the mask with a toothbrush and baby shampoo. I soak the mask for a few hours in a big plastic bowl with water/baby shampoo solution. Afterwards, I rinse real well. I don't like the soap scent in my mask. You can use a mild detergent to wash the mask. Look at the literature for the mask or on the manufacturer's website for cleaning instructions.

Sheriff

[hyperlexis]

Can you wash the tubing and or/masks in the dishwasher? I know that the Hans Rudolph V2 FF mask says it is dishwasher (and autoclave) safe, but are standard CPAP masks and or tubes able to go through a sani cycle? My PR mask says handwash daily A dishwasher would make things a bit easier and faster (for me, not the mask).....

[Xney]

If you haven't, you might want to check out nasal pillows masks sometime for side sleeping.

As far as mask cleaning goes, you kind of have to see what works for you. Excessive cleaning doesn't do any good. If you don't have a lot of facial oil or such, you may be fine with once or twice a week. Some people also get good results just doing a quick wipe of their own face more than cleaning the mask a zillion times.