New to sleep apnea

Hi, I just had my sleep study last night. I didn't sleep well because of the wires.
In the middle of the night, the tech put a full mask on me because I sleep with my mouth open. I was scared because I was worried it would smother me. It didn't though. The main two main problems I had with the mask was that my mouth was so dry, it was hard to sleep. The machine didn't have a humidifier attached to it. The other problem was that it was very difficult for me to sleep on my side. It moved the mask slightly, then I had an air leak the rest of the night and was scared to sleep. I think I slept a few hours total. He said he stopped counted my apneas after 40. He said my oxygen saturation got down to 72%. But the tech said he wasn't aloud to tell me anymore. So, I don't know what will happen now.

Welcome to our world! It's not easy to sleep in a lab with all the wires and the new mask on your face, and knowing that you are being watched via camera. I was so afraid that I might do something that would end up on UTube! It gets better. You will get a heated humidifier with your CPAP. It will help with the dryness. You may have to try several masks before you find one that fits well enough not to leak into your eyes or make annoying noises out the sides. There are people here who will help you with whatever questions you may have and if you do a seach of past posts, you may find the answer without even needing to ask.

Good luck!
Bev

Looks like you made the grade. Join the forum as a member and start learning now before they rip you off with the equipment.

As DreamStalker said...start learning all you can now...before you let them hand you the equipment they want to give you, rather than the equipment you later wish you had known to insist on.

A great place for the newly diagnosed to get up to speed:

Mile High Sleeper's excellent articles about sleep apnea:

http://www.smart-sleep-apnea.blogspot.com/


Also, these links for definitions and acronyms:

Types of machines:
viewtopic.php?p=56836
"Whats the differences in BIPAP, XPAP, APAP, CFLEX"

Common abbreviations and definitions:
viewtopic.php?t=14902
"Learning lexicon of cpap terms"

[quote="didusaynaptime"]Hi, I just had my sleep study last night. I didn't sleep well because of the wires.
In the middle of the night, the tech put a full mask on me because I sleep with my mouth open. I was scared because I was worried it would smother me. It didn't though. The main two main problems I had with the mask was that my mouth was so dry, it was hard to sleep. The machine didn't have a humidifier attached to it. The other problem was that it was very difficult for me to sleep on my side. It moved the mask slightly, then I had an air leak the rest of the night and was scared to sleep. I think I slept a few hours total. He said he stopped counted my apneas after 40. He said my oxygen saturation got down to 72%. But the tech said he wasn't aloud to tell me anymore. So, I don't know what will happen now.