Nasal Mask

Everyone
I am new to this forum as I just got the results of my sleep study. 18.7 times an hour I was interrupted. I am just wondering if the nasal mask will work for me. I sleep like a fish all night and am hoping the nasal mask will help with my tossing/turning. I go in to get fitted and pressures adjusted in a couple of weeks. I am a nose breather but what would happen if on occasion I start breathing thru my mouth with the nasal mask? Thanks
Dave

Well I am new to this as well and have had my machine for 1 week now. My experience is that when you try to breath thru your mouth the cpap pushes air out your mouth. Its a little weird. Try it a few times when you go in for your fitting, you will sound like Darth Vadar.
Also ask about the nasal pillow system, I had trouble with the mask leaking and waking me up. But with the pillows I have not had that issue and its less stuff on your face.

I'm only a few weeks into it too, but I'll tell you that, at least for me, it helped immensely. I was infamous for doing calisthenics in the middle of the night. The tech at the sleep lab dropped a knowledge bomb on me, though: I was rolling around because of my apnea. And, sure enough, I sleep on my back all night when I'm wearing my mask. In fact, if I manage to fall asleep without my mask, I go right back to flippin' and floppin'.

Not saying that the same will happen to you, but at least that's my experience.

No one can tell you which mask is the best as we all have different face contours. If you want to try a nasal mask go ahead. The dme will allow you to try several different masks within your first 30 days, so if you don't like the nasal, try another. If you are a mouth breather you should get a full face mask or a hybrid, or you will have to tape your yap shut or use a chin strap. Read the cpap wiki lighgt bulb at the top of the page and the new users guy, you will get a wealth of information and be on you way to a great cpap education. I use the Respcare/Innomed Hybrid...why, because I tend to breath thru my mouth at times and the hybrid is the best of both worlds (in my opinion)....pillows for nose breathing and a mouth covering for mouth breathing. Go to cpap.com and take a look at all the types of masks and read the reviews in other words... educate. Make sure you get a data capapble auto machine from the dme, that way you can track your therapy as often as you want...plus an auto lets you change to straight cpap if that is what you need. Do a search for machine list and you will see a discription of all of the machines.....do not let your dme bamboozle you into getting a plain old machine with no way to keep track of you therapy or change modes of therapy.

I have the nasal mask and have been on Cpap therapy since May. As with any thing new it takes time to adjust. Up until a week or so ago I would ramp the machine to go to sleep. I sleep with 2 foam pillows and find I am able to sleep on my side but end up on my back. The tubing is over the head board so I don't have any moisture collecting in my mask. Mid-day I fall asleep in my office chair most of the time. I don't have that same energy I had after the night from the sleep study. When I first started with the mask I couldn't open my mouth without my lips fluttering. It seems that in the morning the pressure is lower as I am more comfortable with the mask then when I go to sleep. I usually sleep 5 1/2 to 7 hrs.

I've been on CPAP with a nasal mask for about 3 weeks.

You can open your mouth slightly with the mask on, and nothing will happen. If you try to open it wider, you'll feel and hear the rush of air at the back of your throat.

I always put some lip balm on my lips before going to sleep -- to prevent my lips from drying out (just in case).

My humidifier is set at either 1 or 2. I find if I set it higher it gets too hot under my mask and that wakes me up. Usually my throat is not dry in the morning or anything.

A few times during the first few nights I woke myself up due to strange noises I was making -- which I realized were the result of me opening my mouth in my sleep. I tried using a chin strap, but it was just too uncomfortable. Usually I find that I keep my mouth shut during the night without a chin strap. But if my nose is a little bit stuffed up, I have a lot of trouble. I try to make sure that my nostrils are clear before I put on my mask for the night. Sometimes I might need to spray a little bit of Afrin or do a little steam or saline in my nose.

My AHI was similar to yours -- it was 19 during my sleep study (mainly hypopneas). Now with the mask on my machine tells me it averages about 1.8. They say anything under 5.0 is good, so I'm happy.

I am mainly a side sleeper so I had a big issue finding a pillow that didn't make my neck hurt (the mask was slightly pushing my head up when I was lying on my side). I finally bought a couple of Contour brand CPAP pillows (the Cpap Max and the High Profile Cpap Pillow). They offer my neck the amount of support it needs (I have neck problems and need a very supportive pillow). Now it's fine. I was going to keep one and return the other, but actually I find myself changing between them, depending on how my neck is feeling.

Like you, I was tossing and turning a lot in my sleep, and twitching, too! Now -- hardly anything. In fact, at first I felt stiff in the morning because I was TOO STILL during the night! Not anymore, especially since using the Cpap pillow.

I like my nasal mask, but eventually I will probably try nasal pillows so that I have less stuff covering my face. If the nasal pillows don't work well enough, I'll just go back to the nasal mask; no big deal. I also plan to get a full-face mask to use during times when my nose is stuffed up. My husband uses a full face mask, so when he gets a new one, I'll try his old one to see how that feels. I want to have one on hand "just in case," although I don't think I'd wear it very often.

Like everyone says, it's a big adjustment. It took me a few weeks to get into a groove with everything. I bought a hose cozy and strap cozies, and found an eyemask that works really well, and the pillow for my neck. Now I'm all set. The strap cozies work really well -- I barely have any lines on my face in the morning from the mask straps. The hose cozy prevents the hose from making a "zzzzzzip" sound on the bed or furniture whenever I move around. I use my mask for an average of 6 hours per night, sometimes a full 7 or 8 hours. Every night it's getting better.