can not fall asleep

can not fall asleep because I hear myself breathing

Hi, I was going to suggest earplugs, but you will still hear yourself breathing, although you won't hear the machine. Other suggestions are to try a white noise generator or "meditation" style music when you're going to sleep. Or maybe use something like Ambien for a week or so until you get used to the whole thing.

The natural answer is that you'll eventually get tired enough that you'll go sleep despite hearing your breathing, chances are. These suggestions may help you get there before then *smile*.

Take care.

julia813,

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You write:

julia813#$ wrote:can not fall asleep because I hear myself breathing

First, this is a very common problem for newbies. This was one of my big issues when I first started CPAP three years ago. It and other forms of sensory overload coming from the machine triggered a serious bout of insomnia that lasted for months. So it's important to address this problem SOONER rather than later.

So what to do to get over the hump of focusing so much on your own breathing when you're trying to get to sleep?

These things helped me:

1) I started using an iPod in an iHome to play quiet, soothing music all night long. My choice is Gregorian chants. I can't focus on the words and keep myself awake that way. They all kind of melt into each other, so I can't keep myself awake saying, "After the next two songs comes one of my favorites and I'd like to hear it." And yet, they're different enough from each other that I can focus on the music instead of my breathing.

2) I (still) wait to go to bed until I am basically falling asleep on my feet. Pre-CPAP I had a long sleep latency and I'd lie in bed thinking and daydreaming and letting my mind wander here and there. Mostly the wanderings were pleasant and I never really worried about how long it took to fall asleep. But even now, after almost 3 years of PAPing, I just plain get uncomfortable if I'm lying in bed for more than 20 minutes with the mask on my nose and then it's way too easy to start focusing on the sound of my own breathing. On the rare nights this happens, I tend to get out of bed once the machine is irritating me rather than continue to lie there and get more frustrated. I'll go back to bed once I think I'm sleepy enough and calm enough to mask up again. Frustrating? Yes. But it happens a lot less now than it used to.

3) Hose placement is critical. If the hose is touching your pillow you can get conducted noise through the hose. This magnifies the sound of your own breathing to the point where it can be very difficult to ignore. For more tips on dealing with conducted noise, see my blog entry Dealing with noise conducted through the hose ....

Best of luck

RogerSC is right on target with those suggestions. The only thing I would add would be to check the seal of your mask. Sometimes little leaks, other than your air entrainment port, can cause "Darth Vader" like sounds.

Good luck!

Jim

If it's just a question of falling asleep, I would take 10 mg tablet of Zolpidem (generic Ambien) which would knock me off within 20 minutes. See here that Zolpidem is top rated sleep Rx by the Consumer Reports from a survey of about 9,000 persons with sleep problems (including Insomniacs), in 2012:

You're getting some good advice but please disregard any suggestions regarding prescription meds. That is a serious question that should be fully discussed with your Dr as I'm sure you know. Good luck and keep us posted.

If you're still fairly new to this, you're going to go through a period of adjustment. I had a heck of a time getting accustomed to wearing the mask. I've used generic Ambien to get over the hump and it's just recently that I'm feeling more comfortable. Hopefully, once you accept and adjust to wearing your rig, it'll get better.

julia813#$ wrote:can not fall asleep because I hear myself breathing

For years I fell asleep listening to books being read. I used to use a cassette with an auto-shutoff function. Then I used an Ipod with a similar function. I am looking into doing this again using an old laptop and perhaps a Linux script.

HTH

Todzo