HELP! Im a new Cpap user and failing!

I just started the new machine 2 days ago and im failing miserably. My first night I had a bad reaction to the prescribed sleeping pills and felt like I was having a heart attack. I only lasted 27minutes on machine and took my blood pressure. It was 158/98 p98. I couldn't get the ramp feature to work correctly, so I stopped using it. I work full time and cant lay awake all night.
Then my 2nd attempt, last night was 40 minutes. I didn't take sleep aides because I was so tired anyway. I was able to adjust the ramp to 45mins. When I started the chest palpitations were severe(been diagnosed with PVCs), so I laid on my side. And I feel like im suffocating. I have a full face mask/woman's and i just couldn't sleep(i think it fits good). When it reached my number of 14, I panicked and had to take it off. I feel like such a failure. Its cost me so much money to even get to this stage and i know I really need it. But I cant seem to get past the initial Claustrophobia, suffocating feeling. After I take it off, my palpitations stop and I fall right asleep. I was told that with out it, I stop breathing 80 times in an hour and lasts as long as 80 seconds each episode.
If anyone can help, I would welcome it!
I have done a lot of research online and have read a lot of tips but nothing is helping.
Thanks

I hope you understand that during those 45 mins of ramp time you're only being treated at a lesser pressure than you would be at your prescribed one... Better to set it for a much shorter time, if at all, than otherwise.

What machine - full name and model - do you have, and what type of mask?

Thanks
Yes, I know it starts at a 4 and goes up to 14. Thats the problem. When its at 14, i feel terrible and panic.
The machine: airsense 10 auto set by resmed.
mask: Quattro fx for her

Goofy

I'm somewhat of a new user myself. Try and relax. I STRUGGLED when my setting started at 6, but mine ramps up to 20 in no time. Maybe adjust your ramp to start a little higher? Definitely talk to your doctor. But, the one thing I cannot stress enough is just relax. Took me MONTHS to learn to just relax. It WILL get better.

Best of luck to you

If a person is awake the entire ramp time then they won't be having any apnea events while awake and depending on the machine being used...even if they fell asleep there is a possibility that the machine will respond. Respironics machines will and treat and respond when in APAP mode.
Even if not treated during ramp that would be preferable than no treatment at all if they give up and take the mask off which is a bigger problem than ramp being ineffective.

When its at 14, i feel terrible and panic.

Are you using EPR exhale relief? If so at what setting? If not maybe you should try it.
If you don't have a clue what I am talking about the manual explains it.
https://sleep.tnet.com/home/files/resme ... -guide.pdf

Try using it when you're sitting in a chair watching TV or some time other than when you're going to bed.
Trying to go right to bed with it doesn't work very well for many as there are usually some adjustments that need to be made before actually using it in bed.
And, if you have the clinical setup manual for it, learn how to go through the settings and write down what all the settings are. Quite frequently, there may be some settings that aren't compatible with good sleep or therapy.
If you don't have the manual, download it from the link Pugsy listed and read it and become very familiar with your machine.


Den

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Pugsy, does the Elite that she has listed also respond to events while in ramp?

Goofy Lady, please know that 2 nights, 2 weeks or even 2 months does not necessarily mean you will fail at this treatment. I decided to quit at about 5 months in but then found this forum and things turned around very quickly. The key for me was raising the starting ramp pressure. I couldn't relax enough to sleep when I felt on the verge of suffocation. You're in the right place. It may take a bit of trial and error to find which suggestions might work for you, but you'll figure it out.

Is there a particular reason you are using a full face mask? The reason why I ask is that I get claustrophobic too. Unless you were a confirmed mouth breather in your sleep study, I would go for nasal pillows or a nasal mask instead. When you are awake, there is no harm in taking a few deep breaths through your mouth to calm your brain down.

Start your ramp pressure at a minimum of 7 (higher is probably better if your pressure is 14). Use 3 cmH20 of exhalation relief with whatever setting you choose, but if you were not prescribed EPR, leave it on "Ramp Only" for now. I find at 7/3 EPR ramp, I breath very naturally. Try not to mess with your actual prescription setting. You would be surprised at what you can take for pressure when you are sleeping. Your machine has an "auto" setting for ramp. You basically turn it up to the maximum time, and it says "auto". Use it. It will detect when you are almost asleep and start ramping. It works extremely well. If you ramp up to soon, you can push the on off button twice (about 5 seconds apart) to restart the ramp. In auto, you could be awake for 2 hours, and never have it ramp up on you.

Finally...I
If you are going to switch out your mask, stop using your CPAP until you do.
Unless you have used sleeping pills before, don't use them for getting used to CPAP. They will just make you miserable the next day. Use melatonin though. It really helps.
Take a Monday off work, to give yourself a long weekend (or wait until the next long weekend). Don't bother with your CPAP until then.
From that Friday night on, NEVER sleep without your CPAP. If you are having trouble get up, and do something else. Then try again, but don't even allow yourself to sleep an hour without it.
Saturday, don't do anything that requires a lot of concentration, especially if you could make mistakes that might cause you injury.
You won't sleep much the first night, but the next night, and each subsequent night you will sleep more. By Tuesday, you will be sleeping enough to be productive.
Don't worry about the amount of sleep you are getting, and certainly don't take your blood pressure in the middle of the night again.

Goofy Lady wrote:Thanks
Yes, I know it starts at a 4 and goes up to 14. Thats the problem. When its at 14, i feel terrible and panic.
The machine: airsense 10 auto set by resmed.
mask: Quattro fx for her

Now that you have the link to the clinical manual, you could lower the pressure a bit........like from 14 to 10 or something you can handle better.
If the starting pressure of 4 is the Ramp setting, you could also raise that, shorten the Ramp time or turn it off altogether. Ramp is supposed to ease the user into the set pressure......but, some people don't like it and turn it off.


Den

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kteague wrote:Pugsy, does the Elite that she has listed also respond to events while in ramp?

Goofy Lady, please know that 2 nights, 2 weeks or even 2 months does not necessarily mean you will fail at this treatment. I decided to quit at about 5 months in but then found this forum and things turned around very quickly. The key for me was raising the starting ramp pressure. I couldn't relax enough to sleep when I felt on the verge of suffocation. You're in the right place. It may take a bit of trial and error to find which suggestions might work for you, but you'll figure it out.

Could be a mis-selection. In her second post she says it's an Autoset.


Den

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WindCpap wrote:Is there a particular reason you are using a full face mask?

Good point! If you can breathe through your nose, it might be possible to try a nasal pillow mask.
This type of mask is almost like a bikini for your face--so much easier to tolerate.
Even if you need a full face later on, it might be easier to ease into it.

Resmed machines don't normally respond to anything in ramp no matter which mode...cpap or apap.
Respironics only responds in ramp when using apap mode.

That said...there's auto ramp with the new AirSense machines which might in a back door way respond.
Let's assume that while awake the airway can't collapse (that's why they call it sleep apnea) and if the new AirSense machine really can know when a person is asleep and automatically increase the pressure because the person is asleep then since it is up to prescribed settings it should be able to respond.
A person would have to be using the auto ramp function though and the machine would have to be accurate in its assumption that the person is actually asleep and thus have already increased the pressure because that's what auto ramp is supposed to do. If auto ramp works...a person goes to sleep at whatever time frame a person might be in that ramp period and the machine responds to the going to sleep by automatically going to full pressure and then if the airway tries to collapse the auto algorithm will respond but it is responding just like it would if ramp was out of the picture because essentially ramp was discontinued before the apnea event tried to occur.

Ditto on the FFM question. For me, I need a higher pressure with a FFM so if you don't one it could reduce both the claustrophobia of a larger mask and the difficulty with the higher pressure.

I have found I do better without using the ramp function. I put on my mask and start the machine about 20 minutes before I am ready to go to sleep. I watch the news and weather, then turn off the TV. By them I am acclimated to the mask, and I fall asleep within five minutes.

You are not failing. This is the adjustment period. It can take time, longer for some than others. Also about the mask, I panicked and felt claustrophobic and like I was going to suffocate with a particular nasal mask but was fine with the full face mask (and later I was fine with a different type of nasal mask, although I couldn't get past the jaw dropping and lips parting).

I'm just saying that because everyone is different and sometimes it takes some trial and error to find the best mask. Too bad the auction site was shut down. That site saved me a lot of money when I was going through trial and error with masks.

If 14 is making you panic set it lower. It's better to go lower than give up and have nothing at all. You can work your way back up if you need to. Keep experimenting and find out what works for you.