Newbie from Denver. How long to get used to a cpap machine?

Thank you for your patience. We are getting there and I greatly appreciate your help. I still can't believe I kept the mask on all night and it wasn't nearly as bad as my past nights.

You got it now.

For now...just concentrate on sleeping with it. Your AHI is fine. Yeah you had some large leak happen but it barely went into large leak territory and not far enough to impact the machine's recording or response. Don't worry about it right now.
Only worry about it if the leaks wake you up a lot. Anything that wakes us up is unwanted.
Sleep is the primary goal.

Without sleep none of this other stuff matters much. You gotta use the machine and get the sleep for it to work.
And it does take a bit of time for the brain to come to grips with this new way of sleeping with the alien plastered on the face.

milehigh5280 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 04, 2018 3:29 pm

Ok I will check out other masks and cpap.com. Thanks for the suggestion. I'll also increase max pressure before going to bed tonight.
I never travel with my cpap because I've never been successful wearing it and it's way too big. I've lived on airplanes most of my career and even when I go to overseas I only have carryon luggage. I never check luggage. I'm open to ANY mask as long as I can sleep. Also I downloaded and installed the sleepyhead software. Appreciate all the suggestions.

Just so you know, a CPAP is considered medical equipment and does not count toward your carry on allowance. So you can have a personal item, a carry on, AND your CPAP. If you are concerned about it, you can purchase a luggage tag that states that it is a medical device.

OP - You are off to a great (re)start - keep it up. It took me two months to master my treatment.

Night two of my new outlook on cpap. Slept with it on for over 8 hours. Turned it off and restarted twice for bathroom breaks. Still not sure what is the best way to handle that. I wish I had realized 2 years ago that I don't need to sleep with my mouth open. Total user error. I was thinking I had to have all that wind going down my throat all night. Now I sleep with my mouth closed. And I feel that when I go into deep sleep and open my mouth and start snoring then suddenly lots of air down my throat and I close my mouth again. Believe me after two full nights and my new understanding and all the help out here I am not going back. What I need to do is get the mask that is most comfortable. This pico isn't horrible but I think I can do better. I also like to sleep on my sides as well as my back during the night. Just doing some research it sounds like the nasal pillows may be my best bet. I gotta figure that one out. Because I went to the bathroom twice there are three sessions from last night. I think what I'm posting is the average of all three sessions. Very glad I joined this forum.

It's ok to turn off the machine for bathroom breaks. If you leave it running while you're out of bed, there is no defined way of monitoring nocturia events other than memory (mine is faulty, lol!). Plus some of your numbers get skewed a little. And it's noisy.

Jean

@milehigh . . . If you use auto-on, then your breath will start the machine,
whenever you get in bed (or back in)
I manually turn my machine off, because that data is immediately recorded.
Also, auto-off is a bit sketchy for my taste.

Some people like me get used to it right away just by doing it. I’ve been on it since June 2013. I use a resmed mirage Fx that just goes over the nose.

milehigh5280 wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 04, 2018 4:52 pm

2. If I normally snore through my mouth will a nasal mask even help?

I used to snore like a freight train, ran friend/relatives/lovers out of the bedroom. I have only ever used nasal pillows, and after a couple weeks with a minimalist chin strap to help train my jaw, I no longer snore unless I forget to mask up -- at which point my 10yo daughter yells across the hall to wake me up!

It works if you make it work; we can help.

Almost immediately for the machine--masks took longer.

Well I just finished my 5th night with the cpap I could never get used to in the past. Last night was over 9 hours. My numbers are looking very good. Last night I was going to try a face mask (I have 3) vs the nasal mask just to see how I would do. But the part that comes out won't fit my hose. I know I've tried a face mask in the past so I can't figure out why it won't fit the hose? I must be missing something. Anyway I think I've crossed a chasm this week. I still need to experiment with masks. I've noticed in the morning with my nasal mask the bridge of my nose is red as are the sides of my nose. Either put on too tight or not a good fit. Once again I am very glad I joined this forum. Great advice out here.

milehigh5280 wrote: ↑

Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:49 am

ut the part that comes out won't fit my hose. I know I've tried a face mask in the past so I can't figure out why it won't fit the hose? I must be missing something.

This happens often. It's usually something has come off the mask and got stuck in the hose preventing the mask from attaching.
Look closely at the hose to see if something is in the hose that shouldn't be there or missing from the mask.
Usually a very small little plastic coupling thing.

My experience with a full face mask was god awful. If I put my tongue in a certain position when I was anything other than wide awake, I had a choaking sensation. The nasal pillow was a bit better, but I got very tired of laying in bed awake for a hour, at best, and gave up after two weeks. Being away from it for a couple of months, the idea of trying again is pretty much unimaginable. And, yes, I understand the health risks.

Update: Yesterday I was fitted for a swift fx nasal pillow. Last night I had really good results and the lowest event rate/hour I've ever had. I slept from 11pm to 5 am without waking up once (very rare for me). Prior to this I tried a full face mask and nasal mask. I think the pillows seem to be the best but have only used them one night. Again, this forum has been a BIG help in getting me to use my cpap machine again. Thank you.

FYI, I travel for my work, but rarely go abroad. Last fall I had to fly to Sweden, with a connection in Amsterdam. I was apprehensive about using my machine on the plane, but everything worked fine - mostly. I was able to plug my Resmed Autoset S9 into the outlet the airline provides. It was a little awkward to figure out where it could perch, and getting the machine and the hose, and the cord unpacked to set up took a lot of squirming around. I also felt a little conscious about setting it all up in public, but dammit, I need good sleep, so i shrugged that feeling aside. I also took socket adapers with me, and everything worked fine during my entire stay. Fortunately, I don't need the humidifier, so had no need to hunt around for distilled water to use.

I have contemplated buying a smaller machine (I need an auto-pap) for my travels, but I worry about whether they are too noisy, or if they will last. I have not yet made up my mind.