Whining interspersed with machine questions...

Begin whining...
I wonder if somewhere in those 'feeling good' stages of CPAP that there is a point of passive resentment at having to kiss plastic every night for the rest of my life. I'm at about the 2 month point, and I'm beginning to resent it.

My numbers are now generally at or below five AHI, and I'm thinking more clearly. I changed my pressure to accomplish this, and am comfortable with the changes I've made. But I'm still gaining weight, and I'm beginning to have headaches again. The headaches are worse when I'm sleeping on my back, but the numbers are generally the same. Finding a pleasant position to sleep in is quite a challenge. I can't seem to un-tense my muscles. There has got to be something I'm missing here.

I find myself being awakened by the mask fittings clacking against each other when I wear the ultra mirage ff. I find my entire mouth desert dry and leaking with the hissing sound coming out of my mouth with the swift II.

I don't know if I'm getting enough REM, theta or delta sleep.

My variable breathing is still at about 30% at night, and I'm not sure whether this is due to more dream time or the same amount of awake time. I'm curious what a normal Variable Breathing range would be for someone who is in the mental zest stage.

I'm not sleeping 10 hours a night anymore, so I must getting beyond a good portion of the sleep deprivation zone.

And my machine seems to have been getting steadily louder, the longer I've owned it. It seems worse with the full face mask than the swift II. I've resorted to wearing ear plugs or covering my ears with pillows. I'm using the white paper filter and the gray foam filter. I need the white filter because of allergies. It really helps. Is anyone who is using just the gray filter finding the machine less noisy than when they use the white paper filter too?

Between 3:30 and 4:30 am, I'm likely to find myself awake regardless. I listen to relaxation mp3's to get myself back to sleep. It seems to help.

What else is there left to control?
End whining...

I found that using ear plugs (to block the sound of my husband's leaks) actually increased the noise I was hearing. Not sure whether that is a result of the mask or my breathing the pressurized air.

Not that my M Series is a quiet machine. It does sound like Darth Vader with a bad cold.

And I try very hard not to think about having to "kiss plastic" for the rest of my life, preferring to just get through tonight.

And although I don't feel spectacularly better, I am slowly starting find the "me" that seemed to have disappeared over the last few years. I figure it is a journey of a thousand miles: at least I have taken the first step!

Susan

Welcome to the Terrible Twos. Yup, been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.

I still have my moments. Found myself actually curling up to sleep with the mask right beside me in bed. Took me a few moments to remember to put on the mask. Contemplated NOT doing it. Did it.

Try not to think about "the rest of your life". It will only depress you. Just go forward one night at a time.

Hugs,
Babs

[quote="DreamDiver"]Begin whining...
I wonder if somewhere in those 'feeling good' stages of CPAP that there is a point of passive resentment at having to kiss plastic every night for the rest of my life. I'm at about the 2 month point, and I'm beginning to resent it.

My numbers are now generally at or below five AHI, and I'm thinking more clearly. I changed my pressure to accomplish this, and am comfortable with the changes I've made. But I'm still gaining weight, and I'm beginning to have headaches again. The headaches are worse when I'm sleeping on my back, but the numbers are generally the same. Finding a pleasant position to sleep in is quite a challenge. I can't seem to un-tense my muscles. There has got to be something I'm missing here.

I find myself being awakened by the mask fittings clacking against each other when I wear the ultra mirage ff. I find my entire mouth desert dry and leaking with the hissing sound coming out of my mouth with the swift II. I don't know if I'm getting enough REM, theta or delta sleep.

And my machine seems to have been getting steadily louder, the longer I've owned it. It seems worse with the full face mask than the swift II. I've resorted to wearing ear plugs or covering my ears with pillows. I'm using the white paper filter and the gray foam filter. I need the white filter because of allergies. It really helps. Is anyone who is using just the gray filter finding the machine less noisy than when they use the white paper filter too?

Between 3:30 and 4:30 am, I'm likely to find myself awake regardless. I listen to relaxation mp3's to get myself back to sleep. It seems to help.

What else is there left to control?
End whining...

ozij wrote:What's left to control are mouthleaks when you're using the Swift. A low AHI while you mouthleak is misleading - the air blowing out of your mouth is going into the room and not creating the needed pressure to fight any obstructions that may occur. I don't think the machine can identify an obstuction under those conditions. Mine (a PB 420E) never does. And I know you're mouthleaking because of your desert dry mouth.

For me too, earplugs make the noise much worse.

O.

This totally makes sense. Recently I've gone mostly to the full face, so i'm pretty sure my AHI's are accurate. I've been using the swift for travel so I don't scare 5-year-old nieces.

Ditto ozij comments ... AHI numbers are misleading if they don not correlate with low leak rate numbers.

Diver, try the Nasal Aire II with a chinstrap. Way less scarey then most of the other options.

Cheers,
Babs

Anonymous wrote:Diver, try the Nasal Aire II with a chinstrap. Way less scarey then most of the other options.

Cheers,
Babs

Babs,

OMG! Do those things go all the way into your nose?
https://www.cpap.com/productpage/innome ... ement.html

It looks very comfortable from the external side of things, and if they do go into your nose, it probably means you don't get a lot of torque-related leakage from the nose.

What chin-strap do you use? I've been using a chin chock made out of a rolled up hand-towel pretty effectively with my swift II. (You must be at work, I didn't see your settings.)

DreamDiver,

I try not to think about having to "kiss plastic," but instead enjoying the feeling of fresh filter air blow in my face, it starts to make the mask feel a bit comforting.

Like you, I listen to things that help me relax (including using Pzizz a handy relaxation program that loads up on your iPod or MP3 player).

I'm cutting down on the amount of caffeine I drink.

Like ozij and DreamStalker I keep a close eye on my leak rates.

And I think of all the other benefits from "kissing the plastic":

Overall I'm feeling better,
My attitude is much better,
My wife is much happier, because she's sleeping much better (and when we're both in bed and not sleeping . . . well, that's much better too),
I'm spending more time enjoying my family,
And I plan on sticking around to enjoy grandchildren someday . . .

when the darth vader sound starts to get bothersome i roll over & point the ear thats been muted by gunfire do the listening....Then all i hear is the normal high pitched tinnitis, at least i'm used to that friggin noise,lol