Cpap Newbie sleeps 5 hrs 20 mins after 3 weeks

Greetings! Your website support for CPAP users is great!
After more than 3 weeks of CPAP use, along with the trials of beginning use, I must say I admire those of you who have stuck it out for years! I have had sinusitis and allergies;
chapped lips, anxiety, etc., and decided to visit my Sleep Study Center today for more understanding and encouragement.
They were great! I look forward to using http://www.cpaptalk.com
in the future.

Good for you! So glad your sleep center was helpful. This discussion board has great info.

Welcome, 3Birds.

A couple of suggestions:

1. For chapped lips, plain (unscneted and unflavored) Chap Stick really helps. If you use a nasal mask or nasal pillows, it helps--ever so slightly--to stick your lips together, too.

2. For sinusitis, work with your doctor to get this under control (a big challenge in allergy season!). Consider:
a. Once or twice daily sinus rinses (saline solution via spray bottle or neti pot).
b. Oral antihistamine if your doctor approves (newer ones like Claritin or Zyrtec)
c. Nasal steriod spray if your doctor prescribes it.

As for the anxiety, you will eventually be sleeping better, and without all that adrenaline coursing through your body to try to arouse you during apneas, you will find that you will feel calmer and have much less anxiety.

Keep on going--you're doing great and I can see you're working hard to make this work.

Welcome 3birds! If you would go up to the User Control Panel and click on Profile and then Edit Equipment--- choose your machine, mask, and other equipment from the drop down menus. Please show them in text...not pictures. This will allow us to know what equipment you are using in every post you write. It will show at the bottom in blue as mine does below.

If you want to put a picture into your profile, from the Profile menu, choose Edit Avatar and then find a pic on your computer to upload.