Been there, done this, and it doesn't work for me. Probably because I just keep going like the energizer bunny ....Muse-Inc wrote:Oh, 2 other suggestions from my sleep doc:
when you wake up, count your breaths from 1 to 20, then repeat as often as needed; he uses this technique. Being very visual, as I count I picture the numbers form and fade...just enough to distract me from whatever else I might focus on. Works pretty well.
True story: In first grade, my teacher asked every kid (individually) to count as high as they could to see how well we knew our numbers. She told me to stop at something like 250 or 300 and I just wanted to keep on going and going and ....
Pre-CPAP I would use Deep, cleansing breaths (from yoga) to both clear my mind and relax me when I either couldn't get to sleep or when I would wake up at night. I've tried unsuccessfully to do this since starting CPAP, but every time I try to do a deep, cleansing breath, I feel like the stuffed goose from night 3. The aerophagia/stuffed goose feeling has robbed me of this very valuable tool in my anti-insomnia tactics. And I miss it greatly.
Doing this---even before this round of insomnia I would use this. This is one of the rules my PA has me enforcing strictly. And it does work for me: Got out of bed once last night because after the first wake up, it was clear I was getting more awake after lying in bed for a mere 10 minutes. After 10 minutes of sitting in the dining room (where there is no clock), I went back to bed, put the mask on, hit the ramp button and fell asleep within 5 minutes.Get out to bed and go do something fairly boring for awhile if you don't fall back to sleep pretty soon.
Hate the flavored stuff---I lick it off my lips and that chaps them more.RobySue, I use Badger lip balm (coffee or orange flavor), generous application...it lasts me thru the entire night, most of the others don't. Maybe you'll have the same good results. I get it at Whole Markets tho some health food stores carry 'em.
And the night time problem right now is that the stuff that has always lasted through the night pre-CPAP just does NOT hold up all night to the force of the Swift FX's exhaust flow bouncing off of everything and creating a turbulent airflow around my lips that's more than enough to chap them. It's like sleeping under a dang hotel A/C vent that stuck on HIGH every single night. (And that always chaps my lips too.) I've always absolutely HATED sleeping under a STRONG WIND and that's what the CPAP feels like.
As for changing masks. The FX is comfortable--other than its exhaust flow. And I've looked at other masks at the DME at length to study where their exhaust vents are and what the angle of the holes are. Well, in my humble opinion, any nasal mask or nasal pillows mask would have a problem similar to the FX: The exhaust flow is bound to bounce off the covers, pillows, and my hubby's body since I don't want to route the hose over my head because I need to bury my head into my husband's shoulder (for comfort reasons). And I'm not a mouth breather. And my guess is that if I were to try a FFM, the direct air blowing on my lips would just make the problem even WORSE along with the itching and sneezing that prevented me from being able to handle a nasal mask in the first place.
So for now, sleeping with a chapstick in my hand works: When I wake up, I can slather the lips with chapstick and get back to sleep. It's a comfort issue. I don't actually think the lips are what's waking me up, but once I'm awake, I notice the lips are in pain, so if I don't slather them, they're capable of keeping me awake. Sleeping with the chapstick fixes that problem easily enough.
As for what is waking me up? There's some tantalizing evidence from Encore Viewer that I may be waking up coming out of each and every REM cycle. The timing of the wake ups is just about right: 80-90 minutes apart most nights---if there's not other obvious explanation such as a nasty leak or the cat jumping on my face (he can push the bedroom door open if it's not properly latched). Along with a growing tendency to wake-up after the now rarer-ish apnea clusters: If I now have 2 or 3 apneas really close together, they are very often followed by me waking up as evidenced by my hitting the ramp shortly after the cluster happened. So maybe this is evidence my sleep structure is beginning to consolidate after all.
