taking mask off while asleep

hi, this is my first week with my cpap machine. i take ambien to help me fall asleep. ive been able to put the mask on (full face) correctly with no leaks. my problem is that sometime before my alarm goes off around 6 am.. i must be taking it off and turning off the machine. because when the alarm does go off. there it is, in the drawer turned off... any ideas? i dont remember at all taking it off or turning it off so i dont even know how long it was on or off of my face.....

I did that too. For ages. I still do sometimes and then sometimes I wake up and put it back on again.

If you keep using it you'll get used to it and tolerate it better and not take it off as frequently or as soon. In my case, I sleep with my husband who would be disturbed by the snoring and tell me to put it back on. That might have helped me develop the tolerance.

Curious, tho, isn't it?, that this thing is supposed to make us sleep better but something about it seems worse or more annoying to the unconscious body than interrupted sleep without it. It's ironic and unsatisfying.

Make sure the auto off function is turned off.

Yeah, what youre describing is the "half awake, half asleep" complex that many of us were programmed with from birth. We're also the types that talk in our sleep, and can actually carry out functions that imply we're awake, when we're REALLY asleep.

So you've got to think outside the box here. What about rigging up a gentle alarm system every two hours so you can check that youre hosed up?

You might also explore changing sleeping "positions".

A more extreme idea (which im currently using to various effectiveness) is tethering my wrist with a collar and a soft rope so that I remain on my stomach rather than flipping onto my back---which causes snoring and then apnea even though im "masked up".

In the end its whatever works. What youre currently doing is not working.

Ambien *can* cause sleep activity. It's a very rare side effect, but might be happening for you. Best bet? Tape the drawer shut. The requirement to fiddle with the tape might get your brain active enough to fully wake you up.

Try varying your humidity. I have fuzzy memories from some of the times I would take my mask off, that I was stuffed up and short of air. I would tell myself it was just for a few minutes with the mask off and then I would wake hours later having slept poorly. If I had the time, (e.g. no need to be at work) I would mask back up and go back to sleep till I got at least 4-6 hours of mask time. By trial and error, I realized that humidity makes me get stuffed up. When I quit heating the water and went with simply passive overflow, my mask removal frequency dropped greatly. Now I am averaging around 6.5 hours a night, up from 4.5 hours a night. Others may have the opposite experience and need more humidity to keep that comfort while sleeping.