CPAPtalk.com

As a new user, I was wondering this as well.

When I first started using CPAP approximately 6 weeks ago, I slept well and felt great. I still feel pretty good, but I do not sleep as well. I attribute that to my catching up on my sleep debt. I wake up at least four time per night to change sleeping positions and adjust my mask. I wonder if the mask is what is waking me up and if there is a better one out that that will let me sleep through the night better.

Paper_Nanny wrote:

katcw wrote:finally got the Quattro FX. At first it was great, but then began leaking. <snip>after about 3 weeks the mask began leaking again and my energy went down hill.

I wonder how many people that has happened to and why that happens. A mask that had been working great suddenly starts having problems with leaking... I had that happen with my first mask.

I wonder if it is just a fatigue in the material. I think I've noticed the same just recently, my Quattro FX is about 4 weeks old. Perhaps after wearing it every night, the cleanings, and all the inflations and deflations from the pressure changes the material starts softening or stretching and doesn't hold it's seal very well. That's my only guess.

Paper_Nanny wrote:

katcw wrote:finally got the Quattro FX. At first it was great, but then began leaking. <snip>after about 3 weeks the mask began leaking again and my energy went down hill.

I wonder how many people that has happened to and why that happens. A mask that had been working great suddenly starts having problems with leaking... I had that happen with my first mask. It came up at an appointment with my sleep doctor when he asked abouyt the large leaks I was having at night. His suggestions was, "You gained so much weight on vacation that your face got fat and now your mask doesn't fit anymore." (Yes, that is pretty much exactly what he said!!)

I had just gotten back from vacation, but had no weight change. I suggested that if the problem was really a change in my face, it was because of the changes in gravitational pull from all the take off and landings on my flights to and from my vacation spots.

Deborah

Deborah,

I have mostly noticed that when I put on weight the masks fit better. When I really lose weight (managed to get down to around 180lbs a year or so ago) the mask fit was worse & harder to fix.

DSM

davelikesbeer wrote:I wonder if the mask is what is waking me up and if there is a better one out that that will let me sleep through the night better.

You'll never know until you try. Are you working with a DME supplier? If so, talk to thema bout trying different masks. Most, if not all, manufacturers will allow masks to be "written off" if the DME fills out the appropriate paperwork. You should be able to try the mask and if it doesn't work, if you return it within 30 days, there should be no cost to you or your insurance, if you have one.

Deborah

ameriken wrote:I wonder if it is just a fatigue in the material. I think I've noticed the same just recently, my Quattro FX is about 4 weeks old. Perhaps after wearing it every night, the cleanings, and all the inflations and deflations from the pressure changes the material starts softening or stretching and doesn't hold it's seal very well. That's my only guess.

I replaced the seal when I got back from vacation and nope, it still leaked.

dsm wrote:I have mostly noticed that when I put on weight the masks fit better. When I really lose weight (managed to get down to around 180lbs a year or so ago) the mask fit was worse & harder to fix.

Next time I have an ms flare up and go on IV solumedrol (like prednisone), I'll see how the bigger face works out in terms of the seal. That stuff blows me up overnight!!

Deborah

A further thought (following a PM with Jeanette who started this thread) - A variation on the 'Cpap Honeymoon' definition.

How many here have one way or another - via spouse/partner referral or insistence, job survival (brain job, long haul
driving job, judge at a bench, surgeon etc: etc: ), or your doctor suggested,

been diagnosed with Sleep Apnea - been given a machine - embraced the idea (rather than opposed it from the start which some lost souls do) -
Felt it was great & working - and then find themselves (weeks months later) back in the predicament that sent them into be diagnosed
in the first place.

That is - partner says it is going wrong you are as bad as before - boss says he wants to rethink your employment due to no improvement - you
yourself find the daytime micro-sleeps returning & brain fogginess returning - BUT YOUR CPAP DATA SAYS YOU ARE DOING OK !.

To simplify: (where self is you) ...
- self diagnosed with SDB (OSA and or CA (& perhaps later Complex SA))
- self being one of those who embraced the therapy & saw its value (vs those who resist or deny it)
- Initially despite the oddness & newness, the *results* looked excellent, to both self and doctor
- Then either self or the boss became concerned at resumption of characteristics that existed before sleep study.
- Evidence seemed to be that it was great for a while but work associates (and self if falling asleep at work)
have pointed out that things are back where it was before

The difference here is not what self (you) think of your therapy, but what the facts (resumption of micro-sleeps etc )
and what others think, that subsequently raised the alarm bells as to 'Honeymoon Syndrome' has kicked in - the
honeymoon ended. Self (you) find yourself back to what it was before despite being on xPAP and any good or
even wonderful AHI results.

DSM

PS the feedback to this thread has been very interesting reading - reminds me of an old TV show that used to
start off with "this city has x million people and everyone has a story" CPAP City seems to be no different !!!.

D

I've been going the honeymoon too and for me, as suggested above, I think the problem is with the mask no longer sealing properly. When my mask leaks, it blows on my eyes and disturbs my sleep.

I think my problem is from dieting, exercise and CPAP therapy, so I've lost weight, so my face isn't as puffy any more, and my neck isn't as thick. Failing that, it's the straps losing their elasticity and not holding as tight anymore.

I've adjusted my straps and seem to be having better results.

Great topic!! And timely for me: I started cpap on 3/25/11, and initially felt a LOT better. Almost 4 months into it, less so. Unfortunately, I currently own a "brick" so I cannot check data to see what is going on, which is why I am in the process of trying to get a new, fully data capable machine.

I hope to soon be able to read data on a daily basis and figure out if the therapy is working...

The problem is that if the joy of the CPAP honeymoon goes away, CPAP divorce is even more painful than living with CPAP.

I am still waiting to start therapy, but I've been assiduously reading these forums and noticing--uneasily--how many people in thread after thread mention just this problem. The strangest thing I've noticed is how often new users come through a titration study feeling great and then immediately, with their own machines and masks, feel rotten again. In these cases the honeymoon seems to last but a single night. I wonder if this is a version of what you all are describing here.

I love what you said Archangle. That is the reality OSA.

After reading some parts of this thread, I'll add my 2 cents. For me, I've noticed it has done its job well.
For the most part I'm beginning to notice the times I'm a walking zombie is for two reason: 1) I didn't get enough sleep which I'm working on improving; and 2) the demands of job just make me plain dog tired. When I'm on vacation, I feel I can leap tall buildings in a single bound, just wish I could carry that same energy into the workplace

Starlette

My first night on my ASV I was terrified of putting on the mask. I slept the whole night with the light on. But I slept like a dead man (75% patient initiated breaths) and the next day I felt just wonderful. I had gone from almost no sleep (sleep efficiency of 23%) for several months to real sleep. Everything was better, however, I was now rested enough that it was too easy to stay up really late because, my body was no longer exhausted enough to be forced to sleep. Add to that, I had tremendous anxiety about sleeping with this nasal mask on my face. It seemed after that first short time, that all I had discovered was how very short of sleep I was and how hard it was to really sleep, now that the edge of absolute need of sleep had been and was being met. So, there followed, about 4 months of only being able to average about 4.5 hours of sleep a night. I wore my pulse oximeter nearly every night and that proved to me that I had to have my mask on to sleep. It was easy to see in the traces, the SPO2 desaturations below 70% that occurred within minutes of trying to "sleep" without my mask on.

So, I had a honeymoon of one night and from that moment, the work of forming a lifelong relationship began. It just keeps getting better.

As someone who seems to be going through the end of the honeymoon now, this is an excellent thread and gives me a few things to think about.

A couple of the items that piqued my interest are:

- Leaks - My mask is almost four weeks old and my DME said to replace the cushion twice per month. I took that as "please buy as many of these as you can afford so we can make profits off you", but maybe it really means, no, I need to replace these to keep a good tight seal. My leaks (I think) have been acceptable, but I want to go back through my data to check that.

- Risk Compensation - I think PST hit this one out of the park. Before CPAP, I was in bed no later than 9pm, or I knew that I would pay for it severely the next morning. After CPAP treatment began, I was waking up feeling great... and much earlier than I used to. I have done a couple of things too that maybe I shouldn't have. Been more lax in getting to bed at 9pm, and maybe being too aggressive on my wake up time. One of the stats that I have not been capturing in the program that I am recording all my stats with is my bed and rise time. I have total sleep time in there, but I think I need to look at those too.

Lots of other great things there too, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. I was starting to think the CPAP therapy was a fad for me and that the effects were wearing off, but there may be some specific reason why, and I need to take a look at those.

- John