Newbie-can't sleep

Sith wrote:Well I guess I'll get a nasal pillow mask on Wed-DME can't get me in sooner. Last night no mask at all after fighting to sleep for 1.5 hours. Can't afford not to sleep when I have to get up at 5 am to go to work, so i'll try again on my weekend.

Yes, it's a bummer when you are fighting for sleep and must get up (early) the next morning.

But---part time use of CPAP makes it HARDER to actually learn how to sleep with the mask every night, all night long. Every time you consciously fall asleep without the mask on, you are allowing (indeed encouraging) both your mind and body to believe that you really don't need to master sleeping with this thing on you nose. And it will continue to be very hard.

My own suggestions?

First, you should NEVER consciously choose to NOT EVEN TRY to mask up for the night---no matter HOW tired/exhausted you are and no matter HOW early you have to get up.

Second you should NEVER fight for 1.5 hours to get to sleep with the mask on and then consciously take it off (i.e. GIVE UP for the night) to get some sleep.

Why? Those two behavior patterns inadvertently REWARD the stubborn part of your brain/body that is still saying (at least unconsciously): I don't really need to sleep with this thing on my nose; see it's just too hard and if I take it off, I bet I'll fall asleep right away and I'll sleep just fine---not great---but decently enough to get through tomorrow. And it's obviously better to get SOME sleep than NO sleep. And I will get NO sleep if I put the mask on (or don't take the mask off), so why bother trying to mask up at all? And the problem with this line of "reasoning" is that it can easily become a self-fulling prophecy. And within a few months you've gone from trying to make CPAP work (part time) to using the machine just enough to make compliance to using the machine occasionally to throwing the machine in the closet.

So what to do when you just cannot get to sleep with the mask on?

Well, first, do NOT wait for 1.5 hours to do something. Give yourself a MAXIMUM of 20 or 30 minutes to fall asleep at the beginning of the night. Because if you are still actively fighting with the mask after 20 or 30 minutes of trying to get to sleep, you're likely way too wide awake to ever get to sleep easily with the mask on. And the answer is not to just yank the mask off and go to sleep because that's rewarding "bad behavior".

So after 20 or 30 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to get sleep, it's time to get out of bed and go into a different room to settle yourself back down and to allow yourself to get sleepy enough to try again. And note that feelingsleepy is not the same as feeling tired or exhausted.

Good things to do when you are out of bed:

• Sit in the dark or semi dark until you start to feel sleepy. Note this will only work if you can sit in the dark and NOT worry or fret about all the things about CPAP that are making it so hard to get to sleep. Listen to some quiet music if that helps.
• Make yourself some warm milk or a cup of herbal tea. (Put some honey in that tea if you like it that way.) Drink it slowly and work on relaxing your mind.
• Read a boring book.
• Do a crossword or soduko ON PAPER (not on the computer)
• Play some solitaire with REAL CARDS (not on the computer)

Bad things to do when you are out of bed:

• Sit there and worry: Worrying about how little time there is for sleep until morning; how little you've slept; how irritating the CPAP is; how much harder it is to sleep with the CPAP; worrying about work; worrying about the fact that you are still up; worrying about how you just can't seem to fall asleep unless there's no mask on your nose.... All these kinds of worrying will likely make you more awake, more irritable, perhaps more angry, and a whole lot less likely to be able to sleep.
• Web browsing, texting, and watching tv. All these electronic gadgets emit blue light, which wakes many people up. They also all require a lot of attention from our conscious mind.
• Doing work---as in paperwork for the job or as in chores around the house. The mind reacts to doing work acts as punishment for getting out of bed instead of punishment for not getting to sleep. And work and chores are not exactly sleep inducing or relaxing. So it makes it harder to force yourself out of bed when you really do need to get up out of bed.

And go back to bed ONLY after you are sleepy enough to face masking up again. And remember that feeling sleepy is not the same as feeling tired or exhausted.

And if you still can't fall asleep in 20-30 minutes? Repeat the cycle:

• Step 1: Try to get to sleep for 20-30 minutes with the mask on. If you do, maybe you'll be lucky and not wake up until morning.
• Step 2: If not, get out of bed and do something that allows yourself to get sleepy enough to try again.
• Step 3: Go back to bed ONLY after you can force yourself to mask up again and go to Step 1.

You will most likely only need to repeat the cycle a couple of times before you actually do fall asleep with the mask on your nose. And as you become more acclimated to the mask, then it won't seem so hard.

Before I started CPAP therapy, I would wake up in the middle of the night and be up for a couple of hours. When I first started CPAP therapy, I couldn't fall asleep in the beginning of the night either!

I resolved it by getting the machine all set up a couple of hours before my anticipated bedtime. Then at bedtime, I'd put on the mask but not hook it up to the hose, then I would read or do something mellow until I got sleepy. When I got sleepy/drowsy, I'd turn on the machine, hook the hose up to the mask, and switch off the light. It worked like a charm. I think one my challenges at that time was too much engaging my brain around equipment right before bed.

Also, I had been on my back masked up and with the machine on waiting for sleep to come. Before CPAP, I never fell asleep on my back; I always curled up on my side and fell immediately asleep. When I started doing exactly what I used to do before CPAP, I fell back into my old pattern of being able to fall asleep right away.

The trick is to isolate each, little factor (mask discomfort, mask fit, leaks, the position you sleep in, mouth breathing, etc.) one at a time and make adjustments. Harmonizing with the mask is the bulk of the challenge.

Good luck. Insomina's a bitch. But I believe you'll surf over this wave soon.

If I don't breathe fast enough, the hose and mask fill up with a puff or pop when the hose goes rigid. Then I take in a deep breath, and there is not enough air for a moment, feels like a vacuum. This isn't scary but very disruptive and uncalming, not comfortable, and keeps me awake instead of soothing for sleep. The techs told me "that does not happen", "there is always air in the tube" "that didn't happen to you" and "you don't know what you are talking about, you will get used to the mask". This was not a leak, a leak is air escaping out, not a column of air pushing down. Anyone out there with some idea of getting this puff/smack sensation under control so I could try to get some sleep? I haven't gotten any equip yet, if it can't work better than that I am not sure I can make it work...

apneawho wrote:
Just curious, how do you read with your mask on Sheriff? I can't do it without going crosseyed. I miss my bedtime reading, but have stopped doing it in favor of putting my cpap on and getting quiet.

Most folks don't use the mask I use. With full-face or nasal masks, I assume you can read??? I normally lay a few minutes with my mask on and listen to the news... then off to la-la-land!!

I've had my cpap for 9 months. I haven't slept with it on yet. It feels very comfortable but for some reason I just dont fall asleep. I have gone to bed extremely tired and would lay there for hours with no luck. I've changed the pressure lower to see if that would help but it didn't. Does anybody have any advice?

lew8238 wrote:I've had my cpap for 9 months. I haven't slept with it on yet. It feels very comfortable but for some reason I just dont fall asleep. I have gone to bed extremely tired and would lay there for hours with no luck. I've changed the pressure lower to see if that would help but it didn't. Does anybody have any advice?

One bit of advice might be to start a thread of your own. This thread is from 2011 and you may not get many responses.