I hate this

Kim,

You have received some great advice so far, so I'm not going to repeat all that they have covered very well. One question I have is why did you choose the full face mask? Was it because you were told or you believe you are a mouth breather while sleeping? Well, I thought the same thing, and I also have a deviated septum, so that made me think it was even more true that I had to get a full face mask. Let me give you a suggestion though. Read the link in my signature titles "So you think you're a mouth breather".

I tolerated my FFM, but I hated it. All the leaks, and other garbage. A few weeks back I made the switch to nasal pillows, and I was a little worried at first. Would I open my mouth? Would I have a horrible night of sleep all over again? What if this didn't work, would I be out this extra money? I kept thinking of all these excuses and guess what? I love the nasal pillows. My nights sleep is so much more peaceful, I can use a much lower pressure setting and thus avoid the dreaded aerophagia, I no longer have all those darn leaks, and I don't have this HUGE face mask (well, what feels like a HUGE face mask) stuck to my face.

Anyhow, read the link and keep with it. As others have said, this is not a part time thing. You have to face it everyday. Attitude is everything and only YOU can affect that attitude.

John

Kim

To be honest if you said you loved it right away we would be worried

Some good advice in the replies and plenty of other tips and advice on this forum on how to monkey around and get your therapy working the best for you.

Its a bit of journey but its very worth the while.

Maybe carbonman will stop by later and offer some of his inspirational verse

erwink wrote:Don't know what to do. I really thought based on my sleep study with the machine that it would be a relatively easy adjustment....the reality has been anything but.

It usually is. But take heart. The simple fact you are here spouting off your frustrations means you care, and care a lot! That is worth a whole lot. You are being a lot more normal than you may have any idea you are. So keep reading all the advice and encouragement you are receiving here, continue to share your real feelings, and you WILL succeed!

Hi, Kim! I am glad to see that you have gotten lots of useful answers.

I, too, am wondering about the full face mask. When I had my titration sleep study, they showed me 3 types of masks: nasal pillows, nasal mask, and full face mask. It was all so daunting, and when they asked me which I wanted to try, or try first, I chose the nasal pillows mask because of how small and minimal it was. Well, I breathed through my mouth, so I needed a chinstrap. I tried a nasal mask also that night, but opted to try using a nasal pillows mask, and that is what I got from my DME: a swift FX along with a chinstrap. That chinstrap proved largely useless, I tried a few, and have found one that works for me, but I will probably still try others. I have tried a few full face masks because I would like an option where I can breathe through my nose or mouth especially if I have a cold and congestion. In addition to lots of leaks, I have found that the air blowing into my mouth tends to puff out my cheeks.

I currently use a nasal mask, the Resmed softgel nasal mask. It is not as comfortable as the swift fx nasal pillows mask, but with the swift fx, I found that sometimes all that air being blown directly into my nostrils (my current pressure is 14) was a bit intense. I still have not found a full face mask that I can stand to wear and/or that I can get not to leak. I am still trying. BUT, I think that if I had been sent home with one at the beginning of my CPAP journey, I would have wanted to give up.

The fact that you are on here is great. Many I think never find their way here. I know my own journey would not have the same degree of success had I not found this forum.

You are worth it, your health is worth it. I would encourage you to keep trying, and not to always listen to "conventional wisdom."

Jill

*

I have been on CPAP for about 1.5 weeks now and I have the same machine as you do but I have the resmed mirage quattro fx full face mask. I'm not sure how I would adjust to the bar on my fore head. I've done 2 things that have really helped me.
1. I routed the hose over the head board and over the top of my head. I really didn't think this would work but others on here swear by it and this REALLY helped A LOT!!!
2. I just got a contour CPAP pillow. http://www.contourliving.com/p-71-conto ... 7Qod7kcTmw Really helps me when I side sleep.

Hang in there, you will figure it out. I know I still am.....

Jeff

Uncle_Bob wrote:Kim

To be honest if you said you loved it right away we would be worried

Some good advice in the replies and plenty of other tips and advice on this forum on how to monkey around and get your therapy working the best for you.

Its a bit of journey but its very worth the while.

Maybe carbonman will stop by later and offer some of his inspirational verse

The Quattro is known to be quite "finicky" in getting a good seal. Finding the right mask will solve a lot of problems so keep trying until you find "the one"!

Uncle_Bob, I've been waiting for a new photo of the boys! They're so cute!

I don't want to live in a fog....
I don't want to wear a mask...
I don't want to choke in the night...
I don't want to have to rely on numbers and graphs.....
I don't want to wake up to rain in my bed.....
I don't want to glue and strap my mouth shut....
I don't want to wear panty hose on my head....
I don't want to forget what I just said....
I don't want to be plastyed or have splints in my head...
I don't want to rely on a machine to be able to think.....
I don't want to go on a journey every night to sleep....
I don't want to wake up dead....


I want to be a kitty and sleep in the sink.

MaxDarkside wrote:I'm a newbie, been on my machine about 1 month. For me, there's no choice... I do or die. So I do, and find a way to get around the challenges. You can do it. Stick with it. I don't know what your consequences are for not, I do know them for me.

Amen, well said. It's the same consequences for the rest of us.

Carbonman; you rock.

Thanks, everyone, for the words of encouragement.... I know I need to suck it up and hook it up everynite....but man, it's a chore.

As far as mask goes, when I did my sleep study, I started with the nasal mask, and it was great while I was just sitting there reading, but as soon as I laid down to go to sleep, I felt like I was suffocating with it and had to switch to the full face....I have skimmed over the link about newbie to newbie with regards to mask, and will look into something else...I've been reluctant to call the dr's office as I haven't been able to figure out WHAT exactly isn't working for me, but I will make a more concerted effort to do that now, thanks to all the guidance here.

As for data....I have no idea how to get any of it.....not even certain there's a card in my machine?? Can anyone give me some tips on that?

Again, thanks so much....guess it's just my regular holiday blues setting in that is making this extra difficult.


Kim

erwink wrote:As for data....I have no idea how to get any of it.....not even certain there's a card in my machine?? Can anyone give me some tips on that?

SD card is in the back of the machine in a little slot above the filter.

You have choices for software. ResMed's software is ResScan which you can find a link for in Uncle Bob's signature here. memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=38643

A tutorial to help you with using the software is here. http://montfordhouse.com/cpap/resscan_tutorial/

You can also use SleepyHead if you wish. If you have a Mac there is a Mac version. I have links for SleepyHead and its User Guide in my signature.

If you have a Mac computer and want to use ResScan then you will need to set up a Windows environment for ResScan because it is a Windows based software. There is no Mac version of it.

If your feel like you are suffocating when you lay down perhaps the machine is using the ramp function and starting out with the minimum 4 cm pressure and that is low and some people feel like there just isn't enough air moving. You don't have to use ramp if you don't want to.

As for data....I have no idea how to get any of it.....not even certain there's a card in my machine?? Can anyone give me some tips on that?

Kim,
In addition to the data on the card, there is data on your screen. In the morning or before noon, hit the round button to the right of the screen one time and then press the two silver rectangular buttons to the right of the screen at same time and hold down. You will be able to scroll down and see your hours used, AHI, leak, average pressure for the night.

erwink wrote: As far as mask goes, when I did my sleep study, I started with the nasal mask, and it was great while I was just sitting there reading, but as soon as I laid down to go to sleep, I felt like I was suffocating with it and had to switch to the full face....

Kim, I understand the feeling and have been there too. One thing I do is make sure my nasal passages are nice and open before I lie down and go to sleep. One thing you can try for only a short period of time (no more than three days) is Afrin nasal spray. This will open up your nasal passages nicely. Try this with a nasal mask and see how it works. If you can tolerate it, you may want to talk with your doc who rx'd the CPAP and see if he can rx something that you can use long term. My doc rx'd flonase and it helps a ton. I would use the nasal spray at least 30 minutes before bed. Actually, the Afrin can be used as you go to bed as it works really fast.

One other thing I have noticed with my nasal pillows is making sure they are seated properly. Sometimes they will bee off center of so forth, and this will limit the flow and make it a challenge. By readjusting them, it normally resolves itself.

Lastly, use your ramp feature. When I switched to nasal pillows my body had to adjust to the feeling that you are noticing. By setting my ramp to 30 - 45 minutes and having it start at a low enough pressure setting (but not too low) it wasn't so bad. Where I had problems was not in the inhalation portion, but the exhalation portion. With the ramp, this helped tremendously. I supposed you could use EPR setting to, but I didn't try that.

Don't give up.... never give up and keep a positive mental attitude. Having sleep apnea stinks, but the treatment for it is not that bad when you consider some other treatment options for other medical issues (i.e. Cancer, diabetes, etc). You can do it, and we are all here for you.

John

Still hating therapy?