I FEEL SO LUCKY!

I am in a "I am so fortunate" mood today, and was thinking that it would be a good thing for those just starting out to hear. I am about 6 weeks into the CPAP thing, and I LOVE going to sleep at night! I look forward to getting into bed, have warm fuzzy feelings about my machine and hoses (though not as warm and fuzzy as the feelings my DH gets, don't worry ), and I sleep really really well. I have had some bumps. Haven't worked out the humidifier rainout thing (for now, am doing without), got a sore on my nostril this week and had to take a break from my beloved Breeze, BUT the pluses SO outweight the negatives! I sleep deep and soundly. In fact, my DME and RT had a chuckle over how many hours my machine is logging! I am still tired at night and go to sleep fairly early - but I do not feel that overwhelming need to nap in the afternoon, and cope just fine until I crash after the kids are in bed. I am really lucky that the various noisesand whirring sounds etc don't bother me. I am really lucky that the feeling of the mask on my face feels reassuring rather than annoying.

If you are just starting out, or if you are well into it with more bumps and frustrations that you feel you can deal with - stick with it. Tweak, adjust, try a new mask, change the settings, ask questions, post questions, be a pain in the neck with a smile to your DME. It is worth it

That's all for today!
AII

I am right there with you. I fall asleep in 15 min vs. 1 hour pre pap. I love the thought of going to sleep that easy. I wake up so rested and ready for my day. I was just telling my husband that I would not sleep without my cpap and all of my "gear" for anything. I hate to see what happens to the person who ever tries to tell me that I cant have my cpap. I cant imagine what it would be like to ever go back to my pre cpap life...

I think it was some kind of milestone the first time I woke up during the night thinking the machine wasn't running when in fact it was sitting there blowing steadily. Going in, I'd have figured it would be weeks or months to get used to the air but that actually happened toward morning on my third night.

My mask is still a source of annoyance but I seem to have taken to the airflow itself almost immediately. My daytime sleepiness is starting to recede a bit and hopefully the constant tiredness and scattered mental state will begin resolving soon.

It's just hard to believe how my first night I was freaking out because it felt like "I can't breathe right with the machine" and now less than a week later I hate the thought of sleeping without it because "I can't breathe right without the machine".

P.S. I have a pressure sore on my nose from the mask and last night I just couldn't get the mask to seal over the bandaid. After we fiddled with it for half an hour, my wife (who takes very good care of me always) said "Maybe you should just to do without it tonight". I looked at her like that was the most clueless thing I'd ever heard in my life and kept fiddling until I got it to work. I didn't know how to politely explain that I was sooo not going to do without it.