I'm a noob...

Tino2You wrote:Chrissy and Abby,

Your experiences so far are very normal. Especially if you have claustrophobia. First off there are many masks now that are minimalistic. The Aloha, the Swift FX and the Pilairo come to mind. These "pillow" style masks do have a drawback if you open your mouth. This lets the air leak out your mouth rather than keeping your airway open. A chin strap is used to keep your mouth shut The good news is that eventually you can learn to do this on your own. It comes with patience.

Feel free to log on here and vent, gripe or share your successes as that is what the forum is for. There are lots of people on here that have years of experience to listen and make suggestions.

One thing to keep in mind, is that it does get easier.

-tino

ChicagoGranny wrote:

I'm a noob

Yes, the trend in this health condition is to have it diagnosed only after the patient is totally worn down. That makes it doubly difficult to have the time and energy to get your therapy working well.

Fill out your equipment profile, keep reading the forum and keep posting your experience to get practical advice and moral support. Tell us the results of your sleep study and your machine settings.

You can achieve a good therapy but it may take some time, work and support.

Good luck,

AbbyNormal wrote:I just posted my story too. I'm also exactly one week in and also not having an easy go of it. It's 2:35am, so I guess that was our first clue, huh?

Sheriff Buford wrote:Welcome Noob! As our impeached president once said, "I feel your pain". I have a active thread in the forum, and the advise is to try a totally different mask than I am now using (and currently happy with). After pondering what the my nights would be like trying to adjust to a new mask, I started to get a big dreadful feeling in my stomach. It brought back memories of finding the right mask, and getting used to wearing it. When you are trying to sleep, you require the most comfort levels/atmosphere you can obtain. Wearing a dang mask is far from being comfortable. If you find the right mask for you and you can get used to wearing it, I promise you will look back years later and pat yourself on the back for the aggravation you went through. Heck, you may still be on this forum saying to other newbies what I am saying to you. Finding the right mask that is comfortable and doesn't leak is the key to sucessful cpap therapy. You may go thru many masks until you find "yours". Most folks (including me) went thru several masks, so it is not unusual. An unusual occurence is being content with the first mask you try! Work every issue and problem you have thru this forum. Though you may not like it, there is a solution for most issues we all have. Sometimes the answer is to "gut it up!", but we're all here to "gut it up" with you.

Sheriff

Wonderbeastlett wrote:Welcome to both of you! I am actually 1 month in and the first week was terrible for me. My mask leaked so bad and after the 5th night of this I broke down sobbing at 1 in the morning. My husband and I stayed up trying to find help on the Internet. After purchasing a nasal pad the leaks came to a halt! I starting feeling better about wearing it and it slowly became more comfortable. My headaches are gone and my mind is clear!

It was hard at first to wear and to even tell people! No one really understood the feelings you get strapped to this thing! Don't worry you will start to feel better! You have a lot of time to learn how to use it and make it work for you!

gertrude wrote:Chrissy,

If you go to the top left of the main page, you'll see a "control panel". Enter your equipment and that will help folks give you advice. The print version is better than the pictures, which are hard to see and many of the masks look similar.

I felt the same way you do, and couldn't figure out how I could be feeling so much worse than before I started treatment. Never did figure that out, but my irritability and brain fog have passed. Sick with this and try to give it a real chance and some time. It helps to be a stubborn son of a gun!

And if you can identify specific issues, there are many kind folks here who can help. Or just listen.

Welcome

DreamStalker wrote:Wow all the noobs all of a sudden ... must have been a sale on sleep studies or something.

Welcome all and best to your new lifestyle of health.

Hawthorne wrote:Hang in there all you newbies! I've been using cpap for 10 years this coming fall! I can't believe it is that long! It is so natural for me to put on my mask and get into bed that I don't even think about it.

You'll get over that beginning stuff soon and will be fine. There are lots of people here that are willing to help you. We've all been there! The best thing that happened to me, with this, is to find this forum!

RogerSC wrote:I'll offer what I did to get through my first week, now that I'm 6 months downstream and seem to be doing okay *smile*.

For the first week, I took Ambien, which helped me get to sleep with the new equipment on, and also with getting back to sleep if and when I woke up. By the end of the week, I was pretty much used to the equipment, and stopped taking the Ambien. Had a relatively fitful sleep the first night after that, typical of taking Ambien, I hear. I still take melatonin very occasionally, hardly ever, and that helps me getting back to sleep, too, if I'm feeling over-stressed.

I'm pretty cautious with drugs. I set that aside for a week, and it seemed to really help.

Just a thought.

mtn aire wrote:i guess i am re-Noob? many years ago i tried pap therapy- was still having breathing issues and a host of 'side effects'. the dr at that 1st 'clinic' said , oh i just think you can not tolerate this. - this same dr. with his face to his notes= looks up as i am trying to clear my clogged throat- ' are you sleeping?" no dr. it's my sinuses . no more was said no more follow up and i got frustrated after awhile and gave up.
so here i am years later with additional health issues and trying again. (diff sleep ctr study). hope we can find relief and enjoy a better quality of sleep and breathing!

sylvie wrote: Me too. At my last Somnodent adjustment appointment, my sleep dentist asked me if I had had teeth pulled and braces when I was a child. I had. He also said this is/has been frequently the cause of sleep apnea! There's a girl on the Internet who has made it her personal crusade to warn parents against doing this to their child. She was horribly maimed from this, she says, and goes into great detail on a number of videos of how it pushed back her jaw, thus limiting her airway and causing sleep apnea, disfigured her upper palete, and influenced a small mouth (which I also have), among other things. In fact, she can't even sit normally and breathe properly. I understand she has recently undergone a $60K surgery to correct at least some of these things. I haven't followed back up on her story in a while. As an aside, it took me a while to get over the anger of this having been done to me, even though I don't know if this is the sole reason why I have sleep apnea.

Chrissyminnau wrote: Regarding the "stereotypical snorer", I have not researched enough about sleep apnea to quote any percentages of large/thin snorers- but as a nurse, I know an increase in BMI has a greater incidence of sleep apnea, and overweight individuals have a high rate of sleep apnea.