First Night - Frustrating & Disappointing

I washed the area around my nose, put distilled water in the tank, put on my nose mask and with great anticipation and excitement turned my machine on and went to bed a short time earlier than normal. It started off a little different as I could not longer watch TV while I fall asleep since I couldn't wear my glasses but not a big deal.

I fell asleep in the normal amount of time (20 mins) but woke up 2 hours later for no known reason. I fell back asleep quickly however, I woke up again 2 hours later and did feel a little air hitting my right eye. So I got up made some adjustments to my nose mask and laid back down. This included more mask adjustments and several times pushing the power button on my machine until I was sure it was pumping air. Guess I need to read the manual. So I just laid in bed, stared at the ceiling and listened to the barely audible sound of my S9 for 2 hours. Well I never fell asleep again and now it's time to get ready for work. I did find that I only needed about 1/3 of the water that I put in the reservoir so I'll make an adjustment to that tonight.

My history before CPAP was about a 4 hour uninterrupted sleep so I was really hoping to make improvements on that. We'll see what tonight brings.

The first 3 weeks I tried mine, I couldn't even fall asleep at all. If you managed to fall asleep with it, you're ahead of me! *grin*

Cpap therapy takes time, for most of us, to become effective. When you start a diet do you lose 30 pounds overnight?

flatag wrote:Cpap therapy takes time, for most of us, to become effective. When you start a diet do you lose 30 pounds overnight?

I certainly understand about it taking time and it's not going to happen overnight. I have seen several comments here stating to be sure to post my experiences and that's all it was meant to be, not a complaint. Maybe tonight will be better!

Hi Dave,

Your experience with CPAP is like many others.Relax, it will get easier. I'm an old hand at this. Almost 2.5 months under my belt

Your biggest issue right now is to get comfortable with your equipment. I've seen recommendations to wear your mask while you are watching tv or just hanging out. The idea is to train your brain to accept this thing on your face.

Remember this is a journey, not a destination.
-tino

Hi Dave,

Good luck with all of this. We all have been there . I used to always watch TV before going to sleep and once I started the CPAP therapy and couldn't wear my glasses, I switched to reading instead and now I don't miss the TV at all and I have read some great books!

Ruth

Tino2You wrote:Hi Dave,

Your experience with CPAP is like many others.Relax, it will get easier. I'm an old hand at this. Almost 2.5 months under my belt

Your biggest issue right now is to get comfortable with your equipment. I've seen recommendations to wear your mask while you are watching tv or just hanging out. The idea is to train your brain to accept this thing on your face.

Remember this is a journey, not a destination.
-tino

Tino: this is great advise! Dave: your first night sounded like mine. I suspect you did get a little more sleep that I did. Know that even though your sleep may be broken up, the small amounts of sleep that you are getting is much better (and healthier) than the 4 four hours of untreated sleep apnea sleep you were getting before. KEEP GOING!! Each night will get better. Contol your leak rates. Keep them low. I must admit, I sleep so good that I sleep through events that need my attention. Nice problem to have!

Sheriff

Dave,

Many people struggle most with mask fit and leaks at the beginning than anything else... you may find that the mask is not ideal, but give it a shot, adjusting it as best you can before you go to sleep.

If you continue to have arousals that you think are due to the mask and leaks, there are steps that can be taken. One is to consider a mask liner; there is now a liner for your mask, it's called Mask Liner B: http://padacheek.com/PAC_Maskliners.html Many people like them because they make mask fit more comfortable and can often cut down on leaks. At least that is my experience.

Good luck and keep checking in...

Yep. The first few weeks are weird trying to adapt to everything. Don't give up ... after a few months it becomes pretty normal, like eating, and taking a crap.

Yes this sounds about right! My first week was terrible. I barely wore it and when I did it just poured leaks! I caved and bought a nasal pad to stop leaks! It really has worked and I feel pretty good thus far. I'm still waiting to see how long it takes to stop wanting/needing a nap and I'm 1 month in!

Hey, youre doing fine. Everybody, and i mean everybody has some problems to start, and i hate to tell you just about all of us
are continually making adjustments a couple years to a couple decades in.

If you got 4 hours sleep you did ok. In a couple months time, hopefully you'll be getting a solid 7.

DD, I see it has been almost 3 weeks since your post. Are you doing better? I hope so. But 3 weeks was about my lowest point of despair, so checking up on you. It did get better for me. Hang in there.

gertrude wrote:DD, I see it has been almost 3 weeks since your post. Are you doing better? I hope so. But 3 weeks was about my lowest point of despair, so checking up on you. It did get better for me. Hang in there.

My post was July 26th but I joined the forum around July 7th. Perhaps that's what you saw gertrude. Thanks everyone for your advice so far, I appreciate it. Last night was not much better however my phone rang so that didn't help.

dangerousdave wrote:

gertrude wrote:DD, I see it has been almost 3 weeks since your post. Are you doing better? I hope so. But 3 weeks was about my lowest point of despair, so checking up on you. It did get better for me. Hang in there.

My post was July 26th but I joined the forum around July 7th. Perhaps that's what you saw gertrude. Thanks everyone for your advice so far, I appreciate it. Last night was not much better however my phone rang so that didn't help.

oops, my goof. But glad you're still here and hope things are better tonight.

Well, night 3 was much better as I only woke up once after 2 hours and then got another 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep so I'll try and make this my last post in this mostly negative thread.