3 Days with first CPAP machine and I'm lost!

My apologies for the long delay in coming back to this. I came down with the flu or whatever bug was going around and it lasted a full three weeks, which meant a further delay in trying to resolve the issues I had.

I finally managed to find a respiratory therapist in the area who agreed to see me at her home to help me to get the machine and mask ready for use but I'm now going through what I guess are normal beginner's problems falling asleep with the mask on.

Let me try to respond to some of the questions/comments:

The machine did not come preset to the 11 in my Rx, presumably because it is an auto-CPAP machine. However, the respiratory therapist suggested that wen switch to regular CPAP to get started and set the machine to 11. She added the ramp feature as I was having trouble with starting out at 11.

I already explained why I chose to order online myself, having had difficulties with two local DME companies.

Again, cpap.com did NOT set the machine at the specified pressure, presumably because it is an auto-CPAP machine. That issue is now resolved.

Lugus, I'm concerned about some of the comments you made. With any type of polycythemia, if the blood becomes as thick as yours has from what you described, you're at high risk for a thrombotic event. In fact, the most recent wisdom is that the hematocrit should be managed to 45 or lower for men and 42 or lower for women, as above those levels there was a four-fold increase in thrombotic events in a large clinical study. There are also the usual ramifications of having too many phlebotomies, such as problems with iron levels and the like. I hope that you are under the care of a very competent hematologist who has sufficient experience in this area and hope and trust that the CPAP therapy provides relief for you.