Bipap insomnia

So yeah. I am on my new bipap and I am having more problems than I can deal with. However, with that said, my first main issue is my mask being uncomfortable, which I am working with my DME to resolve via the mask trial and error process. My other main issue is that I seem to only get about 1-1.5 hours of sleep on my machine before I wake up feeling like I am being suffocated and mild to moderate back pain. The combination of those issues make returning to sleep near impossible. I am struggling to maintain the minimum daily average of therapy hours required for my insurance to cover the payments on my new machine. I was thinking about sleep aids to help me stay asleep, but then thought I would pick the brains of you fine people to see what you all thought. Any pointers/input would be appreciated.

81emt

p.s.~ yes, I have already been reading through the newbie guides and other various stickies/posts. Also, I hope bipap chat is allowed here

Hi 81emt,

Welcome to the forum. If you could please use the link in my signature to register your equipment, that would be greatly appreciated so members can better tailor their responses to your situation. And if you could include your pressure/pressure range, that would help also.

When you wake up feeling suffocated, do you feel you are getting too much air or not enough?

Trying sleep aids is a reasonable idea although I think it would be better to make sure your therapy is completely optimized before going that route. Regarding the compliance issue, your doctor can write a letter to the insurance company explaining your issues and asking for an extension.

Your problems are quite typical for newcomers and definitely can be solved. Hang in there and please post back with the necessary information.

49er

81emt wrote:So yeah. I am on my new bipap and I am having more problems than I can deal with. However, with that said, my first main issue is my mask being uncomfortable, which I am working with my DME to resolve via the mask trial and error process. My other main issue is that I seem to only get about 1-1.5 hours of sleep on my machine before I wake up feeling like I am being suffocated and mild to moderate back pain. The combination of those issues make returning to sleep near impossible. I am struggling to maintain the minimum daily average of therapy hours required for my insurance to cover the payments on my new machine. I was thinking about sleep aids to help me stay asleep, but then thought I would pick the brains of you fine people to see what you all thought. Any pointers/input would be appreciated.

81emt

p.s.~ yes, I have already been reading through the newbie guides and other various stickies/posts. Also, I hope bipap chat is allowed here

I tried to find my machine as best i could. The machine i listed looks the same as the one i have but the connection on the humidifier hose connection is different. Other than that, I am not sure how to tell what my pressures are, but I have been told that my pressures are rather high... perhaps someone could tell me how to find said pressures. As for when I wake up feeling suffocated, it does not happen all the time, but when it does happen its mostly a feeling of not getting enough air. Lastly, thank you for the information regarding getting an extension... I will have to look into it if nothing is resolved when it comes time to submit my usage report.

81emt wrote:I tried to find my machine as best i could. The machine i listed looks the same as the one i have but the connection on the humidifier hose connection is different. Other than that, I am not sure how to tell what my pressures are, but I have been told that my pressures are rather high... perhaps someone could tell me how to find said pressures. As for when I wake up feeling suffocated, it does not happen all the time, but when it does happen its mostly a feeling of not getting enough air. Lastly, thank you for the information regarding getting an extension... I will have to look into it if nothing is resolved when it comes time to submit my usage report.

Hi 81emt,

I will let someone else tell you how to find prescribed pressure but it should be on the doctor's prescription for your machine. You should have a copy of that and if you don't, you should obtain one.

Anyway, the issue is you need to talk to him/her and repeat exactly what you told us about feeling suffocated and ask if the pressure could be temporarily lowered so you could get comfortable and work your way up to the prescribed pressure. Yes, more events might occur but better to be using the machine even with a higher AHI than not at all or very little.

The other issue is you should download a current copy of sleepyhead software so you can check your data and see exactly how you are doing.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/sleepyhead/

Many people have found when the pressure was lowered that it actually was quite adequate in preventing events as it turned out they were over titrated. I obviously can't promise that will happen to you but you never know.

Are you currently wearing the Quattro Mask listed in your profile and if not, what mask are you switching to?

49er

I can't tell you excatly what is happening with you, but I can tell you I was having the exact same thing happen with my old S8 BIPAP... I would wake up, rip the mask off because I felt like I had not been breathing at all for minutes.... this is what I did to test and see, I don't know if it was right or wrong, just what I did...

While awake, I set my machine up, put the mask on, laid down but did not fall asleep ( afternoon or something) After about 10 minutes after everything was in rythym and felt fine... I then took a breath out and did not breath back in....

My S8 kept my EPAP exhale pressure but did not go to my IPAP Inhale pressure for 45 seconds..... untill I took I breath in..... so I tried it again, this time held my exhale for a minute, It did the same thing, waited for me to inhale before it raised the pressure...

For me on BIPAP, I have over 50% centrals, so the machine was waiting for me to inhale but I didn't inhale and it just kept waiting.....

http://www.apneaboard.com/adjust-cpap-p ... tup-manual

You can go to the above link and request the provider/clinical manual for your machine.
The manual will explain how to get to the clinical menu so you can see the various functions and pressure settings.
Make sure you request the correct model manual.

81emt wrote:So yeah. I am on my new bipap and I am having more problems than I can deal with. However, with that said, my first main issue is my mask being uncomfortable, which I am working with my DME to resolve via the mask trial and error process.

Getting a mask that is not uncomfortable is a critical part of solving your problems.

My other main issue is that I seem to only get about 1-1.5 hours of sleep on my machine before I wake up feeling like I am being suffocated and mild to moderate back pain.

Are you sleeping in a new position in an attempt to not jostle the mask? A lot of newbies worry way to much about jostling the mask and they force themselves to sleep in an awkward position, which tends to lead to waking with some mild-to-moderate pain somewhere in the body. And the back is a common place for that pain.

So try your best to figure out a way to sleep in your favorite position. If that seems impossible, then post here about what your favorite position is, and you'll get tips on how to sleep with a mask in that position.

As for the feeling suffocated: Do you know your prescribed pressures? If not, that's a starting point. Follow through with Pugsy's links to get the clinical menu so that you can figure out what pressure(s) you are using.

And it's also important to distinguish between "feeling suffocated because there is too much air coming into the mask for me to exhale fully and comfortably" and "feeling suffocated because there doesn't seem to be enough air coming into the mask for me to inhale fully and comfortably." Both problems are commonplace. But they have different solutions. So we need to know what you mean by "feeling suffocated."

The combination of those issues make returning to sleep near impossible. I am struggling to maintain the minimum daily average of therapy hours required for my insurance to cover the payments on my new machine. I was thinking about sleep aids to help me stay asleep, but then thought I would pick the brains of you fine people to see what you all thought. Any pointers/input would be appreciated.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of trying sleep aids. A lot of sleep docs will suggest a short course of prescription sleeping pills to help a newbie get over the hump (so to speak) of learning how to sleep with the mask. If you are willing to take a sleeping pill, then it's a good idea to talk to the doc who is supposed to provide you with follow-up on your PAPing.

p.s.~ yes, I have already been reading through the newbie guides and other various stickies/posts. Also, I hope bipap chat is allowed here

You'll find a lot of folks here use BiPAPs. Cpap.talk is for anything related to any form of PAPing. And a lot of OT stuff as well at times.