Well last night was my first official now I have a CPAP at home try to rest night.

At first it was hard to get to sleep, even using the ramp feature - once I fell asleep around 12:30 I was out till 3:30 then woke up with a HUGE dry mouth, had to take mask off and get some water.

At that point 3:30am I thought ok I DO need that humidifier on here, so I attached it put water in it and laid back down.

Back to bed at 3:35 fell asleep fast (used ramping), cuz my pressure is 14 so ramping starts me at 7 which is much easier.... Fell asleep till 5:15am, woke again not as dry of a mouth but my face was FREEZING (nose ICE cold) and I had just rolled over and pulled unit off dresser with arm, so that woke both me and my wife, I decided to take it off and try to rest that last few hours, slept from 5:15 to 8am no mask and slept sorta hard (snoring wife said).

Woke a bit tired but hey I tried it and am workin on it, I plan on a nap today since its Saturday and I will use it again (trying to get used to it).

My machine is a RemstarPro M series

My mask is Mirage 2 (nice comfy mask!)

ALso have an outboard plastic rectangle shaped humidifier thingy

My questions are

Will it get better? Was this a successful first night based on others experiences?

Feel bad for my wife who didnt sleep much, she said i was 90% quieter no snoring yet i moved my arms around alot (probably cuz of the mask), the machine was surprisingly small and quiet which were both a BIG plus to her and I. But I hope my arm movements settle down (around face and mask I guess I was moving arms alot) hopefully that will get better with time?

Yet around 5:30 when i took mask off she left bedroom due to me snoring again.


I KNOW I need to use this all the time sleeping just had to pull it off last night after the up down up down stuff that was happening, and how COLD my nose/face was, just needed a break from it.

Hopefully using during nap and trying again tonight I can get longer sleep out of it and make it thru the night.

My pressure is 14 to me thats really HIGH, altho the night of the test when I got the mask I took a Sonata sleeping pill, I wonder if the pill put me under deeper and my pressure should'nt be that high?

When I go into the doc in a month I bring the card from my machine, will this tell them if my pressure is too HIGH? I hope so, will it also tell them if I am getting more quality deep sleep (beyond me trying to gauge it).

Thanks for all replies and info...slow but sure I am learning and glad to finally have a machine, now time for us to get used to it...


Bill

Well, by my experience, it was a very successful first night.

Come to think of it, I don't know exactly why my face doesn't feel like it's freezing anymore. It was such a huge problem ten or twelve years ago that my wife made me a "nose blanket"...she took a washcloth and cut a triangular hole in it, so I could wear it under my mask. Of course, it didn't work, because I couldn't get the mask to seal around it.

The heated humidifier should help, though. You might need to increase the heat setting a bit.

And yes, it should get much better. You would be amazed at what you can get used to. I used to hate CPAP with a passion, but I'm so adjusted to it now that I feel funny without it.

Good luck! Carl

Well last night I was so exhausted and I thought ok ramping strap it on and im so tired i should sleep, 45 mins later woke up again and could NOT get back to sleep even with ramping.

Took mask off around 2am after giving up another 2 ramping sessions almost a full hour of laying there awake trying to think of nothing and go back to sleep.

Woke up sore as heck (musta snored hard my back hurt bigtime) and today all day I am yawning, ill try again tonight, im starting to wonder if my pressure is TOO high, im on 14 btw what are others on?

Reason I think maybe its too high is that the night they fitted me for a mask I took a sonata sleeping pill (given to me by the sleep doctor) so he knew about it, but im thinking maybe i went into a deeper sleep than normal resulting in needing higher pressure for their tests?

Other thing is too after 15 mins or so of full pressure i find this weird burp sensation, I almost fall asleep but wake to this sensation that i need to burp is that a sign of too much pressure maybe?

Bill

Bill, it sounds like you're going through exactly what I did.

My pressure was 15 cm and I just could not get used to it. I experienced terrible mask leaks and other problems from high pressure. I kept trying but I would lie awake most of the time and wound up even more exhausted during the day.

For me, two things did the trick. First, mask technology improved to the point where there were full-face masks available that would seal reasonably well at 10 or 12 cm of pressure. Second, I tried a number of different autopaps until I found one that gave me effective therapy with the lowest possible average pressure. My pressure is fairly low and my mask doesn't leak too badly until after I fall asleep and my apnea events start to spike. The pressure goes up automatically and my mask starts to leak, but I'm asleep by then and it doesn't really bother me.

Anyway, once I got the right mask and machine, my comfort level improved dramatically and I was able to adjust to CPAP with no problem.

The problem for me was, nobody cares which machine is best for you, they just want to sell you whatever machine they happen to stock. It was like pulling teeth to try autopaps from "The Big Three" manufacturers, but I'm really glad I did! God knows how my therapy would have gone otherwise.

Hope this helps! Carl