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5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
#1
Angry 
5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
I am new to this and having trouble with getting even three hours on my ACAP before
the mask comes off. At first it was to much pressure, so I went into the setup menu and lowered it from 4-20 to 5.6-9. This helped me but now I have anxiety attacks do to the air being way to warm and muggy. I now put cold water and ice in my humidifier and that fixed that problem. The newest problem is, I noticed that now I wake up with the sensation that I forgot to breathe. My sleep study didn't show any central apnea's, so I don't get why this would happen now. So far the time I have spent on my machine have shown an AHI of 0.0. So it would seem that it is working for me, but at the rate I am going I can't see myself meeting the insurance companies definition of compliance. All of the other options to treat my apnea problem are not something I am willing to do. Any advice on getting used to the treatment is appreciated. Also, has anyone heard of having CA's while using their CPAP?
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#2
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
Welcome to the forum.

What you are experiencing is VERY common. Your apnea didn't start suddenly and neither will your treatment. 5 days is really nothing and you should give it time. Try to wear your mask or, preferably use the complete CPAP while your watching TV, reading, or listening to music. The more "mask/system" time the sooner your mind and body will become accustomed to its presence. The CA's are again common. They are usually a result of the body being unaccustomed to the pressure increase. If the CA's are being reported at the beginning or the end of a sleep session this is because our breathing patterns while awake are very erratic and become more stable when we're sleeping. Most of them should subside over time.

Good Luck!
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#3
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
Adoniscmj,

For now don't worry about the insurance company it will only add to the feelings of anxiety. The guidelines followed by a lot of insurance companies are: 70% compliance demonstrated in any 30-day period over the first 90 days of therapy. So they understand that it takes a little time to get used to the therapy.

You have come to a good place where I have gotten a lot of good advice from people who are happy to help.

A couple of things you mentioned that might have easy fixes...

1. air too warm and muggy... did you know that you can adjust the air temp and humidity? My wife who also has sleep apnea complained about the air temp and humidity and we found there is a setting on the menu we can all get to which allows you to adjust temp and humidity. Be careful to change in small increments, and try changing just the temp and see if you can get comfortable. The brute force method you are doing might work but only by overwhelming the machine's ability to maintain air temp with ice water in the reservoir. You might find it more convenient to adjust the thermostat once you know it's there.

2. waking up feeling like you forgot to breathe... this might be a normal response to the constant air pressure. There is another setting that lowers the air pressure when you exhale. The feature is called pressure relief and the settings are on/off and an EPR (exhale pressure relief?) number. This might already be set on to EPR level 2 by default or by your DME. A lot of people in the forum have indicated they breathe more comfortably with the EPR set to 3. You might have the option to turn it on/off but I think setting the actual number is only on the clinical menu. If this is of interest, holler and someone else who knows all about it will respond.

AHI 0.0, that's an elusive number I am still pursuing, good for you Smile.

Best wishes for good sleep and well being that comes from it.

Saldus Miegas
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#4
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
Hi Adoniscmj,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I know CPAP therapy can take some getting used to but just stick with it, it does get better.
To help your body get used to this new way of sleeping, wear your mask and use your machine as you read or watch tv during the evening.
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.
trish6hundred
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#5
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
Hello,

I'm just over two weeks in. I tell you I cried frequently and felt I would rather die than continue this for the first week and a half. Then I figured out how to change some of my settings. I start the pressure higher, at 6. When it was 4, I felt I couldn't breathe. The high is set to 15. My humidity is set lower and my exhale relief is now set at 3. I still don't like it but I'm not crying as much and I don't feel like I can't breathe because of not enough or too much pressure.

Another thing you should know. All the time you use the machine in an evening-morning period is added together. So in the beginning if I could only wear the mask for 3 hours I would take an hour break or so and then put it back on. I tell you, I watched the clock until my 4 hours were up and took the thing off again. Then I notice I could tolerate it longer...4hours 20 minutes, 4 hours 30 minutes. Now I can wear it almost 6 hours without desperately ripping the thing off. I still hate it, but I hate it a little less than I did last week.
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#6
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
I must be one of the weird ones. I like wearing the mask now. I breath much easier and I also know my wife is sleeping better without the hard working lumberjack lying next to her. It did take awhile for me to get used to it. At least a month. I'm going on two months now. I sleep horribly without the machine.


As an aside, looking at your avatar of the cat walking, the way the cat walks is different than most other animals. First one side than the other and also moving the hind leg before the front. One of only a few animals that do that. A giraffe and I believe the camel have a similar walk.
Using FlashAir W-03 SD card in machine. You can download your data through wifi with FlashPAP or Sleep Master utilities.

I wanted to learn Binary so I enrolled in Binary 101. I seemed to have missed the first four courses. Big Grinnie

Stick it to the man, Download OSCAR and take back control of your data!

Thanks Ian. Like I didn't have enough Honey-Do projects to tackle. Mornincoffee
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#7
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
Hi there! Welcome to the board!

For me I could not stand the heated hose. I turned the temperature right down on my initial trial machine. I refused to buy the climateline when I got my new permanent APAP. It was February in Canada, -20C. If I didn't need it then, I wasn't likely to.

My DME was excellent at explaining how to get used to the mask/system if it is just not working. Consciously follow an acclimatizing program. Your brain needs to adjust to this new thing:

1. Wear the mask while awake. Read, watch TV. Relax. Take it off. Do the same thing again later.
2. Next read while hooked up to the machine. Relax. If you feel something isn't right (pressure, lack of air, humidity, etc) you will notice it within about an hour. And you will be awake to deal with it!
3. Use the mask/machine for 1-2 hours while sleeping. When you wake up all uncomfortable, take it off and leave it. If you wake up later still, try it on again.
4. Gradually increase your time to four hours of use each night (say 5-10 days)
5. Then move your time up to 6 hours and then 8 hours. (another 5 days)

Getting used to CPAP is a journey, not a sudden change!
(Except for my boss who said he went lights out on his first night and woke up 8 hours later no problems. Gah.)
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#8
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
I really appreciate all of the support. I wish my DME had gone over every thing with me but instead I received a crash course and was kicked out the door. I had to get into the set up menu to change my pressure settings so I could tolerate it. Wouldn't you know it, the set up manual was not included with the machine. I told my doctors nurse that I had to reduce the pressure settings and she said you probable adjusted the ramp pressure. I said no, I had figured out how to get into the set up menu and had decreased the max pressure to 9. She just looked at me with an evil eye. I figure it is more comfortable for me and my AHI is still 0.0. So it must be working at that pressure. I have figured out that you can turn off the heated tube and humidifier. I turned them off and use ice to cool the air to my liking. I intend to figure out a way to refridgerate my air hose as well.
Again thanks for the helpful adviceSmile
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#9
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
(05-21-2015, 12:39 PM)Adoniscmj Wrote: I am new to this and having trouble with getting even three hours on my ACAP before
the mask comes off. At first it was to much pressure, so I went into the setup menu and lowered it from 4-20 to 5.6-9. This helped me but now I have anxiety attacks do to the air being way to warm and muggy. I now put cold water and ice in my humidifier and that fixed that problem.

I am a newbie, but my brother has had a bipap for some years. He turned off the heating element for his bipap long ago because of the problem you are describing. He doesn't even remember how to operate it (me on the other hand, found the heated air to be just perfect). And yes, don't worry about the time. Even Medicare gives you a break for 90 days because it takes time to get used to it, have the right mask, etc.
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#10
RE: 5 Days in and having trouble with Compliance
I’ve just been using the ResMed for 3 nights.

SaldusMiegas, who seems to have the same machine, said “did you know that you can adjust the air temp and humidity?”

I’ve reduced the humidity setting from 4 to 3, but I can’t find a way to adjust the air temp, which seems a bit warm to me. Can anyone help with this? (Actually, by oversight, the first night I put no water in the tub, and I preferred that, so I may try that again.)

I also notice that most posters show a pressure range, whereas my unit shows a pressure of 7.1, and I see no way to change this, although I’m inclined to leave that as is without input from my doc or supplier.
John
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