Newbie Desperate for General Help - Introduction

[Sleeprider]

The nasal pillows mask applies pressure much more directly to the airway. Most people find they need 2-3 cm less pressure with nasal pillows than with a full face. People with chronic nasal congestion, often have no problem on nasal pillows. I think my first mask was a nasal (over the nose) mask, but ever since, I have used nasal pillows, and they have evolved into an even better interface.

[Nash]

The nasal pillows mask applies pressure much more directly to the airway.  Most people find they need 2-3 cm less pressure with nasal pillows than with a full face.  People with chronic nasal congestion, often have no problem on nasal pillows.  I think my first mask was a nasal (over the nose) mask, but ever since, I have used nasal pillows, and they have evolved into an even better interface.

Wow, I did not realize that nasal pillows were that more efficient. Once I get this FFM "dialed in" I think I am going to give nasal pillows a try. I am having very bad mouth dryness even after short periods of sleep. I have the humidity turned up to 4 and it is going up to 5 tonight. I assume nasal pillows would eliminate the dry mouth. Being congested most of the time and being severely obstructed, I was really worried that pillows would not be able to keep my airway open. It sounds like it is worth a try considering this is going to be a lifelong endeavour. 

I raised the pressures as you suggested. I seemed to sleep fine and the data looks good. Pressure just goes to 17 and stays there. It looks like I had less occurrences. I used my homemade mask liner which worked great! I also took Hydrangeas advice (she is a genius!) and loosened the straps on the mask back to where I had them the night before. All these things seemed to help, although for some reason I could only sleep about 4 hours and could not go back to sleep. F\I feel very tired today even though it looks like I got a very solid 4 hours. Weird how it is different every night. 

Those RE occurrences at the beginning are while I am still awake. I breathe deeply and count my breaths until I fall asleep. Aside from that I think it looks good?

I know I say it over and over but thanks for your help. I could not do this without you and the rest of this wonderful forum.

[Sleeprider]

You know, it never ceases to amaze me what a small change can accomplish. Perfect, except your leak rate is outta sight. The nasal pillows will work great as long as the back of your tongue isolates the air pressure from your mouth. Once you can breath through your nose, it's really pretty natural for that to happen.

[Nash]

You know, it never ceases to amaze me what a small change can accomplish.  Perfect, except your leak rate is outta sight.  The nasal pillows will work great as long as the back of your tongue isolates the air pressure from your mouth.  Once you can breath through your nose, it's really pretty natural for that to happen.

You think that is because I started using the mask liner? It is a very constant leak isn't it? Dang it, I was really liking my custom built, bungee corded mask liner.

[Hydrangea]

The nasal pillows mask applies pressure much more directly to the airway.  Most people find they need 2-3 cm less pressure with nasal pillows than with a full face.  People with chronic nasal congestion, often have no problem on nasal pillows.  I think my first mask was a nasal (over the nose) mask, but ever since, I have used nasal pillows, and they have evolved into an even better interface.

 I also took Hydrangeas advice (she is a genius!) and loosened the straps on the mask back to where I had them the night before. All these things seemed to help, although for some reason I could only sleep about 4 hours and could not go back to sleep. F\I feel very tired today even though it looks like I got a very solid 4 hours.

  I'd love to take credit...   but I'm simply a parrot. I had read it in another post here... and I've found it to be true (I'm still a total newbie - less than 2 months of being a XPAPer)! 

P.S. I have the wide-awake-after-4-hours feeling, too. For me, it's a habit - if my brain is that awake, why would I go to sleep?  So I'm trying to reprogram my thought process to be okay with sleeping despite my brain being functional.  I'm a work in progress, but so far I'm somewhat successful with re-teaching my body to sleep.

[Nash]

Hi Hydranea! I never considered that I might be kind of "trained" to wake up in 4 hours. I hope that goes away with time. I hate that feeling of anxiety when waking up. It keeps me anxious all day. I even took a nap for an hour but still feel bad. Good days and bad days I guess. Really weird as the data seems to suggest that I got 4 hours uninterrupted sleep. 

Not quite sure what to do about these leaks. I think I will try it tonight with the looser straps and no liner. I will probably get a nasal pillow eventually. For now, I am just going to keep going! 

Have a great night! May you sleep 10 solid hours.

[Sleepster]

Really weird as the data seems to suggest that I got 4 hours uninterrupted sleep. 

All the machine can do is tell when you've taken off the mask. If you spent four hours with the mask on and the machine on, that's all it knows.

That middle of the night anxiety will fade as your body adapts to the new circumstances of not having to wake you to breathe.

It may take awhile, so just be patient. For me the improvement was noticeable in that I made progress each month. But it was, and to some extent still is, slow.

[Nash]

Really weird as the data seems to suggest that I got 4 hours uninterrupted sleep. 

All the machine can do is tell when you've taken off the mask. If you spent four hours with the mask on and the machine on, that's all it knows.

That middle of the night anxiety will fade as your body adapts to the new circumstances of not having to wake you to breathe.

It may take awhile, so just be patient. For me the improvement was noticeable in that I made progress each month. But it was, and to some extent still is, slow.

That info helps a lot. I actually took a night off because of the anxiety. I was also having an odd pain in my chest. Not like heart attack type pain but more of an exhausted type of pain. I looked it up in the forums and found a few other people that experienced this when starting CPAP. I guess this is all new to the body and takes a while to get used to it. 

I tried to use the machine last night but it was leaking so bad I had to take it off after an hour and a half. The hissing woke me up and I could not adjust it properly. I will post the screenshot below but it is not much to look at. Just a bunch of leaking. 

I can't afford to buy any more equipment right now. It will be at least a month or two before I can. I want to try to switch over to a nasal pillow and maybe a head strap or a collar. Until then I am not sure what to do. Do you think I should just keep using it even with this high leak rate? I seem to be unable to sleep on my side with this FFM on. I am thinking of trying to sleep propped up in bed and just continue using this mask along with a liner. Am I correct in thinking that any amount of time I can sleep with the thing on the better? Even if it leaks it is better than not having it right?

It helps to know that the anxiety will go away after a while. 

[Sleepster]

Personally I would never sleep without my machine. Doing that sends all the wrong signals to your body, making it all the harder to adapt. Plus, it's punishing your body.

Another mask won't cost you anything if you have a health plan. The equipment providers have a contract to fit you with a mask that fits. That's really their most important job right for you right now. Just call them up and tell them your mask doesn't fit your right.

[Nash]

Personally I would never sleep without my machine. Doing that sends all the wrong signals to your body, making it all the harder to adapt. Plus, it's punishing your body.

Another mask won't cost you anything if you have a health plan. The equipment providers have a contract to fit you with a mask that fits. That's really their most important job right for you right now. Just call them up and tell them your mask doesn't fit your right.

Don't have insurance Sleepster. I bought all the equipment on my own. I was pretty desperate, so I thought I would try it.