Night #1 Down...

[Jstuts5797]

Things went much different for my night one experience than I expected. I can tell this will take some adjustment period before I'm using it for and entire night with no issues.  My main problem was feeling like I was not getting enough air...even though I indeed was. I was much more aware of my breathing and that awareness alone made it hard to actually fall asleep. The mask itself feels really comfortable but when trying to fall asleep I found myself lifting it off to grab unmpeded breaths of air then putting it back on. I think maybe it's anxiety or just getting used to it. I don't believe I had any major leak issues aside from the couple of times that when sleeping my arm decided to try to knock the mask off the front of my face, lol.  My arms do tend to move around a lot when I'm sleeping.  I guess I'm just curious about the feeling of not being able to breathe? The reason I think it's psychological rather than anything to do with the machine is because there were a couple of times I woke up and breathing through it was very easy... until I became more aware amd awake, and then I started to feel starved for air again. 

 The MyAir stats for the night are as follows (I have sleepyhead but I don't think one night of data would tell me much in there):

AHI : 0.1. I guess this is good if it's true.
Leak : 10L/min (remember I had some mask pulling off both on purpose and a couple times by accident)

My time used is weird. I go to sleep in the morning and sleep during the day. Apparently the machine doesn't adjust for those people. (Is there a way to do it?) because it says I've used the machine for 3 out of 3 days (this was only my first night) but said I met the 4+ hrs compliance on only one of those nights. It says my average useage was 1.6. Hrs and total usage was 4.8 hrs. I'm guessing every time I started and stopped reset the session? Per my DME instructions, yesterday I used the machine while awake for about an hour to help adjust to it. I'm guessing this is throwing things off a bit?

Also, how crazy like are they about the compliance in the beginning? I don't know if I met the requirements last night or not really.. and I'm really afraid of not making compliance. Do they usually give any leeway in the beginning at all?

Anyway, that was my first night in a nutshell. It wasn't nearly as easy as I thought it would be, but I'm also not left completely frustrated... just with more questions. Anything any of you can answer about the above would be great! Thanks again and happy Zzzz's to everyone!

[MitchS]

Congratulations on your first night.

You may end up raising your minimum pressure. Most people would feel air starved a 5 cm so it may be a pressure problem instead of anxiety. Post some data for the members to look at and maybe give you an idea of what's going on.

There may be a way to change your machine settings so it matches your schedule. Maybe someone who is familiar with your machine can advise you on this. If you are having problems with meeting compliance, you can use your machine while doing something like watching tv, etc.

Good luck on getting used to your therapy.

[Sleeprider]

Compliance is defined as at least 4-hours in any 21 out of 30 days in your first 90 days. No problem about getting adjusted.

[Jstuts5797]

Oh wow. Ok that's pretty leaniant as I don't see myself ever going a day without using it at least half the night of sleep. I didn't realize that when using it when awake also counted... but that makes sense. I'll upload the nights data into sleepyhead in a bit and post the charts. I was also curious about the humidifier. I have it set on auto. I filled it to the max line before starting and it actually went all the way down to the half mark by wake up time. Seemed like a lot of water usagage to me. The instructions say to completely empty and refill every night. Is it not ok just to top off and maybe actually refil once a week completely?

[MitchS]

Ambient humidity, humidifier level setting and leak levels can all affect the amount of water used by the humidifier. I routinely use more than a half a tank of water when ambient humidity is low. I top off my tank every day and only replace the water when I wash the tank and other equipment every weekend.

[Walla Walla]

You can top off the humidifier tank daily. The main thing is to be sure to remove it from the machine before adding water. Just a safety tip for you and the machine.

[Jstuts5797]

Anyone know if there is a way to get my machine to recognize that I'm a day sleeper and not night?

[trish6hundred]

Hi Jstuts5797,
It sounds like your first night went pretty well, considering that you are just getting adjusted to a new thing.
Keep up the good work and CONGRATULATIONS.!

[SarcasticDave94]

I'll Ditto the top off the humidifier and wash weekly. As for day vs night etc my opinion I'd not be concerned about it. IMO as long as you meet compliance and know your sleep schedule when viewing charts you're OK then. These PAP machines can be tricky when editing time and date settings. Again that's an IMO. Congrats in good start. And yeah most users would find 5cm to be feeling like you need more air.

[chill]

My main problem was feeling like I was not getting enough air...even though I indeed was. I was much more aware of my breathing and that awareness alone made it hard to actually fall asleep. 

That is pretty typical.  A higher minimum pressure should help with the "not enough air" feeling.  The rest is just adjustment.  It is not "normal" to sleep with a mask on your face.  Your brain needs some time to adapt to this and recognize it as normal and OK and that it is fine to sleep like this.  It took a week for me, give or take, with lots of gradual adjustments following this.  Relax, give it time, look back in six months.