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Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
#21
RE: 1st night with cpap
I gotta say, I'm doing super now. It's hard to believe this thing is on 15cm.

I'm not having much trouble breathing out, especially when not thinking about it.

Still have yet to actually sleep with a cpap. Will try again tonight. Hopefully ramping up from 4cm should be a dream.
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#22
RE: 1st night with cpap
(10-31-2018, 08:39 AM)Sleeprider Wrote: It will be better if you keep your therapy questions in one thread.  This allows your history to stay together.  

Your machine should be set to Autoset mode with minimum pressure of 5.0 and maximum of 15.0.  We don't know if you are using EPR.  

You clearly suffer from anxiety, and that is your first and most important problem to overcome.  Your CPAP cannot hurt you in this pressure range, and we can't suggest any changes until you settle your mind and use the machine, the post the data.  We are pretty good here, but not clairvoyant.  The machine pressure will often rise when used while awake, due to erratic breathing.  In your case it might be good to turn on ramp at a minimum pressure of 5.0, and set it to auto, so it automatically detects sleep and increases pressure automatically.  I'm sure this is not your first experience with anxiety, so whatever you have done in the past to calm down and sleep, is what you need to do now with cpap.

Understood. Thank you. 5-15 with the ramp was the prescribed setting. I just set it to a constant 15 to see what it's like and to see how I handle so far it's been good. I'm definitely going to set it back before I try again tonight.
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#23
RE: 1st night with cpap
(10-31-2018, 08:17 AM)Broomstick Wrote: Well I didn't sleep at all with it. And I woke up suffocating. But the results so far are encouraging.

My brain is a bit too scared to sleep with this thing. Feel like I am going to suffocate when the exact opposite is the case. 

I was uncomfortable with the lowest setting yesterday (4cm) yet this morning I started playing with it (awake) and it was ramping me up to 7, 10, almost 14cm.

Now I'm sitting with it at a constant 15cm and am doing fine. I feel like if I can handle THIS I can handle anything. 5-15 is my prescribed pressure. Although I did NOT have a proper titration so that was just a number the doctor pulled out of his ass IMO. 

I feel like if I can handle 15cm while awake (thing only goes to 20), I sleeping with it should be no problem. How could it possibly wake me up? 

My only question is, is it OK that I'm sitting here with a constant 15cm? Or am I destroying myself somehow?

Edit: Machine is the ResMed AirSense10 Autoset.

I'll update the thing on the side when I'm at the computer. I'm having trouble finding the option using this fone.

Broomstick, it would be helpful if you would update your profile so we know what equipment you are using!

However, I am sure you will now prompted.

The first night to some can be a bit daunting to say the least.
I take it it is an automatic machine?
4 is to low and many people feel air starved at 4, 6 or better 7 or 8 is a good starting pioint and leave the machine to find what high pressure you require.  You might find it hard to breath out against the air pressure, most manufacturers these day have a built in pressure relief system to help with this.  It is called EPR Expiry Pressure Relief or some other name, find it iin your manual.  It will have 1, 2 and 3 settings for relief, start in the middle at 2 and if you need more relief go to 3.  1 is the lowest and 3 is the highest relief.
To get used to the mask sit with it during the evening with the hose disconnected, to get used to the machine, sit with it connected and running as you would when in bed.  It will take you a while to get used to having an alien on your face when you sleep, but after you get used to it you will wonder how you managed without it.
If you loose power through the night, you will wake up, I usually do within a few seconds of power going off.
A humidifier if you have one need to have the water changed every day, though some people that use distilled water don't change it every day.

I don't know what the machine will go to when you are asleep, but 15 is about normal range.
If it is going to 15 at the moment I would set the low to 8 and leave the machine to find your normal setting.

The machine I have is a ResMed Airsense 10 Autoset, it is left at the high setting of 20, but it has not gone above 13 so far and it is a year since I got it.  I have it set at 10 low and 20 high and it only shot up to 20 once when I turned it on, turning it off and back on again sorted the problem out and it went back to normal operation.  Why it did that I have no idea!

If you have a Machine that is Sleepyhead you can download Sleepyhead and post your data charts for some fine tuning of you machine and it will also let you know how you are doing.

I would set it for 8 low, leave it at 20 high for now, set the EPR (or whatever your machine calls it} to 2  Humidifier to middle and adjust to suit yourself later.  See how thing go and take it from there.  I have found that if you take the low setting closer to whet your machine run at, the more comfortable it is.  But the low should be set so you are comfortable breathing normally and 4 is to low for that.

hope this is of some help.
I am NOT a doctor.  I try to help, but do not take what I say as medical advice.


Every journey, however large or small starts with the first step.

Sleep-well
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#24
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
Alright, I updated the info.

I struggle to sleep as it is. This machine will make that even harder. Right now I am sitting at the computer with a constant pressure of 10. I hope that me practicing bearing this pressure will make the lower starting pressure much easier to deal with in bed.

But heres my big problem. Even without the machine, sometimes I feel like I'm suffocating. What I do is reset my breathing by breathing all the way out, then taking a deep breath. It doesn't matter how deep I breathe, I need to get it all out and reset my breathing in order for my next breath to feel satisfying.

The constant pressure makes this extremely difficult to do. What I have to do is unplug the mask once in a while to exhale and reset my breathing. If I get into a rhythm and stop thinking about my breathing, I don't really have to do this. But kept doing it throughout the unsuccessful titration.

The technicians (2 separate titrations) all acted like I was the only one in the world with this problem.


I wonder if the problem (even without the machine) has something to do with not getting enough carbon dioxide OUT of me.
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#25
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
Since you are feeling the pressure I want you to understand just how much pressure this is.  
Get a tall glass of water and a straw immerse the straw 8 inches and blow.  You just exhaled against the maximum pressure your CPAP is capable of, 20 cm of water.

And yes, this is the first time I have heard of someone having to reset their breathing.  it makes me want to see your daily charts and a 2-minute detailed segment to see if we can see something going on.
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#26
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
(10-31-2018, 05:43 PM)bonjour Wrote: Since you are feeling the pressure I want you to understand just how much pressure this is.  
Get a tall glass of water and a straw immerse the straw 8 inches and blow.  You just exhaled against the maximum pressure your CPAP is capable of, 20 cm of water.

And yes, this is the first time I have heard of someone having to reset their breathing.  it makes me want to see your daily charts and a 2-minute detailed segment to see if we can see something going on.

For the record, I'm doing alright now. Have been at 10cm since posting that and playing a game to distract me. I unhooked the hose to reset a few times but haven't touched it in a long time. Again, its only really when I think about my breathing that it goes off course. I was unhooking like crazy during the titration. I'm doing it like 95% less now. 

I hate when people say things like "take a deep breath" (that does NOTHING to calm me down) or "focus on your breathing" (oh great, now I have to THINK to breath. 

I feel like I'm progressing, but still have work to do. Mask is starting to hurt now. Gonna take this thing off for now.
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#27
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
I see you have have filled out your profile. Thanks. The information is helpful to us. It still says you are not using software. If you haven't already, please download and install Sleapyhead software on your computer. It's free and will allow you to post the data that Bonjour has requested. See the links below for instructions.
Download OSCAR

Organize Charts
Attaching Charts

Mask Primer
Soft Cervical Collar

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.

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#28
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
So tired. But I can't sleep with this stupid thing. If I took it off, I would fall asleep instantly.

My brain won't let me rest when it knows sometimes not right.
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#29
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
Can I put in an SD card NOW and save previous data?

That was brutal. Didn't sleep at all. But I don't remember transitioning into daylight so I must have slept a little at the very end.

If so, I "woke up" struggling to breathe. A series of forceful deep breaths. Each breath was a struggle.

This is how I often wake up. And it stays that way as long as I am laying down. I have to sit up and it takes time to breathe normal again. I end up having such a narrow range of breathing.

I have a hard time believing this has anything to do with my airway relaxing because not a damn person can explain why I continue to struggle after waking up.

Edit: If my normal breathing was like an engine reving from 0-10,000 RPM, then I often wake up only able to review to 5,000. As long as I continue to lay down, I struggle to breathe. I feel instant relief when I sit up. It takes time for me to really feel 100% again.

The sleep report on the machine is invalid because I was awake for 90% of it. But I want to see the sleepy head graph for the final 10 minutes or so. Something very interesting was happening to me.
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#30
RE: Todays the big day [First night with Cpap]
The SD card should be always in while you sleep, only removing it for the review of data with Sleepyhead (or your doctor).  And no, you cannot retroactively record data from previous sleep.  The SD card must be in the machine to do so.

Let us see your whole nightly chart (per the organize in my signature) and an expanded 2-minute view of segments that you have a concern with.  It will help us understand what is happening.
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