First head cold with my CPAP

[Fats Drywaller]

I am in the same boat as you, life with out a CPAP machine is unthinkable and like you impossible. I have tried 1 and a half nights with out the machine and quite frankly slept in 10 second bites for each night.

Same here, pretty much. I'm afeared that I have become a CPAP addict.

One odd thing that I noticed during the two "subconscious removal of mask during night" events I've had so far in almost a year of CPAP use is that the unconscious or semi-conscious mind tends to make up excuses to justify removing the mask. It's dream-logic, which is to say no logic at all, but it seems convincing at the time: I try to tell myself "You're much more comfortable without that annoying thing on your face blowing air into your nose", and just for that moment I believe it, even though I know better.

Then when I wake up in the morning (or sooner than that) after a lot of mouth-breathing and fragmented sleep, I pay the usual price of poor oxygenation and too much carbon-dioxide buildup: brain fog, maybe a minor headache for a while, and being a grouchy zombie during the day. Ugh. No, thanks.

For use during a cold, isn't a full-face mask or hybrid mask supposed to be the thing? I haven't had to try it yet (and hope I won't need to, because I don't have one).

[MitchS]

I have a lot better luck using a nasal pillow mask over a FFM when I have a cold or congestion. I struggled with a FFM for quite a while before switching to a nasal pillow mask. I haven’t used a FFM since. The nasal pillow will actually push through the congestion where the FFM can be difficult to breath with. The only time I take medication for a cold at night is when I’m running a fever or I have a lot of drainage.

[Apnea Infant]

I used to be able to sleep through any cold/head cold using my trusted nasal pillows. However my sleep has been really bad for the last 3 months or so due to other quite serious reasons (not to do with myself or my health which I shall not go into) and I have recently found it hard to fall asleep with my mask periodically.

Like today, I feel quite bad as I could not get to sleep with the mask on last night and finally had to succumb to sleeping without. I do not feel great and know that it is due to apnea episodes. I HAVE to return to better sleep hygiene as I do feel the impact of sleeping without.