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+--- Thread: About to give up (/Thread-About-to-give-up)
About to give up - Babybaits - 06-19-2021
I have a bipap machine that I'm about to give up on. I haven't had it for that long, but I don't know how much longer I can take this aggravation. The first night I had it, as soon as the air pressure would get to the highest, I would wake up from the mask leaking. It didnt matter how much adjusting I did, it would leak once i moved my head. I took it off and left it off after the second time it woke me up. The next day my doctor had Medifair lower the pressure. I have no problem with leakage anymore. Now, the problem is waking up with very bad dry mouth although mine has a humidifier. After I wake up with dry mouth for the second time in one night, the mask comes off and stays off. Even when I'm not waking up from dry mouth, I'm constantly waking up just from having that mask on and then it takes me a while to fall back to sleep because of the mask. For years I've always woken up multiple times throughout the night, but now it seems to be more often. Last night I woke up about an hour after falling asleep and just did not want to have that mask on my face. Even though I wasn't having a good night sleep before the machine, I seem to have a better night's sleep without it. I can't even keep the mask on for half the night. I'm not a person who gives up easily but I was looking forward to finally being able to sleep through the night, but its aggravating that it's not even close to that happening.
RE: About to give up - SarcasticDave94 - 06-19-2021
If the machine is capable, it would help to see OSCAR data. Most doctors that are in charge of PAP therapy adjustments aren't real good at it.
You seem to have several issues. Pressures not optimized, mask that leaks, dry mouth.
All 3 combine to reduce your therapy to less than ideal, and steal any comfort there otherwise might have been.
Leaks are from a few sources, straps not adjusted correctly, too tight it too loose straps, wrong sized cushion, position shifts that knock the mask out of place, things like that.
Dry mouth, typically either from airflow through your mouth, and/or leaks out of a full face mask. Some setting edits for the humidifier and heated hose can help sometimes. Xylimelts or Biotene may help also.
Pressure settings really need data on your sleep sessions. A minimum is to make certain oof your exact machine and the settings and then post them. We might have to guide only by how your feel if the PAP isn't data capable.
RE: About to give up - Babybaits - 06-19-2021
Leakage isn't a problem anymore. Not since the doctor had them lower the air pressure. Dry mouth is a problem, but the worst of it is just constantly waking up about every hour simply because of the mask. I think the longest I've kept the mask on for was a couple of hours before I wanted to smash that machine. I would take the mask off and leave it off because iI just want to sleep. Even if I'm still waking up, at least it won't be every hour. I don't even think I will be using it until I see my doctor on the 9th. Getting annoyed in the middle of the night is not fun to me.
Maybe I just needed a place to vent.
RE: About to give up - Sleeprider - 06-19-2021
the dry mouth is from air moving through your mouth. Your jaw is relaxing and allowing air to escape which dries your mouth. You still have severe leaks, but with the lower pressure the Philps monitoring is not flagging it as severe. You need some kind of jaw support to prevent your mouth from opening beyond the mask seal. A soft cervical collar or an upward pulling jaw support (not the ones that fit over the back of your head and pull the jaw back) is what may give you a chance. I can think of a number of solutions, but are you willing to put on more gear?
RE: About to give up - Ratchick - 06-20-2021
Welcome to the board, and I feel your frustration. There are ways that this can be helped and it can be really hard at first, but the benefits once you have it sorted will be so worth that initial struggle.
What mask are you using? Different masks fit people differently and especially women and men with smaller heads/faces can find it a struggle to get full face masks to fit properly. Sometimes you just need to change to a different one and that can be incredibly frustrating.
If your jaw is dropping (which I struggle with too) then a chin strap or collar will probably help stop that and reduce the dry mouth. And if that works, you won't even need a full face mask, and could swap to a lighter, less irritating one eventually (I just got a P10 and even with my horrible jaw drop and mouth breathing, I CAN make that work with a chin strap and mouth taping. The humidity (and a heated tube) also helped a lot with my dry mouth too.
When you were diagnosed, did they tell you how severe your apnea was, or provide you with a copy of your sleep study?
RE: About to give up - asuter060514 - 06-21-2021
I get it. I'm considering giving up. Last night I had like 20 events within an hour, had a heart rate spike I never had before CPAP, and I'm more tired now than I ever was before.
I'm not certain CPAP and I are going to get along.