[CPAP] I hate my CPAP Machine.

[Sleep1ngb3auty16]

I've come up to my 6 months use with the air and oxygen machine. And I really hate it at the moment. 
I've been away for the last 2 weeks to mum and dad's and my sister's. I was very upset last week when staying at the Premier inn with. I was ready to throw the face mask across the room. Generally fed up with the machine. I've stopped using the humidifer. Air and oxygen on it's own felt a bit better. Then driving home eith mum.this morning I was crying my eyes out generally fed up with it all only getting to sleep about 3am this morning. I've got sleep clinic in November but thinking if bringing it forward. I can in any time. I'm on the lowest settings at the moment. May be if the pressures are increased might help. Anyone else feeling like this. I'm using a resmed lumis 100. Not able to post data at the moment.

[Hojo]

Well, I'm no pro at this and I'm a relatively new CPAP user myself, but I can understand the frustration with the CPAP use.  Without more information on your settings, it would be difficult for any educated help.  The best thing you can do is to download the Sleepyhead software and then download your data from the CPAP machine SD card (hopefully your machine has the capability).  This way the experts can take a look at it and perhaps help you with your settings.

[DeepBreathing]

Sleep1ngb3auty16, I'm really sorry to hear you're having such a bad time with your machine. I can understand that getting used to sleeping with the hose can be difficult, and we're all here to help as much as we can. Looking back through your posts, I can see that you have multiple health issues and the apnea treatment has never been satisfactory. The fact that you have a heart & lung condition as well as the apnea really complicates things.

Having said that, it's probably time for you and your medical team to have a good hard look at the machine you've been prescribed and the settings. The Lumis 100 (Aircurve 10 ST for those in the States) has a lot of adjustable parameters, and they all need to be optimised to give you effective and comfortable treatment:

• You have all the various pressure settings (EPAP, IPAP, PS)
  
• TiControl™ lets you set min and max limits on either side of the patient’s ideal inspiratory time to encourage spontaneous breathing.
  
• Trigger and cycle helps you optimise settings according to the patient’s condition, using five trigger and cycle sensitivity levels.

All these, plus ensuring the mask is comfortable and doesn't leak, plus ensuring the oxygen rate is appropriate, need to be looked at and optimised.

If you can post some #SleepyHead graphs, we might be able to make some suggestions to help you in the meantime.

[Sleeprider]

Many people prescribed a ST should be on ASV. You might be one, but there is only one way to know.

[Dramagal27]

CPAP - or should I say, CRAP!

I HATE my machine with every fiber of my being. I hate putting on ANY mask at night. I HATE having to travel with it. I HATE that I look like a dolt wearing it. I HATE, HATE, HATE it!

OK. Now that I have let you know how I feel EVERY night, I will tell you how I feel EVERY morning. I LOVE dreaming (sometimes I dream about people who have passed away. It's very comforting). I LOVE being able to drive for more than two hours without needing a nap (is this how other people live? Wow!). I LOVE waking up feeling well rested and ready to tackle any task ahead of me.

In other words, I hate wearing it, but love the result of wearing it. The trick is to only put it on when you know you are 2 minutes from being asleep, then as soon as you wake up, remove the silly thing. The mask is for sleeping, not for lying in bed contemplating your day.

To everyone out there who, like me, hates CPAP, you are not alone.

[Marillion]

Once my settings were optimized and I had the proper amount of airflow happening, I actually found it very soothing and comfortable to fall asleep with. Not to mention the humidifier keeping my nasal passages wide open, even when I am going through allergy season. Nowadays I fall asleep much quicker with the mask and machine on than I ever did without, unless I was totally exhausted. Of course the quality of sleep can't be compared... But I guess we are all different and what is comfortable for one may not be for someone else.

All I can suggest is as already mentioned above, download Sleepyhead software and get the data from your machine and then post here. You can then get more detailed advice on optimizing your settings AND making the therapy more comfortable.

Odds are we can help you optimize the settings and perhaps then it will become more comfortable for you. Best wishes!

[Sheepish]

CPAP - or should I say, CRAP!

I HATE my machine with every fiber of my being. I hate putting on ANY mask at night. I HATE having to travel with it. I HATE that I look like a dolt wearing it. I HATE, HATE, HATE it!



OK. Now that I have let you know how I feel EVERY night, I will tell you how I feel EVERY morning. I LOVE dreaming (sometimes I dream about people who have passed away. It's very comforting). I LOVE being able to drive for more than two hours without needing a nap (is this how other people live? Wow!). I LOVE waking up feeling well rested and ready to tackle any task ahead of me.



In other words, I hate wearing it, but love the result of wearing it. The trick is to only put it on when you know you are 2 minutes from being asleep, then as soon as you wake up, remove the silly thing. The mask is for sleeping, not for lying in bed contemplating your day.

To everyone out there who, like me, hates CPAP, you are not alone.

Once my settings were optimized and I had the proper amount of airflow happening, I actually found it very soothing and comfortable to fall asleep with.  Not to mention the humidifier keeping my nasal passages wide open, even when I am going through allergy season.

Somewhat unexpectedly from before this all began, I've had a similar experience.
  (There, I've finally gotten an opportunity to use that smilie.)

[Sleep2Snore]

I've come up to my 6 months use with the air and oxygen machine. And I really hate it at the moment. 
I've been away for the last 2 weeks to mum and dad's and my sister's. I was very upset last week when staying at the Premier inn with. I was ready to throw the face mask across the room. Generally fed up with the machine. I've stopped using the humidifer. Air and oxygen on it's own felt a bit better. Then driving home eith mum.this morning I was crying my eyes out generally fed up with it all only getting to sleep about 3am this morning. I've got sleep clinic in November but thinking if bringing it forward. I can in any time. I'm on the lowest settings at the moment. May be if the pressures are increased might help. Anyone else feeling like this. I'm using a resmed lumis 100. Not able to post data at the moment.

Hi, I think you need to get in touch with the clinic.
Something is not right, you should be able to use it.  Maybe the pressure is a bit to low, it is up to them to work that out for you.
Using oxygen with it is just another complication, though it should not make a huge difference, you should at least be able to use it for a couple of hours at least.  I know for some it is not an easy thing to get used to and with your other health problems it will complicate things a bit.
I think all the boffins need to sit down and work out what they are going to do as there is bound to be a few departments involved with your care.
Phone the clinic and tell them exactly what has been going on, bring your appointment forward if you need to, but do phone them and get your treatment sorted.  The NHS is good, slow sometimes but they won't usually give up on you.  Sometimes they need a good kick up the behind to get their act together.

I don't know what you mean by minimum pressures?  You need to be using the pressures you need, should it be a CPAP/APAP/Bi-PAP, ASV, whatever, they should have the machine set to what you require.
Give them a phone tomorrow, get it sorted.