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Great to hear you've solved one problem after another, with Deborah's good help.
To help you get used to the machine even further, you might try setting it up in another room during the day or evening and using it while you do something diverting, like reading, watching TV, or doing stuff on your devices. For some people, this is more effective than using the machine in the bedroom right before sleeping.
Thank you - I will do that as much as I can. My job is sedentary and I can work remotely some of the time. When I'm not working I try not to be sitting around, but I definitely spend hours sitting at my desk on remote working days.
I thought I posted this earlier, but it never showed up.
After having the machine for almost a month, I finally have a mask that works for me (DreamPorts) and a solution to leaking from mouth-breathing (tape). Last night was the first time I tried the system with everything in place. Oscar results are below.
I used it for about 1 hour awake, and then approximately one hour trying to go to sleep (with some dozing) and maybe another hour sleeping. At that point, I woke up and tore everything off.
I don't know why I have so much trouble falling asleep with the system. It's quiet and much more comfortable than the full face mask I started out with. using the system during the day while awake has been suggested, and I will try that when I can, but I have a sedentary job so try NOT to sit around quietly when I'm not working. I am able to work at home some days, and I will try using the system awake on those days.
I also don't know why I woke up with the feeling that the mask was intolerable. This also happened on a couple of previous nights, when I woke up after an hour. On those nights, I had major leaking when asleep because of mouth breathing. Last night, I noticed that there were a few events after I fell asleep, and the pressure was increased. This eliminated the events, but seemed to result in some leaking at the very end of the session, which I don't understand. I'm wondering if the increased pressure was uncomfortable and caused me to wake up and take the mask off.
I would be very grateful for any insights or advice.
Newlydiagnosed, I have merged your new therapy thread with the previous thread that contains your experience and the input you have received up to now. It should help to keep things together in the Therapy Thread.
You have been through a lot in your first month and have not gotten beyond 2-3/4 hours of therapy. That's tough going. The trend in your charts shows that your therapy efficacy and use hours is improving, but you still have to make the leap to use the therapy through the night. In the most recent chart, you have two sessions in the first hour and it looks like you don't really get to sleep until just about 22:45 where the flow rate smooths out and you have good, event-free therapy for about an hour. You must be exhausted. I think your pressure settings and EPR are appropriate. Your sleep seems to have been disrupted by an increasing leak rate starting at 22:20 to the end of therapy. I'm going to suggest something I don't normally recommend, ask your doctor for a prescription sleep aid to help you get past the apparent anxiety you are having with CPAP therapy. I really think your problems so far are not the therapy itself, but with the anxiety surrounding it. Breaking that pattern may get you over the hump and make this a success. I think after a month of not getting more than 4-hours of therapy time, you have an expectation of failure, a.k.a. anxiety. There are effective medications that can help you get past this, and that you will discontinue after you succeed in getting past this anxiety. Please consider talking to your doctor about this problem and getting some help with relaxing and sleeping through the night with your CPAP therapy.
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.
In the chart you posted most recently, we can see that you have the ramp on with a starting pressure of 4. I'd recommend that you turn the ramp off or set the ramp minimum to 7.
I also think you'd benefit from settling down to sleep as soon as you go to bed. That way you'll start associating bed and sleep. If you want to use the machine before bedtime, for acclimation purposes, set it up in another room. -- I was pretty skeptical about the value of this fairly standard advice, and I loved reading in bed before going to sleep, but I found it really helped to turn the lights out as soon as I got in bed.
Sleeprider, thank you for your compassionate comments and for the suggestions. I will keep the idea of a medication in mind, but I don't want to try this yet. I am in general quite averse to medication and don't even take Tylenol without a compelling reason. And although I have had the machine for exactly one month, I haven't had a workable system that long. The Dreamports arrived 4/14, I downloaded Oscar and learned that I needed to order a card reader, which arrived on 4/22. Started using Oscar and learned about the mouth-breathing, tape arrived 5/1. So I'd say that I've had a workable system for less than a week and, as you said, I'm exhausted and have had to take some nights off to get some sleep.
You are probably right that anxiety is a factor, though. Besides waking up every hour when using the machine, I have a hard time falling asleep with it. I usually never have a problem falling asleep; I do have a problem sometimes waking up very early. Recently I've had insomnia even on the nights I don't use the system, and I've had it sometimes after taking off the Dreamports. So my level of exhaustion is pretty bad about now.
Getting a prescription for sleep medicine would not be easy. My primary doctor is not very good (has screwed up a couple of things badly) and the practice is not efficient (e.g., I had a vaccination there and they have no record of it), and she's also not accessible between appointments. I've tried to get into other practices but even waiting lists are full.
I'm going to focus on meeting the compliance requirements and hope that using the machine during waking hours will help with getting used to it. I have the initial full face mask and a conventional nasal mask that the DME sent. I've washed both of them today so they'll be ready to use.
Thank you again, so much. I am so grateful to you and to everyone else who has helped.
I am going to take the suggestions to stop (deliberately) using the system while awake in bed. What I've been doing is pretty bad from a sleep hygeine point of view - watching movies or reading on my phone. It occurred to me the other day that I could try meditating while using the system. That would be a much better way to try to get to sleep.
Sleeprider, after your comments I became aware last night that, as bedtime approached, I was very anxious at the thought of using the CPAP. I did some relaxing things - the kind of things you're supposed to do in the evening that, before CPAP, I had no need for - and then I meditated as I was falling asleep.
I was able to connect the Dreamports in less than 10 minutes (thank you, Deborah!), and I did a crossword puzzle and dozed for about half an hour. Then I got into bed and meditated. I went to sleep fairly quickly and slept for around an hour. I woke up and checked the time (I'm pretty sure this is the period of large leaks), then fell asleep again and slept for over 3 hours. I was able to get to sleep again for about half an hour, then was awake during that last period, but lying very quietly trying to go back to sleep.
I also turned the ramp off as Dormeo suggested.
I've attached Oscar results. They look pretty good to me - any insights?
Thank you so much, everyone. I feel more rested today and I'm looking forward to more progress.
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.
