First few days (or rather, nights)

[Nukkamtti]

Hello,

I’m sure some of you groan at the thought of a newbie starting over threads all over again with beginner’s experiences but I have just been diagnosed with Sleep Apnoea and have been trying out a mask for all of three nights and I’ve just found this site.

I was wondering if you all remember how you got on in the first few nights. I’ve not been very successful and would like to know if this was typical or if I am doing something wrong. (details below if anyone has the time and patience for them):

Night one:


I kept it on for an hour and a half but couldn’t sleep so switched it off. “Slept” with it off for 4 hours. I put the mask back on for an hour but failed to get to sleep. Took it off and promptly did for an hour. I was woken while very sleepy so I grabbed the mask and put it on as quickly as I could and finally did fall asleep while wearing it. This may well be the key to getting used to it putting it on when you know you're almost guaranteed to fall asleep; not that it was overly successful – for the next 30 minutes I repeatedly awoke from dreams startled to find that I seem to have stopped breathing. I think what was happening was as I awoke or rather just before I was conscious of being awake my mind was reacting to the strange feeling of the mask and the air and automatically making me catch my breath. I'm not sure. Anyway another hour of non-sleep but resting with the mask on was followed by breakfast and two strong mugs of coffee which as usual sent me straight back to sleep.

So – in 5 hours wearing mask only abut 30 minutes interrupted sleep.

Night 2

Second night report
I put it on and later woke up fighting with a one tentacled squid like alien creature sucking the lifeblood out of my face....yes, success for nearly 3 hours of sleep with it on. Then 5 hours sleep with it off (so no idea how much was actual sleep) I tried to put it on again at 4am as I was feeling was in a deep sleep... but getting it on and working properly fully woke me up and I couldn’t get to sleep with it on. An hour later I took it off an was asleep in seconds.

2nd day - I barely made it though work before going to bed at 5pm. Fell asleep even with the mask on as I was dead tired but only slept for about 10 minutes and that was broken up with 3 starts awake. Gave up after another half hour

Total for night and day – mask on for 5 hours slept 3 hours of these (interrupted by waking moments)

Night 3
I went to bed at 9 and had it on until 11, I did sleep but again far from continuously. So I wake up with it on and wake up with it off, the only difference being that I don’t know this with the mask off (except by implication). Hopefully it will get better in time. I then slept with it off until 4, tried it 4-5 (couldn’t sleep at all); slept with it off 5-7. Slept with it on 7-8 (probably most complete hour yet, not continuous but better); couldn’t sleep after that, got up 8:30

Day 3 An hour lying in bed with it on, wanting badly to sleep but no joy

Total – mask on for 5 and a half hours slept c.3 of these (interrupted by waking moments)


Thanks – glad to have found you! - currently feeling tireder than ever....

[ElleCee]

Hi Nuk,

Welcome to the site, sorry to hear you are having a bad time with it.

It can be helpful to wear the mask, not attached to the machine, for a couple of hours during the day to get used to having it strapped to your face.

Then, in the evening, when watching TV, before you go to bed, try connecting it up and getting used to the air rushing into your face and breathing normally but still wide awake.

When you do go to bed you might just find it all so much easier and you will will not have the stress of getting the mask to fit right and getting used to the wind only when you are sleeping.

I also have a speaker pillow and listen to the radio when I settle down, that way I can think about what I am listening too rather than thinking about the mask and machine.
Hope this helps a little.
All the best
Lorraine

[Nukkamtti]

Many thanks, this sounds very sensible and I will try it tonight. I had the mask on today already, just lying down as I thought the more I get used to it the better I'll feel at night but I'd never though of putting it on before going to bed.

I am determined to keep going; the very idea of 9 hours sleep being enough to make me feel refreshed and last a whole day without napping is enough to make me giddy with excitement!

[ElleCee]

Love the reply, the excitement part made me smile
What mask are you using?

Lorraine

[symmit]

Hi Nuk.

Last night was my first night - but what I did was spent a couple of hours yesterday afternoon using the CPAP, taking the mask on and off and then finally just sitting watching TV with the mask and pressure on. It took me a few minutes to realise that breathing isn't harder, just different. Last night I slept with it on, woke three times but really the sleep was amazing.

Make sure the mask is as loose as it can be without losing seal, read as many posts you can about mask comfort - I got mine spot on after a few tries. I also skipped the ramp function in order to get used to the real pressure, but used it during the night to get back to sleep.

Today I feel alive, it's 7:41 pm and I'm watching the F1 highlights, normally by 3pm I'm sneaking to bed for an hour or two, or drinking loads of coffee / redbull, normally as well the motor racing sends me to sleep. I hope this feeling lasts.

[Nukkamtti]

Ta, I am using a ResMed Mirage Quattro Full Face Mask (and RemStar Series M CPAP 101M machine)

Wow symmit - encouraging stuff, well done! I'll try the kind suggestions from you both and maybe I'll get the hang of it maybe even my 15 cups a day of coffee will finally be reduced! (Though, oddly, the more I drink coffee the longer I "sleep" or whatever one calls apnoea filled "sleep")

[symmit]

Nukkamtti

Over the days before my sleep test I dropped my coffee intake to 3 cups and none after midday, and I've now kept it down to not drinking coffee after about 6pm.

Second night last night - not as good as the first, I'm away from home on business and the Hotel is next to a pub which woke me up at 1am. Didn't get back to sleep until 4am (woke up awake and refreshed again...dammit!) and had to be up for 6.

Stick with it is what I've been told, both by a friend with sleep apnoea and from all the success stories here - in fact read, and re-read all the success stories and it makes lying awake breathing forced air from a machine for an hour or so wondering if you'll ever fall asleep worthwhile.

Odd experience last night going to sleep - seemed to have a waking dream, could still hear myself breathing - trippy, like drugs but cheaper, legal and prescribed!

[Nukkamtti]

Ha - that's the oxygen talking: a cheap high :-)

I agree re the success stories, they are a huge support and incentive. (Well done everyone!)


I tried to follow all your good advice. Here's what happened last night (night 4)- including a note on "noise" which may be the biggest factor. It doesn't start well, this account but it ends with my first hour of uninterrupted sleep with the mask on which I am taking as encouraging even if it may not seem much - for me it ended 12 hours of frustration.

I put the mask on during the day and for about 40 mins before going to bed - I need glasses for TV or computer so must have looked a fine sight with those perched on the bridge of the mask!

Bed at 8:30, read for 30 mins. Slept with it on for an hour, woke up a few times. Kept it on and fell asleep again for another hour but woke many times and with increasing starts until the last one had me almost sitting up, so forcefully did I awake. Tried it for another hour but couldn't sleep. Slept till 5 with mask off. Put it on for 2 hours but couldn't sleep.

(NOISE: I tried to identify what I thought most likely to be keeping me awake and decided it was the noise. My wife described the machine noise as not bad at all, as though it was almost a soothing whooshing noise (with the rhythm of waves) and that may well be true when you aren't wearing the mask but when I am wearing it I hear that "whooshing noise" in the background. What irritates me is a high pitched droning noise, like a motor running. This disappears or at least abates to a point of non-irritation when I am breathing in but is always present when I am not breathing in. I will see if there is any way of mollifying it.)

Took it off, fell asleep immediately for half an hour. Was woken up at half 7 but back asleep again soon after for another half hour before I woke myself up snoring on my back. As quickly as I could I put mask on and fell asleep for over an hour of uninterrupted sleep with it on. Hurrah. :-)
I woke up dreaming I was eating and crunching away at imaginary food....just as well I didn't eat my mask.

Summary:
In bed - 13 hours (Reading - half an hour + Awake with mask on 4 and a half hours)

Asleep with mask on - 3 hours (1 uninterrupted)
Asleep with mask off - 5

[Sparticus]

Hello and Welcome

Hi Nukkamtti

Just about all on here have been where you are now, mask on, mask off its a real pain. I too had mega probs trying to nod off with the mask on and the noise and the strange feelings. I started mine about 3 months ago, Saurday night I slept for 9.5 hours with my mask on, my face looked like I'd been mugged After this you will probably fall asleep and take the mask off without you even remember doing it, its all normal. I overcame all this by using my mp3 player at night. I downloaded ambient sounds (Relaxation music) stuck my ear plugs in, popped my mask on and hay presto 6 hours sleep. Im not saying it will work for you but it works for me, i have no probs at all now. Good luck and remember we are all here to help if we can

[Nukkamtti]

Very encouraging - thanks. More thngs to try. With all this advice I can't fail!

[symmit]

Also the breathing and droning sounds can be quite relaxing in themselves if you can let your self go with them - dont forget you can breathe under the duvet with your mask on too! Only thing I've missed in two nights is sleeping on my front - I don't sleep well on my back anyway and on my side I fidget a lot.

For encouragement, I've done my first full days work for months without feeling irritable and drinking coffee all day. In fact my problem now is feeling tired enough to go to bed.

[Nukkamtti]

I simply ran out of steam before downloading ambient music but I followed lots of your advice and produced my best result yet in night 5, I'm becoming more encouraged- but I cannot stop feeling impatient as I have so much I need to do and at the moment no time to do any of it.....good signs though, below:

9-11:50 mask on, awake. I kept fiddling with the mask, I felt terribly itchy under it but thought this was probably my mind playing tricks on me to get me to take it off. I was exhausted but kept going. I don't start work till the afternoon so I could risk it, even though I am working till very late and it'll be 23:00 before I get to bed tonight.

Perseverance paid off! 11:50-2:40 mask on, asleep (hurrah) I woke up a few times but not too often, then fully awoke with a start.
2:45-5:15 slept, mask off. I awoke and put the mask on.
5:15 - 6:15 mask on, awake, determined not to give in though.
6:15-7:30 mask on, asleep (hurrah)
7:30 - 8:00 mask on, awake

Got up, had breakfast, two strong coffees (to put me back to sleep - usually works for me!) got some things I had to do up and running on computer.

So far - 11 hours in bed,
mask on asleep = 4hrs+
mask on, awake = c5hours,
asleep, no mask = 2 and a half hours.

At 9:15 I was back in bed slept for 30 mins. then another 45 with mask on - feeling very pleased with this! That makes five and a half hours asleep with mask on in a 14 hour period.

[symmit]

Good for you!

Last night was my fourth night, was working late so didn't go to bed until 12:30 (have been going early in order to get the mask on and comfy before the long hard drift to sleep)

Had TV on loud, can't see the thing as I'm so short sighted I can barely see my hose...

Couldn't get comfy, turned off cpap, rearranged pillows so I couldn't roll to my side,loosened head strap a lot turned it back on then bang - next thing I remember is waking up at 6am. I cannot believe how quickly I went to sleep last night, has been over an hour every other night so far.

I've found I don't need the forehead strap tightened at all if I'm sleeping on my back and there's no pressure on my nose like that. - night before I folded a cotton wipe under the bridge piece which helped somewhat.

Perseverence seems to be the name of the game but the amount of daytime energy I've got now I sleep 4-8 hrs of real sleep and not 2-3hrs of near sleep is phenomenal. I'm not eating as much either, so hopefully energy from sleep + reduction of food intake will equal weightloss.

I'm beginning to forget what redbull and mountain dew taste like too - not had any for two weeks (forced myself off them before doing the sleep test, and now I've not needed or wanted any)

[Nukkamtti]

Just a little update to complete the week

Thanks to those who have followed my first 5 days and nights. I also suddenly found that friends of friends were getting in contact with their stories of life with CPAP. I have so much advice! It is interesting too that many things that some say "avoid" others say "embrace". I guess different things work for different people and it is a matter of finding out what works best for oneself.


I was feeling good after night 5 but my first week was about to hit its low point as Night 6 was awful, especially hard to take after night 5 being so good (relatively speaking). Couldn't sleep with or without mask. 30 mins
sleep by 4am. Maybe 2 hours after in various short bursts. 6 hours awake with mask on, 3 hours awake with mask off. A terrible day afterwards where I couldn't work more than a couple of hours and poisoned myself with coffees just to keep going. It was a much worse day than I ever had before I was diagnosed!

Night 7 - Despite exhaustion I kept the mask on till I fell asleep. Went to bed at 8 fell asleep c. midnight. Awoke at 2 "punching the air one-fisted" mimicing the actions of someone in my dream. I was almost out the bed and my arm was almost out my socket. My startled cat was in the hall. I think the air must be making me helluva an "animated" while sleeping - is that normal?

[symmit]

Hi again Nukkamtti

I'm finding it easy to relate to your experiences as I'm about the same length into my therapy! I've got the advantages of full data download from the machine so I'm reviewing my data every day with emails and phone calls with a sleep tech.

I had one awful night, staying awake a lot of it, hitting the ramp button to stop the feeling of pressure and try and get to sleep. I guess these will happen from time to time.

Last night was good though, and I'm beginning to become a stats / data obsessive - I slept with the mask and a recording oximiter last night, and had a really relaxed night. Woke once at 3, was asleep again by 3:30.

The animated dreaming is I'm told pretty normal, your body and brain need to get used to deep REM sleep, which is what's missing from our lives with sleep apnoea. My alarm went off this morning during a period of deep sleep which startled me big time but again I'm feeling awake, refreshed and ready to hit whatever comes at me.

Stick with it (that's me telling me as much as anyone else!) because it's worth it!