Sleep Apnea and driving

[Furbie]

Hey all, been trying to get used to my cpap machine for the last 6 weeks but it's just not happening. The only problem is been told I need 4hours on the machine for at least 5days a week to get my licence back, if I can't get the 4 hours does anyone know of any other way to get my licence back? Really starting to struggle without it.

Cheers

[Kelly @ Intus]

Hi Furbie,

Thank you for your post.

Can I ask what part of the CPAP therapy are you struggling with? Actually keeping the mask on during the night or trying to sleep for at least 4 hours. If you can give me abit more detail, then I am happy to try and help you with your CPAP equipment. You can either reply to this post, or you can email me at [email protected]

Kelly

[Furbie]

Hi Kelly

All of it tbh I struggle to actually get to sleep because of the way the pressure builds up as I'm dosing off, and I haven't managed the 4 hours once yet either through waking up because of the pressure or in my sleep I rip the mask off and wake up with it beside me. Was at the hospital today with it and they made some adjustments so hopefully that helps. To be honest just worried I'm not going to manage the 4 hours and therefore not get my licence back.

Ian

[Kelly @ Intus]

Hi Ian,

Do you have a ramp function set up on your CPAP machine, and if so do you know how long this is set to for you?. This holds the pressure at a lower pressure of 4.0cmh20 for example for X amount of time. So you can set the ramp period to off, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, etc to suit you. So if you take a little bit of time to get to sleep, you can have a longer ramp period to allow you to get to sleep before the pressure increases.

Try the CPAP machine with the adjustments that the hospital have made, and let me know how you get on. Please do persevere with your CPAP therapy. There is always an adjustment period, but you will get used to using the equipment through the night, and feel the benefits.

Kelly

[andyhosehead]

First of all, as a new poster I want to say hello to everyone.
I have been using CPAP for 16 years, and from the very start I decided that I didn't like the "ramp" start, so turned it off immediately, and since then have been fully compliant all the time. I find it better to use the full pressure from the start instead of letting it build up. I have never missed a night's CPAP - apart from power cuts - and usually get between 6 - 8 hours sleep.

[Kelly @ Intus]

Hi Andyhosehead,

Welcome to the forum, and thank you for your post.

Kelly