Recently Diagnosed/New CPAP user

[bennyali]

Hello Everybody,

I was recently diagnosed with OSA and was glad to finally get to the bottom of the issue and hopefully have it dealt with. I had various appointments with the hospital and i have to say that everything moved pretty quickly for me which was great.

I got my CPAP machine on Friday (automatic pressure) and im not really sure what i expected, maybe i expected it just magically cure me i dont know but im having some issues with it and wondered if anyone could offer me any words of wisdom or advice as today after night 3 i feel a little bit disheartened.

I feel more tired today then i ususally do, im not sure if im fighting with the machine in my sleep or not. I have always had sinus problems and they seem to get worse at night, i can still breathe through my nose but its not 100% clear. I knew it would take sometime to get used to having something on my face while sleeping but im not sure if i will ever get used to it. I wake up with a very dry throat and im wondering if this is the machine or if this is me breathing through my mouth while im asleep. I woke up on my other side last night and i kind of saw that as a good sign as it meant that i had moved in my sleep and not felt obstructed enough to wake myself up. I know i breathe a lot through my mouth and im wondering if this is a problem, i have a beard and the CPAP nurse said that it wouldnt really accomodate a full face nurse.

The fitting on the mask seems to be okay, i mean it fits to my face well and doesnt seem to leak, i mean if i move my head in certain directions then i get a leak but im guessing no matter how tight it is this would happen anyhow. I dont find it uncomfortable as such i just find it irritating being there. Last night in the middle of the night i kind of found my pillow a bit wet and i think inside the mask was too, im not sure what this was from but found it strange.

I know 3 nights is nowhere near long enough to decide whether this treatment suits me or not and i guess im just looking for some reassurance that all of the above is normal and can be overcome.

Thanks for reading and i appreciate your help.

Ben

[James @ Intus]

Hi Ben,

Welcome to the group!

Sinus issues and no humidifier is asking for problems. They should have given you one right away really. Or at least a full face mask.

A heated humidifier will ease the sinus issues and a full face mask allow the air pslint to work through the mouth if the nose does get blocked up.

To really sort out your sinus issues, have a look at the SinuPulse on Amazon. It has gotten fantastic reviews there.

So either:

- Keep the nasal mask and solve the sinus issues (with ot without a humidifier, sinus irrigation etc.), chin strap may also help to avoid dry mouth
- Switch to a full face mask so it doesn't matter whether the nose is OK (humidifier will avoid dry mouth)

Once that has been sorted, the rest will become a lot easier.

And yes, your initial experience is normal, yet could have been prevented if they had asked about your nasal blockages and acted accordingly.

You'll have to slowly chisel away at the obstacles until everything is good and you sleep like a baby and feel like a lamb in spring

You can ask everybody here about every little niggly thing. There's a solution for practically everything that you may come across!

[bennyali]

Hi James,

Thanks for the advice, its all been noted down, i have ordered some supplies to perform some nasal cleansing and i am hoping that this will help, should be here in the next few days. The specialist that prescribed my machine said if i had real problems with it being very dry and getting a sore throat then they should be able to arrange some humidification for me so i think i will get in touch with them tmrw and try and request this asap.

Hopefully once i get everything sorted i will feel much better, im not giving up though and i will persevere with it, i have a loan on an automatic machine for 8 weeks and then they are going to address it from there so that gives me plenty of time for tweaking.

Ben

[James @ Intus]

OK good move. Yes, with a few dryness and waking up complaints they often add a humidifier. The nasal cleansing will also make things better.

It varies a fair bit but overall, on average, most people start to turn things around between day 7 and 10. Then the good stuff comes.

[bennyali]

Hello Again.

So i got the humidifier yesterday for my cpap machine. Felt better when i first put it on but then i woke up in the middle of the night to a kind of gurgling sound in the tube, i had to take it off as it seemed that there was quite a lot of water in there and the sound was really annoying me.

Can anyone offer any advice? Sorry to be a pain just desperately wanting to get this right.

Thanks,
Ben

[James @ Intus]

This is "rain-out" or condensation. Because it's cold outside or in the bedroom, the temperature difference causes excess condensation. Couple of things you can do:

- Insulate tube with a fleece tube wrap
- Get a heated hose (see other threads)
- Put machine lower than your face so water drops back to machine. Hose Lift can help achieve this.
- Lower humidifier settings.
- Up bedroom temperature.
- Combination of the above!

[bennyali]

Hi James,

will try elevating the hose tonight and turning it down see if that helps.

Someone on another thread said you might be able to supply heated hoses, would this be right? Just wondering about costs?

Thanks in advance,

Ben

[James @ Intus]

They're on their way, pending a CE audit which is so much paperwork, it could be a while. I recommend you get them directly from the manufacturer in Australia, SleepZone.

[axistelecomrocks]

Recently Diagnosed

Hey I'm Toby from Sheffield.
I was diagnosed with OSA in December and am starting CPAP from the Northern General Hospital this coming Tuesday but have been told I will need to return the machine the following Tuesday as it's a week trial.

Anyone got any idea as to why it's only a trial?
I would have thought that if you need this sort of treatment then thats that.

[Tigers Fan]

Standard practice

Hi axistelecomrocks

Your name sounds like an advert! I'll check you out in a mo!

Standard practice at hospitals more advanced in OSA than Southampton (not difficult) but less well financed than, say, Leicester, seems to give you a week's trial with an APAP - Automatic Positive Air Pressure - which is supposed to auto-titrate and tell the hospital staff what pressure settings you need. Then they give you a much cheaper CPAP - Constant PAP - for the duration.

Seems that at least one hospital measures your neck to get the CPAP settings. Southampton guess ten and a week later ask if you still snore. So you are doing well if you get an APAP for a week, but not the best. It's called the NHS post code lottery.

Good luck and keep coming back to the forum.

Tigers Fan

[axistelecomrocks]

Hi axistelecomrocks

Your name sounds like an advert! I'll check you out in a mo!

Standard practice at hospitals more advanced in OSA than Southampton (not difficult) but less well financed than, say, Leicester, seems to give you a week's trial with an APAP - Automatic Positive Air Pressure - which is supposed to auto-titrate and tell the hospital staff what pressure settings you need. Then they give you a much cheaper CPAP - Constant PAP - for the duration.

Seems that at least one hospital measures your neck to get the CPAP settings. Southampton guess ten and a week later ask if you still snore. So you are doing well if you get an APAP for a week, but not the best. It's called the NHS post code lottery.

Good luck and keep coming back to the forum.

Tigers Fan

Ok thanks Tigers Fan that makes sense.
Oh and my username well it's what I think of my homephone providor etc, I'd be more than happy as a customer of theirs to refer other people to them to make savings on phone and broadband etc, each new customer thats refered gets a £10 credit asa thank you....Not bad eh?