I started with the Quattro FX, then switched to the Mirage FX. I really liked the Mirage, but lately it’s gotten uncomfortable, so I’ve switched back to the Quattro.
I don’t know that my sleeping has improved much. I still wake up tired and it’s a bit frustrating. It’s been harder to get used to than I expected.
I keep wide masking tape on the bedside table and use it to remove all traces of cat fur, lint, and the like from my nose and face before donning the mask. Tickling makes me crazy otherwise.
To what??? glue the mask onto your face??? I mean, it’s called masking tape, what else would you plan to do with it ;).
Not quite what my first assumption was when reading your posting :).
Sorry things are not going smoothly. This is a big issue with CPAP, from what I hear - a lot of people have so much trouble getting used to it, so they don’t stick with it.
If you haven’t been back to the sleep doctor for a followup, you definitely should. Among other things, they can read your machine’s data card and see what it says regarding hours of use, AHI etc. which might suggest things to try.
When I first started with the machine, I actually took Ambien for the first couple of nights. I tend to have a lot of trouble sleeping when things aren’t “just right”, and I think that took the edge off of the annoyance. After that, I haven’t needed any extra assistance. There are still some nights where it’s just too uncomfortable - typically when I’m sick.
Your settings may also be not quite right - e.g. if they titrated you at a 10, and you really need 12.
You may want to try still a different mask. The two you’ve tried are full-face and nasal-mask, maybe a nasal pillow system would work better?
Consider doing a sleep journal of some sort, also. If you have an Android phone or tablet, I highly recommend Sleep Bot (which is free). Pencil/paper works well too, if not as “cool”. When you track things carefully, you can be surprised at how much sleep you’re actually getting (or not getting).
And, you may have other stuff going on. My own sleep issues have been years in being addressed: first, Restless Leg Syndrome (finally broke down and took meds for that… still tired), then apnea (had for years, four separate sleep studies failed to find enough to be worth treating, finally found enough to treat… still tired), and most recently “Excessive Daytime Sleepiness”… which basically means “Even when you’ve had plenty of sleep you’re still tired and fall asleep too easily, darned if we know why: here, try these drugs”.
That last required 24 hours at the sleep lab - 8+ hours sleeping during the night, then during the day they had me lie down for 20ish minutes every couple of hours and monitored how long it took me to fall asleep. Note that “fall asleep” in their terms means something different from what we lay-people think of: you may think you’re fully conscious but relaxed, but the brainwaves say “getting sleepy now”.
They had me jot down, each time, whether I thought I’d fallen asleep (usually not) and whether I thought I’d been dreaming (definitely not). The upshot was that “normal” people take 10+ minutes to get sleepy in that situation, my average was 5 minutes or less. And the dreaming thing was significant: I gather that someone with full-on narcolepsy would be likelier to go straight to dream sleep (I could be mistaken about that).
Anyway: go back to the sleep doctor and discuss all this. If they don’t seem willing to work with you, maybe it’s time to look for a different sleep clinic. That’s actually part of why I switched: the previous doctor actually wanted to do the daytime sleep test but NOT in the context of a full 24 hour test (and I knew the results would be skewed if they did it that way). So basically he was doing some of the right things, just not in the right grouping.
Where I currently stand, sleep-wise: If I do everything right (7+ hours of sleep per night, take my RLS meds early enough to kick in before bedtime, take my daytime “wakey wakey” meds)… I’m actually mostly functional.
Thanks for the encouragement Momma Zappa. I’m not giving up. My family would smother me in my noisy sleep if I stopped using the thing that makes me not snore. 
My husband is after me to get back to checking my blood sugar regularly and see if that has anything to do with the sleepies.
I’m on an Auto-CPAP, so I don’t have a fixed setting. My range is from 4 to 16 or 18. I’ve noticed since I switched back to the full-face this weekend that my AHI is lower, but my pressures are higher. (I check my stats daily. Geek.)
I don’t actually have a sleep doctor per se, my ENT prescribed the CPAP for me. I haven’t been for any sort of follow up since I started on the machine over a month ago. I probably should do something about that.
Today was a little better than yesterday; I’m definitely sleeping through more than I did with the nasal mask, even though the full face mask makes it hard to sleep on my side. And I did buy myself a hose insulator (at http://cpapsock.com/), which has helped enormously. No more snap-crackle-pop from rainout.
Glad to year you have an APAP. I’ve mentioned before that I insisted on one because of the crappy mask experience I had at the titration appointment. I was annoyed when I got the machine, to find that the AHI and a couple of other figures were not visible… did some googling and found that there is a DME/provider setting that you can get into, to make them visible (and also tweak other settings, which of course I did not touch). No clue why they weren’t visible from the outset. My range is a lot narrower than yours though - titration said “8”, my range was set to vary from 6 to 10, and I haven’t seemed to need to have it set higher.
As I understand it (from the folks at the newer sleep doc), they don’t necessarily request APAP (vs. straight CPAP) for most people because it doesn’t necessarily work quite as well - it wasn’t clear to me just why that was. However, in my case since I had reason to mistrust the readings from my titration, it was a good idea. It can always be reset to straight CPAP at some point if needed. In your case, that’s such a huge range, were they that unsure of the correct value for you? Just being nosy there.
I do think I’m likelier to sleep through the night vs. taking a potty break; I assume because with the mask, I sleep just enough more soundly that the bladder yelling “wake up, ya fool” doesn’t get through to me. I also believe (as others have stated in the past) that there’s a certain amount of conditioning that takes place once you’re used to it: as in, you put the mask on, the brain recognizes that and says “bwuh? huh? Oh. Guess it’s time to go to sleep now”.
Definitely do the followup visit with the ENT, and if the sleep clinic has doctors on staff, you might consider an appointment with one of them to get their feedback. Also a visit with the technicians to check out your masks - if you just got them from a DME provider with minimal futzing around with different styles, you might do better with some better feedback. The fact that they had me lie down, and checked the leak readings, was (I think) really helpful.
Oh - and LOL on “not snore”. I’ve said before that I made Typo Knig go in for a study because his snoring was bothering me too much. He doesn’t necessarily feel better with the CPAP, but I sure as hell sleep better when he uses it!!
That part is totally normal. There’s more “dead space” in a full face mask than a nasal mask or nasal pillows, so the pressure tends to be a little higher at optimum usage to compensate. My wife, a sleep tech herself, has noticed this and has wanted to do a clinical study to see if science can back up her intuition/observances.
I think some machines have settings where you set the type of mask you’ll be using, that might compensate for that very scenario. I seem to recall seeing something like this on mine, though I’ve never fooled with it.
Aha: here’s a link talking about the Respironics setting: http://systemoneresistancecontrol.respironics.com/
I don’t use a PR mask (though my machine is PR). If you were to look at the types of masks they list here, it might give you an idea of why your pressures look higher or lower (e.g. your mask looks a bit like type X which has a setting of 4, your other mask looks like type Y which has a setting of 2).
And this posting talks about using non-PR masks with a PR machine.
I was on vacation for most of the past week and didn’t take my CPAP (since I didn’t want to pay extra to check it at the airport). I had, or at least remembered, very vivid dreams for the next few nights; it occurred to me that I’ve had very few vivid dreams since I started on the CPAP.
Is this anybody else’s experience? And if so, do you know if this is normal? (All disclaimers in place about understanding nothing said is to be construed as medical advice and whatnot.)
I’ve heard mixed stories about the dreaming associated with CPAP use. “They say” that you’ll dream more when you start using it (because you’re catching up on a lot of missed REM sleep), but then I’ve been told by professionals that when you’re aware of dreaming a lot, it means you’re rousing somewhat during the dream stages so that means you’re sleeping less deeply.
My theory: you dream (or notice it at least) more at first because of catching up on REM but that should settle down; if you’re dreaming / aware of dreaming more later on, it’s a sign you’re not sleeping as well at that point.
More to the point: how did you feel without the nose-hose? I haven’t gone that long without mine (never missed more than a day or two).
Even more to the point: as a medical device, you don’t have to check a CPAP, nor can they count it as part of your limited carry-on luggage.
When I flew with mine, I had no problem. One port just scanned it while the other did a wipe-test. No biggie.
I don’t think I tried to pack water for it, though. I figured a couple days of tap water probably wouldn’t kill it. Of course, I didn’t worry about sealing mine up in plastic, either, so you can see how I am.
http://blog.tsa.gov/2011/02/traveling-with-cpap-machine.html
A timely zombie, as I’ve been feeling like a zombie. I found out today that my AHI is over 34, so I’m about to become another hose-head.
I’m very grateful that they’re able to just give me an S9 set on auto, rather than going back to the sleep lab for another dreadful night of sticky goo and wires. The other nifty thing is the machine has a cellular modem so it can phone home as needed, rather than making me take the SD card to the doctor every couple of weeks.
Nice thing about a CPAP mask is you don’t suffocate if the feline you work for decides it wants to sleep on your face.
Don’t ask.
I did not know this. Thanks!
Interesting info, thanks, but I did not see where it said this: nor can they count it as part of your limited carry-on luggage.
Where is that guidance? Also, what about flying internationally? I imagine the rules can get complicated.
IIRC, each airline sets its own carry on policy as to the number of bags etc. the TSA only restricts what can be carried on. I’ve never had an issue carrying a carry on bag plus a CPAP.
Good to know. I’ve always fit it into my standard carry on bag but lost that space for other things.
