[CPAP] Developed Aversion to CPAP!?

[SarcasticDave94]

I'm going to speculate a scenario, one that I did myself. OK let's suppose after some time your therapy needs have changed but you're not monitoring and therefore didn't know it. Your body needs a change and your mind is convinced it must be the CPAP itself is the problem and not a simple setting edit. So the easy way is get the mask off and avoid it. Do this avoiding a few times and it gets easier to do so each consecutive time. You've effectively trained yourself CPAP is bad.

Solution is several things, monitor therapy data with OSCAR will certainly help. OK but we're going to need to step back to getting you to use CPAP. Effectively you're going to start over with CPAP. Not with the settings, just you need to get accustomed to CPAP and mask, all over again. So I'll suggest you sit in the easy chair with mask and CPAP on, breathe in and out normally. Do this for a few minutes, extending the time on every day.

This is what I had to do to start out, because I trained myself to rip the mask off after about 2 hours. Because I no longer liked it. With you, I'll circle back to settings are probably too low now, and mask off is the body's defense reaction. Now it's quickly become a habit, one that you're needing to break.

Absolutely get checked out by primary care. It may be something else. But also get accustomed to CPAP again.

[OMCHamlin]

That all makes sense. For what it's worth, at the start of this whole aversion thing, it was at 6.8, I bumped it up myself. I may bump it up another and see. Yes to my PCM, I'll schedule and see what he has to say.

[brokensleep57]

OMCHamlin - Is your CPAP a new machine? Or is it older?

I'm new to the forum, but have had sleep apnea for some time. Been on and off CPAP for a few years, so I know how you feel.  I kind of had a similar experience recently after successfully using CPAP for over a year.  Since I had a real hard time adopting to CPAP, I thought it was the same issue cropping up again; however, it turned out that my CPAP machine was not working correctly and I was not getting the proper air pressure.   

I finally got a new machine and I've been fine again.  It could be a long shot, but if none of the other suggestions work, you may want to consider having your machine looked at if it older to make sure it is working properly.

Good luck.

[OMCHamlin]

brokensleep, it's close to 5 years old, been doing okay, no significant issues with it. And that was one of my first moves, I had my local supplier check the machine out, it's doing okay. 

On a plus note, I did switch back to my Quattro full face last night and was JUST in that drifting off twilight zone and put the mask on and kept it on for several hours.  Sure wish I had loaded that SW before hand!

[SarcasticDave94]

5 years? Try to certify if that's true. If accurate, you need to request a replacement new machine. This maybe is why things changed for the bad. How many hours are on your machine?

[OMCHamlin]

Yeah, I think right at five or nearly there, because she told me I'll be eligible in a few months (a few months ago). I don't know the machine hours.

[SarcasticDave94]

Your usage hours should be near the bottom of the CPAP display and total run hours within the clinical menu.

To enter Clinical menu, click and hold the Home and Dial at the same time for about 5 seconds. There's the clinical menu where the machine is setup.

[OMCHamlin]

So I saw my GP yesterday. I’m waiting contact to schedule a new sleep study, but in the meantime, he gave me a short duration supply of …. ahh, shoot, it’s downstairs, but one kind of -pam or another.  So last night, I freshened everything up, got myself good and tired and got 4 hours of good CPAP assisted sleep. Partway through the falling asleep process, I felt like the air was too much and too abrupt, so I went in and tweaked minimum and shifted a few other settings and drifted off. 
I hope I can find my way out of this…

[OMCHamlin]

The settings I shifted were Response to Soft, Min pressure to 7 (down from where I had previously set it, 7.2. EPR from 3 down to 1.

[SarcasticDave94]

If it's just a new machine, no new tests should be required of you. Testing costs you and insurance a lot.

Oh and a reminder, mine is post 20, we've not seen any charts. It very well may be we'll be able to help with this free. Doctors always have fees though. We don't.