34 horrible nights - how many more?

[RigMover]

I had a rough start. My first DME provider sent me an F20 and a used Airsense 10. They “fit” me by having me text pictures of the F20 on my face and got unpleasant when I protested. It leaked like crazy and felt horrible. Got insurer to cancel that contract and provider’s group discontinued referring to them. 

In person DME provider gave me a new 11 and a sequence of p30i, F&P Vitera, a Dreamwear pillows thing and now an F40. I’ve bought an F30 and a P10 myself. The only mask that was quiet and didn’t leak >60 was the P10 so that’s what I’ve been using and just accepting the sore throats. Yes I have a humidifier. I wear a 7 3/4 hat so the ResMed and other Amazon chinstraps have been returned.
 
I’m 34 nights in and I feel so much worse than I did before I started. My shortest time on therapy has been an hour when I just had to quit and get a good nights sleep and that night was pure bliss. The rest of the time, I’m at least 5 hours cause my doctors have me scared - I’ve been cardioverted twice since March and seen a HR of 189(!). It was a nurse in the hospital who said I had sleep apnea.   My 3 night study showed AHI of 45. 51 and 71 but I only snored when my allergies were bad and I woke up feeling good/great most days. I miss that. 

The whole process has been stress.  My friend of 30 years has tried to support me but he was a first night wonder who swears he’s felt like a kid waking up since Day 1. He’s using the first mask they gave him years ago. 

I have to get my sanity back - need advice on how long this should take. I told myself I’d give it a month and blew that goal. Is it 2 months?

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

That sounds like a horrible time. You are understandably frustrated.

It is difficult to offer advice without seeing some OSCAR charts. Please read the links in my signature “Download OSCAR” and “Formatting OSCAR charts”. Post some charts of the last few days and there are many here who can help find good settings for you. Make sure you have an unlocked SD card in the slot so it records the detailed data.

One thing to keep in mind is properly tuned CPAP settings can do wonders at treating sleep apnoea. What it cannot do is treat things that are not sleep apnoea related. Please read the link in my signature on sleep hygiene and see if anything may be helpful.

[HalfAsleep]

What a horrible experience with the DME. Unfortunately, alot of folks here can relate because they’ve encountered problems with their DME. But yours sounds truly dreadful.

Follow PL&P’s directions about posting Oscars as well as the guidance over settings. You should see improvements quite soon, but it can take a body some weeks to adjust entirely. In the meantime, there may have to work on mask leaks and sleep position. Often, these interact with pressures, so a three-pronged attack usually works best.

Most important….the clock is ticking because you will be in a compliance period for your equipment. You generally have to have a certain number of days in the space of 30 days within the first 3 months, with each day being 4 hours of usage. Do whatever it takes to meet the 4 hours every day, even if you are watching TV while using the equipment. Otherwise, you’ll be without a unit altogether: not productive to make that happen. And it does help to be using the equipment while watching TV, especially if you’re struggling. The body needs to learn the habit, you can learn to manage the unit and mask, and you can get past anxiety that tends to accumulate when you’ve had a bad noob experience.

So, yep, first step is Oscars, following the specs in PL&P’S post.

[RigMover]

This morning was the first I felt moderately human. Leak of 11 and 1.8 events/hour. It sounds like I’m being dramatic but I’ve always been a morning person and one of my employees in another country DM to say I seem to be feeling better. 

I have to say that the high MyAir scores and automated congrats messages are really discouraging when you’ve slept horribly and feel terrible. I know that gamifying things is important to compliance with unpleasant tasks but it’s been a huge backfire for me. 

I’ve downloaded OSCAR and put an SD in the machine. We’ll see how tonight goes. 

I truly appreciate the considerate responses.