First night tonight

[BabaPapMama]

Just heading in for my first night. My thoughts are that I feel like I can't exhale against the pressure. My lungs seem weak, I forget to breathe while sleeping. I know I should have done this 4 yrs ago. My ox avg is 82, I thought I just need ox. My ahi is 5, seems okay to me, but up to 18 episodes per hr per sleep study. Last week I choked terribly during the night, so hoping that I have my first deep, refreshing sleep in years tonight. Good night!

[DeepBreathing]

G'day BabaPapMama, welcome to Apnea Board

Good luck on your first night! Like many first times, the first time with CPAP might not be all you imagined, but it shouldn't be too bad. Exhaling against pressure is a common problem, which can be overcome by increasing the EPR or Flex setting on your machine. After a while you get used to it and it's not a problem any more.

Take things slowly, a step at a time and don't expect instant miracles. Soon enough you will feel the benefits and sleeping with the hose will become second nature.

[Matzaball2016]

Hi,

I am also about to step into a new world and hopefully restful nights.

WOOHOO.

[chill]

The first few nights can be a challenge. The pressure is actually slight, but your perception of it and breathing out against it might suggest otherwise. Relax, try to not concentrate on it, and don't make any rash decisions. The body and mind are good at adapting if you let them.

[Russatrice]

Good luck to both of you! I found exhaling difficult at first, too, so I would put the mask on and concentrate on breathing, as if doing it for meditation purposes. Sometimes I got an almost panicky feeling but forced myself to continue to breathe regularly and after a few minutes it became effortless. I remember doing that for several weeks. Now I don't even need the ramp feature anymore on most nights.
Also, I found that I don't get as much sleep as I used to. It was a new (and sometimes annoying) thing for me to lay awake at night, yet even with the fewer hours of sleep I'm still a lot more rested in the morning.

[trish6hundred]

Hi BabaPapMama,
WELCOME! to the forum.!

I hope your first night of CPAP therapy went well, and I look forward to hearing more from you.
Good luck to you on your CPAP journey.