Newbie and struggling

[Sleeprider]

Your CPAP pressure is changing. On April 1 it was set to 9.5 fixed with no ramp and you had an AHI of nearly 11. On March 31 the pressure was 10 cm but they setup the machine with ramp at 4 cm. That means when you put on the mask and start the machine you are only getting 4 cm pressure, which clearly explains your panic reaction and an AHI of 24.48. On March 30 it was 9.5 fixed again and another AHI of 11. March 29 they put 4 ramp and 10 pressure back and you had a AHI of nearly 15, and on March 28 with ramp 4 pressure 10 you had AHI of 12.13.

So some idiot is manipulating your pressure remotely assuming it's not you, and they know you're not doing well. What we can tell is that you have much worse results when they implement ramp and a higher pressure, than a fixed pressure of 9.5. I think you will do best with a fixed pressure of around 8, because you have such abundant CA events. Anyway, you need to get control of your own therapy. Go ahead and ring them up tomorrow, but this is not a proper way to get a patient adapted to CPAP. I feel bad for you because as long as you let someone else control your therapy, it's only going to be as good as that person...so far, I'm not impressed.

[Hydrangea]

I do feel like I can't catch my breath quite a lot of the time, asleep, half asleep and awake. I'm not sure whether it's just my anxiety telling me that or if I actually can't.

That's how I felt when I was starting out, before I changed my pressure. I mentioned it at my 3 week follow-up appt with my sleep dr, and he totally blew me off since my AHI was below 5.  I asked him to please raise my pressure a bit so I could feel like I was getting a full breath... and he refused because he had tunnel-vision and only cared about AHI being good enough for insurance to pay for the machine. 

After that follow-up, I realized that I am the only one who cares SO hugely about my health and comfort.  And that's when I decided to tweak my own settings... and finally got comfortable  (and happy!) with my machine.

Wolfwynd, I would encourage you to stick with it.  Things will get easier I promise.  The other thing I would encourage you to do is follow Sleeprider's advice.  He really knows what he is talking about.  I would wager you will get much better advice from him than from most other sources you will talk to in the business of CPAP machines.

Ditto.

I'm in the UK so they don't really like you messing with the machine. I shall ring them up tomorrow and see what they say but it's certainly a possibility - thank you.

I don't think any drs/DMEs really like us messing with our machines.  Unfortunately, they also don't seem to really like helping us find optimal settings that really enhance our therapy to the best it can be and to help us feel the most comfortable with it that we can be.


I'd like to point you to another thread where many of us chimed in with ways we successfully overcame anxiety we were feeling with the machine, mask, and sleeping. Maybe it can help you, too.  http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...#pid193781

But primarily, it's most helpful to share the data here so some of the smarter ones (not me LOL) can see what's going on and offer educated ideas on how to help you.

[Beej]

If anxiety is a problem, you may find the following helpful if practiced regularly.

Relaxation Breathing​
- based on the information in "The Relaxation Response" by Herbert Benson, MD.

Begin by sitting in a comfortable chair with good back support, or lying down. The key thing is to have your body pretty much straight between hips and shoulders so your lungs have room.

Now, breathe out completely. That way there will be room for a full breath in. If you start with half filled lungs, taking a deep breath in won't feel very large.

Pause.

Slowly, take a deep breath.

Pause.

Slowly, exhale.

Repeat, and establish a pattern of slow, deep breathing. Give yourself a good 20 minutes (turn off the phone, close the door) to get into this process. If done at bedtime, you may drift into sleep.

By slowing and deepening your breathing, you often cause the heart rate to slow and relax, muscle tightness to ease away, and blood pressure to decrease.