First night with the equipment

[HD Fry]

So, a user goes to bed, knowing that there'll be considerable time spent watching a baseball game on television. That might be 30 minutes to an hour. Yet, at some point during the time frame sleep will overtake. The TV may or may not be turned off but sleep is inevitable in that general time frame. Should the user go to bed with the mask on or wait until sleep overtakes - realizing that if he waits he may end up sleeping without the mask?  Thanks!

[Gary1of2]

I lay down to watch tv with maskon so I dont have to wake up and put it on

[HD Fry]

Thanks Gary. I’m doing that as I type this! This CPAP will take some getting used to I’m afraid...

[mesenteria]

Yes, it surely will.  You'll find ways to make it 'smoother' though.  It will become second nature soon enough.  You'll adapt, find that you need to change a few things that seemed pretty certain (like a mask or headgear), learn some things about CPAP and yourself....and in a couple of weeks or more you'll be looking forward to the better sleep CPAP will almost certainly afford you.

[Sleep2Snore]

We in the UK were always told to put the mask on if there was any risk of sleep creeping up on you.
That was fine when the machines were all CPAP and fixed pressure and didn't store much information about you other than hours used.
Today it is another ball game in that the machine stores a lot of information, including all apneas that happen and as the machine is just a machine it has no idea if you are sleeping or not.
In the UK this makes a big change as we have to be below 5 AHI to keep our driving license.
They don't tell you if they average it out or not but at one time it used to be asked "How do you feel"?
This was enough if you felt fine and not sleepy, now however, they look at the data, so it might not be such a good idea, thought saying that we also have to have five hours of use as well, so if you are having a few late night it could affect their decision of whether we get our driving license back!

So we need <5 AHI and >5 hours sleep.

So the question is do you put the mask on or leave it off and risk falling asleep.
I would just put it on anyway, it is not worth falling asleep without the mask on.

Be interesting what others would do.

[HD Fry]

Encouragement appreciated!

[Phill]

In the UK I was told that the requirement was to be on treatment for at least 4 hours per night, when I complained that I was unlikely to make the 4 hours I was told to falsify the data by just lying there with the machine on until the clock ticks over the 4 hours, job done.

As claimed previously, the machine is not aware of whether you are asleep or awake.

[HD Fry]

Good point. Thanks