05-20-2020, 05:04 AM
Time for a break from CPAP and trying something different
Im pretty new to sleep apnea and CPAP therapy, 3 and a half months in. Tried 6-7 masks so far and so far havent had a single night where I slept for over a couple of hours with the mask. This will be a long post because I need to vent a bit.
Full face masks and nose masks dont work for me - if something covers my nose it makes me feel claustrophobic and anxious, cant get used to them.
Masks which have nasal pillows fit me much better, especially since I am also not a mouth breather. I narrowed it down to the Dreamwear Nasal pillows ( the ones where nothing goes in your nose ) and Airfit n30i. Have both of them and both feel comfortable when compared to the other masks I tried.
I bought a chin strip since sometimes I talk when I sleep, which now wakes me up. I bought a specific CPAP pillow which helps a lot.
But, I cant get used to it. I ended up falling in depression because I was extremely sleep deprived after I started CPAP therapy, had to take a month off from work because of it. Meds that I was given only made things work and I legit had the worst time in my life because of it all. Then I was moved to 10 days on sleeping pills to catch up on sleep and to maybe let my body get used to the CPAP mask. Those 10 days were good, I got 5-6 hours of sleep with the mask and I felt slightly better on the days after.
After I stopped with the sleeping pills I again couldnt sleep.
Now I am taking Melatonin and I manage to fall asleep with the mask but wake up after an hour or two and cant fall asleep anymore with it. Im used to sleep in a pitch black room with no noise - the noise from the machine is just agitating me at night when I am desperate for sleep. Tried getting good ear plugs but they dont block it all out.
Usually I would keep on pushing since I know that the therapy would help me. But I also had 2 nose surgeries in the last 2 years and the last one was rhinoplasty - my nose is still recovering from it. When I wake up in the middle of the night, my nose hurts from the damn mask. Its not that its too tight, I tried multiple ones - its just that my nose is still very sensitive to touch after the surgery.
So I cant sleep with full face masks or nasal masks because they make me feel anxious, I gave it a try and just couldnt deal with it. And the masks which I find comfortable are hurting my nose.
So last week I finally managed to switch to a sleep doctor which actually cares what happens to you after the sleep study is done. She told me that since I have moderate sleep apnea ( 21 each hour ), that I should try the following :
1. I ordered a device called SomnoGuard AP 2 and next week I will go to her so that we fit it for me.
2. I will try sleeping with it for 4 weeks and see if I can get used to it and if it wont have negative side effects ( like messing up my bite )
3. If everything is ok, we will do a at home sleep study to see if the SomnoGuard AP 2 gets rid of the sleep apnea events
4. If it does, I will most likely invest into a proper device which unfortunately here is not covered by insurance and it will cost me a lot of money.
5. we will discuss the option to take out my tonsils
6. When my nose if fully healed, give CPAP another go.
I know that a lot of you went through this and that my situation isnt unique. I honestly wish I could have been one of the lucky ones which slept through their first night on CPAP and felt better the next day. But I guess with the nose issues, its not meant to be currently.
I am honestly a bit P*ssed that my doctors never suggested that I get SomnoGuard AP 2 before. This is a great way to see if a MAD device would work for you or not. I didnt even want to consider spending 1500 euros for a MAD without knowing if it would help or if I could tolerate it. If I knew that I could get a cheaper version which can still be adapted to me for testing, I would have done that right away. At least this way I would have something for traveling, so that I dont have to take the CPAP machine with me.
Full face masks and nose masks dont work for me - if something covers my nose it makes me feel claustrophobic and anxious, cant get used to them.
Masks which have nasal pillows fit me much better, especially since I am also not a mouth breather. I narrowed it down to the Dreamwear Nasal pillows ( the ones where nothing goes in your nose ) and Airfit n30i. Have both of them and both feel comfortable when compared to the other masks I tried.
I bought a chin strip since sometimes I talk when I sleep, which now wakes me up. I bought a specific CPAP pillow which helps a lot.
But, I cant get used to it. I ended up falling in depression because I was extremely sleep deprived after I started CPAP therapy, had to take a month off from work because of it. Meds that I was given only made things work and I legit had the worst time in my life because of it all. Then I was moved to 10 days on sleeping pills to catch up on sleep and to maybe let my body get used to the CPAP mask. Those 10 days were good, I got 5-6 hours of sleep with the mask and I felt slightly better on the days after.
After I stopped with the sleeping pills I again couldnt sleep.
Now I am taking Melatonin and I manage to fall asleep with the mask but wake up after an hour or two and cant fall asleep anymore with it. Im used to sleep in a pitch black room with no noise - the noise from the machine is just agitating me at night when I am desperate for sleep. Tried getting good ear plugs but they dont block it all out.
Usually I would keep on pushing since I know that the therapy would help me. But I also had 2 nose surgeries in the last 2 years and the last one was rhinoplasty - my nose is still recovering from it. When I wake up in the middle of the night, my nose hurts from the damn mask. Its not that its too tight, I tried multiple ones - its just that my nose is still very sensitive to touch after the surgery.
So I cant sleep with full face masks or nasal masks because they make me feel anxious, I gave it a try and just couldnt deal with it. And the masks which I find comfortable are hurting my nose.
So last week I finally managed to switch to a sleep doctor which actually cares what happens to you after the sleep study is done. She told me that since I have moderate sleep apnea ( 21 each hour ), that I should try the following :
1. I ordered a device called SomnoGuard AP 2 and next week I will go to her so that we fit it for me.
2. I will try sleeping with it for 4 weeks and see if I can get used to it and if it wont have negative side effects ( like messing up my bite )
3. If everything is ok, we will do a at home sleep study to see if the SomnoGuard AP 2 gets rid of the sleep apnea events
4. If it does, I will most likely invest into a proper device which unfortunately here is not covered by insurance and it will cost me a lot of money.
5. we will discuss the option to take out my tonsils
6. When my nose if fully healed, give CPAP another go.
I know that a lot of you went through this and that my situation isnt unique. I honestly wish I could have been one of the lucky ones which slept through their first night on CPAP and felt better the next day. But I guess with the nose issues, its not meant to be currently.
I am honestly a bit P*ssed that my doctors never suggested that I get SomnoGuard AP 2 before. This is a great way to see if a MAD device would work for you or not. I didnt even want to consider spending 1500 euros for a MAD without knowing if it would help or if I could tolerate it. If I knew that I could get a cheaper version which can still be adapted to me for testing, I would have done that right away. At least this way I would have something for traveling, so that I dont have to take the CPAP machine with me.
