Waking up finding my mask next to me

[BHappy]

2-3 times in the last 4 weeks or so I wake up in the night to find my mask next to my head. I have no remembrance of when/why I took it off. Luckily, I have had no problems with my mask or its fitting. There are occasional leaks but nothing I am concerned about. I did not consume sedatives/alcohol/whatever the night prior. Has anyone faced this ? How can I ensure this doesn't happen ? Or even know why/when I did it ? overnight video recording is not an option for me. 

Also, I am posting my first sleepyhead chart. Would you have a word or two to say about it ? 

http://imgur.com/a/RsiMq

Cheers,

[ajack]

perhaps a chin strap over the top of your mask, would give another layer to removing the mask during sleep?

If it were me, I'd take these numbers to your doctor for an opinion. It seems your breathing rate is up and tidal flow is down, the I:E ratio is also off. 
medium, (half the time under and half the time over)
respiration 18
insp time 1.74
exp time 1.44
tidal volume 400

[Costas P]

Hi there BHappy and welcome to this great forum!...

Although I'm a newbie in the CPAP story, I would dare an assumption, based on the type of mask you're using. It's: Dreamwear, right?
So, perhaps you were side sleeping so this led to this problem. I think I've read this problem in other users' comments for this mask, in various sites.


Commercial Link Removed.  Do a search for Dreamwear mask, Supplier #1]


Other, more experienced members (than me) will definatelly give you their opinions too.


Keep up the good work!

Costas

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[Sleeprider]

I don't see any way to acertain why you are removing your mask or it may be slipping off. I think it's more likely your are intentionally removing it in your sleep. The first break shows a flow limitation immediately followed by the mask removal causing a large leak and the machine shuts down. The second break is strange because there is no large leak but an abrupt end in therapy with no leak suggesting you may have turned off the machine. I don't see a consistent pattern, so the advise to add something to make removing the mask more disruptive is as good as any I have heard.

Your therapy has a lot of residual hypopnea and an occasional FL and RERA. You might experiment with increasing minimum pressure by 0.5 and see if anything improves in that regard. Another possibility may be body or head position. Finding ways to avoid tucking the chin towards the chest may reduce those clusters.

[chill]

Wearing a soft cervical collar is one way to avoid tucking the chin towards the chest.

I have heard of people wearing mittens to bed to discourage them from taking off the mask during sleep.

[xxyzx]

2-3 times in the last 4 weeks or so I wake up in the night to find my mask next to my head. I have no remembrance of when/why I took it off. Luckily, I have had no problems with my mask or its fitting. There are occasional leaks but nothing I am concerned about. I did not consume sedatives/alcohol/whatever the night prior. Has anyone faced this ? How can I ensure this doesn't happen ? Or even know why/when I did it ? overnight video recording is not an option for me. 

Also, I am posting my first sleepyhead chart. Would you have a word or two to say about it ? 

http://imgur.com/a/RsiMq

Cheers,

without a video we can only guess. 

i suspect for some reason it bothers you and you take it off while you are asleep.

i worked with a guy who said he would wake up and throw the mask across the room because it bothered him so much.

[Shastzi]

If you can take your mask off and not wake up then your machine must be in
auto on/off mode. 
That means the machine just turns off when you pull the mask off.  This is not good.
Take the CPAP out of that auto-start mode.   Next time you pull the mask off you'll get the big noisy sound
of blasting air out of the mask/hose.
That will rouse you enough to restart your brain and go: "Oh yes.  I need to keep wearing this if I want to keep on living!"

After a few repititions you'll grow out of the habit.  

Best of luck and keep on being persistant!

[NadiaK]

I have done this several times as well.  It is frustrating to wake up and find the mask hanging on the hose buddy.

[Habsman]

I have done this many times too - thanks Shastzi for your suggestion of turning off the auto-start mode, I will try that and see if it helps.

[DeepBreathing]

I still do this occasionally after 3.5 years on the hose. I found that turning off auto-on/off didn't make much difference as I was able to hit the power button, remove my mask and go back to sleep all in one graceful movement.

Causes for removing the mask probably boil down to the following:

Therapy issues - too much pressure, too little pressure, sudden changes in pressure

Leaks - not necessarily major, but enough to disturb your sleep. Especially face farts and air blowing into the eyes

Mask discomfort - feeling of silicon against your skin (especially if there's too much humidity), mask not fitting properly (either you have the wrong mask or the mask has slipped in position), mask causing a pressure point such as on your nose

Headgear - too tight, too loose, rubbing against a trigger point, buckles badly positioned.