Well Rested Newbie

[sansnap]

Saying hello after a bit of lurking - lots of very helpful comments here.

So - last night was my first night with my new machine. Despite loads of trepidation and some fundamental disappointment at needing a cpap, I had a fine nights sleep - wish I'd known years ago! Still, there are some issues to work on and I could use some advice.

1. When the machine first turns on I feel like I'm not getting enough air; like I have to inhale fully and too often to get enough O2. After the rig ramps up, all is well but that first few minutes is miserable. I want to rip the gear off my face and breath. Last night took every bit of will power I had to lie still and wait for this to resolve. Any suggestions?

2. Hair! I have a lot of long hair and usually sleep with a loose and low ponytail. The bands on the headgear are fighting with the ponytail. I tried moving it up my head which seems to work but then the straps have to straddle either side of the hair making getting up in night complicated. Fishing that hair between the straps is a challenge in the middle of the night. Any ideas?

I have a lot to learn still and am still trying to understand my sleep study numbers and how to operate this new gear. That said, one single night with this and I feel GREAT! I slept solidly for 7 hours with one bladder break in the middle of the night. I feel twenty years younger.

[Mark Douglas]

Saying hello after a bit of lurking - lots of very helpful comments here.

So - last night was my first night with my new machine. Despite loads of trepidation and some fundamental disappointment at needing a cpap, I had a fine nights sleep - wish I'd known years ago! Still, there are some issues to work on and I could use some advice.

1. When the machine first turns on I feel like I'm not getting enough air; like I have to inhale fully and too often to get enough O2. After the rig ramps up, all is well but that first few minutes is miserable. I want to rip the gear off my face and breath. Last night took every bit of will power I had to lie still and wait for this to resolve. Any suggestions?

2. Hair! I have a lot of long hair and usually sleep with a loose and low ponytail. The bands on the headgear are fighting with the ponytail. I tried moving it up my head which seems to work but then the straps have to straddle either side of the hair making getting up in night complicated. Fishing that hair between the straps is a challenge in the middle of the night. Any ideas?

I have a lot to learn still and am still trying to understand my sleep study numbers and how to operate this new gear. That said, one single night with this and I feel GREAT! I slept solidly for 7 hours with one bladder break in the middle of the night. I feel twenty years younger.

FANTASTIC!
I hope I can add ME TOO pretty soon!

[trailrider]

Hello Sansnap!
I know houw you feel at 1. I suggest changing your lower pressure to 7. I could not stand mine at 6 and felt like I was starving for air. I also turned my ramp off, and set EPR to 3. My comfort was immediate the next night.

For 2., maybe a haircut? I have longer hair, loose, and it moves with the headband a bit during the night.

Download sleepyhead and watch your progress over the next few months. Welcome to the board!

[Napmeister]

I like maximum needed pressure immediately, you'll get used to it fast if you just start larger inhales and exhales as soon as it turns on. Still leave my EPR on level 2 but all of this is individual preferences.

Within a minute it's right where I need it and it can actually put me to sleep some nights when I quiet the mind fast enough.

[sansnap]

Hello Sansnap!
I know houw you feel at 1. I suggest changing your lower pressure to 7. I could not stand mine at 6 and felt like I was starving for air. I also turned my ramp off, and set EPR to 3. My comfort was immediate the next night.

Disable ramp? The sleep tech has told me that the machine only ramps when I hit the ramp button (which I did not do).

[trish6hundred]

Hi sansnap,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
It's good to hear that your first night went fairly well. If you have ramp turned on, you can turn it off, for some, it's a comfort feature and for others, it's a pain in the butt.
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.

[truetopath]

Welcome to the board! Glad you had a good first night! It could be that a pressure of 6 is making you feel air starved, and could be increased to eliminate that sensation. The other thing is it could be a little mask anxiety since this a new life change. I know the first few days I had to deep breath just like you described to relax enough, but then I got used to it. I have no thoughts on the hair, because mine's pretty short. Best of luck on your journey!

[worn_out_in_lebanon]

Saying hello after a bit of lurking - lots of very helpful comments here.

1. When the machine first turns on I feel like I'm not getting enough air; like I have to inhale fully and too often to get enough O2. After the rig ramps up, all is well but that first few minutes is miserable.

Hello! Glad to see you have been reading here for awhile and now posting.

Can you describe a little more what you meant when you said "after the rig ramps up" relative to the first few minutes. It sounds like ramp is turned on. But maybe you are describing that your pressure just steadily climbs from the starting number of 6 to something a little higher before it settles somewhere.

Mine will climb a bit right away too, presumably in response to "flow limitation" the machine is detecting, even though I'm still awake.

Many folks say they can't start at 6 or below. I've been starting at 7, and about to start at 8. I don't use the ramp feature. I tried it a time or two, and found I just laid there waiting for it to finally ramp up, even when I used the minimum time of 5 minutes for the ramp.

I also remember when I first started, I had this feeling like the machine was expanding my lungs for the first few minutes each night, and I had to let that get settled. I don't notice that effect anymore.

I also had some difficulty exhaling, which made me feel like I needed to take a bigger inhale after I finally got finished slowing exhaling. Using EPR helped with that. Then I was able to exhale on a more regular (shorter) duration instead of fighting to get the air out. I didn't feel so urgent a need to inhale big, right away again. At the higher pressure I was using on a ffm (full face mask) of 10-15 I needed EPR of 2, but with the lower pressure I'm using with the nasal pillow (7-9) an EPR setting of 1 is enough.

[sansnap]

I guess using the term "ramps up" was confusing. I didn't use the ramp function at all but maybe the machine just begins at 6 and then goes higher as needed?

Exhaling was fine - there was a little resistance but it wasn't distracting. When I woke up in the middle fo the night, inhalation seemed to be fine - there was no sensation of being starved for air. That said, I got up for a minute or two and then when I restarted the machine, there was the same sensation of not being able to get a nice deep breath. It went on for a few minutes and then seemed to abate. Not sure what to think about this but it's a really unpleasant sensation.

I called the sleep lab this AM and the best they could offer was 'wait a few days'. Not wanting to be difficult here but it seems to me that something is not quite right.

Overall I am extremely happy. I had a decent nights sleep on night one and figure that resolving these issues can only make further improvements. I guess that I'll just have to experiment with the hair - cutting it is not going to be a good option - I spent years trying to grow it.

[worn_out_in_lebanon]

Sounds like 6 is too low for the starting pressure.

When you woke up during the night it was most likely higher than 6, and when you restarted the machine you were definitely back at 6 again.

You may need 7 or 8 for your starting pressure.

I haven't had to worry about long hair for a long time now... not since the late 70's.