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How Long Did It Take to Get Used to Your Machine?
For those of you who are using some form of xPAP treatment, how long did it take you to get used to it? I ask because I think it will be helpful to our members who are "on the fence" about committing to xPAP treatment to hear the truth.
Views: 464
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mary E. Dow on
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I've never really gotten used to it. However, I WANT to do it correctly so as to get proper help.
Hearing about someone else getting help is an encouragement! I'd use it for a couple of nights, get some better rest, and then the next night I'd awaken at 3:30 a.m. and not get more sleep. I'd get discouraged, etc. However, I think part of the problem is not knowing enough about the actual condition. Even learning a bit from this website got me to go back to the dr. and I'm now scheduled for a new sleep study and I plan to go from there . . . : )
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It took about a week for me to adjust to it. Even now, years after I started, it can be a bit difficult getting comfortable with the mask as I go to sleep. However, the quality of sleep is so drastically better, that this is well worth it.
I used to use the CPAP machine at home but not take it when I traveled. Then I realized I need a good night's sleep even more when I travel vs. when I'm at home. Now I take it eveywhere.
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You know I've been on a CPAP for over three years now and I'm still not used to it! I go through several nights to several weeks no problem then go through a cycle where i'm doing good if I can keep it on for more thhat and hour and a half.
Being a little clausterphbic does not help, but you keep doing it because you know you need to.
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Seven months of trying every night. I thought I would never get used to it.
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Permalink Reply by Rock Conner RRT on
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I started c. 1990. Had I known I was gonna do this for a living I would have paid better attention to my adjustment period. I think it was around 2 weeks. I struggled a bit until I found a mask I could make friends with, & since then I do just fine. Literally, it seems strange & weird now to try sleeping without my CPAP system.
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It didn't take very long once I made a commitment.I was first tested and started treatment more then 11 year ago, but to say that my machine was barely used would be an understatement.Since getting retested and the new machine I have used it every night except when I had a head cold and couldnt get any air through my nose.
I would say it only took a couple of days once I had the right size and type of mask.
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I have been using CPAP for three months. My average time each night is 7 hours. I have tried a number of different mask devices and have finally settled in with a simple nose cup. It has been a trial and error adjustment for sure. This website has provided me with many essential tips....like using a saline solution gel AYR to help with congestion. I even use it when I take the relataive small number of naps that I need. It does take some persistance and determination to get all the supporting parts to work.....comfy pillow, congestive factors, and of course a masks that seals and can be acclimated to. It is well worth all the effort....and any of that effort is soooo much less than fighting with the bed and my pillow every night in frustration that I could not sleep. I'll give that up any night. melba
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My biggest complaint about the cpap is the lack of feeling of air over my skin. Yes I know that sounds funny considering we have a constant flow of pressurized air blowing up our noses.It feels like there isn't enough air simply because we can't feel the flow due to the constant pressure.
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I never got "used to" my APAP. I was diagnosed with UARS. After poor compliance for many months (I am a healthcare provider and normally a very compliant patient), I tried VERY hard to use the machine. Then my practitioner was doing back flips over my compliance.
I never felt better using the APAP, and I got to the point where I hated to go to bed because of it. Recently, I transitioned to a dental device/MAD with immediate positive results...now I would not dream of going to sleep without it. I actually believe that the APAP only made my condition worse.
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Permalink Reply by bonesigh on
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I've been on a Bi pap for over 2 years and I'm still working on problems with it. I have a full face mask and a pressure of 18/14 and I figured there was just no way anyone could get used to it. I named my machine Beelzebub. But...I pushed through and made myself wear it anyway and got no sleep whatsoever for months and months. Many problems plagued my nights like, cheeks puffing out as soon as I drifted off, mask flurping on my face, super dry mouth glued shut, sore bleeding nose, headaches, skin rash, etc. One of the worst things was the severe back spasms that I was having. One morning it was so bad I couldn't get out of bed!
On the good side though I thought I would NEVER be able to sleep with that awful mask on my face. Here I am today though still wearing it every night. I sleep pretty good now though I do seem to wake up momentairly a lot during the night. No running to the bathroom all through the night. I feel more rested and in a better frame of mind, have some pretty wild dreams so I know I'm getting some good rest. I can't sleep without it now. Some weeks it's fine and some weeks are trouble. It's not quite right and I have to figure out why it's not working better. I know it could be better. I have requested a new sleep study and I'm waiting for the call. Just goes to show we humans can get used to anything! So, just push through and DO IT!!
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Permalink Reply by Dave Hargett on
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I was diagnosed with a full night study (no split nights back then) in the late summer of 1994. For insurance reasons I had to go to a facility not associated with my sleep doctor and it took 3 weeks to get the report back (this in the days of paper recordings - not digital). When my doctor saw my numbers: 82 events per hour and oxygen down to 52%, he put me on a CPAP machine on an emergency basis, beginning that night. I was at his office at 3:30 and by 7:30 pm there was a homecare person at my house with A machine and A mask -- I was given no choices whatsoever and didn't realize that I had any choice in equipment.
My pressure was arbitrarily set at 8 cm (I was later titrated to 13 for a fully effective pressure that also eliminated my snoring). The doctor felt that 8 would not hurt me at all and he wanted me to get started with therapy.
Not knowing what to expect, when we got home my wife and I both called into work and took the next day (Wednesday) off, figuring we were going to have a rough night.
When the homecare rep demonstrated my machine, she began moving the mask toward my face and then turned on the machine, so that I got a blast of air that took my breath away initially - sort of like sticking your head out of the car window at 50 miles per hour! I really wondered at that point if it was possible for me to wear this device!
Eventually we chose to go to bed. Now, previous to this, I was snoring horrendously, enough that my wife had moved out of the bedroom. I was also getting up just about hourly due to nocturia.
I got the machine hooked up and the mask semi-comfortable and lay down to go to sleep, feeling more than a little anxious given the "emergency" nature of this treatment. Like most severe apneics, though, I was able to fall asleep very quickly. Next thing I knew I was getting up to go to the bathroom, just like normal, except that it wat FIVE HOURS after I went to sleep. My wife was lying there exhausted, having kept her hand on my chest all night long to be sure I was breathing because with the noise of the machine and my lack of snoring she wasn't sure if I was still having apnea episodes.
However, I had this image in my head that I would feel tremendously better even after one night on CPAP. That wasn't the case on Wednesday morning, as I felt I was still tired, but my wife confirmed that I had not snored as much (hardly any) and I knew I had slept longer at a time with many fewer bathroom breaks. So I was encouraged, but not sold yet.
Same thing basically on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights, in that I woke up the next morning still not feeling GREAT as I had hoped to feel. Now remember, at this time we had no idea what my correct titrated pressure would be (13) and I was getting treatment at 8 cm.
On Saturdays in the few weeks before I started treatment, I would usually be up by 9, done with errands by noon, and then moping around the house tired and irritable for the rest of the day, even taking a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.
This first Saturday after CPAP I had to go to the hardware store for something and while I was there I thought to buy a couple of other items and came home and did two very minor 15-minute projects that I had been putting off for about six months. I did some office work on my computer and stayed busy and at 11 pm that night as I was turning off my computer and getting ready for bed, it dawned on me -- I HADN'T BEEN SLEEPY ALL DAY! I DID NOT TAKE MY 3 HOUR NAP!
After 4 days of saying I didn't feel better, the evidence was staring me right in my face and the light bulb went on in my head, the lightning struck, whatever cliché you want to use. I literally went out into the hallway, banged my head against the wall (not hard - I'm not THAT stupid!) and said to myself "you dumb SOB, this thing really does work!".
From that night on I have never looked back. I have never slept a night without the mask/machine except when the power was off. My worst night was one time with a sinus infection that was running like Niagara Falls and I sat up till the early morning hours before it dried up enough so that I could go to bed with my mask on.
Using CPAP I've gone from a grumpy, irritable old man at age 45, to someone who still has lots of energy at age 60. I joined an A.W.A.K.E. support group, got more education on sleep apnea, became an A.W.A.K.E. group leader and eventually Chairman of the American Sleep Apnea Association. CPAP really works to change lives if the patient can tolerate it and I think more people can tolerate it with help from their peers. That's why groups like this on the internet and the physical support groups like A.W.A.K.E. can help.
So, to answer the original question in a shorter form, I saw a difference in how I felt in 4 days and that convinced me to go on and be compliant with my treatment. Yes, I've had mask issues over the years, had to fight my insurance to get a heated humidifier a few years later, been through several machines in 15 years, but I've been compliant.
Through the years of leading support groups, I've helped others with adjustment issues, and I've seen both successes and failures. I've known people like me to see a difference in 4 days; others take 4 weeks, 4 months or even 4 years. In a few cases, switching to an oral appliance has helped some milder cases.
Problems can occur, but the thing to do is NOT give up. Keep trying and look for any level of success to help encourage you to keep on 'papping at night. I'm personally convinced that without my CPAP I would have been dead long ago, either from heart issues (I had quadruple bypass surgery at age 50) or a driving accident related to the sleepiness from untreated sleep apnea.
Dave Hargett
Sleep Apnea Patient and Sleep Activist/Advocate
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Permalink Reply by Karel McKinney on
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I am still not use to mine, some nights I really feel I need it and use it all night long, other nights it seems like a necessary evil and wear it for about 4 hours, and other nights I look at it and go to sleep without it. I know I need to do better - but I don't have a lot of support from my husband it thinks it is some sort of medical scam.
I know this is not real assuring to other people - maybe others will be more positive.
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