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Take it off!
I for the life of me can't stop taking my mask off. It's 12am and I'm asleep- I sit up in mid sleep and rip that bad boy off like it's hotter than coals and throw it on the floor, just to wake up at 4am sad. No, I don't know I'm doing it. Yes the wife yells, in a caring and supportive manner, at me for it. Any thoughts or Ideas? I'm a 16 setting right now, no ramp, humidity 2, c-flex on 3, half-face mask.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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Had the same problem. Only it hit me at about 5am. Got to the point that I would not even know I did it. I would just wake up with the mask on the floor. Good luck
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Permalink Reply by Chris Larsson on
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I've had this happen a few times. Usually I don't seem to have much control over getting the mask back on and I always remember doing it, but not really why. Here are some guesses from hindsight....
1) at least once I think it was a dream involving the mask. Part of the dream had me take off the mask and turn off the machine.
2) At least once I think I was in "morning mode". In the morning the alarm goes off, I hit the snooze button and I take of the mask and usually fall asleep again. When the alarm goes off again I finally get up. I think this has happened in the middle of the night where I would subconciously think that it's morning and take off the mask.
3) When it warmed up this spring, I occasionally felt that I couldn't get enough air after a couple hours of sleep. I'd take off the mask to be able to breath but then I'd be so groggy that I didn't put the mask back on again... although I did manage to do that once and slept through the rest of the night just fine. I recently turned off the humidifier and I haven't had one of these incidents in the last few weeks.
*shrug*..... I expect I'll occasionally have one of these episodes...... The doc says I'm still within compliance and they only seem to happen to me once in a while so I'm not too worried about it.
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Permalink Reply by Mark on
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UPDATE:
I lowered my ramp time, ta-da! That's it! I made it 10 minutes. going from 4.0 to 16 slowly messed me up. I don't get it, but hey I like it!
I don't take it off anymore!
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Permalink Reply by Banyon on
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Mark said:UPDATE:
I lowered my ramp time, ta-da! That's it! I made it 10 minutes. going from 4.0 to 16 slowly messed me up. I don't get it, but hey I like it!
I don't take it off anymore!
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Congratulations!!! Obviously 4 cms was too low a starting pressure and at 4 cms it was taking too long to get up to your needed pressure. I think I've read something about no more than a 10 cm gap in pressure range. I'm not exactly "cooking w/gas" right now or thinking as clearly as ..... I should be able to. (Interesting that I should use the term "cooking w/gas" at this point in time - inside joke right now).
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My prescription is for a 25 setting, the CPAP will only do 20, and they said that my sleep study was nuts, I am trying to get my results. I will keep you posted.
John Krainik said:Mark,
I see several things that might be causing your pulling your mask off. First, you said that your humidifier is set at 2. My experiece is that for most people, the more humidity, the better. If the therapy is drying to you, you may be pulling the mask off because you are dry. When you were in the sleep lab for your titration, the level of humidity should have been recorded. It would be interesting to find out what the level of humidification was and if the tech documented any event of you pulling your mask off during the titration study. The next thing that is of concern is that in one of your replies, you stated that your wife said you are not snoring as much with the CPAP as you did without it. If you are snoring, you may not be "fully titrated", your CPAP level may not be high enough to treat your situation. It might be better, but the CPAP may not be high enough to completely treat you. I would talk to your doctor about getting back into the sleep lab and have another titration, just because you are snoring. If the pressure is bothering you when you are awake, you need to speak to your equipment provider and have them show you how to use the ramp. It is not uncommon for someone to be uncomfortable when awake, or nearly awake, at their prescribed pressure. These people will pull their mask off right when they wake up and usually complain that the pressure is too high. These people do very well when they are asleep, but can't tolerate the CPAP when awake. These people should use their ramp and have it set for a longer time rather than a shorter time. Over time, most will get more used to the pressure and will pull the mask off less as they are beginning to wake. The thing to remember, is to put the mask back on and use the ramp to go back to sleep. However, in your case, because you are snoring with the CPAP on, I would seriously talk to your doctor about getting back into the sleep lab for a retitration as your snoring with the CPAP on leads me to think your pressures need adjustment.
John
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Permalink Reply by sleepycarol on
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Chris is there anyway you can cut back some of your hours at work? You said in the other thread you are working 80 hours a week. How long has this been going on? It may just be that with all the work, your body is so "geared up" that it isn't allowing you to fully relax and unwind. I know when my mind is racing 20 miles to nothing, I tend to be more restless at night.
I know in the other thread you said you are now able to keep your mask on for most of the night. Good for you!! I bet you have a major sleep debt/exhaustion debt to pay off and that may impact how you are feeling right now.
How is your sleep hygiene?
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I can not shorten my work hours, I have a lot of responsibility at work. And yes working long hours dose have have an effect on my sleep but I've my sleep has been effected years before working this job. Although it was not diagnosed I've had sleeping problems since i was a kid. What do you mean by "sleep hygiene" I assure you...I'm really clean!
sleepycarol said:Chris is there anyway you can cut back some of your hours at work? You said in the other thread you are working 80 hours a week. How long has this been going on? It may just be that with all the work, your body is so "geared up" that it isn't allowing you to fully relax and unwind. I know when my mind is racing 20 miles to nothing, I tend to be more restless at night.
I know in the other thread you said you are now able to keep your mask on for most of the night. Good for you!! I bet you have a major sleep debt/exhaustion debt to pay off and that may impact how you are feeling right now.
How is your sleep hygiene?
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Permalink Reply by 99 on
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sleep hygiene means correct regular habits, a routine and can include almost anything
like time you go to bed time you rise, lose clothing for sleep, certain clothing that do not interacte with other clothing, a relaxing bedtime drink, etc
Mark said:I can not shorten my work hours, I have a lot of responsibility at work. And yes working long hours dose have have an effect on my sleep but I've my sleep has been effected years before working this job. Although it was not diagnosed I've had sleeping problems since i was a kid. What do you mean by "sleep hygiene" I assure you...I'm really clean!
sleepycarol said:Chris is there anyway you can cut back some of your hours at work? You said in the other thread you are working 80 hours a week. How long has this been going on? It may just be that with all the work, your body is so "geared up" that it isn't allowing you to fully relax and unwind. I know when my mind is racing 20 miles to nothing, I tend to be more restless at night.
I know in the other thread you said you are now able to keep your mask on for most of the night. Good for you!! I bet you have a major sleep debt/exhaustion debt to pay off and that may impact how you are feeling right now.
How is your sleep hygiene?
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UPDATE:
I lowered my ramp time, ta-da! That's it! I made it 10 minutes. going from 4.0 to 16 slowly messed me up. I don't get it, but hey I like it!
You know Mark that does make perfect sense. This is why. You apparently have it bad. Most are probably right, you might benefit from a higher pressure as well. As you lay down and start to go to sleep you drop right into sleep immediately, probably in a minute or two. As soon as you fall asleep you start to have apneaic events. This causes your blood oxygen level to drop. This in turn triggers your mind to think you are sufficating, which you are. You subconciously think it's the mask doing it to you, so you rip it off. By lowering the ramp time, you start benefiting from treatment sooner and stop having the events, thus your mind doesn't get a chance to think you're sufficating.
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