How Long Did it Take?

[tammyem]

I need some encouragement. I just started my cpap last night and I could only wear it for two hours. First off I started getting a headache and pressure around my cheeks. I could not fall asleep. Once the air pressure started to ramp up, I felt like I was hyperventilating as I could not breathe out. I loosened by straps and forehead thing, then I started getting leaks and more pressure. I could not take it and gave up. I was in pain, could not sleep, and felt like I was suffocating. Any help?
Tammye

[weroberts75]

How long did it take you to start sleeping all the way through the night with your machine?

If you mean a steady 6 hours without waking, that was about ten months for me.
If you mean literally all night, it took about a year.

However, I could tell from the start that I was getting benefits from using my CPAP, and the desire to share a bed with my wife kept me going even when it was rough.

[weroberts75]

I need some encouragement. I just started my cpap last night and I could only wear it for two hours. First off I started getting a headache and pressure around my cheeks. I could not fall asleep. Once the air pressure started to ramp up, I felt like I was hyperventilating as I could not breathe out. I loosened by straps and forehead thing, then I started getting leaks and more pressure. I could not take it and gave up. I was in pain, could not sleep, and felt like I was suffocating. Any help?
Tammye

I had Sonata prescribed when I first went on CPAP. I think that it was available as a generic, and it helped me to fall asleep until I got used to everything.
It does wear off in the middle of the night, and if you have apnea then you should not take any sleep medicine without your CPAP.

[Pugsy]

Zombie thread alert.

Old thread resurrected by a newbie.

I need some encouragement. I just started my cpap last night and I could only wear it for two hours. First off I started getting a headache and pressure around my cheeks. I could not fall asleep. Once the air pressure started to ramp up, I felt like I was hyperventilating as I could not breathe out. I loosened by straps and forehead thing, then I started getting leaks and more pressure. I could not take it and gave up. I was in pain, could not sleep, and felt like I was suffocating. Any help?
Tammye

Welcome to the forum Tammy. It might be better if you started a new thread of your own with the above so that you can get the help you need and your issues won't get lost in this old thread. A lot of forum members don't bother reading these old threads.

So I suggest that you start a new thread of your own and also post your equipment to your profile like I have mine
wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile
and your various settings on your machine.
What you are experiencing has been experienced by many others but for us to help you sort it out we need to know exactly what your equipment is and what the settings are.

[Chris8243]

Awesome discussion!

I've been using CPAP for 6 months. It was great in the beginning, I actually felt noticeably better. Didn't always keep the mask on, but also didn't remember taking it off.

Now I sleep thru the night with it on most of the time. Lately (past month) I've been feeling frustrated with it. Been having trouble falling asleep, waking up with a headache or just feeling lousy, waking up too early because the mask is making little leaky-noises. I can go on with complaints, but instead, tonight I will try to keep my thoughts positive. Some very kind and encouraging words of wisdom on this post.

One other thing - now that I see others have experienced too - is NOT waking up to use the bathroom. Maybe before CPAP we weren't sleeping well (duh) and if you wake up in the middle of the night, might as well go to the bathroom. Interesting phenomenon, this whole sleeping through the night uninterupted part!

[jjc155]

How long did it take you to start sleeping all the way through the night with your machine?

I've had my C-pap for about 2 weeks, and I have yet to sleep through the night. Often I only use it for 2-4 hours because after I get up to use the restroom I don't want to fumble with it to get it back on, or because I need to work the next day and I haven't fallen all the way asleep with the machine on, etc. Probably the biggest reason is that in the middle of the night, I'm just not thinking clearly enough about what I need to do.

Also, when I do "sleep" with it, it's often restless and I'm semi-awake. I keep thinking about the signature line one of y'all has that says "a bad night with c-pap is better than a good night without" or something to that effect. If I have to work early the next morning, I hate being "awake" all night. Is it truly better to be semi-alert all night than to fall asleep without c-pap? (OK, I'm guessing what the answer is, but please, I need the outside reinforcement from you folks who have been there/done that!)

Best night of sleep I had had in ten years was the night of my in lab sleep study to figure out my levels. Actually slept 7 hours straight and they had to wake me up at the end, lol. I think I'm lucky in that I had very little trouble adjusting to sleeping with the machine/mask. I think that it shows how bad I was sleeping with out it for so many years. Going on a year with my machine and have no issues.

Hope it starts going well for you soon.

J-