sitting upright to sleep and cpap

It has been more than ten years since I have been able to lay down and sleep all night. I am new to the cpap and this board. I have several issues and have decided to air only one at a time. Is there anyone out there who sits up to sleep and use the cpap machine? If so, how did you began using it the first night? I wake up in a panic when I start to fall asleep every time. I would appreciate any suggestions in just getting started.

I only sleep in a chair if I have a XPAP failure of some sort. Jim

Prior to CPAP, I often awoke with a start immediately after dropping off to sleep. For years it was less so if I slept in my recliner, or if I fell asleep on my side in bed, but it reached a point where even those positions didn't work anymore. That's one of the things that finally convinced me to seek treatment. I figured out that the panicky feeling was my gasping for breath.

Since starting CPAP, those incidents have dropped considerably, and I wouldn't consider going to sleep without being "hooked up."

I'm still not symptom free, but it's very gradually getting better. As they say in the 12-step programs: I'm not what I want to be and I'm not what I'm going to be, but thank God I'm not what I was.

OCO

Abner, do youi wake up in a panic with the machine or without it?

What are your sleep study details? Have you recieve equipment yet? Can you give us its details?

The info would make it easier for us to help.

O.

Abner,
You mentioned having other questions but asking just one for now. If there's any chance there's a connection, throw out more than one at a time. May give a clearer picture, along with the other info suggested.
Kathy

Thanks so much for the comebacks and, yes, I realized that I had not given enough information as soon as I read a previous post, I apologize. Please allow me a second try. I am trying to find a way to get to sleep the first time with my CPAP, at this point. Breathing does not seem to be a problem while I am awake but, about the time I am starting to fall asleep with the mask on, I wake in a panic and jerk the mask off. I feel like I am suffocating and it is so scary. It is days before I am ready to try again. I was ready to give up entirely on using my machine when I found this site and decided to give it a try for help.

I am almost 72 years old, retired from banking, overweight (350 lbs+) but working on it very hard now, diabetes type 2 (340 units insulin + Regular and I report to an endocrinologist bi-weekly), heart blockages with 2 stints (only two arteries to the heart now), medicines include fluid pills, blood pressure, huge amount of potassium (360MEQs daily) replacement to compensate for fluid medicine draining it off and I am diagnosised with low-moderate sleep apnea about three months ago at Collierville (near Memphis) sleep clinic. I also take magnesium, iron supplements, aspirin 80mg, metoprolol, metalazone, lasix, lisinipril, zocor, plavix,---- tylenol and ativan for sleeping. I was recently in the hospital for ten days for antibiotics to overcome cellulitis in both lower legs that had swollen somewhat grotesquely. I wear compression stockings (30-40) all of the time since I can not sleep laying down. I sleep sitting straight up and draped over a stool rigged up to the right height. The Activa mask that I have is not convenient for that position and is part of the problem in going to sleep with the machine on (ResMed's VPAP III bilevel w/humidifier). My machine is set for 11 lbs of pressure. I have not used the ramp feature. I have a wart in my right nostril that has been diagnosised with Basal Cell Carcinoma that needs surgery to correct. I don't want to do it until I get some of these other issues resolved. I can only rest for a short time leaned back or in a bed on my right side. After about one hour or less I become all messed up and have great difficulty getting back out of bed and on my stool again. I do not know why this happens to me but I am in great distress until I am upright and leaning forward on the stool. This situation has been going on long (years) before I discovered my sleep apnea and got a machine. I had great difficulty doing two nights in the sleep clinic and walked out of the clinic on my first attempt at a second night's study. The doctor called me again and I was determined to succeed any way possible---and finally did for that second night.

I did not know that I could ask for the details of my tests at the sleep clinic. I will ask for that information and pass it on as soon as I obtain such. I am not quite sure as to what I should ask for and would appreciate suggestions. I will be glad to answer any questions and would very much appreciate any and all advice. Thanks in advance. I feel a bit lost but I hope that I did this right this time as I need some help rather badly.

I am trying to find a way to get to sleep the first time with my CPAP, at this point. Breathing does not seem to be a problem while I am awake but, about the time I am starting to fall asleep with the mask on, I wake in a panic and jerk the mask off. I feel like I am suffocating and it is so scary.

First of all - try to use the mask in a way that will make you be friends with it. The struggle against anything that suffocates us - or seems to do so - is a very basic instinct, no wonder you don't want to return to the mask for days. Start off when you're relaxed, and awake, and absurd as it seems, in the beginning, promise yourself to take off the mask before you fall asleep - so that the mask will no longer suffocate you.

People with lots of fluid in their lungs due to a heart condition do sometime have trouble lieing down - it makes their breathing worse. So you may need this position (does your doctor know of it?) not only because of apnea.

Since your machine is a bi-level machine, it should give you two different levels of pressure: A highe one, to assist you inhalation (IPAP) and a lower one, to let you exhale more easily (EPAP). You report only one pressure - which means whoever gave you the machine didn't explain things properly.
Your Rx should have both your EPAP and IPAP on it, and the machine should be set up accordingly.

Others on the forum will be able to guide through the machine's buttons so you can tell what both pressures are defined as.

Ask for a copy of the full study (the professional term for sleep study is PSG - poli somno gram - which describes the multiple measurements taken of your sleep), and for a copy of your Rx You (personally) have to make sure the machine setup and the Rx are the same. If they aren't yell bloody murder to get that fixed.

If they are, then there might be other issues - and we'll try to figure them out and tackle them one by one.

Don't hesitate to ask any thing you want - this is place to come to for the help you need.

Welcome to the forum!

O.

P. S. - Cpap pressures are measured in centimeters of water....

Howdy...

I've had very high pressures and had the same reaction at the end of my sleep study because I actually slept and woke up not knowing where I was or how to get the mask off. They didn't show me before I went to sleep.

When I got my machine, the first thing I did was set it up in the living room.

I was already sleeping on the recliner almost every night so that I could actually get some sleep, so the first two nights, I did the same.

The day I got it, I set it up and used it right then, in the middle of the day. That got me more used to being hooked up and going through the cycle of sleeping and waking up.

I had at the time an IPAP of 27cm and EPAP of 20. One thing that I noticed quickly was that if I had lots of leaks, it was harder to breath. I would wake up feeling like the machine was not on, when in fact it was.

After I got the leaks under control, that feeling went away.

After the second night, I took the machine into the bedroom and have been there ever since. I use it for naps and sleep.

You might try using it in the recliner first during the day and see if that helps you get used to it.

Hi Abner:

Is there a possibility that you are somewhat claustrophobic? I inherited my Sleep Apnea from my Dad, who is 84 and a big guy, and has had it probably most of his life. Unfortunately, he is severely claustrophobic and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. He absolutely refuses to use his CPAP and most likely will never use it. He doesn't realize that the apnea is what makes him so exhausted every single day, so tired and unable to be motivated. He sleeps poorly in bed at night and usually spends most of the night playing solitaire on his computer. He seems to doze just fine in his recliner all day long. I, too, tend to sleep better while sitting up. I feel that this is due to fluid in the torso, that tends to put pressure on the lungs and makes it harder to breathe. At least that is how it feels, anyway.

I have a couple of questions for you: Do you have a problem with stuffiness in your nasal sinuses? Is it possible that as you fall off to sleep, your mouth opens instinctively and causes you to wake up (assuming you have a nasal only mask)? If these are possible issues, you may want to address them with your doctor as to how best to alleviate the nasal stuffiness, since you have other health issues that would prevent you from using the over the counter decongestants.

In response to Hannah's Oct 14 post to Abner.

What you describe seems to fit me pretty good. And, yes, I do have a stuffy nose. Also, I do breathe better with my mouth open. I can only breath through my nose while I am fully awake and in control of my inhaling and exhaling.

I have discussed this condition with my doctor. He sent me to a nose doctor who found a wart in my right nostril that tested positive for a Basal Cell Carcinoma and scheduled me for surgery. On the day of surgery, the anesthesiologist (2 of them) came in telling me that they did not want to put me at risk until after I had been cleared by my cartdiologist. I was cleared but, when I called the surgeon back, my call was not returned and I haven't called them back again because I'm scared. I am scared because I can't lay down for very long without panicing for lack of air.