Hi.  I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 3 months ago.  I suspected that I had it about 1 year ago.  When i did the initial sleep study, i hardly slept.  My mind was racing and the wires that they attached to me were quiet distracting.  I slept for a total of maybe 3 hours, much less than the amount of sleep i'd get at home.  The sleep technician called with the results and told me that i had mild sleep apnea.  My RDI was 9.8/hr and RDI in REM was 17.4/hr.  
Well, i did a follow up about a month later, this time using the CPAP machine.  I didn't fare much better than the first time.  My mind was pretty active and the mask they had me wear was leaking and very uncomfortable.  A few weeks later they called again telling me that i had to see the sleep doctor.  I went to the clinic, waited more than 40 mins in the waiting room and when i finally got to see the doctor, he spent less than 5 minutes with me.  All he said was that i had sleep apnea and that i would need to buy a cpap machine or else i'd die soon (no joke!!)
Well, i bought the fisher paykel hc233 and opus nasal mask (good choice??).  The first night i wore it for about an hour before taking it off because i couldn't fall asleep and it was leaking.  The second night i had the same problems and air kept escaping between my lips.  I kept having these problems for about a week before i finally gave up on it.  For the next few days i slept without the mask.  I would wake up tired and in a bad mood so I decided to try using the machine again, thinking that maybe i'd get used to it.  I used a bigger nasal piece this time and adjusted the straps.  I also started using the ramp feature.  For the next few days, i'd go to sleep pretty quickly but end up waking in the middle of the night because either my nose was sore or my nasal passages were congested.  I fiddled around with the straps again and this time also increased the humidity.  Luckily these steps solved two more problems.  
These days i find that when i wake up, my throat feels tight and full and i don't feel as refreshed.  Has anyone else had similar problems and if so, what did you do about it?
Thanks

you are doing about as well as average, mouth breathing with any nose only mask is a common problem for most new users, a chin strap may remind you to not do it, some tape the lips or use a full face mask

I dont know your mask but if it has straps and headgear the straps shouldnt be very tight and should have even tension which you can check by pulling mask about 1 inch away from face, make final adjustments while lying down in bed

untreated apnea sufferers do die sooner


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respironics comfort gell mask,resmed S6 lightweight CPAP, pressure 10 no humidifier
NO DOCTOR EVER ASKED ME IF I SNORED