I use Afrin sometimes also, but I advise being very careful with it. It has a bad "rebound effect" and you can actually get a kind of addiction to it, where you can't breathe though your nose at all without it. I recommend using as little of it as you can, as infrequently as you can.

My doc has me on Astelin nasal spray, which is presciption, but non-addicting; Simply Saline nasal spray, which is just salt water; and over-the-counter Claritin tablets (not Clariitn-D). This seems to work. When I am having problems with congestion in the winter, I also do nasal washes, which really help.

Good post about the Afrin being additive - that's the last thing people like us need!  

Also, be careful when doing nasal cleansing because if you are really stopped up you can accidently push congestion into your inner ear.

Excellent point  NotSnoring! Nasal cleansing and Sinus irrigation can be very effective, but can also cause some major problems, such as sinus infection, if not performed properly. Using distilled  or sterile water  is extremely important, as is making sure the equipment is also clean!

Dimples,
I hope you did not take my suggestion of using the Afrin spray as a solution for your possible breathing problem with the mask.  They are right as you probably know you should not use the over the counter nasel sprays for more than 3 days.  I was suggesting using the nasel spray for one or two nights just to see if it would clear your sinus cavitys enough that you would be able to see a difference in breathing with the mask.  If it did, then you could seek other means to clear up your sinuses.  Let us know how you are doing with another week under your belt.

Greg  

Nah I've not tried anything in my nose.  I really don't have issues with my nose being plugged up.  It's a feeling of suffocation that I'm experiencing.  I'm still doing the trial and error thing.  I have not kept the apparatus on my face for an entire night since I've had it.  Last Friday night I kept it on from 11:00 pm until 5:45 am.  That is the longest I've ever worn it.  I can say that I can tell a difference during the day in how I feel.  I am more rested and able to stay awake longer in the evening.  This is from wearing it only maybe 4 hours a night.  The funny part is that I don't even know I'm taking it off.  Like last night I woke up and it was running but was laying on my bedside table.  My husband said he's never seen me in the morning with it on so sometime in the night I'm taking it off.  Don't know how to fix that!  I did a little experiment this morning.  I had taken it off some time in the night but around 7:00 this morning I tried it on and ran it at full speed (10).  I tried to just relax and breathe in and out fairly evenly.  I would all of a sudden feel like I wasn't getting enough air and would rip it off and take a big, deep breath without it.  I then tried it back on and ramped it, which mine starts at a 4 and gradually increases to 10 over 20 minutes.  The same feeling happened at 4 as at 10 so I don't think it's the pressure.  I think it's a problem I'm having with the nasal pillows.  I'm waiting for my RT to call right now.  I'm going to ask about trying a different mask.  Did anyone out there watch '60 Minutes' last night?  Very interesting about the ramifications of sleep deprivation.  They didn't specifically name sleep apnea but just sleep deprivation in general.  It was interesting that a test subject (20 year old college student) that was only allowed to sleep 4 hours a night for 6 nights started showing signs of pre-diabetes after only 5 nights!!!!   That was shocking to us.

I have been on the CPAP machine since April. I was having the same exact problems. I tried for 2 months and did not improve. Finally i decided to lower the pressure myself. I know this is not recommended, but i was desparate. I was supposed to be set on 12. I lowered it down to 8. For the past few weeks i have gradually increased the pressure. i went from 8 to 8.5, then to 9. I am trying to work my way back to 12. I am able to use the machine for at least 6 hours every night. Which is better than before, when i would barely get 1 to 2 hours of machine use. I told my Dr at my follow up that i lowered my pressure. Although it isn't where he wanted me to be, he was glad i was able to use the  machine throughout the night. It was better than not being able to use it all. I think our bodies jsut need time to adjust to these pressure levels. Even though i am not on my prescribed setting i can still see a big improvement in how i feel. So i can't wait to see how good i feel when i get to 12. Good luck and i hope this helps.

Dimples, does your Pro M have c-flex?  If it does, you might want to try setting the c-flex to 3.  It will reduce the pressure when you exhale.  It'll provide some relief if your at another setting or if the c-flex has been activated.  The button on the far right adjusts the c-flex and you can see the settings on the LED display.


_________________
REMStar Pro M w/ c-flex and heated humidifier
ResMed Swift LT nasal pillow
Encore View Software
12 cm H20, 13 cm H20
CPAP start date: June 4, 2008

My machine has the CFLEX option, but it did absolutely nothing.

Dimples,
I am reading your posts and i feel like i am reading about myself. I would constantly wake up with the mask off, usually it would just be laying on the floor. I honestly think if you lower your pressure you will be able to adjust much quicker. As soon as i lowered mine i was able to sleep without removing the mask.

Thanks for all the great advice.  I did call my RT who in turn talked to my doctor about lowering the pressure.  He agreed to lower it to 8.  My RT is out of the office tomorrow so on Friday I'll go in and have her adjust it.  I guess a person can't do that on their own.  I don't know.  I will talk to her about the c-flex.  it's a button on my machine I know.  I think I might finally be getting used to the pressure of it coming in but it's the pressure when I have to push out that bothers me more.  Last night I had the mask on from 11:00-4:15 this morning.  That is the second longest span of time I've worn it.  Night before last I found it on the floor next to the bed!  Every other time I've found it on my bedside table, meaning I've taken it off and laid it there.  By finding it on the floor, I would assume it just came off my face and fell to the floor.  I don't know if I'll ever sleep through the night with it.  The particular mask/headgear that my RT chose for me is very lighweight.  She said people with slick, longer hair have trouble keeping it on.  She said military guys have the best luck keeping it on due to their short, stubby hair.  Hmmmm....maybe a SHORT haircut.  Just kidding.  My husband's boss has had one for a year now.  He told my husband a few days ago that he had the best night's sleep he's ever had since using a c-pap machine.  It took a year but he said it just keeps getting better and better.       I'll let everyone know how it goes after speaking with the RT.  I might also try a different mask type.  She was encouraging me to try another type if I was still having trouble.  I am anxious for her to plug in my smart card and see if I'm sleeping any better when I'm using it for a longer span of time.  [/b]

Just got bipap in with pressure of 20 and 15.  so far...HATE IT!  I did get a nasal pillow mask instead of full mask, which helped a little.  I hear people keep saying give it time.  I feel i sleep less with the machine than having the 66 episodes per hour i was having before!  I'm excited about the possibility of this working and having more energy (especially since i'm only 36 and wife and i are trying for a baby!)

Any encouraging words?  Not real sure how to post on here.....

It's not the easiest thing in the world to adapt to but you do have to give it time.  Last night made the end of my third week.  I feel extremely well rested this morning.  Best night I've had yet on CPAP and my AHI shows it.  I've had good days and bad days since I've been on CPAP and fighting a sinus infection too.  I still think I got better quality sleep than before CPAP.  I would imagine with your pressure it may take a little more effort to adapt.  But don't throw in the towel.  Hang in there.  You may have to try other masks to find one that suits your sleeping style.


_________________
REMStar Pro M w/ c-flex and heated humidifier
ResMed Swift LT nasal pillow
Encore View Software
12 cm H20, 13 cm H20
CPAP start date: June 4, 2008

I had my pressure lowered to 8 last Friday so am getting used to the new setting.  I can sure tell a difference from 10.  I do think this is better.  My c-flex is already set at 3.  The real test will be when I take in my smart card and see how many 'events' I've had since having lowered the pressure.  When I took in my smart card last Friday my RT said my AHI was very good.  She gave me a 'B' in terms of my use (how many times I've used it since I got it) and gave my husband an A+.  He LOVES his c-pap mask/machine so much he says he'll never sleep without it.  I haven't had that feeling of suffocation since having the pressure lowered so maybe that was the problem.  I still have my nasal pillows and think I'll stick with them.  I am really getting used to them now.  Last night was the best night ever.  I put on the mask around 11 pm and woke up at 6:00 am with the mask still on!!  Yeah!!  I feel really rested today so it's sure giving me the incentive to stick with it.  That pressure of 20 sounds really high.  I guess I don't know how the bi-pap works...I'm assuming it has two settings on it.  My RT said 20 is the highest setting.  Can it be ramped so you don't have to start out at 20?  I don't even use my ramp setting anymore.  I just start out at 8 and it seems to work great.  If you read my first posts any of you will see I've come a LONG way.  I hated it at first.  Hang in there!!

Hi,

I am so glad to have found this forum.  I just got my VPAP machine  and chin strap yesterday.  I used it for about 1.5 hrs last night and took it off because I felt like I was suffocating.   It feels like I can't exhale because the machine is constantly pushing air down my throat.  I developed aniety from that feeling and felt like my stomach was bloating and had a tight knot in it.   I do want this to work because I need to sleep better before I go crazy.   I'll read more about the ramping you are talking about, it sound like that means the air pressure is low at first then increases.   I saw the  show on 60 minutes and found the pre diabetic development shocking.  Most of the other sleep depravation symptoms they mentioned I already have and knew about all to well.  

Cindy

Quote:

Did anyone out there watch '60 Minutes' last night?  Very interesting about the ramifications of sleep deprivation.  They didn't specifically name sleep apnea but just sleep deprivation in general.  It was interesting that a test subject (20 year old college student) that was only allowed to sleep 4 hours a night for 6 nights started showing signs of pre-diabetes after only 5 nights!!!!   That was shocking to us.

[/quote]

The ramping feature is great.  It starts out at 4 and gradually (mine is set over 20 minutes but could be longer if you desire that) increases to 8.  I too had that suffocation feeling but it's completely gone away.  I don't know if I've just gotten used to it or if the lowering of the pressure is what did the trick.  At any rate, I don't have that feeling anymore but I do know what you're talking about.  It really does feel like you're going to suffocate.  One thing that will really help is if you relax.  I know that seems difficult, and it is, but it does really help.  When the sleep tech did the titration study on me, he encouraged me to breath slowly and relax.  It did help.  Check with your technician about ramping your machine if it has that feature on it.  The idea is that you will be asleep by the time it ramps up to the full pressure.  What is your c-flex set at?  Mine is at 3.  Someone told me to check that when I said I felt like I couldn't exhale.  Good luck!!

I've had my machine since sometime last year, but have never been able to keep it on more than an hour, and got very frustrated!  They changed the pressure from 9 to 6.5, I had a nose mask originally, but it felt too claustrophobic like something was sitting on my face!  so now have the nasal pillows which are more comfortable  I can fall asleep with the thing on with no problem (I'm pretty tired now most of the time), it ramps up for 20 min, but during the winter it was filling my nose with water!  I'd wake up and have to blow my nose and just threw the thing on the nightstand and went back to sleep, too tired to deal with finding out what was going on.  

The Dr. suggested that I make a "tube cozy" of fleece or something equally insulating as we keep our house really cold for sleeping, and it was causing condensation in the tube from the warm humidity.

 That sounded good, but didn't seem to make any difference, so I gave up for months until recently.  The depression and frustration from everything was making me really negative about it all.

Then recently I got over some of it and am determined to try it again.  I cleaned it up, filled the humidifier with fresh distilled water and made an effort to try regularly.  With the humidity set at 2 I was still getting water in my nose. I turned the humidity off and my nose got burning-desert dry!  at one, it's wet nose again--no happy medium!

 Then he told me I should have it on a shelf or something lower than my head, <sigh> so I tried that last night.  I kept it on for an hour and woke up groggily to go to the bathroom and didn't put it back on in my incoherence, even left it running.

 So, tonight I'll try it again.

I sure hope it starts getting better because I'm having problems with short-term memory, being spacy and air-headed--not good for driving!!--and just plain tired. It's the weekend, and I'll sleep late if I have to!

I am encouraged by finally finding this forum!

Cyn