I have been on the machine with ff mask for 1 week and can't sleep more than 3 hours straight. then i take it off and sleep like a baby. How long will it take to be able to sleep all night?
I know the sleep lab  says i have severe apnea and I snore,but I guess I am not the typical case study. Because before the sleep study I would go to bed at 10 to 11PM and get up at 6AM and feel rested and work hard all day not feeling tired.
My brother also has apena and would come to work in the morning and be ready to go back to sleep in fact at times he would fall asleep at work .He is doing well on his machine and is well rested. I guess I just can't figure it out.


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carpetone

I am far from being an expert here.  From what I have experienced, it can take a while to adjust to the whole setup.  Reading through the posts here you will see that you are not alone.  Some people take a long time to get things set up so that they can get value from the treatment.  I am one of the lucky ones (so far).  It is has generally worked out for me.  

I think that you will find that many of the folks here can make some suggestions that worked for them.  They can't promise that it will work for you too, but it might.

Don't give up too quickly.

carpetone23 wrote:

I have been on the machine with ff mask for 1 week and can't sleep more than 3 hours straight. then i take it off and sleep like a baby. How long will it take to be able to sleep all night?
I know the sleep lab  says i have severe apnea and I snore,but I guess I am not the typical case study. Because before the sleep study I would go to bed at 10 to 11PM and get up at 6AM and feel rested and work hard all day not feeling tired.
My brother also has apena and would come to work in the morning and be ready to go back to sleep in fact at times he would fall asleep at work .He is doing well on his machine and is well rested. I guess I just can't figure it out.

Hi Carpetone23,

I have had the same problem as with the machine and mask I sleep lighter than before.  I wake up around 3 or 4 a.m.  Since I'm up I take a bathroom break and then face the machine again.  I readjust the mask and take lots of deep breaths.  It takes a little while, but I do fall back to sleep and am able to keep it on the rest of the night.  I did have a ff mask that seemed very noisy and did keep me awake more, that could be a problem for you.  I found after switching masks, it has helped.  Also, mask leaks tend to wake me up so if you have high pressure, the mask you are using may not be able to handle your pressure.  Just a thought.

Now as to why you aren't tired...some people are hit with this before they get treated and some are lucky enough to get treatment before this symptom appears.  I have severe sleep apnea and probably had it for a very long time, however, until this last March I never felt the tiredness or exhaustion that can go along with sleep apnea.  Some people get hit with the more noticeable sideaffects sooner than others.  My sister, who also has sleep apnea, doesn't have the absolute exhaustion that I had suffered from.  Should she then not use her BiPAP machine since she isn't tired????   Wrong.  Since I have been diagnosed and am now on CPAP, I make sure she uses her machine.  She's had trouble being compliant with her treatment and takes off her mask as well after about 3 hours.  I'm getting more involved in her treatment so she can be compliant, not only for 3 hours, but for the whole time she sleeps.  

Good luck and keep trying.  I can tell you it is well worth the hassle of having a hunk of plastic strapped to your face every night.  I don't even consider not putting on my mask at night as I know even with the leaks, it does truly help.

patience and positive thinking is needed :-)
it took me a full 3 months to get used to my CPAP and I have now used it every night for 10 years and have much more energy, both mentally and physically
it may help to use the CPAP when awake, reading or watching TV at home, maybe try to have a daytime nap in a chair using it