I am 37 and im a new CPAP user (6 days in) and I've honestly felt worse since I've began using the machine. I'm so exhausted all day long now, I feel like I can't snap out of it at all. My Dr set my machine at a 5 after my overnight assessment. I also feel like I have chest pains now. If anyone has any input on this I would greatly appreciate it!!
Hello. Many patients experience difficulty during the first few days of treatment, but because you mention chest pain, I encourage you to call your physician to discuss the problem. When I started treatment, it was several weeks before I could actually sleep through the night because I was having difficulty adjusting to the mask and air pressure. I seem to recall there was a period where I felt more tired initially because I felt like I was fighting with the mask and tubing. A really good respiratory therapist gave me a tip that I've shared several times on the Forum here. She told me to take the machine out of the bedroom in the evenings and practice wearing it while reading or watching television. I wore it for at least an hour prior to getting in bed, and this experience helped tremendously. Best wishes, and please keep us posted on your progress!
After having two sleep tests performed in a Sleep Lab this past July, I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea, snoring and slight leg twitching. My sleep disorder physician recommended therapy with a C-PAP machine and a full face mask. I'm going on night #6 using the machine and I've noticed a slight improvement in feeling 'refreshed' on a couple mornings, but not nearly as refreshed as I felt the morning after I was on the C-PAP machine during test night #2. I used a full face mask then, as I do now. The air I was breathing on the lab C-PAP seemed cooler than the air coming from my machine - it's a Philips Respironics DreamStation with heated humidifier. I'm also experiencing severe dry mouth that wakes me up about every two hrs.. I didn't have the dry mouth problem with the test lab C-PAP. Communication with the respiratory therapist who set me up with the machine and fitted me with the full face mask I have now suggested increasing the humidifier setting and making sure I'm not having mask leaks. This particular machine has a feature that indicates a good mask fit with a :40 sec. test and I keep getting the green 'OK' checkmark for a good fit. I've tried turning the humidifier all the way up (and down), but haven't had success reducing the dry mouth problem. Anyone having similar experiences or suggestions to help eliminate the dry mouth syndrome would be appreciated.
Hi BuckeyeMike... I've only had my ASV machine 10 days, but I did find I needed to adjust the humidifier pressure and temp several times in the first 4 or 5 days. I think mine is on a pressure of 6 and temp is 75 degrees and it feels pretty comfortable. You might want to try pre-heating the water in the tubing, if you're machine has that feature, and having it a little warmer than cooler. It has helped with my dry mouth. I'm using the full face mask, also. Best of luck!
Pleasant dreams...
Hi Buckeyemike! I have a the DreamStation also. I've only been on it 16 days but I've had pretty much your experience. What I will say is increasing the humidity to 5 has greatly helped my dry mouth but because we like the room very cool 65 to 68 degrees I had to get a hose sleeve to keep the hose warm enough to not let moisture accumulate in my mask before the sleeve I couldn't run the humidity past 3 without it raining in my mask. The other thing I found was what are called Xylimelts by oracoat. You find them at cvs, Walgreens and I'm sure other drugstores etc. the increased humidity and Xylimelts have eliminated my dry mouth problem. I'm still working on getting my Ahi scores down but slowly things are improving. Hopefully you can get rid of your dry mouth problem I've at least for now gotten by that one or so it seems. I did have it during my sleep study so hopefully you'll have the right solution for yours. There is also a gel by Biotein which helps me also but the melts are the best. Good luck and hang in there!
Roy
The Xylimelts are great for relieving dry mouth and I second the suggestion. I find that the humidifier is ineffective for solving dry mouth. I have a Resmed machine and the humifier scales 1 to 10. On 5, the water reservoir runs dry in about 5 - 6 hours. On 4 it lasts for over 6 hours to dry. The heating function comes on once the humidifier is set for use. The Xylimelts have been the only effective dry mouth therapy I have found. I also like to use the BIotene toothpaste and mouth rinse before bed time; they seem to help a little. I would also like to recommend the Oracoat company for giving their product such a spiffy name that no one in the universe could remember. Geesh, great marketing guys; good product, bad name. Pharma companies have used up all the bad names for the drugs out there and are now using the worse-than-bad names to name their products. If you buy these things, they are a bit cheaper in bulk on Amazon and I find I can get by with using only one and not two as they recommend.
