Welcome to the forum Deb, and hope you find it benefits you.

Best Wishes and Good Sleep!

Kath

Hi Terry..Thank You...I look forward to hearing everyones hints and clues... at the moment  I still only have 4-5 hours sleep..then  most times I  do not put the Mask back on...I feel like I am gong to suffocate at 3 in the morning if I put the Mask back on, I have been using the Mask now for 6 months...it that normal???

Hi Deb, welcome to the forum. If you are managing to get 4-5 hours sleep with your mask on then you are tolerating your mask pretty well. You are doing much better than I did when I started.

I've used CPAP and APAP for quite a few years now, but it did take me a long time to adjust to wearing a mask and feeling comfortable with it. When you wake up and go to put your mask on is the suffocating feeling because you feel like you are getting too much air, not enough air or perhaps not enough humidity?

I can remember in the past having a suffocating feeling when I was using a fixed pressure machine because it felt like I was getting too much air blowing at me. A lot of machines have a ramp feature that can be set to bring up the pressure in stages.

I think I saw on your page that you are using an auto adjusting machine. Has it been set at a fixed pressure or is it set to auto adjust? If it is set to auto adjust is the pressure it starts at quite low? Does it feel like you are not getting enough air? The settings can be adjusted so I would check in with  your sleep specialist.

Also are you using a humidifier? I was in Australia earlier this year and really appreciated that I was breathing in cool, moist air through my humidifier. I know it is your winter just now, but it is still a lot warmer than our summer!

Wishing you good sleeps, Lisa.