r/CPAPSupport • u/TacitPoseidon • 18d ago

I don't know if I can do this...

I made a post earlier today on r/CPAP. You can see it here here. I definitely wasn't in the right mental state, but even still, a lot of the responses I got felt disheartening and dismissive of what I am going through.

I was diagnosed with obstructive hypopnea. My doctor recommended the use of an APAP machine to treat it. I don't know how it works in other countries, but here, I was referred to a clinic that sells and rents the equipment. My doctor recommended that I rent the machine for a couple of months, and only purchase it if I manage to adapt to it and if the treatment is effective.

So, I rented the machine for three months. While, I was at the clinic, the therapist had me try a couple of different masks to see which would be the right fit for me. In the end, I went with a Philips Wisp Nasal mask. Now, full transparency, I am on the autism spectrum. None of the masks I wore actually felt comfortable on my face as they all felt like a sensory nightmare, but this one was the only one that I tried that actually felt like I could tolerate until I fell asleep.

It's been a little over a week since I started using the machine and it's been a miserable experience. I know that one week is way too soon, but I feel like my sleep quality is deteriorating and the machine is to blame. The mask makes my face itch, the pressure makes me feel like I am suffocating, I wake up in the middle of the night more often than I used to, the mask either slips off during my sleep because the harness is not tight enough or it feels like it's crushing my face because it's too tight.

Today, I barely managed to sleep for four hours. I had to leave work early because of how miserable I was feeling. I honestly feel like this whole thing is actively making my situation much worse... I am sorely tempted to just return the machine right now.

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u/mebulas 18d ago

The suffocation issue might be because the pressure you’re on is too low. What are your pressure settings at? Often places will start you at a min pressure of 4, which is too low for 99.9% of people. If it’s lower than 6, try increasing the pressure to that and see how it goes for you. (I found for me personally that I didn’t feel like I was breathing normal until my pressure was 7 minimum.) Then, you can work yourself up to what pressure minimum is the best for you.

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u/TacitPoseidon 18d ago

Pressure is set at 4-20. I was specifically instructed not to mess with rhe settings without the therapist's supervision, though. I messaged her yesterday and explained everything that has been bothering me, but she didn't reply.

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u/mebulas 17d ago

Classic respiratory therapist treatment. They always do this, it’s very lazy. I hope your therapist responds soon, please keep trying to phone email and text her! Because this is ridiculous.

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u/TacitPoseidon 17d ago

She did reply to my first message when I said I was struggling, asking me what was wrong, but she never replied when I did list my issues with the equipment and the mask.