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The Apnea Patient's News, Education & Awareness Network |
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The Apnea Patient's News, Education & Awareness Network |
This page last updated on 02/11/2003
Editor's note: I regret to inform you that Kathleen Chittenden passed away in mid-January 2000. A memorial page is located here.
Thanks to sleep apnea patient and sleep activist, Kathleen Chittenden, for permission to post this informal set of questions and answers about coping with CPAP. Many of us patients have a love/hate relationship with our machines, but we recognize that we need them to stay healthy. Maybe the information below will help YOU cope better with CPAP. Please note that the opinions expressed below are that of the various authors and are intended to be general advice for fellow apnea patients. If you have specific questions about these topics you may wish to contact your sleep doctor, someone from your sleep lab, or your home healthcare company. Feel free also to email the webmaster with your question: ILoveMyCPAP-but@apneanet.org
Please note that the references here to specific products or manufacturers is NOT an endorsement of those products by A.P.N.E.A Net. These references were contained in the original material and have not been edited out as they would change the answers from Kathleen. However, please remember that The Apnea Patient's News, Education & Awareness Network is a not-for-profit organization and does not endorse any product, manufacturer, hospital or healthcare company.
with contributions from Debbie Akers, Leon Barber, Steve Bassett, Mike Davis, Pam Rasmussen, Susan Thomlinson, Richard Belanger and Art Weiss.
Questions and answers are shown in full below:
1. Q: I love my CPAP, but I still find myself mouth-breathing and drooling, even though my sleep doctor said the CPAP would keep my mouth closed. Any suggestions?
A: Some patients have reported that they use an athlete's mouthguard, available for $1 to $2 at their local sports equipment store, to stop mouth breathing and bruxism (grinding the teeth) while they use their CPAP. Try it, and let us know how you make out.
2. Q: I love my CPAP, but I often have a dry throat or mouth in the middle of the night. Often I get up just to get a glass of water. Then, later, I have to get up to visit the bathroom. Do you have any suggestions?
A: Some patients keep a box of Tic-Tac mints next to their bed, and when they have a dry mouth or throat, they put a mint in their cheek, and go back to sleep. It's worth a try.
3. Q: I love my CPAP, but I find the hose and headgear get tangled up in the middle of the night. Sometimes I wake up with my CPAP hose around my neck. What can I do?
A: Some patients clip their hose to their pillow or their bottom sheet, to make sure it stays put. But if you are tossing and turning all night long, and feel tired in the morning, you may need to see your sleep doctor for a follow-up test.
4. Q: I love my CPAP, but how can I use it when I have a cold, or the flu, or hayfever, and my nose is all stuffed-up?
A: Some patients have discovered that the air pressure of their CPAP is the only medicine they need to clear their stuffy nose. Try this:
If this technique does not work for you, after several tries, you may need to see your sleep doctor for a remedy. Some people have good results with Beconase or Hismanal. But beware of daily usage of nasal sprays, such as Afrin Menthol: they can have a rebound effect, and actually make your congestion worse.
5. Q. 1 love my CPAP, but my wife says it's so loud that it keeps her awake. Of course, I sleep like a log now, and I think she's being picky. Any ideas?
A: Ask your Home Health Care company if the manufacturer of your CPAP makes a silencing device, like Respironics' Whisper Cap, which will reduce your noise level quite a bit. Or take your machine to your vendor's office, and let them show you how it compares to the sound of other CPAPs they sell. One ingenious patient moved his bed close to his closet, and drilled a hole for his hose in the closet door. His wife never sees or hears his machine while he sleeps. If all else fails, you can get three pairs of ear plugs for a dollar in most drug stores. Good luck.
6. Q: I love my CPAP, but I like my bedroom cold (about 60 degrees) both winter and summer. Sometimes the pressurized air from my CPAP feels like two ice-picks in my nose. What can I do?
A: Some patients have discovered that a small space heater (cost about $25) placed at least a foot from their CPAP intake area does the trick. It heats the air before you breathe it, so your nose doesn't have to deal with ice-picks. Other patients find it is enough just to put their CPAP hose under the blankets, to warm the room air slightly. And some manufacturers sell heated humidifiers that may help.
7. Q: I love my CPAP, but I'm single, and I don't want my dates to know that I have to use a machine to breathe every night. How can I look romantic when I'm wearing a bubble mask?
A: Shame on you. How sexy do you think snoring is? It is not your fault that you have sleep apnea. It's becoming clear that genetics plays a major role in OSA. If you don't have to apologize for having blue eyes or flat feet, or a bald spot, you certainly need not apologize for being smart enough to seek treatment for your apnea. Besides, your date probably has friends or relatives who snore loudly, and knowing about CPAP could save their lives. Lighten up.
8. Q: I love my CPAP when I sleep on my side, but when I sleep on my back, I feel starved for air. What's going on?
A: Welcome to the world of position-dependent OSA. Many people snore and stop breathing much more when they sleep on their backs, because gravity allows their tongue and the soft tissues of their throat to close off their airway. Your sleep doctor set your CPAP pressure based on one or two nights in the sleep lab, when you were all wired up and probably not sleeping as you would at home. Lucky for you, some manufacturers have developed CPAPs that change your pressure all night long, so that you never get too much or too little air. Ask your doctor if you could try an auto-adjusting unit, such as the Devilbiss, Horizon, Respironics Virtuoso, ResMed Auto-Set, DPAP, etc.
Another advantage to the "smart" CPAP is that you don't have to be retested if you gain or lose weight.
9. Q: I love my CPAP but I must be a restless sleeper, because the velcro straps on my headgear often come apart during the night, and I wake up feeling tired and grumpy the next morning. Help!
A: The manufacturers use velcro so that their products will fit a wide variety of people. Once you have adjusted your headgear for a perfect fit, staple it together. This will keep the velcro from wearing out, and should solve your problem. Good luck.
10. Q: I love my CPAP, but when I get up to visit the bathroom, I have trouble getting my headgear and mask back on, and often I'm just too sleepy to bother. I don't want to turn on a light, because I'll wake up my wife. What can I do?
A: Instead of taking off your mask, try disconnecting your hose from the CPAP when you get up at night. Then you only have one simple thing to reconnect when you return to bed. Try it, and let us know how you make out.
11 . Q: I love my CPAP, but I sleep on my left side, and sometimes when I exhale my left ear "pops" as if I were on an airplane changing altitude. I have complained to my Primary Care Physician, and he says it has to do with pressure in my eustachian tube, and I don't have an ear infection. My sleep doctor says that if I lost 100 pounds, I wouldn't need such a high CPAP pressure (I use 15 cms. now.) He doesn't know of a cure for the popping. Do you?
A: One patient reports that she discovered that this problem only happens when her ear is flat against her pillow. She found a round, cervical pillow at her local Walgreen's (ask for a NeckBone, cost about $15), and she reports no more annoying popping, now that her ear isn't blocked by a pillow.
12. Q: I love my CPAP but I'm very sensitive to light entering my bedroom and once I wake up it's hard for me to tolerate my CPAP air pressure, and I can't get back to sleep. Do you have any suggestions?
A: When you wake up in the middle of the night, turn your CPAP off and on, in order to invoke the ramp feature, which will start your pressure at a low level, and only gradually increase it. And consider buying some blackout curtains for your bedroom. Some excellent models are made by Rockland Industries in Maryland (410-522-2505 x. 1275). Their liners can be placed under your regular curtains, and they can really reduce sleep fragmentation.
13. Q: I love my CPAP, but I use nasal pillows instead of a mask, and even with the angle adaptor, I find that my nose feels pushed up uncomfortably. What can I do?
A: Try a flex tube, instead of the angle adaptor, to avoid this problem.
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