I got a CPAP machine at the end of August. The reason being is that I have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea. Back in July I had a sleep study, which involved monitoring my blood oxygen level, breathing rate, and sounds. The results revealed that I have sleep apnoea, so the CPAP machine is to treat it.
What is obstructive sleep apnoea?
Sleep apnoea is when a person’s airways temporarily close when they are asleep. So they stop breathing for a short while before the brain wakes the person up causing them to start breathing again.
This can happen numerous times during the night causing disrupted sleep. Sleep apnoea sufferers often feel tired during the day due to disturbed sleep. I have felt tired after waking for a long time so the sleep apnoea explains that.
Risk factors for sleep apnoea include:
- age – it’s more common in older people
- excess weight around the neck area which can block the airways more
- more likely in men
CPAP
CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) is a machine which blows air through a tube into the airway which you can see about. The tube attaches to a silicon mask which is secured to my face using soft straps.
Every time I breathe in the machine forces air into my airways to keep them open. It’s automatic so you just press the start button on the machine and it blows. It can also sense when I am asleep so that it will ramp up the pressure.
ResMed, the company that makes the machine, has an app called MyAir. This shows you statistics about how well the CPAP is working for you. The machine will send data to the app which you can view online or on your phone. It shows you things like how many hours you used the CPAP, how many apnoea events you had, how good the mask seal was, and other things.
My experience with CPAP so far
CPAP took some getting used to the first couple of weeks. I didn’t sleep very well initially because I kept waking up every couple of hours and I was reluctant to wear it. I think this was because my mouth was very dry or the sensation of having air blown into me woke me up. My mouth falls open when I sleep so the air dries it out.
About a week after I got the machine I messaged the sleep clinic to ask whether I could get a humidifier to add some moisture to the air to stop my mouth drying so much.
But they said they don’t usually give humidifiers to people that early because the problem seems to sort itself out. It does seem to be better now. I still get a dry mouth when I wake up but it doesn’t keep me awake so I can deal with that.
I’m more bothered about the cold air that it blows onto my face. During the summer it’s not a problem but during the winter it can make me feel colder.
It’s possible to get a heated tube which can warm the air up so I might ask the sleep clinic about that.
My sleep quality has been reasonably good. I tend to get about 6 or 7 hours sleep a night on average but I often wake up too early about 6 AM and can’t get back to sleep. That’s just because of my mind not shutting up, not because of the CPAP. I still feel tired during the day sometimes because of waking up early.
I’ve used the CPAP every night (apart from 2 nights) for 2 months now so I am quite used to it.
Conclusion
So my experience with CPAP has been pretty good overall. I was a bit apprehensiveabout it before I started but now I’m used to it. My sleep is reasonably good most nights, so I’ll continue using it. It’s comfortable but it did take some getting used to in the early stages. I have read that some people don’t like it at all so I’m glad that I am doing pretty well with it.
