Cpap and getting better sleep: What's your experience?

Hi, @johnhans @johnbishop @dawn_giacabazi @thankful @beatricefay @cece55 and others,
My husband just got a CPAP after a sleep study last week. I have some questions as a spouse of a person using a CPAP, if you don't mind. Wondering if you can remind me how long it takes for a new user to get used to using the CPAP? It seems my husband is still getting used to falling asleep with it.

I am getting used to falling asleep with the noise, also, which is like white noise in a way and I think should not be bad at all to get used to. The great thing is that I'm not fighting to get to sleep with snoring noises or awakening in the middle of the night to snoring and trying to kindly ask him to flip over or the like. I'm seeing my sleep improve already, thankfully.

The other question I have may be more petty, but it's important to me. We just moved this summer, and I've been busy making our bedroom and master bath attractive. Just today I met with a seamstress I've worked with for years about making curtains for our bedroom, and I'm excited about them. At the same time, with the CPAP coming home, I feel like my work to beautify is now competing with the CPAP equipment making our room look a bit like a hospital room and the humidifier water piece and the mouthpiece on our bathroom counter (which I like to keep cleared off, except for hand soap, some greenery, etc.).

I'm not concerning myself about this too much this week, as I'm just reveling in the fact my sleep is on track to improve (I probably lost 1+ hours per night before, due to snoring). I know I'll want to work on this in the future, though. Do you have any tricks for keeping these pieces of equipment in an attractive way?

@johnbishop @thankful @johnhans - thanks to all of you for your input. It's all very helpful, as we are new to this (for ourselves, vs. theoretically). I think - from what I understand - that so far the mask he got in the second half of the night in his sleep study is all right for him. I did forewarn him from what many have said in this thread and in others that there seems to be a trial and error period for the mask. So far, so good. I will keep checking with him. I think right now having something in his mouth, some contraption on his face/head is quite different for him with falling asleep. I'm hoping that this mask is indeed a "thumbs up" for him. I will keep checking with him on that to make sure he's as comfortable as he can be. He is about as unfussy and not particular as they come, so possibly this mask will indeed be okay.

johnhans, you make some excellent points about the real issue being to avoid a stroke or heart attack (vs. lovely decor). That is indeed true, and his dad has had some heart troubles over time, so I'd like for my husband to stay out of heart trouble, if at all possible.

johnbishop actually suggested a local medical supply store, and they evidently did a great job of getting him set up with what he needed, setting expectations and explaining how all this goes. Thank you, John. Interesting that the store's employees also told him that insurance would not pay for the device if there was not evidence of him using it the first 30 days and his reports coming in.

I don't know anything about the ramp feature, thankful. I will have to check with him on that. He always stuns me with how quickly he can fall asleep - many times it's literally 60 seconds. I almost always take 10+ minutes (but maybe that will go down now!). I didn't realize the pressure goes up at a certain point. I assume that is to get to optimal pressure, but it's distracting or noisy when trying to get to sleep?

Yeah, good point on the cabinet or the like in a nightstand, thankful. Right now we have antique pieces for nightstands (a trunk and a small table), till we come across some we like and that will match well with our dressers (we were not the first owners of either dresser, but love them both). One of our antique tables with two levels might be an option (storing it on the lower level). Ultimately, we should choose nightstands based on the CPAP, is what is becoming clear to me now. I know it also depends heavily on what turns out to be convenient for him.

Any other tips for a newbie to using a CPAP that I should pass along?

@johnbishop @thankful @johnhans - thanks to all of you for your input. It's all very helpful, as we are new to this (for ourselves, vs. theoretically). I think - from what I understand - that so far the mask he got in the second half of the night in his sleep study is all right for him. I did forewarn him from what many have said in this thread and in others that there seems to be a trial and error period for the mask. So far, so good. I will keep checking with him. I think right now having something in his mouth, some contraption on his face/head is quite different for him with falling asleep. I'm hoping that this mask is indeed a "thumbs up" for him. I will keep checking with him on that to make sure he's as comfortable as he can be. He is about as unfussy and not particular as they come, so possibly this mask will indeed be okay.

johnhans, you make some excellent points about the real issue being to avoid a stroke or heart attack (vs. lovely decor). That is indeed true, and his dad has had some heart troubles over time, so I'd like for my husband to stay out of heart trouble, if at all possible.

johnbishop actually suggested a local medical supply store, and they evidently did a great job of getting him set up with what he needed, setting expectations and explaining how all this goes. Thank you, John. Interesting that the store's employees also told him that insurance would not pay for the device if there was not evidence of him using it the first 30 days and his reports coming in.

I don't know anything about the ramp feature, thankful. I will have to check with him on that. He always stuns me with how quickly he can fall asleep - many times it's literally 60 seconds. I almost always take 10+ minutes (but maybe that will go down now!). I didn't realize the pressure goes up at a certain point. I assume that is to get to optimal pressure, but it's distracting or noisy when trying to get to sleep?

Yeah, good point on the cabinet or the like in a nightstand, thankful. Right now we have antique pieces for nightstands (a trunk and a small table), till we come across some we like and that will match well with our dressers (we were not the first owners of either dresser, but love them both). One of our antique tables with two levels might be an option (storing it on the lower level). Ultimately, we should choose nightstands based on the CPAP, is what is becoming clear to me now. I know it also depends heavily on what turns out to be convenient for him.

Any other tips for a newbie to using a CPAP that I should pass along?

Hi....it has been quite a while since I posted on here. I can't believe it will be a year in January since I started wearing my CPAP

It is true that everyone is different when it comes to a new user getting used to the CPAP. For me, it was a second mask which the Respiratory Therapist recommended. The first one I chose just looked nice and I had no idea that you don't choose a mask on how it looks! 🙂 It was the dreamwear mask with the air flow coming out of the top. I hated it and would rip it off at night and throw it against
the wall! Then the therapist, knowing that I was claustrophobic, suggested the Resmed Swift FX For Her. It is the lightest weight mask and does not leak! It took me approximately two months to become adjusted. I will say that about once a month, I will have a night when I am uncomfortable for about an hour. I don't know why...my mask just feels wrong and then I fall asleep. When I talk to other people, they know just what I am talking about.

I can give you some advice on the hospital room feeling. As a liscensed Interior Designer, here is how I handled my bedroom and the feeling of so much equipment on the nightstand. I also have a heart machine which I am blue-toothed to at night that downloads my EKG to the cardiologist's office in the middle of the night. I have a hear link monitor under my skin for afib. The answer is ...get larger
nightstands! If you have the room, a larger nightstand won't call as much attention to the paraphernalia on the surface. Hope this idea helps.

Blessings and hello to all my fellow CPAP users! CeCe55

Hi, @thankful @cece55 @johnbishop and all - well, my husband seems to be getting more and more used to his CPAP. He has the nasal CPAP mask and has not seemed to have any problems with it. He has developed a routine for the daily rinsing and weekly trip with some of the CPAP parts into the shower with him for some baby shampoo.

A logistical item with the CPAP I've noticed is that he has to decide to go to sleep at a very defined point in time and put his gear on, after which I really can't talk to him with the equipment going. It's also a little odd cuddling with a guy with all this tubing on his face/head (still my true love and all, just a little unusual compared to pre-CPAP). Just some observations from a spouse of a CPAP user.

I continue to sleep much better, except for random nights when I'm wired and can't get to sleep for some unknown reason, which is not too often. I don't really use the white noise machine I used to drown out his snoring as best I could to get some sleep before he got the CPAP, cause now the CPAP is providing it's own white noise, of a sort.

Hi, @thankful @cece55 @johnbishop and all - well, my husband seems to be getting more and more used to his CPAP. He has the nasal CPAP mask and has not seemed to have any problems with it. He has developed a routine for the daily rinsing and weekly trip with some of the CPAP parts into the shower with him for some baby shampoo.

A logistical item with the CPAP I've noticed is that he has to decide to go to sleep at a very defined point in time and put his gear on, after which I really can't talk to him with the equipment going. It's also a little odd cuddling with a guy with all this tubing on his face/head (still my true love and all, just a little unusual compared to pre-CPAP). Just some observations from a spouse of a CPAP user.

I continue to sleep much better, except for random nights when I'm wired and can't get to sleep for some unknown reason, which is not too often. I don't really use the white noise machine I used to drown out his snoring as best I could to get some sleep before he got the CPAP, cause now the CPAP is providing it's own white noise, of a sort.

@lisalucier-Glad to hear things are going well! I agree, cuddling doesn't work well with the mask on, but we always make time to cuddle a bit before I dawn my mask and early in the morning when neither of us want to get out of bed in the darkness.
Have you come up with any ideas to lessen the effect on the C-pap, etc. on the dresser as far as the esthetics of the room?
Jim@thankful

Good idea to agree that we will save some cuddling time sans mask before the mask goes on and when we wake up, @thankful.

Well, I decided that what @cece55 said certainly applied in our case, as far as the aesthetics and the room not looking like we were in a hospital. My husband actually has an antique trunk for his nightstand, which is big enough that with it being closed (with the water tank out during the day on a certain spot on our large bathroom counter) and the tubing piled nicely on top (versus slung over the bedpost, as it was originally), it doesn't look so much like a hospital room. We found a place in a tub containing various cleaning supplies in a bathroom vanity cabinet to store the jug of distilled water and a place in our shower for the bottle of baby shampoo for the weekly major clean of the equipment.

My husband is an engineer (software) and all about function (not so much into aesthetics, but understands that I am), so we had to work together on this.

I also decided to really take to heart what you said, @johnhans, about preventing a stroke or heart attack with the CPAP (and its accompanying equipment) and that that is what really matters here.

Does everyone seem to require a travel CPAP? Just realized we don't have one and are going on a trip in under 2 weeks.

Good idea to agree that we will save some cuddling time sans mask before the mask goes on and when we wake up, @thankful.

Well, I decided that what @cece55 said certainly applied in our case, as far as the aesthetics and the room not looking like we were in a hospital. My husband actually has an antique trunk for his nightstand, which is big enough that with it being closed (with the water tank out during the day on a certain spot on our large bathroom counter) and the tubing piled nicely on top (versus slung over the bedpost, as it was originally), it doesn't look so much like a hospital room. We found a place in a tub containing various cleaning supplies in a bathroom vanity cabinet to store the jug of distilled water and a place in our shower for the bottle of baby shampoo for the weekly major clean of the equipment.

My husband is an engineer (software) and all about function (not so much into aesthetics, but understands that I am), so we had to work together on this.

I also decided to really take to heart what you said, @johnhans, about preventing a stroke or heart attack with the CPAP (and its accompanying equipment) and that that is what really matters here.

Does everyone seem to require a travel CPAP? Just realized we don't have one and are going on a trip in under 2 weeks.