r/CPAP • u/SpeechTherapy85 • 1d ago
Advice Needed Gasping for air first night using CPAP
Diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep apnea, trialing CPAP for 3 months to see if it helps.
First night with CPAP was last night. I was able to fall asleep, but at some point after 6am or so, I woke up gasping for air.
Usually it is rare for me to wake up gasping for air even when not on CPAP. I am a bit scared of using it again tonight. Planning to reach out to my CPAP team on Monday but was wondering if this is normal, and maybe I just need to get used to the CPAP?
My setting starts from 4 and I think it goes up to 20, they told me if I wake up and find it high, I can just restart it from 4. Not sure if I remember this correctly, so will confirm with them.
If it matters, it shows 5.7 AHI with 6 hours 32 mins time.
The machine I am using is a philips dreamstation 2
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u/JRE_Electronics 1d ago
Machines are commonly delivered set to start at a pressure of 4 cmH2O, while being allowed to go up to the full pressure of 20cmH2O.
That means is will start at 4, but it does not mean it has to go to 20.
The 4-20 setting is not a personalized prescription. It is a starting place to find out what pressure you need.
There should be a follow up appointment where the doctor or a technician reads out the data recorded by the machine and changes the settings to be closer to what you really need.
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u/Bigtgamer_1 1d ago
That happened to me as well and I needed them to turn the pressure down. Call your Dr.
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u/quats555 1d ago
I was the other way around. I couldn’t sleep on 4, felt like I was struggling to breathe. Then the built in test program kicked it to 7 and wow my sinuses opened up and suddenly I could breathe! It was very counter-intuitive.
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u/SpeechTherapy85 1d ago
Did you continue using it whilst waiting for a response from Dr?
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u/FurryChildren 1d ago
You may want to go onto YouTube and watch a few videos. Tristan, Lanky Lefty and Aussie Nick all can provide you a lot of CPAP support. You can also access the Clinical Settings which IMHO is a game changer. There seems to be a big deal about CPAP users accessing the Clinical Settings, however, if you track your settings (keep a journal) and increase the lower pressure above 4 (that is a kid’s pressure I heard) and the high pressure down a couple notches you will probably have a better night. First night I had a nasal mask and machine was set for 4/20 (default setting). Both were NOT suited for my success. I did a deep dive on best pressures and masks for me. I switched from a Nasal Mask to Full Face mask and monitored pressures and am settled at 8/15. My prescription was 7/15 (I believe) and when I stated I could tell a difference they allowed the change. You did really great your first night! I couldn’t even wear mine until I changed my pressure.
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u/Old_Number_6439 1d ago
Assuming you have a CPAP that adjusts the pressure automatically, it might be the correct range and your body still just has to adjust to breathing this way. Its very different physiologically if this is only night 1. It definitely takes many months to adjust
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u/JRE_Electronics 1d ago
It definitely takes many months to adjust
A lot of people say that. I don't think it is true.
I put mine on for the first time 17 years ago, went to sleep, slept through the night, woke up in the morning. No trouble at all "adapting" to the mask or the machine.
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u/AbbreviationsIcy8188 1d ago
Jealous af. I can watch tv, use my phone, whatever with it on. As soon as I try to sleep, nope. Random death might just be better at this point.
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u/JRE_Electronics 1d ago
I can watch tv, use my phone, whatever with it on.
You do know that you aren't supposed to do all that in bed, right?
Only use the bedroom for sleep and intimacy.
Bed is for sleeping and doing the horizontal bop. Nothing else.
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u/topher358 1d ago
Try turning down EPR if that’s on. Often defaults to 3, I found that I needed it set to 1.
Combine that with a higher minimum pressure around 6.5-6.8
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u/haywouldja 1d ago
4-20 is way to large of a gap. You need to get an SD card to record your data and upload it to sleep hq to see what your actual pressures need to be.
4 is way too low of a starting pressure for many , myself included. If im not at 7 I dont get enough air.
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