Apnea Forum Posting

Posted by RenoTom on August 09, 2000 at 21:56:11:

In Reply to: Ears, hearing & CPAP posted by Mary Ann on August 09, 2000 at 19:13:13:

As John Said, the pressure was determined during the titration phase of your sleep study, and is set at 12 because that is what your doctor determined is what is necessary to stop your apneas. That is the whole object of what we go through, to stop our apneas.
You don't say what reasons the other doctors have given for wanting to lower the pressure (keep in mind they have probably not seen the raw data regarding your apnea, as your sleep doc has), or for your two trips to the hospital.
That makes it hard to help you figure out your dificulties, but let's try this. A lot of the initial problems people on CPAP have is getting used to a new thing. You get this contraption that blows air through a hose that ends up in some harness gig that your supposed to tie on your face and feel comfortable with it all. Yeah, right!
And they insist that it is going to make the whole world better, it just takes time to get used to it. Oh, and about those ears, you'll get over that too!
Well, as one hose head to another (you are joining our little group here, aren't you?), they are pretty much right. I can't speak about your ears, other than to say others have had ear problems to, but beyond that, I aint no doc.
So, now you got this guy telling you the sleep docs right and the world is going to be rosy and all your troubles are going to go away, and he's trying to tell you if you call yourself a hose head and join a group that wears darth vader get ups that blows air up your nose.....
So you want me to prove it... right!?
Okay! So first of all, you have to understand, and to believe, that your new found friend the CPAP, will provide the therapy you need to restore your mind and body back as close as can be done to pre apnea days, whenever that was.
You also have to understand that, since apnea does effect us both mentally and physically, we have to work to achieve the acceptance necessary to be able to tolerate this contraption that is so totally foreign, in so many ways.
So let's do a little mind bending. Some might call it self hypnosis. It's not hard, and it doesn't hurt. It's like the TV, you controll the horizontal and the vertical (and the content too).
Find a comfortable chair where you can kick back but not fall asleep. Dim lights, relaxing music if you like, be alone.
The object is to explain to yourself that this is the correct path to take for your health. The sleep doc may be a jerk, but really is after what is best for you (what reason does he have to do otherwise). And that you are going to use this goofy contraption to get yourself better.
It is matter of thinking the thoughts, and feeling positive about them. It is easy, if you maintain the positive side.
You don't have to spend much time doing this, try 15 to 20 minutes. And don't be bashful about reinforcement of the ideas at other times also. If you start thinging negatively about things during the day, take a second to tell yourself that that is not getting you anywhere, and to get off that kick.
Second step in this little game. Practice. Yeah, so what is there to practice, right? So is everything working great now? Okay, let's get in front of the TV, or fireplace, or looking out the window, or wherever you park to take 10 minutes for a breather.
Now while you take that 10, put on your CPAP, and use it. Practise breathing with it. Smooth steady breaths, in and out. Pay attention to how the good breaths feel, and don't worry about the bad ones. If you have ten bad breaths, and one good one, great, because you know that good one now, and are going to have another one.
Stay comfortable with it and relax and when things are working right, experince that, and remember it. Stop when your comfortable, and when things are right.
Now, when you go to bed and put on your trusty little life saver, you have an idea of how it should feel, and you know it's not something that bites, so you should be able to deal with it for a short while anyway, and that's all we're looking for tonight.
Oh, and about all that other irrelevant crud you were writing about. It doesn't really matter about that, till you get this down. Who cares if the techs were scared of the doc, as long as they did their jobs. And if you look at your sleep study report, you will probably find that it really was longer than an hour.
If you really want to spend that $1,000, ...but then again, after you make this work, you can buy a new outfit instead.
The point is just that, when you make this work, the rest of what you wrote about won't matter.
Good luck and let us know how it goes!
RenoTom

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