Blogs > Sleeping with CPAP

Assistant News Editor Lee Dryden was diagnosed with sleep apnea and uses a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine to assist with breathing while sleeping. From a layman’s point of view, he will discuss the benefits, issues, challenges and frustrations of sleeping while wearing a mask.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Change the mask, stupid

  It’s times like these when I wonder if I’m qualified to write this blog.
  Not that I’ve ever claimed to be anything more than a layman, but I should practice what I preach.
  I noticed my breathing interruptions per hour creep back up over 3.0. That figure annoyed me but I didn’t do anything about it.
  When preparing for a camping trip where I’d be sleeping in close quarters with others, it dawned on me that I had been sleeping more loudly lately. I recalled I had a brand-new mask cushion and it was time to break it out as it may fit more snugly.
  Upon wearing it, and getting a compliment for my quiet slumber, I realized that was my problem with breathing interruption.
  Duh.
  Sure enough, a couple weeks later, my number returned to its normal 1.5 range. An older mask cushion doesn’t fit as tightly, air leaks out rather than opening the airway, decreasing CPAP’s ability to do its job.
  So please learn from my foolishness.
  Now it’s time to hook my CPAP mask, hose and machine up to my SoClean machine for the first time in, uh, awhile.

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