Jun 29

 So.

I've tried the CPAP.

After I hooked it up to the main unit it very quickly became clear the mask was just fine. Not leaking. And after a few small adjustments and getting used to it, it seemed ok.

So. I gave it a go. A few blips. Breathing out is hard against it. Far from making my breathing easier, it seemed to make my breathing harder. Ok. Well. I guess I just have to get used to it.

But it seemed alright. Not as bad as I had thought. This is ok. It was gonna make me breathe easier.

And slowly. The weirdness trickled in. It started to feel like I was french kissing a vacuum cleaner in reverse. Cheeks subtly puffed out. Inflated.Mouth drying out.  I don't know. Maybe I'm super sensitive or something. But it felt pretty janky. I can see what it's trying to do. But it felt inelegant. A sledgehammer to crack a nut. But. Ok. Keep on going. It's going to be weird at first until you get properly used to it.

As time went on, I shifted from sleepy, to less sleepy, to even less sleepy. And now it was annoying. Making me want to itch my face. My nose. Oh the nose. The nose got worse.

Irritated. My nose filled up with gunk. After an hour and a half it had had enough, it was irritated, something was going on, so it had reacted and filled my nose with crap.

Another half hour and after feeling like I was semi drowning I gave up. Took it off.

And then couldn't sleep at all.

My nose was now a mess. Blocked up. And my breathing felt weird with the mask off. Conscious.

I tried watching TV to settle down.

Settled. TV off. Promptly woke up again.

Rinse, repeat same.

I felt like shit.

Absolutely marvellous.

So here I am. Bunged up irritated itchy nose. Like the worst hayfever ever. An expensive bit of kit I am struggling to get the hang of. I'll give it another go. But. Not happy. Gloomy. My fucking life. Nothing is easy. 

So. After a bit of background reading on this, nasal congestion is a common side effect of a CPAP. Even to the extent of nosebleeds and crusting. Wonderful. Also it seems there are a bunch of settings that try to get around the whole, difficult breathing out malarkey, from, varying pressure over a breath, to only ramping it up after you've fallen asleep.

Uh huh. So. I'm not the only one with this. I seem to have immediately run slap bang into some side effects. I wonder if I can just block the nose bit entirely.

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