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Challenges of Wearing A CPAP Sleep
Mask For MS Sleep Apnea
It can be challenging to wear a
continuous positive airway pressure
sleep apnea mask
or CPAP sleep mask for taming the
problems associated with the problems that MS
sleep apnea
can cause.
There are quite a few different types of CPAP sleep masks that
can be worn for helping to reduce the effects of sleep apnea.
Multiple Sclerosis can set up our nervous systems to contribute to the
appearance of sleep apnea.
If
you have already been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis for any length
of time, and you suspect that you may have a problem with
sleep
apnea, talk You can be sent for a overnight sleep study to deternine if
you have sleep apnea.
There are a few different kinds of sleep
apnea and depending on which type that you have, a different type of
CPAP sleep mask may be recommended by the sleep doctor.
Sleep studies can be done to determine if you do have sleep The type of
Depending on which type of sleep apnea that you have, there are quite a
few different kinds of CPAP sleep masks that can be used for reducing
the effects of the sleep apnea or for even getting the sleep apnea
under control.
When
it comes to the CPAP mask and machines, which help the person with
sleep apnea to breathe better while they are sleeping, there are many
different ways that the masks and machines are made.
But
basically the majority of CPAP masks fall into 2 general types of masks.
One type of MS sleep apnea CPAP mask covers the nose,
but not the mouth and the other type is considered a full face mask,
where it covers both the nose and the mouth.
When we sleep, breathing through our noses helps us to get more oxygen
to our brains and into our blood while we sleep.
Those of us, who tend to breathe more through our mouths, when we are
sleeping, tend to have a much lower level of oxygen being supplied to
our brains and to the rest of our bodies from the oxygen levels in our
blood, which circulates through out our bodies.
The
reduced levels of oxygen in our bodies and our brains can greatly
reduce the abilities of our brains and our bodies to function as they
should normally.
Often
the CPAP mask that covers only
the nose is tried first, during the overnight CPAP sleep study to see
if it helps us to be able to get adequate levels of oxygen while we are
sleeping.
At
times, the CPAP mask that covers the nose only does not help enough,
since if allergies are present or if you tend to breathe through your
mouth while sleeping, the full face mask is needed to boost the oxygen
levels back to the level that is needed to help your bran and your body
to function as they should.
Mouth
breathers often have an obstruction in the nose, throat or some other
part of the airway or they can have a problem with congestion from
allergies, which can prevent them from being able to breathe through
their noses only.
If sleep apnea is suspected, an over night sleep study is done with you
to determine if sleep apnea is present.
Multiple
Sclerosis can set us up for sleep apnea to develop, since MS is known
to attack the nervous system and cause many parts of our bodies and our
brains not to function as they should.
Once
it is determined that MS sleep apnea is the problem that you are
having problems with, another overnight sleep study is done to
determine which type of CPAP sleep mask will work for your particular
type of sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is basically where for one reason or another, the person
stops breathing temporarily several to many times a night, while they
are sleeping.
Most often the breathing problems occur while the person is lying down
to sleep, but sleeping while sitting up in a chair can sometimes cause
the restricting of the airway too that can cause breathing problems
while sleeping.
Difficulties, which can present more problems with sleep apnea, while you are trying to get
used to sleeping with a CPAP sleep mask can include:
Allergies can cause congestion
Congestion can make it difficult to breathe through your nose.
To use a sleep mask that covers only the nose, you need to be able to
sleep with your mouth closed. This can present a problem when allergies
are present.
Chin straps can be used to help to keep the mouth closed when using a
sleep mask that only covers the mouth, but the congestion can cause a
problem that can prevent being able to drain the congestion enough for
you to be able to breathe through your nose and not your mouth.
We unconsciously breathe through our mouths when we are congested.
Sleep masks do have filters on them, but some only come with 1 filter
and some have 2 filters.
The sleep masks with 2 filters work better for those who have allergic
reactions, since 1 filter removes dust and other particles from the air
and the second one removes molds and other airborne pathogens, which
can help reduce allergic reactions while sleeping.
It is best if you can clean up the room that you sleep in to remove as
much dust, mold and clutter to minimize clogging the filters on the
masks and to help reduce possible allergens in the room that you sleep
in.
When
it comes to MS sleep apnea, getting used to wearing a
CPAP sleep mask when sleeping can be difficult.
Typically,
problems encountered when getting used to sleeping with a sleep apnea
CPAP mask can include:
* Difficulty getting used to sleeping with the mask on
your face
We
can unconsciously find it uncomfortable at first, when we first start
wearing a CPAP mask to sleep at night to help us to breathe better when
we sleep at night.
*
Claustrophobia
This
is the fear of not being able to breathe with the mask on your face or
fear of the feeling of being closed in or too restricted.
This can be more of a problem if you need to wear a full face sleep
mask, since there are also ones that just cover the nose and not the
mouth.
* Sinus congestion or problems with Allergies
This can make it difficult for you to breathe through your nose when
sleeping.
We get much more oxygen to our brains and into our bloodstream, when we
breathe through our nose and not through our mouths, while we are
sleeping.
But this problem can also make it so that we can't use the type of
sleep apnea mask that covers the nose only. This can make it so that we
need to use a full face CPAP or sleep mask.
* Difficulty breathing more deeply and more regularly
Sleep apnea already comes with the characteristic where we stop
breathing temporarily a few to several times when we are sleeping at
night.
This can just add to the sleep apnea problem or it can be a major
contributing factor to the sleep apnea problem to start with.
This type of problem with holding your breath is more of a problem
where learned responses of holding your breath when you feel under
stress can make it where you are not getting enough oxygen to the brain
and the rest of the body.
This can be a learned response from past traumatic events in your life,
where you tend to hold your breathe more often when you feel stressed
out.
Finding ways to relax and de-stress the nervous system can help reduce
this problem, as well as learning to breathe more deeply and more
regularly.
We can retrain ourselves, while we are awake to help us to learn more
deeply and regularly and then carry this over to helping retrain
ourselves to do the deeper breathing, where we slow down our breathing
and make it more regular to help relax our nervous system, our bodies
and our minds before we go to sleep after we put on the CPAP mask.
At times, we may have difficulties retraining ourselves to breathe more
regularly and more deeply while we are wearing a sleep mask, simply
because we are so used to our old habits of not breathing regularly
like we should be doing.
EEG Biofeedback can help with retraining the habit of holding your
breath when you stress out, by using a tone feedback method, which
helps you exercise the brain to change the way that the brain, the body
and the nervous system respond to stress and other stimulation to the
brain.
This can help reduce the effect of holding the breath, when you sleep
at night, if it is a stress related response, as to why you tend to
hold your breath when you stress out or when you lie down to sleep.
If you are not just holding your breath in a response to stress, there
can be physical obstructions or what is called central sleep apnea that
can be causing the problems you are experiencing with sleep apnea.
These and other problems that learning to sleep with a CPAP or sleep
apnea mask can be overcome, but it does take some retraining ourselves
and with changing our habits from what we did previously.
When sleep apnea is present, especially for more prolonged periods of
time (we are talking often we can have sleep apnea problems for years
before we are diagnosed), it can take time to convince ourselves that
we are actually allowed to be able to get a good night of sleep every
night.
This can be part of the problem too with sleep apnea or with you being
able to sleep, while wearing a sleep apnea sleep mask to make it so
that you can breath more easily, when you lie down to sleep at night.
We need to give ourselves permission for us to be able to work with our
bodies to allow them to relax and find sleep to be an enjoyable
experience again, instead of us feeling like we are being tortured
almost every night.
Getting used to sleeping with a sleep mask or CPAP mask and machine can
be a challenge, but I have found that in my case of multiple sclerosis
sleep apnea, that sleeping with a CPAP mask can help me with
being able to actually get a very good restful night of sleep each
night.
It isn't as intimidating as it may seem at first to get used to
sleeping with a sleep apnea CPAP mask, but part of the problems that
people with MS sleep apnea
can be related to a limiting mind set, to where you are convinced that
you can't get used to wearing a CPAP sleep mask for sleep apnea.
Although sleeping with a CPAP sleep apnea sleep mask is not necessarily
the only solution for your case of sleep apnea to get it under control,
it can help a lot with allowing you to finally get a good night sleep.
An alternative to sleeping with a sleep apnea CPAP machine is to go for
surgery to correct the obstruction that may be contributing to your
sleep apnea, but the surgery is usually only performed if an
obstruction is found to be present and be contributing a major problem
to reducing or even temporarily shutting down the airway for you to be
able to breathe well enough, while you are sleepoing.
If you want to at least consider if surgery can help to correct the
problem you are having with sleep apnea, you can get an addiotional
opinion to see if the obsruction is severe enough to warrant the
surgery to correct the obstruction that could be contributing to the
Multiple Sclerosis sleep apnea.
An ear-nose-throat doctor can determine if you have a problem with
a deviated septum, a problem with the tonsils or a problem
with the
adenoids, which could be contributing to the problem that you are
having with sleep apnea.
You can also have a problem with a combination of a problem with a
deviated septum, problem with the tonsils and problems with the
adenoids being swollen to the point where it causes a problem with the
airway being restricted too much when you lie down to sleep at night.
Getting surgery to correct the obstructions that may be contributing to
your case of sleep apnea doesn't always correct the problems with sleep
apnea, as some people hope that it does so that they do not need to get
used to wearing a CPAP sleep mask at night.
Some people have more of a problem getting used to wearing a CPAP sleep
mask than others and it take up to 1 to 3 months for retraining
yourself to be able to relax enough to be able to wear a CPAP sleep
mask at night, while sleeping, especially if you have never has
anything over your face, like an oxygen mask, or a respirator mask of
some kind, like is used when painting cars.
Doing EEG Biofeedback can be
done to help you get used to breathing more regularly, more evenly and
without panicking when you lie down to sleep, but you need to find a
biofeedback doctor, who is more acquainted with using biofeedback to
help retrain the brain for reducing the anxiety that you may have about
sleeping with a CPAP sleep mask.
To find out more information about Multiple Sclerosis
and about
ways to help reduce your symptoms of
MS, complete the form below to
subscribe to our FREE Multiple Sclerosis Report.
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