Hi everyone: I was wondering did anyones Dr. order humidity with their air flow. I am having such a hard time with the humidity. When I go to sleep at nite with the mask on I feel really confident that I will leave the mask on all nite but son of a gun when I wake up it is off again. I am so frustrated with this. I think everyday that tonite will be different I will leave it on and not bother it. LOL that is a real laugh. Right now I am on the nutritionalist five month once a month visit, Iam recording everything I eat and have not got to the walking 20 minutes in the pool yet. But if all goes well I will have my surgery in Jan 2006. Iam 48 yrs old now so hopefully I will be nifty at fifty. But for now it is the battle with this mask. PS- I don't think the humidity is as important as the airflow. Can anyone give me any hints on how to tolerate my elephant mask... that is what it looks like to me. Thanks Denise Heisler

My first post here! lol I didn't think the test was as bad as some people do. Yeah, there are a lot of wires and stuff, but I slept ok. I think some of it - just like getting used to a cpap mask afterwards - is more mind over matter. Wear pj bottoms and a loose fitting top. They'll have wires hooked to your chest, head, and legs. I had a private room with double bed, tv and bathroom. Instead of hauling all my toiletries up there (I have waist length hair), I just took something to tie my hair up and cover it til I got home the next morning. They might wake you up during the night to turn over on your other side or your back. When they put me on my back, I couldn't get back to sleep, so he came back and told me I could get back on my side. My doctor usually does the two night test - one just to monitor, and if apnea is detected, another night to sleep with the help of the machine. They woke me up 90 minutes into it and put the mask on me because I stopped breathing so much and my oxygen level dropped into the 60s!

Well, for me it was terrible. Remember to wear PJ's that you aren't afraid to be seen in by any anonymous male or female tech who will be hooking you up! I brought a large T-shirt thinking that would be OK. The 2nd time I went, you betcha I wore shorts to bed w/ my T shirt! As both times I had male techs, grrr. Honestly, I had wires all over me, so if I didn't have a sleeping disturbance, I had one that night! I don't know how they calculate/project the difference betwen the disturbance of all the gadgets you wear and the inability to move freely during a sleep apnea test... and normal every day sleep?? I'd bet money that most people who go in for a sleep disorder test, will come out positive for one! Look, it is terrible, you won't get any sleep. It's not dangerous or anything like that, just very very inconvenient and uncomfortable. You will go home the next morning, and sleep all day! I now use CPAP, level 12 pressure, gel face mask. I am kinda used to it. But sometimes I fidget with its position on my face during the night and that is very disturbing.

Try lowering the heat setting. I had the same problem when mine was too high. Now I use the lowest possible heat setting and it's fine. Another suggestion is to put the machine lower than your head. Set it on the floor if nothing else. If the machine is too high, you will ge****er in the hose. Good luck. Nancy

Hi Kristen, I was told not to have any caffine the day of my test and I had to check in at 7pm. I took a regular nightgown and a change of clothes. They had me fill out a bunch of paper work and then set me up to watch a video about sleep apnea. I was in a double bed with a tv and my own bathroom. Around 8pm they took me to another room and hooked me up to all of these little wires. My face, head, chest, arms and legs were covered in wires and they put a little wire sensor to check for breathing that went around my head and was placed just under my nose. Then they turned out the lights and had a camera on me. It is not comfortable and I do not know how anyone is suppose to sleep like that, but it does not hurt or anything. In the morning, they unhooked everything and sent me home. Oh and my Dr. put the orders in for a split night, which means they monitored me for half of the night and the other half they monitored me with the c-pap machine on. They said most of the time it's a 2 night process, but if I had to do it for 2 nights, I probably would not have gone back the 2nd. So if your Dr. will do it, ask for him to do a split night on you. In my opinion, it's much better. Good luck!