New to CPAP

brupt30

My DH was diagnosed with MCI, although I believe that he is a bit further along since he does showtime for doctors and nurses. Sleep studies determined that he has sleep apnea and his neurologist feels that it may be causing, or at least contributing to, his cognitive decline. So…he has a new mask and it's a challenge to get him to wear it. The respiratory therapist at the sleep clinic told him to wear it for 45 minutes or so during the day for the first few days just to get used to it. He did that very successfully and raved about the mask after using it for a nap. However, when it came time to wear it to bed, he had no recollection of using it previously and could not relax enough to wear it for sleeping through the night. I've been told that it takes quite a while to get accustomed to the mask - any suggestions? He has the type of mask with nasal cushion, not the full face mask.

RIM

My elderly father has severe sleep apnea, which caused severe cognition loss. The cpap therapy corrected the cognition loss, but he still has short term memory loss and dx with MCI. Prior to the cpap correction, he was dx with ALZ, but subsequently changed to MCI-Stable, as a result of the cpap.

It’s difficult to wear the mask in the beginning, it takes most people from 3 days to 3 months to get accustomed to it. But most people do get used to it.

Reference this CPAP forum: https://www.cpaptalk.com/CPAP-Sleep-Apnea-Forum.html

you’ll find answers to all your questions at that site. You can download a free CPAP app, so you can see how his sleep is going and you can adjust the machine settings if he is not breathing properly. I learned so much from this site I never took my father back to the neurologist as I could handle everything myself, to help him.

housefinch

If he can’t remember using the CPAP for a nap, he sounds like he probably has dementia rather than MCI. And honestly I think the likelihood of him learning to use it, keeping it on, and remembering every night without arguing is probably pretty low. At some point you have to decide if this is worth the battle. I don’t have any cognitive issues, use CPAP, & it’s a big adjustment that requires persistence, motivation, and the continued motivation caused by feeling better each day on it. I’m thinking he probably doesn’t have those abilities at this point. Sorry for sounding so pessimistic.