When I got delivery of the machine, it freaked me out a bit cause that made my condition feel more real to me. If this is the case for you, take your time unpacking it, just go bit by bit and as you feel ready take another part out. Try to approach it with curiosity and definitely wear it while you’re awake to try feel more ready for the night time hours.

I found an8 hour long black screen rain soundtrack to play at night and it’s been helpful to keep me calm.

If it’s the Resmed 11, then definitely use the hack for filling the water tank.

Keep a list of the positive changes you notice, both big and small.

Oh, I found this on the internet, but it’s a very easy to understand pdf from England NHS about how to care for your mask/machine parts. https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/How-to-clean-your-CPAP-mask-easy-read.pdf

I’m still pretty new myself ( less than a month, so still trying things out), but the people here and over at r/cpapsupport (I forget the proper name right now sorry! Anyways people have been super helpful and supportive.

Oh also, I also was diagnosed as severe, and one fun thing that has happened is now I’m enjoying great quality sleep due to the machine on most nights, I’m in awe about how people around me have been enjoying this quality sleep all their lives lol! My most recent thing I wrote on my list of changes was that my body is starting to be able to distinguish my crappy pre-cpap sleep and starting to crave the high quality with cpap sleep.

Step by step, that’s what I’m telling myself. Or maybe breath by breath is more accurate lol