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I'm slipping away...........
#11
RE: I'm slipping away...........
(05-14-2021, 11:09 AM)Geer1 Wrote:
(05-13-2021, 10:55 PM)Big Guy Wrote: I had a two night, in-lab, sleep study done. I sleep as well w/o gearing up as I do gearing up. Actually, better w/o the gear. I don't experience most of the problems or issues that some on here do. 

W/o the gear, I sleep just fine. I still get up a couple of times during the night though to make a bathroom trip. I don't experience any headaches, waking up gulping for air, no dizziness, no cloudy head, no nothing. 

I'm well aware that some take longer than others to respond to the therapy. But, just how long should one wait until they come to realize nothing positive is happening?

Sounds like your health/sleep issues whatever they may be aren't obviously tied to SDB or if they are then PAP treatment doesn't help resolve them. The question is why are you even on PAP? An initial home study that indicated it? Just was hoping SDB/apnea was the issue and PAP would help resolve it?

If there are no clinical symptoms and studies don't support its use and you notice no negative side effects sleeping without PAP then I would just quit. PAP is a disruptive process if not required and doing what you are currently doing (sporadic use) is probably the worst thing you can do since you aren't allowing your body to adapt one way or the other. Pick a path and stick with it unless indications to change paths are obvious.

Initially, my family health doctor suggested that I do a sleep study. I did a two night, in-lab, sleep study, and the results indicated that I was a good candidate for Sleep Apnea treatment. 

I agree with the sporadic use that you mentioned. I feel bad about it, but when you sleep just as well, if not better, w/o CPAP, than you do with it, it can be tough to continue. 

I'm hoping that my upcoming appt. with my sleep doc will explain a lot of things. It's the 19th of this month. Maybe he can inspire me to continue? Or.....tell me something otherwise.
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#12
RE: I'm slipping away...........
(05-14-2021, 01:41 PM)Big Guy Wrote: I agree with the sporadic use that you mentioned. I feel bad about it, but when you sleep just as well, if not better, w/o CPAP, than you do with it, it can be tough to continue. 

I'm hoping that my upcoming appt. with my sleep doc will explain a lot of things. It's the 19th of this month. Maybe he can inspire me to continue? Or.....tell me something otherwise.

PAP treatment is not strictly indicated by a sleep study. PAP treatment should be determined by a clinical diagnosis of symptoms (mostly tiredness, snoring, waking up from apnea etc) and sleep study data just supports the clinical diagnosis. That is why PAP treatment is only recommended in mild apnea cases (5-15 AHI) if the patient is symptomatic. Many people have mild apnea that does not impact their health or well being significantly, those people don't need PAP.

If your study results were mild, PAP use has not helped, and you have not noticed worsening of symptoms upon discontinuing what would warrant its continued use? 

If PAP treatment resolved AHI but not your symptoms then your symptoms likely aren't being caused by apnea. If PAP isn't the answer then you are better off to forget about it and try to find the answer.
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#13
RE: I'm slipping away...........
I think I was told that my AHI during regular sleep was over 70 or so. During REM sleep, it was 60 something. I was told that my symptoms were moderate to severe. 

Once having started CPAP therapy, my AHI #'s have almost always been well below 5. My very 1st night, it was like 5.7 or so. My 2nd night, it dropped down to 4.3
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#14
RE: I'm slipping away...........
BigGuy, I see you are using a F20/F30. I believe that has the quiet elbow. Would you consider an experiment? Pull out the white fuzz that makes the quiet elbow quiet. That will let a whole lot more exhausted air flow out. And I wonder if that could help you feel improved.

I say this because when I've used the quiet elbow, my pre-CPAP apnea symptoms returned. Personally, I don't believe the quiet elbow exhausts enough exhaled air (at least for me), so I'm rebreathing my exhaled air which causes my apnea symptoms to reappear. When I use their old loud elbow, my apnea symptoms go away!

Just a thought.
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#15
RE: I'm slipping away...........
Can you actually remove that material w/o damaging the elbow itself? I thought that I had read on here some time back, that someone tried that and destroyed the elbow in the process.  Unsure
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#16
RE: I'm slipping away...........
I've done it without damage except a mark from the needle nose pliers I used to pull the white packing out. There's a forum thread about it and I'd added an image. If I can find it, I'll link to it.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#17
RE: I'm slipping away...........
I cut out a little half-circle (maybe half of a pencil eraser size) from the little filter cover and pulled it out quite easily. Then threaded in a new one - cut strips from a ResMed air filter.

This was back during the days of the black dots discussion. Both my original and home brew diffusers developed little black dots. Yours will probably have them too.
RayBee

~ Self-Treatment - via ApneaBoard experts.
~ Self-Pay - no help from Kaiser other than getting my script, then a pat on the butt and out the door.
~ Self-Educated - via ApneaBoard experts, its many users, and posted reference material.
~ Complex Apnea - All Night AHI=34.2/h, Supine AHI=45.5/h
~ Using a 2021 16" MacBook Pro M1 Max, 32 GB, 1 TB, macOS Monterey V12.6.2.
~ Pay no attention to the dog behind the cup, he ain't a docta, and does not give medical advise.
~ Woof, woof.

I-love-Apnea-Board
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#18
RE: I'm slipping away...........
OK I forgot I used a flat screwdriver to pry up the opaque ring a bit too. If you're more careful than I was, it shouldn't mess it up at all.

Look back to this post.
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...#pid372820
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#19
RE: I'm slipping away...........
Big Guy,

Keep in mind that treating sleep apnea reduces risks of other medical problems. So, even if you don’t feel any different on therapy, you are still likely to have benefits from PAP.

From a website called Up To Date: “positive airway pressure therapy reduces the frequency of respiratory events during sleep, decreases daytime sleepiness, improves systemic blood pressure (BP), lowers the risk of crashes, and improves quality of life across a range of disease severities.”
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#20
RE: I'm slipping away...........
@Big Guy

You might wish to hang in there because not everything revolves around your immediate feelings. For example, pulmonary hypertension -- a very bad thing. Or... https://www.sleepassociation.org/sleep-apnea/risks/

In my case, I am not even sure that therapy is working because I do not feel dramatically different from day-to-day, so I go along with the program to prevent the unseen and unfelt dangers.

Best,

steve
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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