I was first diagnosed in 2003 after complaining to my doctor about the trouble I was having sleeping and daytime tiredness. I had suffered for a few years but never mentioned it until I fell asleep driving to work one morning. Fortunately, no harm was done but the incident prompted me to action.
My initial sleep study in 2003 showed an AHI of 74. I was prescribed a CPAP machine with a pressure of 16. The results were dramatic and immediate. I fell in love with CPAP.
5 years later, in 2008, I had a new study and was prescribed a BiPAP machine set at 18/21. Again the results were great. This was in 2008. In 2009 I retired and basically was without insurance, so for the last 10 years I have been self-managing my care and paying out of pocket, buying my supplies at Supplier #1 [Commercial Link Removed] because they had my prescription on file. At the start of this year I was still using my 10-year-old ResMed Series M BiPAP machine and hadn't had seen any sleep data since my 2008 study. All I did during that time was switch my machine to "auto" mode and changed the settings to EPAP 15, IPAP 25 max, and pressure support 3 min. Based on how I felt his seemed to serve me well although I couldn't read the smart card so I had no real detailed data.
This all changed at the first of this year when I got insurance coverage (thanks Medicare!). Last month I had a new sleep study which showed an AHI of 17, and I was issued a new DreamStation auto BiPAP with settings of 8 min EPAP, 18 max IPAP, and pressure support at 2 min/max and I am sleeping great. My AHI is under 1 while on the machine even at these lower pressures. I guess I was over-ventilated for the past 10 years but didn't know it.
I just discovered this board last month, but I really wish I had known about it years ago. The information here is incredibly useful, especially for those who are self-managing. I have installed SleepyHead and it is an incredible program. Right now I am playing by Medicare's rules and not making any changes without going through the doctor and respiratory therapist, but it is good to have to information available to me when I work with them.
I just wanted to thank those who created and contributed to this board. I definitely fills a need.
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