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Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
#1
Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Hello all!

Complete beginner here, i spent most of the day reading up on Sleep Apnoea, CPAP machines and this forum. 

I have been waking up pretty much every 3 hours for the past 3-4 years and would never get deep sleep. It's so hard to concentrate and do things for my future, ive been way more depressed and most important of all is i have really bad eyebags that have persisted for these past few years, bringing down my self esteem. Most days I don't even leave the house cause i feel so bad. Not to mention the damage it has done to my brain  
I've tried a variety of sleeping aids like 5-htp, ZMA, GABA, L-theanine, Magnesium, Melatonin, etc to not much help. 

I finally did a sleep study 5 weeks back and still haven't gotten my results yet, so I'm getting a bit impatient and thought I'd buy a refurbished Redmes S10 Autoset because I would probably end up getting it when i get my results back. 

My question is, and you guys probably get asked this a lot, should I get a full face mask, nasal or pillow? 

The full face disadvantages (bulky, darth vader looking (posiitive??)) doesn't really bother me too much. Or do i need to wait for my report to come back (God knows how long) and they will tell me which one i should get? 

Finally, did anyone have symptoms like me (waking up every 3 hours like clockwork) and get ''healed'' by CPAP? I'm just hoping its not some sort of chemical imbalance with my brain or something. 

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I hope to be a contributing part to this community
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#2
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Your choice is mask is a personal thing. I have poor results with Pillows, but most people love then to death. FF are very useful is you cannot keep your mouth shut when sleeping, personally I have to resort to a chin strap to keep my mouth shut. I am thinking it may be beneficial during the day too as I can get in some social trouble over blurting out comments.

Your sleep report will only tell you what mask was used during the titration stage of the study, if your study even included that, it will not say what mask will be best for your face shape and structure. Most seem to have to try several different one and types to find the sweet fit, if one even exists.

As far as what your therapy yield if you need it. Mine resolved all of my daily tiredness issues, and I may wake at night but rarely ever have to get up and go to the bathroom. I find that my choice of mask affects my recallable wake ups, I think its because I am so sensitive to pressure changes and such that a pillow mask just makes me slightly less comfortable and more wake prone. But I really do not know. CPAP has seems to have resolved major depression and anxiety for me, I am off the medications and feel really spectacularly good. That's a ? though, because depression in my case is cyclic, so it may come back or may not I will be following over the next several months. I think it has resolved this because my cycle is that I would get just too damned tired to do things, then get to feeling really bad about the things I had not done, then getting even poorer sleep due to self doubt and self-directed anger and repeat until I would be so down I did not want to get out of bed. Started CAPA two months ago, up between 5 and 6 every morning rarein' to go.
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#3
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
5 weeks and you haven't seen the results of the sleep study??

I would call them
EVERY DAY

And I though dealing with Apria healthcare was a exercise in patience keeping ones blood pressure from blowing up.

Download Sleepyhead. Great software and will help with your therapy.

Masks are a bit personal as everyone's face is different.
Although I am still a rookie xPAP user I have great success with nasal cushions and nasal pillows. I just could not get the F10 or Simplus (both full face masks and the Simplus has a forehead brace) to seal correctly without the mask feeling like its attached with ratchet-straps and leaving deep red marks on my face.
with the nasal cushion/pillow I need to use a chinstrap as I normally am a mouth breather.

Nasal pillows do take some getting used too. If the humidifier is set too low I get a burning sensation in my nostrils. I have a deviated septum on one side that sometimes has issues but is resolved when the therapy ramps up to the pressure I need
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#4
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
OK, some hints and musts for your research.
Read the Mask Primer, a lot of info in there including a mask selection strategy and fitting suggestions.  (go from least intrusive (nasal Pillows) to most intrusive (Full Face Masks)
Second, you MUST get a full data machine and start with telling both your doctor and DME that you want machine x.

The best, newest and most expensive

  • ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet (Fixed CPAP, Auto CPAP) (best choice) 


  • ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her (Fixed CPAP, Auto CPAP) (best choice) 

  • Philips Respironics DreamStation Auto CPAP Machine (DSX500T11) Heated Humidifier and Heated Tube  (best choice) 
Older models

  • ResMed S9 AutoSet


  • ResMed S9 AutoSet for Her

  • Philips Respironics System One (PRS1) Auto
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#5
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Thanks for the personal responses about your own situation guys. I'll probably get the full face as i alternate between mouth and nose breathing!
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#6
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
FYI there are many mouth breathers on this forum that use P10 pillows and another method to manage their mouth breathing.
Taping, Soft Cervical collar, chin strap, tongue trick.

if you haven't please read the Mask Primer. see my sig.
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#7
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Hi Navi,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Good luck to you as you start your CPAP therapy, hang in there for more answers to your questions.
trish6hundred
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#8
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
I used to be a mouth breather, but after getting set up on the CPAP, I no longer am.  If you do go with a nasal pillow or mask, I'd recommend getting something you can switch to for mouth breathing for when you have a cold or are otherwise stuffed up.  I use a P10 99% of the time, but am glad to have my hybrid mask for when I do get stuffy.
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#9
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Hi Navi

Welcome to the forum. I second Andy J's comments.

You must contact the Sleep Clinic to get your results as they are automatically produced. Although if you have an auto PAP machine it will also do that for you. Then upload your results with Sleepyhead here and the wonderful, experienced and knowledgeable guys here will interpret for you. They will help you to find and tweak your PAP needs as they have done for me and countless others.

Think we start to mouth breathe with sleep obstruction in desperate bid to get more oxygen. This was the case for me. Like others have written, I have also trained myself to be a nose breather again as the full face mask leaked too much and disturbed my sleep badly although it brought my apnea event s down. I am now with nasal pillows, supported by soft collar and that tongue trick to keep my mouth shut.

I started my journey about 2 months ago and now my deep black eye bags have gone. I look forward to more sleepful nights and and trust that will be for you to.

All the best

Apnea Infant
Sleepyhead in 5 easy steps
Beginner's Guide to SleepyHead

INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#10
RE: Newbie here, Pillow, Nasal or Mask? And my condition
Holy crap!  I hadn't thought about it at all, but my black eye bags have disappeared too Smile
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