09-20-2017, 03:37 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-20-2017, 03:46 PM by Ingramite.
Edit Reason: spelling
)
Old Dog and New Tricks
Hello
I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea way back in the mid-90's.
I woke up one afternoon sitting in my driveway, not remembering a thing about the thirty mile commute home.
My kids would not let the neighbor kids play in our yard because they were embarrassed by my mid-afternoon snoring.
My wife had permanent elbow imprints in my ribs from trying to jump start my breathing.
Pretty classic symptoms I guess.
The morning after my first sleep study I woke up feeling as tired as I went to be but the news was that I was waking up over 50 times an hour.
The morning after my second sleep study night ( with therapy) I felt like an 18 year old kid again. They almost had to call the police to get me to leave without a cpap machine.
That first cpap machine was a Quest and from all that I have been reading here it was a brick of a brick but nonetheless, it changed my life.
It came with little or no instruction other than to "use it".
I rocked on with that machine for about ten years.....same cruddy mask and hose....yeah, that is embarrassing, but it worked and it worked wonders. I have never been a guy with compliance problems because I took to the therapy like a fish to water. About 10 years or so into my journey I went back to the same sleep clinic because I thought maybe my frequent colds and respiratory infections might be due impart to the less than sanitary conditions of my mask and hose. I learned that you can not just go down to the 7-11 and buy these components. You have to have a valid prescription.....sound familiar?
My second sleep study resulted in a new Respornoics series M machine that blew a blast of air at me at the rate of 17. By now the internet had made great leaps and I was able to bootleg my much needed mask liners and hoses from such savory sources as e-Bay long after my prescription had expired.
A sad story from a guy who has good insurance with high deductibles.
Another decade passes and I'm on the corner like somebody buying crack because my trusty old Series M shot craps on me.
I am not safe to drive to the corner, and I know it. I tried all of the "fixes" that I found here, but alas my Series M is dead.
The very first thing that I did was to call a "provider" here but that appointment is about another week out.
So......I now have a brand new Dream Station Auto sitting on my nightstand....thank you very much.
Life has to go on and I have a 100 mile commute to work and a 100 mile commute home and there is no way I can make that trip in a sleepy fog.
Tonight will be my very first night with my new pal.
I am using my old mask, a nasal mask.....I need some help on my initial settings.
I promise, cross my heart, that I'm going to do this right this time.
I am more than a little intimidated by the graphs and charts that look like the dashboard of the space shuttle.....I have a lot to learn.
Ya know, honesty hurts sometimes but when I got my last machine they just handed it to me. I didn't get the books....that kept me very suspicious for a long time. I also "made payments" to the sleep clinic to the tune of 800 bucks....after my insurance paid up. Ripped off? yeah, I think so.
Thanks to this forum, I am going to walk in to my next sleep study as an informed patient. I am nearing retirement (if you couldn't tell) and I want to get all of my "pre-existing condition" documentation done now.
My specific question is my mask setting on this new machine.
I have spent about 30 minutes with it.
I'm pretty sure that I'm in the auto mode but it only registers 4.0.
My mask leakage is showing 100%....good or bad?
What resistance value should I have entered for this type of mask?
Bless you for staying with me if you have gotten to this point in the ramble.....Thanks for your help.
I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea way back in the mid-90's.
I woke up one afternoon sitting in my driveway, not remembering a thing about the thirty mile commute home.
My kids would not let the neighbor kids play in our yard because they were embarrassed by my mid-afternoon snoring.
My wife had permanent elbow imprints in my ribs from trying to jump start my breathing.
Pretty classic symptoms I guess.
The morning after my first sleep study I woke up feeling as tired as I went to be but the news was that I was waking up over 50 times an hour.
The morning after my second sleep study night ( with therapy) I felt like an 18 year old kid again. They almost had to call the police to get me to leave without a cpap machine.
That first cpap machine was a Quest and from all that I have been reading here it was a brick of a brick but nonetheless, it changed my life.
It came with little or no instruction other than to "use it".
I rocked on with that machine for about ten years.....same cruddy mask and hose....yeah, that is embarrassing, but it worked and it worked wonders. I have never been a guy with compliance problems because I took to the therapy like a fish to water. About 10 years or so into my journey I went back to the same sleep clinic because I thought maybe my frequent colds and respiratory infections might be due impart to the less than sanitary conditions of my mask and hose. I learned that you can not just go down to the 7-11 and buy these components. You have to have a valid prescription.....sound familiar?
My second sleep study resulted in a new Respornoics series M machine that blew a blast of air at me at the rate of 17. By now the internet had made great leaps and I was able to bootleg my much needed mask liners and hoses from such savory sources as e-Bay long after my prescription had expired.
A sad story from a guy who has good insurance with high deductibles.
Another decade passes and I'm on the corner like somebody buying crack because my trusty old Series M shot craps on me.
I am not safe to drive to the corner, and I know it. I tried all of the "fixes" that I found here, but alas my Series M is dead.
The very first thing that I did was to call a "provider" here but that appointment is about another week out.
So......I now have a brand new Dream Station Auto sitting on my nightstand....thank you very much.
Life has to go on and I have a 100 mile commute to work and a 100 mile commute home and there is no way I can make that trip in a sleepy fog.
Tonight will be my very first night with my new pal.
I am using my old mask, a nasal mask.....I need some help on my initial settings.
I promise, cross my heart, that I'm going to do this right this time.
I am more than a little intimidated by the graphs and charts that look like the dashboard of the space shuttle.....I have a lot to learn.
Ya know, honesty hurts sometimes but when I got my last machine they just handed it to me. I didn't get the books....that kept me very suspicious for a long time. I also "made payments" to the sleep clinic to the tune of 800 bucks....after my insurance paid up. Ripped off? yeah, I think so.
Thanks to this forum, I am going to walk in to my next sleep study as an informed patient. I am nearing retirement (if you couldn't tell) and I want to get all of my "pre-existing condition" documentation done now.
My specific question is my mask setting on this new machine.
I have spent about 30 minutes with it.
I'm pretty sure that I'm in the auto mode but it only registers 4.0.
My mask leakage is showing 100%....good or bad?
What resistance value should I have entered for this type of mask?
Bless you for staying with me if you have gotten to this point in the ramble.....Thanks for your help.
