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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I have been on CPAP therapy for 8+ years now.

I remember watching the same scene on a TV show 3 times because I kept dozing off. I remember missing big plays on a regular basis on MNF.
I remember my wife asking me to roll over multiple times a night to try and stop snoring.

All of that ended 8 years ago.

On the very first night my wife thought I had gotten up to watch TV or something and reached over and was shocked I was there, asleep... silently. She had to listen closely to make sure I was breathing and was alive.

I did not want to use a CPAP. I thought it looked like I was on a respirator. After the first night and certainly after the first week when I started feeling better rested my opinion changed.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Hello all,
My apnea journey started in '08. A friend of mine who works rotating shift called me one day and said he sat in a presentation from the local hospital about sleep disorders. He said all the things I had complained about for years were all the symptoms they talked about in the presentation. He said all I had to do was stop in at the hospital and pick up the sleep study equipment. At first I though I couldn't have sleep apnea, it must be some other problem. I knew someone at the time that had it and I didn't want a CPAP machine. After much pressuring from my friend I went and got the equipment, mainly to say I told you so! It was pretty simple setup and was a little difficult to sleep with but I managed. The next day I dropped of the equipment and they said they would call me with the results. As I walked in the door my phone was ringing and it was the hospital. The dr. said you need to see a dr. immediately. He said I was so bad that I could have a heart attack in my sleep. He said I was the worst case they had seen. So at this point I'm scared, heart attack in your sleep scared. My AHI was 28 and my heart rate was over 120 several times thru the night. O2 saturation was as low as 80%. At the time I didn't really know what all this meant but the dr. was very convincing that it was bad. I made an appointment a few days later and the dr. set me up with a CPAP machine that day. While I was waiting to see the dr. I decided to video tape myself sleeping to see what was really going on. It was really shocking to see myself sit up, eyes wide open, take a big deep breath, lay back down like nothing happened, time after time and have no memory of doing it what so ever.
I acclimated to the machine pretty quick as I was well motivated, heart attack in your sleep, motivated. To all new users, it just takes time to get used to it. They say it takes 21 days to learn a new behavior, it will take all of that. It didn't take but a few days and I felt much better. I just kept feeling better and better, day after day, more energy, less grumpy, not half asleep all afternoon. It was dramatic enough my co-workers noticed a difference. For years I had battled with anger management issues. Knowing what I know now I think it was mostly caused be sleep deprivation due to apnea. This is my apnea story, I hope it helps or motivates someone. Please keep in mind this is a serious issue, heart attack in your sleep serious. Stick with it, it will get better! Thanks for reading.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Thanks for sharing your story. Your story of watching yourself on a video is quite amazing. Glad you found your way to the CPAP! My only addition to your advice is to tell people that it can take a lot longer than 21 days to get used to the machine. I didn't notice any positive effects until after about 10 weeks, and I didn't really get used to sleeping with it until after about 4 months. So - new users - stick with it! It's worth it.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I joined as I found a Resmed 10 Airsense10 Autoset for Her at the Flea, 230 hrs, in a bag, the found new pillows. same day about 10 weeks ago,

Bought as some thing that looked interesting to review


I snore and use a mouth guard, but can not sleep on my back as I will snore.

In the past when I have back pain, I sleep on my back with pillow under my legs to reduce the pain and it goes away after a period of time.

Had lower pain a few months ago, but can not sleep on my back as I will snore.

Some point remembered I had the gear, and started the research including this web site for the clinical

Did all the cleaning, and the used the defaults, with small pillows. ended up with a issue on my nose first night, researched on this forum and bought Lanolin, no issues since and move to the large Pillows after testing.

Spent more $$ on a new SoClean and S-9 adapter

Been tweaking, but my key is

I can sleep on my back and only wake up once after about 3 1/2 hours may use the facilities, usually no AHI. When i get up anywhere from 0.0 to 0.6

And I can sleep on my back with the pillows and not snore..

Do the Sleepyhead to review and tweak

Unit cost - $20 at the Flea, New set of 3 pillows $6, New SoClean with S9 adapter (eBay) $245. S10 SoClean adapter $20, heated climate line $ 35

Working on a backup bug-out bag for vacations, etc with S9 with high mile unit $5, new H5i humidifier $75, power supply $25, bag $20, heated climate line, $ 35 have a new standard hose to use without the H5i as part of the first S10 buy in the bag.

and can use the S9 adapter I got with the SoClean with it.

Some day I will go get a sleep test, but for me it has been a great solution to sleeping on my back...

Best $$ I have spent
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I have a deviated septum from playing sports
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I always snored a lot, but like most people had a reason to explain why I was always sleepy. In my case, 4 kids in almost 4 years plus a lot of longhaul travel. Then I moved to the USA, discovered a love of American craft beers and gained some weight, and the situation became dire. I was dying. I couldn't stay awake in the afternoon, even driving short distances was scary and my blood pressure which was always normal exploded to 165 / 118. I knew by then what the problem was, but had to wait 2 months to get the sleep test. I felt like I wouldn't survive the year...

I did the watchPAT test at home. I had zero REM sleep, AHI of 104 and my O2 sats would drop as low as 70, averaging 90. I was told it would take another month to get a machine through insurance, so I just bought my own as soon as I got the prescription. Visited the friendly CPAP Shop in NJ, who were very helpful. The doctor prescribed the ResMed A10 Autoset (and full face mask), and I am extremely happy with the device. The store helped me select a mask, and I am generally happy with the Amara View. Had some issues with leaks, but solved by adjusting the headgear. My only issue now is waking with strap marks indented on my face which last an hour or so...

The first night I tried the CPAP it took a while to get used to it and finally sleep. I slept for 2 hours. The first morning was like WOW, is this what other people feel like in the morning?! I haven't looked back. In 8 months, I have only not work the mask for 1 night, due to a heavy night of alcohol. My AHI is always under 5, and rarely above 2, and is 0.5 to 1.0 most nights. My BP is back to 120/80 and I energy I haven't felt in years. Reading this forum I feel lucky the therapy has worked so perfectly. I did have some issue feeling short of air before falling asleep which often resulted in me ripping the mask off. Thanks to this forum I could fix this by accessing the clinical menu. I turned off the ramp and bumped the minimum pressure up to 8 (was 4-20), which did the trick. I also dropped the max pressure to 18, as I felt like sometimes the mask was blowing from my face and the leak would wake me. Now I generally just put the mask on and sleep like normal until morning.

I bought a backup battery because I travel to a lot of places where the power is not reliable. I never use my CPAP on the plane though, just because. So I try to avoid flying overnight.

Anyway, a big success and a real life saver.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
TeeDub200, welcome to the forum and what a wonderful story. Well done to you. I hope your story only continues to get better and better as time carries on. All the best to you.
Sleep Tight...
Gabby
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I had absolutely no idea I had severe obstructive sleep apnea. I just thought my snoring was getting worse with age, as was my energy level. My husband told me that I really needed to get checked out. To humor him, I did. To my surprise I was told I had 25 central apneas and over 325 hypopneas during my test! My AHI was 39.1. I picked up all of my equipment soon after and have been using it faithfully ever since. I'm one of the lucky ones that adjusted to it easily. In fact, it's rather relaxing to me. As I'm new to this, I'm sure I'll have many questions and am thankful for this forum. Bigwink
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Ten years ago I had started falling asleep when driving and my memory was so bad
I was worried I was developing Alzheimer's ! After seeing a spot on TV I started to
wonder if I could have it so I took a nap with a tape recorder on. When I played it
back I didn't hear any snorting just silence and a lot of gasping. 1/24/2017 will mark
ten years with my new friends Cpap and a full face mask. I was very lucky it took me
no time to get used to the mask I was even mad they woke me up at 6:30 to go home.
So not everyone can say that there memory is a lot better at 66 than it was at 56.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Like many here I did NOT have sleep apnea, I didn't stop breathing in my sleep, I didn't snore. Sound familiar.

JUST to tell her "I TOLD YOU SO" I took a sleep study.
I had 90 events per hour, an AHI of 90!! Go figure.

I didn't have a problem, I was driving off freeways at exits because I was driving to stay on the road. It was the rumble strips on the side of the city road that woke me up, rumble strips you ask, most know them as driveways, I was driving across driveways, and scared to admit it.

2nd sleep study, the titration study, and I woke at 5:30am actually feeling awake and refreshed, I was stunned.

My DME told me 6-8 weeks to get a CPAP device and I said no way. I said find one elsewhere and I'll travel as far as it takes to get it. End result was about 1.5 weeks to get an appointment and the device, and I've never looked back.

My Rx was CPAP at 18 cmH2O and I took to it like a duck to water. I was lucky, I was immediately feeling better. That was in 2003.
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