Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[Bibber300]

Hi everyone. Been reading this board for quite sometime. I am 3+ years in and although the first 3 weeks were auful, I can not sleep without it?. One thing I thought was strange is that I can not stand the warmth of the humidifier, so I put cold distilled water and filtered ice cubes in my humidifier. Thanks to this forum, I found out that I am not alone! Now that I have become a member I will try to contribute when I can.

[SuperSleeper]

Bibber300 -

[purpleh2]

Hey Bibber300

  Welcome to the forums, wouldn't it be better to have distilled water ice cubes,
Unless you have a cleanable humidifier then you can use tap water or filter water
 but I'm sure its not going to hurt it to much

[Bibber300]

Yes, I will start freezing my distilled water..thanks!

[jacksonpurdue]

I am new to using a CPAP, and had found that until just last week, I have been struggling with early morning mask leaks. I am not a mouth breather, but found that early in the morning I drop into deep REM sleep and my jaw relaxes and I get an air leak through my mouth. I use a nasal mask and don't like using a full face mask. I tried a couple different chin straps, but hated the constriction. I read on this forum to try a soft cervical collar!!! This has done wonders for my air leak!!! My "Sleepyhead" graph shows a dramatic reduction to my air leaks. Now this may not work for everyone but here is a little about me. Male; 68; 5'11"; 285 lbs.  I felt the need to share my success.

[snorybob]

jacksonpurdue:

Welcome to the forum!
It,s good that you let people know it's working for you. Don't hesitate if there are things you need to know!
Stay positive! Happy for your success. Congrats!  


             snorybob.

[snootz4]

Hey everyone,

I'm a long time cpap user.  About 15 years now.

I just bought a Devilbiss Intellipap2 and I'm stoked that I can now see data that can help me to get better sleep. I finally figured out to install the Sleepyhead 1.1 beta software so it could read the data on my SD card.  Apparently the previous versions did not recognize the Intellipap2 data.

Now I have to educate myself to use the data to help me sleep better.

I do have a question.  When "they" say to replace equipment like hoses or nasal pillows after so many months of use, how do "they" determine the proper amount of time?

For instance, they say to replace hoses after 6 months.  I feel like that's an extremely short amount of time.  As long as your cleaning the item, and it's free of any bacteria, shouldn't it last longer than 6 months?

Thank you fine people for maintaining this forum where we can find quality info about sleep apnea.

Richard Coile

[DeepBreathing]

G'day Richard, welcome to Apnea Board.

The question of replacement frequency comes up fairly frequently ;-) My rather cynical view is that the frequencies are as recommended by the manufacturers and are as short as they can get away with to maximise profits. Here in Oz our insurance doesn't generally cover replacement items or consumables, so most people use their stuff far longer than the recommended intervals. I replaced my hose at three years and it could probably have lasted a lot longer.

[Melman]

I'm with DB on this. It's recommended that FF mask cushions be changed monthly. I've been using the same F20 cushion for 22 months. As long as the silicone holds up and I don't have leak or comfort problems I will continue to use it. I've used the F20 mask frame for the same period.  I use humidifier chambers until they start to leak. In the case of the Resmed that's usually 10 months to a year. I change filters monthly but just because there cheap and its more bother to check to see how loaded they are than to just replace them. I probably won't change a hose until it develops a leak.

I did a poll a while ago and 50% of the respondents replace cushions at 6 months or longer. Only 7% replace them monthly as recommended by suppliers.

[DarciWantsToSleep]

I am a week into CPAP therapy and I cannot believe the impact it's already had. I teach adults all week and typically by Thursday I am near collapse. Today?  I came home from work, vacuumed my house, cleaned the kitchen and I was singing while doing it. This Saturday I have been invited to a BBQ and brew (brewing beer that is) and I am looking forward to it!

What was I like before?  Exhausted all the time. I napped when I got home from work. My husband was always asking me to keep up my end of the house cleaning because he couldn't do it all. And the weekend?  I had to sleep all weekend just to hope I'd have enough energy to get through the week.  Weekend events were a chore and I was cranky about it. 

I feel blessed that I am finally being treated. And I know that I am fortunate that my first machine and mask worked well for me. I am looking forward to all the positive changes in my physiology to come. And it is awfully nice to have my husband back in our bed 100% of the time. He calls me his elephantito.