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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Hi all,
Just found this forum and am already impressed by the depth of knowledge and experience. I have only recently found out that I had sleep issues. Specialist advised sleep apnoea treatment using CPAP due to sleep study indicating mild AHI of 28 so I hired a machine (ResMed) for a few weeks and have just changed to my own BMC RESmart AutoCPAP machine. The latest result from a only software I could get (a link from this forum  - thanks) that works, indicates I now have an AHI of 0.1. This correlates with what the last report from the clinic gave me several days previously.
So, in short it would seem that I am headed down the correct path.

PS If anyone knows of a software that works with the BMC RESmart AutoCPAP besides the RESmartV3.5.20000, and is freely obtainable I would be very happy to hear about it. I am currently reading of the SD card rather than a link.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Smile Smile Smile
AHI 85 on good night sleep 
Negatives
I had tachycardia
I had at the same periods bradycardia
They wanted to implant in my heart pacemaker
I slept all day for up to 7 hours during the day
I thought i had too much adrenaline but it was due to high heart rate due to sleep apnea (now when I use CPAP I am calm as a cucumber)
I had back-leg pain
I slept on work 
I could have been dead now because of a car accident when i fell asleep
My current drsci wants to remove records of schizophrenia - she told me that I simply did not have it, and it was because of high ahi-(85) which caused my brain to starve of oxygen...but once stigmatized now hard to explain to others.
I became overweight.
I had eroded linings in my stomach due to lack of oxygen. Now I can eat "everything"
I could not since my childhood compete in sports with other kids due to apnea, (my problems breathing was noticed when i was a baby and snored too much).
I had trouble not falling a sleep in school and because of apnea could not finish my college.
I had huge memory problems.

 Smile Smile Smile
Some positives are still early to resolve themselves, as I am using cpap for 1 month now.
                                                          
My untreated AHI 78,9

05.2019 My first cpap mask Heinen & Lowenstein Full Face, it did not suite mine Facial Physiology .
08.2019 My second cpap mask ResMed AirFit F30 Full Face CPAP Mask it has medium leaks.
09.09.2020 Trying to use Nuance pro gel nasal pillow mask
Month later started using an resmed F30i and still using it.
My backup machine Philips Respironics Remstar AUTO cpap
My machine I have put on waiting for bipap therapy SOMNOvent Auto-ST: BiLevel-ST
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Probably not much to add, as I have not read all the success story posts.

I've been on CPAP for 30+ years.  Initially started to have a sleep study done at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton, CA.  They did not have a proper sleep lab yet, so it was a regular hospital room hastily set up.  I was supposed to sleep in a regular narrow hospital bed on a piece of egg-crate foam material.  The tech was set up in the adjacent room and they had literally knocked a hole in the wall, with still raw ragged drywall edges, for all the wires to go through.  Technician was wearing a t shirt and jeans and the bathroom was dirty.  Half way through the set up I informed him that I was not happy and was going home.  He said I could not do that to which I replied "Watch me" and left.  I subsequently got a letter from St. Jude telling me they were sorry and they were building a proper sleep lab and they hoped I would come back then.  I then had a sleep study done at what was then Western Med in Anaheim.  Very nice bedroom looking sleep lab.

I did all this because I had fallen asleep at the wheel two times, in the middle of the day.  I told my dentist about it and he suggested sleep apnea and told me it was common for "chubby guys with no neck, like us".  I know, it's odd that it was my dentist that suggested it but they had just had another dentist down the hall die of a heart attack and they suspected that sleep apnea had something to do with it, so they mentioned it to me.

My sleep study was a two step thing at the time.  One night to get the data and another night to get you set up and adjust the machine.  Up until then, I thought you were just supposed to wake up feeling stupid, just part of life.  Once I slept with the CPAP feeling so refreshed, I couldn't wait to get my own machine.  It changed my life and now I have not taken it off my face for 30+ years.  There may be new and innovative remedies now, but CPAP works for me and I am very happy.  I don't really think about it and i even wear it if I'm going to take a nap, which I almost never do.

I am so high on CPAP I should be selling the damn things :-).
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(06-15-2019, 04:37 PM)mirkee Wrote: There may be new and innovative remedies now, but CPAP works for me and I am very happy. 

There is no innovation that even comes close in effectiveness to CPAP therapy. All of the alternatives address the very large issue of failure to comply. Lots of people get their CPAP machine, decide they hate it (even though the facts show that it saves your life and dramatically improves the quality of your life) and put it away in a closet.

I hated mine, too, but I knew I had to use it. It took me a long time to realize the benefits so I'm glad I stuck with it.

Thanks for sharing your story.
Sleepster

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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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I was diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea since March 2016. Started using a bipap. Changed my life. Feeling alive again. After the first two nights of all night sleep, took my decisions, accepted it to my self, I live with a mask to sleep. I wear it every night. I do not feel any discomfort, became to me as normal as a pillow.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
For many years, I had not been getting restful sleep.  However, after using this site, I discovered that my AHI was way up, and that I was not resting well.  Using the Airfit 10 and taping my mouth and the mask, I resolved the problem. 

thanks guys.

FYI- I'm back due to some disc issues in my neck, and it works to sleep on my back. However, I have no idea, what mask or what to do to solve this problem.  Also Resmed Airfit 10 tends to lose tensile strength on headband, which makes it ineffective after a few months.  Any ideas?
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I was diagnosed with OSA about 10 years ago and was placed on a CPAP.  I used the machine religiously with moderate relief.  However, over time my apnea got worse and other medical problems developed.  I was tested again earlier this year and was diagnosed as Group 5 OSA - my AHI index was 53.9.  In May I began using a Respironics DreamStation ST with humidifier and an N20 mask.  My success story is that I am sleeping much better.   Before, 5 hours sleep a night was about the best I could ask for, now I have no problem getting 8 hours or more and mask fit is running in the high 90's.  But my AHI is a work in progress.  The best I have been able to register is 7.5 with an average of 11.8.  I'm definitely more rested with the new machine so to me that is a success story.  Having access to all the numbers being generated by the new machine is something new for me.  And when I read other posts where people are getting AHI readings even below 1 makes me wonder if there is something i can do to improve my sleep quality.   Thinking-about     


Comments and suggestions appreciated.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Cobradoc, It's hard to know what to advise without more data. Please download free OSCAR software (see top of this page) and post some daily charts. Instructions for how to organize and post data are in the links below. With more data we will be able to advise you on machine settings to optimize your therapy.
Download OSCAR

Organize Charts
Attaching Charts

Mask Primer
Soft Cervical Collar

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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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(07-27-2019, 10:18 PM)Melman Wrote: Cobradoc, It's hard to know what to advise without more data. Please download free OSCAR software (see top of this page) and post some daily charts. Instructions for how to organize and post data are in the links below. With more data we will be able to advise you on machine settings to optimize your therapy.

Do I want help dealing with apnea?  By all means yes.  But to be perfectly honest, I have my reservations about your OSCAR - it's not the same OSCAR developed by McMaster Univ.  Not being a computer person, I read comments here about OSCAR that bothers me - comments in computer-ease that I have no idea what they are talking about.  I'm sure that somewhere on the forum there is a tutorial on your OSCAR.  Let me do a little more research, primarily to convince myself.  Thanks.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(07-28-2019, 08:10 AM)cobradoc Wrote: .  .  .  But to be perfectly honest, I have my reservations about your OSCAR - it's not the same OSCAR developed by McMaster Univ.  Not being a computer person, I read comments here about OSCAR that bothers me - comments in computer-ease that I have no idea what they are talking about.  I'm sure that somewhere on the forum there is a tutorial on your OSCAR.  Let me do a little more research, primarily to convince myself.  Thanks.

OSCAR is an acronym for Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter.  It is a fork of the SleepyHead code and has nothing to do with  McMaster University.  OSCAR is a collaborative effort by many Apnea Board members.

Please look below, in Useful Links, for the tutorial, Beginner's Guide to Sleepyhead and OSCAR.
Crimson Nape
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com
___________________________________
Useful Links -or- When All Else Fails:
The Guide to Understanding OSCAR
OSCAR Chart Organization
Attaching Images and Files on Apnea Board
Apnea Helpful Tips

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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