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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I am a Canadian, and live near Toronto. Somehow I have been compliant for over 25 years.  Help from other cpap users have made this so.

I am using a ResMed S9 with humidifier and heated hose.
I have a ResMed N20 as a trial mask. I've had a number (5?) DreamWear masks typically replaced every 6 or more months.  

I find that my results gradually get worse, and finally become bad enough that I search for the cause.

A few years ago I followed advice here and got Sleepyhead software.

Now it takes me much less time to figure out what I need to do.

I am a moderate mouth breather.  I use a chinstrap to keep my mouth closed 

I just tried a full face mask. an f20. It was an awful period of terrible sleep.  I took it back.
I've tried about 8 full face masks with no luck

I am so grateful for this forum.  I'm so grateful for advice.

It's the reason I am compliant.

Thanks
David Lynch
Toronto
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
My sleep doc was only interested in knowing i turned my machine on. I asked him what changed in OSA therapy. He said nothing had; he assured me he had over 3000 patients. Pressed further, he said there were heated hoses, and better machines I didn't qualify to get.

It turns out he sent reports to my family doctor after we met.
However, I never saw one in 15 years of his care. I've fired my family doctor, and finally have one that follows up. Now I need a sleep doctor that is helpful.
DaveL
compliant for 35 years /// Still trying!

I'm just a cpap user like you. I don't give medical advice. Seek the advice of a physician before seeking treatment for medical conditions including sleep apnea. Sleep-well

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php..._The_Guide

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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Almost 20 years ago (at age 50) i started feeling sleepy when i woke-up, sleepy at noon, wanted to nap in the afternoon, fell asleep during movies & reading books and had failing energy.  Then someone told me i would snore and often stop-breathing when i was asleep-yikes!  My Dr said to get a sleep-study, asap.  (i thought about getting the painful corrective-surgery instead, but there was NO guarantee it would fix the problem; so i opted for the cPap machine.)
 Well, after the test and fitting, it took me almost 10 days to be able to fall asleep w any of the different masks i tried, but then SUCCESS!!   My moderate to severe apnea was prevented at last and what a difference!!  Ever since i have woken up everyday full of energy and still feeling like i'm 35, ha-ha!  What a wonderful invention  : ))
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
It was in early 2004, when after years of my wife laying awake waiting for me start breathing again, that I had a sleep study.
I would doze off at stop lights, could drive any distance safely, and doze with a house full of people. The Dr. said I was lucky
not to have a heart attack as much stress as my heart under. 
 I received a Remstar pro and comfort select mask. The first night was amazing, I dreamed for the first time in years. I felt 
so much better. Never had any trouble adapting to the therapy.
 Jump fall of 2016 I got a new Dreamstation Auto and all is well.

Dreamstation Auto and Red Med Air Fir N20  Pressure 11
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Wink 
My Personal CPAP Success Story
It was about 18 months ago when I thought that I may have a problem.
 
I knew that I snored, LOUDLY, because my partner told me, even though she didn’t need to cause I often woke myself up!  I was always feeling tired throughout the day and falling asleep on the couch immediately after dinner and snoring at the TV.
 
However more recently some troubling things occurred. Like often falling asleep (& snoring) at my computer terminal at work, this happened more and more, including any time of day. 10am, 3pm, whenever.
 
Then, whenever I would go for long drives I always felt as if I was about to fall asleep. I would stick my head out of the window, stop and splash water in my eyes etc.  Luckily I never did doze off, but it was a big wakeup call (pun intended).
 
So I eventually went for an in-house overnight sleep monitoring.  This came back with a reading of 65AHI.  I don’t think I ever actually intended to use a CPAP (coz who actually wants too, right?)  But the doctor made it very clear that I should by informing me that if I don’t it would take about 10 years off my life as well as risking early onset of dementia. THAT was the wakeup call!
 
I went to a major global firm who had a very good clinician who was extremely helpful and let me experiment with different machines and masks.  In the end I settled for the Phillips DreamStation Auto CPAP with an F&P Brevida Nasal Pillow mask which I found extremely good and very comfortable.  The deal was to pay AU$300 for the trial period and then, if I wanted to purchase it the AU$300 came off of the price of the machine and mask which was around AU$3,000, which I fully intended to purchase.
 
My 1st night’s sleep gave me an AHI of 2.8! This score dropped even lower as I got used to the machine and has been as low as 0.1 AHI.  Best of all I felt awake all day, I can stay up watching TV till 12pm or whenever without feeling sleepy, I don’t feel as if we are all about to die when I’m driving long distances and perhaps best of all my partner reports NO SNORING!
 
I also especially like the app for my phone that I get from my unit’s Bluetooth connection.  It tells me at a glance what my AHI etc was for last night.
 
Anyway, the very helpful clinician rang me and asks how things are going.  I was able to tell her that I’ve never been better and my life and my health has completely turned around, and that is the NEW ME!
 
She was very happy for me but then told me that she has left that company so I won’t be seeing her again and that the company will contact me in September sometime to work out payment etc. So I thought I’d wait until they contacted me, after all, I had the money that I was going to pay them.
 
September came and no word.  Then on September 30 (a Saturday) I receive an automatic email from them saying that I owed them $456 for rental on my machine for the month of September!  I freaked out as I had NOT arranged rental whatsoever.  Nobody contacted me at all to arrange my purchasing of the machine and mask and looking through my paper work nowhere did it say what date my trial actually finished. 
 
Needless to say before I was able to go to the clinic on the following Monday morning I spent the weekend looking online to see how much the model was elsewhere. 
 
Monday morning I took my trial machine, mask and their $456 rental bill to the company & complained about how they did this without contacting me, gave them back the machine and told them whilst I had fully intended to purchase this machine from them I will now be purchasing one online for a fraction of the price and that if they don’t squash the rental bill I’ll be contacting Consumer Affairs.  I haven’t heard a word from them for almost a month.
 
The one that I eventually got online was exactly the same model & mask as the one that I had been trialling as it was so comfortable and quiet AND it was only $1786. With everything!  So even by missing out on my $300 trial refund I was still $1000 in front.
 
I ordered it and it arrived 2 days later coincidently on my birthday!
Then I got $1000 back from my health fund so it was working out sweet!
 
When the machine arrived all was good except that I couldn’t adjust many of the settings as only a ‘Clinician’ could access this.
 
Fortunately though I stumbled across Apnea Board and was able to get the Clinician version of the manual and set it up the way I wanted.
 
Then I downloaded the SleepyHead software which is SO excellent and now I’ve been learning SO MUCH via the Forum, Wiki etc
 
So I want to give a BIG thanx to apneaboard for helping mine & others apnea situation.
Sleep-well
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
G'day Nitschke. Welcome to Apnea Board, and thanks for sharing that experience.

For the benefit of other Aussie members, are you able to let us know the name of the companies you dealt with, and also your health fund, please? $1000 is the highest rebate I've heard of - most seem to be around the $500 mark and some are even lower.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I had cancer, and had to have 2 surgeries for it. One of them was removal of all my groin lymph nodes, which has the lasting effect of fluid problems in my legs now. Basically, my legs fill up with fluid during the day, and the fluid at night is able to go into my lower abdomen and get absorbed, meaning I gotta go pee during the night. After the surgeries, I was getting up 4-5 times on a good night, and 10-12 times on a bad night for bathroom trips. Been doing that for 3 years straight, and I was exhausted.

My uncle last year was diagnosed with ALS, and as part of his therapy, he had a CPAP/BiPAP machine. When he passed away, it was offered to me if I got myself checked for sleep apnea and needed it. Test results said I did, as I stopped breathing over 100 times an hour and had oxygen levels under 50%. The specialist was wondering how I was even functioning on a daily basis with that low oxygen and so many wake-ups in the night. I was so tired, that I can't remember how I was doing it either.

The night I did the sleep study, I had 2 hours with no CPAP, 3 hours with nose on CPAP, and 2 hours with full face mask. Hated the nose one, didn't mind the mask at all. The next day, with just that little bit of being on a CPAP, showed me just how much of a difference it made. I was almost functioning back to normal for most of the workday, and only felt tired mid afternoon. Usually I was tired all day and struggled to get things done

Now I've had the machine for less than a week, and already I'm feeling better, have way more energy, and am more productive than I've been since before my cancer operations. And the best part is that the worst night I've had for the bathroom was 2 trips twice; the rest of the days only once. Seems I was waking up from the apnea, and then had to go to the bathroom due to waking up, instead of waking up because I needed to go. My sleep is so much better, and I feel rested in the morning upon waking. 

Daily life may actually start to become normal again after all!
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Really interesting story DBTaylor. The A40 is a hospital level ventilator that is a BiPAP with a backup rate and AVAPS, capable of up to 40 cm pressure. This is not your everyday CPAP. You are using a pressure of 19, so it's pretty clear you needed some help. Although you can't use most of the software out there to track your progress, this machine can deliver CPAP, bilevel and timed backup for those that need it.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

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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
Yes, I was lucky in that my uncle was a US Veteran, so when he got ALS, his insurance gave him the best of everything available. All of his equipment was donated out to people and organizations that needed it. I was lucky to get the opportunity to have the CPAP. I`d rather have my uncle back and a lesser machine, but it feels like a comfort having the extra capacity even though I don't need it. I still have some things to learn, such as what AHI means, but for now I know I`m feeling better each day. I`ve already seen a difference in my food cravings as well, which is good because I need to lose some weight. It may seem odd, but I`m not craving sugary stuff that much, which I thought would take a lot longer to happen. Time of day cravings are slowly coming back to normal as well. It just feels like everything is falling back into place after being such chaos for the past 3 years. I say 3 years because before the surgery, I did sleep full nights, and I don't remember things being so severe. A big change for me though is that I sleep on my back now, whereas before I was a stomach and side-sleeper. That may be the case why I didn`t notice it before, as I could never sleep on my back. Now I don't even want to roll over most nights.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(10-23-2017, 12:51 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: G'day Nitschke. Welcome to Apnea Board, and thanks for sharing that experience.

For the benefit of other Aussie members, are you able to let us know the name of the companies you dealt with, and also your health fund, please? $1000 is the highest rebate I've heard of - most seem to be around the $500 mark and some are even lower.

The company that I dealt with was Air Liquide in Adelaide.
As previously stated, the lady that I dealt with was exceptional, but then she left (I don't know why)

I think that it was more of a stuff-up than an attempt to get extra rental $$$s off of me.
... as long as I never hear from them ever again I'll be happy!

My Health fund is Health Partners which may only be known in South Australia

I only have Extras cover which is good for dental, ambulance etc
(our Medicare system is wonderful for everything else such as hospital, medical etc.)

I wasn't aware if it covered CPAP machines at all, but asked & the max was $1000 & the money was in my bank in 2 days!
Pretty good for a $1780 purchase I thought!
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