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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
The Oscar program we refer to is one developed on the basis of the old Sleepyhead. It is nothing to do with McMaster's Oscar which is for a totally different purpose. You can find the help system here http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...OSCAR_Help
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I will point out that OSCAR is being developed by many that are members of Apnea Forums, not just Apnea Board here, and we have several Doctors on our development team as advisors.  You are welcome to use Encore, the manufactures program, but honestly, OSCAR is much easier to use.  OSCAR is being developed by and for PAP users and has a strong desire to expand the number of devices supported.  We have identified and fixed over 100 issues/bugs that are present in SleepyHead so far.  And the developers often help users when they find something that is either confusing or just not right.  Frequently these fixes find there way into the next release of OSCAR.

If you care to address your concerns, and I Suggest a thread in the main forum or Software support,  I'll guarantee that they will be seriously looked at.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(07-28-2019, 08:10 AM)cobradoc Wrote: 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. 

But to get the help that was offered you need to follow the advice of those giving it.

Quote: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 having trouble following this line of reasoning here.

Quote:I'm sure that somewhere on the forum there is a tutorial on your OSCAR.

There's a tutorial on SleepyHead, but not on OSCAR.
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
While there is a SleepyHead Guide on our wiki, called RobySue's Beginner's Guide to SleepyHead, the one with that level of detail for OSCAR has not yet been completed.  That said, many of the concepts on the RobySue's Guide apply to OSCAR as well.

Still, there is still a lot of documentation on the Apnea Board Wiki for OSCAR, which are linked as categories at this OSCAR Help page:

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

And, as has been stated, if you have any questions on the OSCAR software itself, feel free to start a new thread in the Software Support Forum.

If you need help interpreting your data, you can learn how to post your OSCAR charts to the forum and then ask for help-- see here:

Organize Charts

Attaching Charts

Additional NOTE:  this thread is primarily for CPAP Success Stories, so even though this is a needful series of posts and I'm glad these questions were addressed, let's try to keep it on-topic, by doing our best to keep OSCAR software discussions the Software Support Forum and OSCAR chart & data analysis in the Main Forum.

Thanks folks. Coffee
SuperSleeper
Apnea Board Administrator
www.ApneaBoard.com


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
Hello everyone!!

I didn't think that I would be writing this post this soon. While I have only been on CPAP treatment for the past two months, I have experienced a night and day difference in my quality of life. For most of my life (as far back as I can remember) I would always try to sleep in for about 12 hours. This was especially true during summer breaks when I was in school and anytime it was the weekend. Honestly, I never really questioned it because most people in my family sleep that long as well. I just figured I was sleep deprived and needed catching up. Most of the time, I could only get 8 hrs of sleep and I'd be tired for several hours after waking up. As long as I kept myself busy, I wouldn't usually feel tired. But as soon as I had nothing to do or just relaxed, that feeling of drowsiness would return. Well, that's the old life. Now to the new!

After being married for 7 years, my wife suggested I go get a sleep study because of my snoring. Turns out I had an average AHI of about 45 while in non rem and 53 in rem, and that's when I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. At first I was shocked and a little sad, but then also hopeful because I knew it could be treated. So I spent the next several weeks learning everything I could about sleep apnea. I'd watch Youtube videos, search forums (that's how I found this site). It was a lot to take in, but eventually I started to feel somewhat competent about my condition. I was prepared to do months and months of tweaking. I knew AHIs of less than 1 were possible, but I was going to be happy just to get it under 5. Imagine my surprise when the very first string of nights my AHI was well below 1. I couldn't believe it! I thought it would take months of trial and error and getting feedback from the experienced forum users. But nope. I got on forums, asked for advice, and a couple of hours later, Sleeprider and Bonjour had given me some very useful info about changing my settings and that was that. I'm very grateful for the both of them as they answered any questions that I had and they helped me fine tune my settings. Thank you Sleeprider and Bonjour!!

So lastly, what's a success post without talking about the benefits? Well, despite my initial success, I still had to go through an adjustment period. Finding the right mask, dealing with leaks, trying new pillows, and trying out all the cpap tricks and hacks did take awhile. And now two months in, I pretty much have a good routine for bed every night and I don't have much trouble sleeping. Anyways, on to the benefits. The biggest difference is that I don't need 12 hours of sleep anymore. Most days, I only sleep a little bit over 8 hours. Sometimes when I try to sleep in, I can sleep almost 9 hours. So CPAP has given me and extra 3-4 hours every single day.  Also, I don't feel tired during the day anymore. Long gone are the days where I run to the gas station to get a coke or some ice cream snickers bars to keep me awake. To be honest, I didn't really notice just how much I would use food to keep me awake before cpap treatment. Now, it's basically non-existent. 

Another benefit is chess. I've been taking chess seriously for about 5 years now. After CPAP treatment, I realized that my play was much more accurate in blitz chess. I just wasn't making those silly mistakes anymore. I've even been able to get past a year and half plateau. So it's nice that it's helping me improve my game. 

Another unexpected benefit is that CPAP has allowed me to actually keep a consistent sleep schedule. Before it would always get messed up when I would sleep 12 hours a day. Now, it doesn't do that anymore. So now, I can go to bed at midnight and wake up around 8am every day and not have to worry about sleeping in until noon. Also my wife has been very happy because I stopped snoring as well. Anyways, CPAP has been quite transformative in my own life. I would highly recommend that if you have sleep apnea that you take the time to become educated about it and have a optimistic and relentless attitude about cpap treatment. It might take awhile, but the results are totally worth it.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Good to learn of your success story, ReturnofXile.  It's very encouraging.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Woo hoo! 0.67 last night! Quite an improvement from 69.6, and in less than two weeks! I have spent a lot of time practicing during the day, too. The doc suggested wearing just the mask to practice, but I’ve been practicing at full pressure.

One unexpected benefit is that the arthritis in my knees is better. It’s still there of course, but now I’m not waking up feeling like I’ve been beaten up.

There’s still a bit of fog that hasn’t completely cleared, but I’ve been able to cut my caffeine intake drastically.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
ragtopcircus,

It seems the most difficult thing in life is to get used to the mask, the ticklish nose at times, the pressure, the hose, but it’s so worth it. The headaches leave, the fog clears, and you remember what it’s like have a good nights sleep. 

I’ve been on the machine for a little over ten years now and would NEVER consider being without it for even a single night. I have my life back.

I wish you well in adjusting to this new adventure in your life. Keep going, it’s so worth it.  Sleep-well
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Not only machine settings ...
I was diagnosed about 10 years ago and started therapy, initially with a CPAP, then an APAP, then a BiPAP (all DeVilbiss).
I ordered four masks of different types and found Respironics Comfort Gel nasal then Comfort Gell Blue to work the best for me.
It helped but nothing magical.
A few months ago I started wondering about my sleep stages and it looked like I was not getting enough REM sleep.
Consulted Dr. Google and found alcohol was a contributing factor. So my partner and I gave up drinking. This led to a significant improvement.
I've been looking at my charts (both DeVilbiss and OSCAR) and noticed that if I had an afternoon nap my night time apneas were reduced.
Now, while my AHI is consistently below 5, I'm looking to find some way to get it down further.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Hi, I was diagnosed with Sleep Apena back in June 2019. I live about an hour from Nuremberg Germany and went to the Landstuhl Hospital (US) and got the equipment to do a home study. Since it was a four hour drive, I ended up staying at a castle near Bad Kreuznach. Since it was a test I had to bone up for it, so I had a schnitzel, fries, and three biers so I was "loaded for bear" on this one. A month later I had an appointment and they told me I had 54 events for the night, or per hour, I forget... When I first got my CPAP I had a full mask and didn't like it. I was still getting some events but still less than 4 per hour. Then I ordered a P30i mask, and it was amazing. Since I got the new mask the most events I have had in a night is five and many nights without any! It helps that I have the chin strap to keep my trap shut. I still wake up a little tired but I no longer need to take a nap during the day and never on the drive home. Since I got the machine I am talking with other people that have sleep apnea and I have also wrote a paper for people to read which will identify if they have sleep apnea. I have sort of a twisted sense of humor so if you could imagine Al Bundy writing this then you will have a good idea what would be in it! Also just love the Oscar program, it has so much info in it!
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