Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[Hughseee]

So, I was diagnosed a little over 12 months ago and have been using a Philips Dreamstation every day for the last year. It has been overseas to Europe and locally around Australia and I thought I would post my story so far. I use a Resmed F20 Airfit and have had the same one for 12 months. I started using a humidifier but after a six week stint around Europe in July I haven't bothered since. Occasionally I use it just to justify its existence.

Initial AHI after hospital test was 57.

I don't mind wearing the full face mask, it keeps me from snoring which means I get to sleep in my own bed and I don't wake up my wife.
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April 19th 2019 AHI 16.59
April 19th 2020 AHI   0.87
Average AHI in 2019 was 2.87

I am, like everyone else, in a "lock down" of sorts. Social distancing is the norm so I'm staying home more and eating / drinking more!

The AHI figure fluctuates a little but rarely goes above 5. I have made minor "pressure adjustments" and have a MIN of 9.5 and a MAX of 20, with a RAMP at 8. Average pressure is around 10.

Gotta be happy with that?

[dhoeffn]

Hey all. Kinda known I had some degree of apnea for the last couple of years that had gotten progressively worse. I worked in DME a quite a while back and had lots of experience with CPAPs and knew the signs.


After waking up the other day with a severe headache I am sure was hypoxia related, I broke down and gave a CPAP a family member had laying around a try. Yes I know you are supposed to go get a sleep study yada yada, but currently inbetween with no insurance so not really an option atm and I am by no means recommending anyone self medicate w/ anything and obviously know no one on here would suggest it. I have a lot of experience w/ cpaps.

Anyways threw it on at 10CM with a ff mask and man it was night and day the next morning. First time in a while I didnt wake up feeling like I had a hangover. Never really thought the improvement would be so noticeable so quickly.

I also have an APAP I got lucky and found at a thrift store a while back and just got in the DC cord I had to order for it so gonna give it a try tonight and see what it tells me when I download it.

After all those years telling people "this is going to make you feel a lot better" when I worked in DME, kind of neat to actually understand it first hand.

Anyone know a good resource to get masks? Are they still regulated so stiffly with an Rx to buy one? Always thought it was a little silly people couldnt order their own masks.

[jimc77]

I've been using a ResMed S9 Elite for 11 years. For the past year the device has put a message on the screen stating that the motor has exhausted it's expected service life. It's still going strong, but I have an AirSense 10 on the way next week.

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[jimc77]

I know this is old news to many users, but EPR is a life saver for me. For the first few years of using CPAP, I didn't know how to get into clinician mode. A friend told me about it and I found this web site. Many thanks to those who make the clinician manuals available.

[jimc77]

Tonight is my 3rd night with my AirSense 10. I'm new to the autoset feature. I ran a pressure of 11 with my S9. My doctor set up my AS 10 with a range of 5 to 20. My AHI count was 6.2 the first night. With the great advice I found in these forums, I changed the range to 11 to 14. Night two's AHI count was 3.1. Very nice improvement. I feel asleep easier with the higher pressure (11) I was accustomed to, also.

Now, about the annoying whistle with the AS 10...

[Dormeo]

Third night—wow, you’re doing great! You might want to start a regular thread to get some help with further improvements to your AHI—and to track down the source of the whistle. Your machine ought to be close to silent. Onward!

[jimc77]

Thanks, Dormeo. By the way, I'm an 11 year CPAP user - all with the S9. Amazing it lasted that long.

Last night's AHI was even better: 1.7. The mask seal was worse, though (30L/min - ouch). I've been using the same Quattro FX for about two years. The headgear is frayed and is held together with safety pins. The Velcro is shot. Not pretty. My new AirFit F20 just arrived in today's mail. Yay. I'm looking forward to even better results tonight.

I spoke with two co-workers today who both have the AirSense 10. Neither of them have any whistling issues. I spoke with my DME this afternoon and will replace the unit sometime this week. I did notice that when I'm about to fall asleep, that's when the whistling is the worst. When I wake up in the morning, I don't notice the whistling. I realized that as I'm falling asleep, I breathe more deeply than I do when I'm waking up. Interesting. Hopefully the new machine will resolve the issue.

[Dormeo]

Eleven years -- wow, that's an inspiration to me! Good luck with the new mask and with the replacement machine. Your DME sounds good!

[jimc77]

Yesterday afternoon I received my (new) replacement AirSense 10 machine. The first one (less than a week old) whistled every time I inhaled. Thankfully, the replacement machine is quiet.

[Dormeo]

What a relief!