Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[Sleepster]

That's a great story, davo. Thanks for sharing.

[SuperSleeper]

I am amaized to read of the new technology some of you use incorporated in your CPAP, and I realize how old my machine is (somewhere around 18,000 hours) but for now I think I will stay with "My Breathing Machine" as my boys call it.

Hi Davo - welcome to Apnea Board!

Just so you know, Medicare and most health insurance policies allow for CPAP replacement every 5 years... with your's closing in on 6 or so years old, you might want to look into getting one of the newer machines before your old machine quits on you. The useful life of most CPAP machines is around 5 years.

Newer machines are much better - both in comfort and effectiveness of treatment.

Glad you hear you're sticking with CPAP.

[KarenK]

My physician recommended I have a sleep study done, based on having high blood pressure, diabetes, and being overweight.

I had the study in mid-June. It was a two part study, and I had a c-pap machine added at about the half-way mark. That was the end. Five weeks later, I called my primary physician to find out why I had spent a night so long ago and had no results as yet. He immediately messaged me saying that he had not received the report from the sleep study, apologized, and told me i had severe apnea, and would receive a call.

The next day I was called and an appointment was set up...the therapist came to my home as I had had foot surgery and could not drive. I was set up with an Icon and a wisp mask. The therapist was quite thorough, I would say.

First night was OK, but had some leaks. I normally sleep on my side, toss a bit, and usually have my hand on my face, not under the pillow. I woke a few times to move the mask a bit to reseal it.

Second night I had no leaks, and all seemed well.

I am at the end of week 2 and last night I tossed and turned, and had a lot of leaks. ARGH!!

I made a few calls to the office with questions and they were answered quickly. This office is a 20 minute drive from my house. There is a competitor just 5 minutes away, so I stopped in there, now that I can drive, and saw some other masks. I guess if I get another script from my physician I can change suppliers.

Differences?? I am waking up, slightly, but have not trekked to the bathroom since the first night. I have not taken any naps either. I am still between distilled water and whether or not to use Brita filtered water. i spend a few months every winter in Mexico and may use the Brita there. Not sure yet.

Glad to have found this board.

[Sleepster]

Welcome, Karen. Glad to hear you are doing well.

[rainbow_nerds]

Thank you for this forum and the information available to change settings on the machines. I used a vpap autoset 25 and it decided not to work anymore ( i have had it for several years)
I am out of town visiting and after one night of sleeping without a machine I knew this would not work at all. I felt like a zombie all day.
I have an older cpap and due to all the information on your site I was able to reset it to my current RX,
There is a lot of info here and i wish I had looked earlier in my sleep apnea life. I was diagnosed at the beginning of time for apnea patients and my first machine was a torture device - they have come a long way - thankfully.

[samurai]

I'm on cloud nine. Go ahead- I dare you to ask me why?

Oh what the heck I just came from my Dr's office - the E.N.T. (ear, nose, throat). I have got this machine under my full and complete control along with what I'm suppose to be doing!!!! The big thing is my AHI. Are you ready for this - 0.6!!! Yes that right 0.6!!! No the decimal point is not in the wrong place, it's suppose to be in front of the 6!!! My leak rate is a - drum roll please - 7.2 median, 95th%: 13.4 and the max was 23.4!!! And that may be due to the itching problems I get once in a while and the fact I may be opening my big mouth a time or two. To go along with that o.6 how about this: Apnea index - 0.5 Obstructive: 0.3. I'm so below mild I scare myself.

I am proof that anyone can do this with the positive outlook I have. I can relate to: Frustrating - Aggravating - Irritating and any other ing you can thinkl of. It always wasn't the "bed of roses" it is now - trust me!!! I too do not wake up with the headaches. I have more energy to get through the day. I actually look forward to going to bed and hooking up!!! How can anyone NOT sleep with a big chunk of plastic and a 6 foot hose - they must be crazy - they are the abnormal people of the world - we are the normal ones!!!

Did I tell you my AHI was 0.6???

I am floating on cloud nine - the sun has been shinning all day - the temp hit 47 today - what could possibly... Oh crap we loose an hour of sleep this weekend. Oh well - can't have it all perfect can we!!!

I am soooo jealous! I still have a 7.4! UGH! FRUSTRATED!

[SuperSleeper]

Welcome to Apnea Board, rainbow_nerds and samurai.

[bruceweight]

My brother who had been diagnosed with sleep apnea took a trip with me and we stayed in the same hotel room together. He all but begged me to get checked out but being the stubborn person that I am I shrugged it off. Eirly this year I had surgery to fix a hernia and had all kinds of problems with my heart post op. When I was finally with it enough to figure out that I was still alive I came face to face with several doctors huddled together in ICU and they told me I had what appeared to be a bad case of sleep apnea and strongly urged me to get tested. The sleep apnea did not cause this particular heart problem but hindered my recovery; as a result of the surgery it was officially discoverd. I did get tested and found that I was having 66 events per hour, and that I was in the extreme category. I have only been using it for a little under two weeks and am not feeling a catastrophic change but feel like I am sleeping a lot better in fact I prefer to have it on and have been averaging 7.5 hours on the machine per night. After the first four nights I put the card in the computer and downloaded the results and I had an 10.8 events per hour average which is a far cry from 66 and a week later the average had dropped to 5.4 per hour. I hope this trend continues. I have a drain that I have to use at night and before my urine output was somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 quarts. Now it is about 2/3 of a quart output. I will have to see what the doctor thinks about all of this. Hope it is good I need to take my blood pressure more often, but the first few days it appeared to have dropped the diastolic pressure 10 points. Anyway positive things seem to be happening; but I am still learning about all this. I did buy a used machine which only had about 200 hours on it and still had some of the factory plastic scratch guard on it here and there. S9 elite with the H5i was with it as well. The clinicians gave me the pressures and I did the settings myself. I had a horrible reaction to the mask in the hospital as I am slightly claustrophobic. I have done fine at home where I am in control of everything and not on a host of drugs which I think contributed to the foul fungshwey. Best I can tell I think it is going to be a success story.

[Laevelder]

I started dreaming again (or rather recall my dreams) within a week after starting with CPAP. Feels great.

I measured a decrease in blood pressure (early mornings) from 146/94 before cpap to 139/88 afterwards. I am delighted.

[Sleepster]

Best I can tell I think it is going to be a success story.

Congratulations. I predict you will experience more improvement with time, and that lots of your problems that you thought were inexplicable will fade away.

I had headaches for three decades and never could figure the cause. CPAP therapy is causing them to be a thing of the past.