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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I have been on CPAP two months, just 28 days with my own machine. My overall statistics seem to be great, AHI 1.3, no obstructive events, central and hypopnea about equal. Initially I had difficulty with leak related to the mouth opening and used a chinstrap, with limited success. but my current dentist was really concerned about immobilizing, pulling back on and covering the TMJs. By gradually increasing the humidity setting and gradually decreasing the pressure setting, plus probably tincture of time using CPAP, I have reduced the mouth opening events to be relatively rare.
I feel so lucky to have stumbled upon Apnea Board and am so very greatful for all the information I have found here. I feel so much better in terms of strength, energy and stamina and a clearer head during the day. I used to "sleep for hours" but never felt like getting out of bed and I used to often check my watch throughout the day to see how many hours before I could get back into bed. Nocturia, such a problem before, has also significantly decreased.
Because of medical issues during the past three years I have seen many physicians and they plus my general dentist did not screen for sleep apnea signs and symptoms. My current dentist, a specialist, has been studying sleep apnea and is attempting to teach area family doctors and general dentists more about the condition.There seems to be a great need for this where I live.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Moo, welcome and well done so far, physicians and specialist seem to be the same all over the world so it's not just were you live, I saw 5 different specialists and all diagnosed depression, it was Dr Google that diagnosed and saved my life, anyway keep up the good work.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Well, I'm 6 months in....generally doing well via nasal therapy (pillows), but having some leakage issues that may prompt a change (nasal mask? ffm? will find out tomorrow). Overall AHI is nice and low Smile

I am happy to report, too, that I was able to "rough it" for the Ride to Conquer Cancer this year with my CPAP. Smile Had power, but other than that it was basically camping Smile
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
" but having some leakage issues that may prompt a change (nasal mask? ffm?"
I am also continuing to have some leak, mainly from the mouth opening but my AHI is so good that my "machine advisor" recommends staying with the nasal cushions and tolerating if possible some degree of drying in the mouth. He has recommended sticking it out for a while if the statistics are good,because the jaw-dropping may improve with time and many have problems maintaining a seal with a full face mask. He is well-trained and very experienced and does not want to rush to a full face mask and has suggested that it is a "relatively" small number of successful CPAP'ers who use this type of mask, again citing that it can be difficult to maintain a seal. I have found that increasing my humidity level has been helpful. It also has been helpful to tease down the pressure level until as low as possible while still keeping the best AHI that I can get.. The higher the pressure the more the mouth seems to be blown open and so using no more than enough has been helpful. The leak levels have not been perfect but have stayed acceptable and so I am staying the course for the present. It seems unlikely to me there is any "perfect mask"and I think it is very important to work with something that really will end up being comfortable. From my reading it seems that the three-year failure rate for using CPAP is really high and so perhaps the less contraption on the face the better.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Moo, welcome to the board and congrats on making good progress as well.

I hear where you're coming and my adviser has generally agreed with that line of thinking. In my case, it's not a general leakage problem (my median leakage values are really good and I have managed to do really well at keeping my mouth closed), but rather a mask disruption...I still move a fair bit while I sleep and I end up knocking the pillows askew just because they don't have a lot to keep them in place. When that happens I get that big woosh of air that wakes me up Sad Kinda defeats the purpose of trying to get a good night sleep with the CPAP Wink

My best guess is that because I am generally doing quite well with therapy via the nose, they'll try me on a nasal mask to see if the different headgear can help hold things in place better while I do my occasional rolling over in my sleep.
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
Thanks Psychomike,
Sounds reasonable to try it. Hope it works. I'll be interested to hear how it goes.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
(08-20-2013, 05:56 PM)Moo Wrote: Thanks Psychomike,
Sounds reasonable to try it. Hope it works. I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

Look like I'll be finding out sooner rather than later...came away from my appointment with a nasal mask for me to try. Their take on the numbers is about the same as my "gut feeling"...therapy is generally going great, but the leakage spikes should be dealt with, esp. since they can (and do) disrupt my sleep.

If I can get my nose to hose right (sorry...couldn't resist Wink ) then it looks like treatment will be effective.
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 learned about OSA from my 6'3" 40lb over wt brother in-law. He could not say enough how great he felt and described the symptom he no longer has. I realizes I had several of these. He mentioned that Medicare and his insurance paid for every thing.

Googled - Sleep Apnea Forums-
Found this one and several others. Spent many hrs reading Questions and Answers about OSA. Was impressed with sincerity, good will of people on this and other forums. Better still I learned a lot of good information. An important one for me, That I could skip the night of horror hooked up to like Frankend Stine's slave. Yes, I read the poor guy's rant of how he went thru it all the discomfort and could not sleep the requirement by Medicare that you must must sleep at least 2hrs during the session and was billed $4000. I am a light sleeper and know my insurance would not pay either. Also The Medicare 20% cop pay is a $400 or more. Which mine would not pay.

Advice from some some members as follows.
(Make a folder up of the following materials to take to your Primary Care Physician most will want to take a part in this)

!. Lear all you can about OSA
2. Down load Berlin Questionnaire (for sleep apnea) - fill out and sign
3. Do same for Epworth Sleepiness Scale and Medicars Questionnaire Also your insurance Co. if you have one.
3. Go to Mfg page in this Forum find #2. Get on their web sight, look for Product overview page & print copy of used Resmed S9 autoset with H5i & Climateline machine. (Best price) (best machine for self treatment) very trusted Co. or some other source.

4. Make copy from MFG #9 -Articles.asp?ID=165 and mark in red the larger Sample Generic Prescription near the top. You must hand this to your Doctor after your little speech, if he agrees to giving you an RX.

5. Prepare your little speech - You must convince your Doctor you are in need of OSA therapy, are serious. Stress that you do not want go thru a sleep study night as you already know you have OSA. Mention the cost & the 2hr minimum clause in Medicare That one made my Doctor blink. Show your Sleep Questionaires. Tell Him or Her you lould like Him to wrtie a RX so you can purchase this equipmet He must trust you so. Promise that you will be very careful and will not do something stupid. Show him that this machine auto titrate (medical term - adjusts pressure to meet patients needs) thus helps you to gradually adjust your own treatment. Tell him this procedure is not dangerous and that most people less use than 10cm H20 pressure. Mention that set at maximum 20cn of water the machine can not even blow up a balloon. There is a picture of this on this Forum.

6. Mention you would like to have the (home night blood Oxygen level test) Home Oxygen delivery Companies do this free. They bring a small portable device with a small plastic clamp you put on your finger at bed time. This is attache to the the very small recording. They come back in the morning to pick it up and then contact your DR with results. (It is a piece of cake). There is a strong possibility you have OSI if Oxygen level drops below 90% during the night.

My result of all the above was I got the RX. Purchased the above mention machine and SleepWeaver Elan. Used the setup during daytime to get use to it. Set the max pressure to 5cm. Next morning result. - 25AHI
Second night increased limit to 8cm. Result 12AHI
Next night increased to 10cm Result 5AHI
Next night increased to 10cm Result 3AHI
Next night 10.5 result 1.5 API
Last night 10.5 result 0.7API And I feel so much better, no more day time naps, even my short term memory is improving.

Thanks to all the wonderful people that support and are apart of this Sleep Apnea Forum.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
What a great success story! Good for you. When i have time am going to look up some of the things you have mentioned.. Still learning.
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Smile 
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Just completed my FIRST WEEK with CPAP machine and all I can say is WOW !!!

My Sleep study showed I had 88 apnea's in the first hour, with my Oxygen level dropping below 70%. Some apnea's as long as 40 seconds ! They woke me up and put me on the CPAP machine... slept the rest of the night with only a couple of apnea's. O2 averaged around 95% the rest of the night!

With a pressure of 17 on my MedRes9... I am only having 2-10 short events a night now and FEEL INCREDIBLY FANTASTIC!

- Am sleeping the whole night thru (7-8 hours) since first day!
- No more getting up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom!
- No snoring....!
- No restless, tossing and turning sleep!
- No headaches in the morning!
- No buzzed, burned out brain feeling during the day!
- Amazing alertness during the whole day! No more nodding off during teleconferences!

Only drawbacks so far....
1. Sore and tender bridge of my nose
2. Wife keeps waking up concerned that I'm still alive since I'm not tossing and turning and snoring so loud to wake the neighbors!! "No hun.....still alive..... Just experiencing my first peaceful, blissful SLEEP in years!"


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