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Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Samuel,

Thanks for your "skepticism".

It is rather appropriate given my latest session with my ResMed S9 AutoSet.
I too have a scientific background having read Physics and Pure Maths at University. My working life was as a systems software professional. I was also a SCUBA diving instructor for 30 years.
I haven't read the replies from the UK forum yet.
As suggested in this apneaboard forum, I positioned the hose to come down above my head overnight but the general experience was unsatisfactory.
Essentially my facemask was getting overpressured, puffing up my checks and occasionally causing leaks. This was after I had taken my towel stuffed backpack off so that I could sleep in my favoured position, on my back.
The characteristics of the S9 seem to be the following:
Start up at a building pressure to reach its highest and in a minute or two back off the pressure to a light comfortable flow where my exhalations are easy and there are no leaks.
Some time later after I have dozed off I am woken by high pressure and the puffing plus leaks occur.
The pressure then backs off a little but is still a little too much for comfort with a small tendency to cause puffing plus leaks.
If I switch the S9 off and back on again the pressure and flow becomes comfortably light but after I doze off again the cycle is repeated.
Being trained in breath holding I wanted to find out what happened if I held my breath for more than 2 minutes, expecting the S9 to start pumping high pressure air. It did not.
So I am wondering is the S9 is not calibrated appropriately for me.

Here in the UK I am being treated by a National Health Service Respiratory Medicine consultant.
As such she has nothing to gain financially from providing false advice and poor treatment.
The hospital I go to provides excellent out patient services but the NHS is under financial and resource pressure nationally.
I believe the use of APAP machines was only approved for use by the NHS half a dozen years or so ago so perhaps the expertise is not yet fully up to speed.

However, because I had the best night's sleep over Thursday night while forcing myself to sleep on my left side by wearing a towel stuffed backpack I will, subject to what I will read on the UK forum, repeat that exercise.

Mike
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Cousins
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I have used the CPAP for a few weeks now and it worked from the beginning. The day following my sleep study I felt much better because they put a CPAP on me for a few hours during the study. I'm 39 and overweight. My wife said I snored loudly and made odd movements which scared her, we were married in 2006. So who knows how long I've had sleep apnea. I gained more weight in 2008-2009 and I started falling asleep at work. I'd fall asleep for like 25 minutes once or twice a day, EVERY day. Luckily my boss never caught me. Driving became dangerous. I simply could not keep my eyes open after only a few minutes of driving. Caffeine didn't work, I'd suck down monsters and red bulls and it had NO effect. It was like my brain would shut down no matter how hard I'd try to keep my eyes open. It was so bad, it was like my brain was saying " look, I'm going to sleep, you can physically hold your eyes open with your fingers, or toothpicks, but I'm going to sleep!". I'd almost fall asleep at red lights on my 7 mile trip to work. I'd be talking to coworkers and nod off while they were talking to me. One guy said to me " dude did you just go to sleep! That was awesome!" I was embarrassed. I began to get headaches when I woke up, not very often though. I'd wake up to Pee 2-3 times a night, and I sometimes would be breathing slightly harder, like panting, as I walked to the bathroom. I'd wake up and feel tired, and dread going to work, even though I felt as if I got a full nights sleep. I had a sleep study done and heres the results. AHI=106.4
AHI DURING REM=111.4
AHI DURING NON REM=105.8
CENTRAL APNEA=8 21.7 SECONDS AVERAGE
OBSTRUCTIVE APNEA= 206 21.6 SECONDS AVERAGE
MIXED APNEA=5 23.5 AVERGAE SECONDS
AVERAGE OXYGEN 90%
LOWEST OXYGEN 63%
These numbers got much better with CPAP. My AHI during rem was 8.4. Without CPAP my baseline hypopnea was 0. With CPAP my titration data showed Hypopnea was 27. Why did that number get bigger with CPAP? Anyway I haven't had the "Nod off feelings" at all since day 1 of CPAP therapy. I can drive without having to pull over. I don't even come close to dozing off at work and I feel more confident and witty during the day.













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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
G'day mountainmoney39, welcome to the hosehead club.

Your AHI of 106.4 is very severe - no wonder you were having so many problems. Mine was "only" 62 and I used to nod off in the car. Not a good feeling.

Congratulations on getting instant results with CPAP - most of us take far longer. The target is an AHI less than 5.0

The hypopnea is a reduction in airflow which if untreated may go on to become an apnea. Your machine senses and treats the hypopneas before they get a chance to become apneas. So the fact you're seeing more now is a reflection that the machine is doing its job. Over time, these might resolve themselves, or else you might need an adjustment to your pressure range.

Hypopneas frequently occur during the transition into and out of sleep - these are not really a problem.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here [copied from old forum]
(02-23-2012, 11:22 AM)SuperSleeper Wrote:
Dave_KC Wrote:I've just been poking around the board, and it look interesting.

I was diagnosed about seven years ago, and the first day I used it, I was amazed at how much better I felt. My bp had been a problem, but not afterward, and I was able to then loose a significant amount of weight (like 60 lbs).

The first night with the machine, it was like I was a new man, and incredibly better at sleeping.

So, it's been great for me so far.

If I felt better like you I would feel more inspired.
I don't feel any different after the discomfort from the kit.
I am always tempted to give it a miss.

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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here [copied from old forum]
Cicero,

If it is any comfort I hate using my APAP and full face mask. I've used them for 13 consecutive nights now but will stick with it because I want to get my driving licence back.
My natural sleeping position is on my back but I need to sleep on my side wearing a towel stuffed rucksack to stop me rolling onto my back. This reduces the opportunity for my throat to close up and the associated OSAs. My back, neck and shoulders ache during the night.The mask is uncomfortable even at the loosest fit compatible with minimum air leakage. The top of my left cheekbone ends up a little bruised and my left eyelid becomes almost closed by the time I wake up.
I will persist because as well as getting my licence back I must prevent further damage to me that OSAs cause through the drop in oxygen in my bloodstream.

Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Cousins
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
Cicero,

Why the discomfort? Is it the type of mask, the brand/model or the fitting?

Admittedly I would rather not wear my CPAP but it is quite comfortable and most nights I look forward to using it. The benefits FAR outweighing the negatives.

Why not try a few different masks? I know I have mentioned this before and I am definitely NOT a representative if Fisher and Paykel but I find that the Simplus full face is brilliant for me.

I also like the P&P Pilairo but only when I am not congested.

Good luck.
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here [copied from old forum]
(12-15-2013, 04:10 AM)welshmike Wrote: My natural sleeping position is on my back but I need to sleep on my side wearing a towel stuffed rucksack to stop me rolling onto my back. This reduces the opportunity for my throat to close up and the associated OSAs. My back, neck and shoulders ache during the night.

Have you tried using a t shirt with tennis balls sewn in it? Have you tried stuffing pillows behind your back? Using your current set up stuffed with towels would make it difficult for you to sleep well and not have back, neck and shoulder aches.

Welshmike said: The mask is uncomfortable even at the loosest fit compatible with minimum air leakage. The top of my left cheekbone ends up a little bruised and my left eyelid becomes almost closed by the time I wake up.

I don't know what ffm you are using but you should never have bruising and eye swelling due to your mask and head gear. If you have your head gear too tight, it could bruise your cheekbone I suppose. Not sure about the eyelid problem. I would suggest that you try another ffm or even nasal pillows or a nasal mask.


I will persist because as well as getting my licence back I must prevent further damage to me that OSAs cause through the drop in oxygen in my bloodstream.

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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
FYI, the title of this sticky " Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here"
For any CPAP related matters, if you don,t mind posting in a separate topic below the stickies ... please
Thanks for understanding

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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
To ALL following this entry TREAD... "Your Personal CPAP...",

You should not be surprised to hear me say that I'm skeptical that these algarithym(s) are perfect for everyone...

So IF ANY of YOU have experience along the line of what I'm about to describe, please chime in and recount for everyone your own account of your experience:

I'm inclined to believe that standard [b]Sleep Medicine
practices when a patient is having difficulty with BiPAP Auto machines... I believe that standard Sleep Medicine (prescribed by the "MD") should include reconfiguring an Auto/aPAP/BiPap as a CPAP with both the IP and EP set at the same pressure... say ~8-to12"H2O... this to see if use of such steady pressures would improve the patient's situation!??[/b]

Remember I used an ordinary CPAP set at 8"H2O pressure for more than 10 years and when my nasal passages clogged up, I would increase the pressure to as high as ~13"H2O... and thus acting as my own algorithym I think my health might have been better than it has when I was at the mercy of my HMO's DME(s) & MD(s). In addition I just hired a new MD (Sleep Medicine qualified) and he missed what I eventually figured out myself... that my PRS1's Resistance Control setting was set incorrectly for the mask I was using!

So yes, I remain skeptical and recently reSEARCHed using GOOGLE to try and better understand how MD(s) get their "Sleep Medicine" certification... and just what does that mean! In the U.S. I believe only the following are elligible for this "subSpecialty":
(1) Primary Care MD(s), (2) Neurologists, (3) some Pulmonologist, and (4) Psychiatrists. And there is also some allowances for what we call "Grandfather" clausing (a type of "gifting") is allowed. I was offered such a "grandfathered" certification when my profession (Cert.SafetyProf.) was FIRST offered, but I chose to NOT accept it... but rather study and take the courses normally required to stand for an examination!

Remainign skeptical, Sam Ross... aka MrSafety
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RE: Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here
I am new. Pretty vanilla story... snored (wife was worried), didn't feel rested, 2-3 trips to urinate during the night.

I did the sleep study, read a WHOLE LOT of stories on this forum, got data, manuals, software, and educated myself (big thanks to those who run and contribute to this wealth of knowledge!).

I am only 22 days into CPAP treatment, but things are going well. Sleep study AHI of 80.8, with SpO2's averaging 82, and dropping to SpO2 min's of 42.8 (sounds crazy...) was where I started from.

I hate the mask, the confinement, and the mere idea of NEEDING the darned device (but have accepted my hose-head status now!), but at 11cm of pressure, I am averaging an AHI of 7.2 (and that includes the first bad nights, working with pillows, etc., and having a few 20 AHI nights mixed with some recent 2 AHI successes!).

Sadly, I don't feel more alert, rested, or have better memory (I was hoping for it, but I never fell asleep or had problems in that area, so it isn't surprising!). Happily, I know it is working, because I wake up feeling relaxed (free, happy lungs, and a low heart rate). I also make it through the night without the ANP from my heart telling my body to dump water and go take a leak! So I know my atria of my heart has to be happier, which can only be good for a healthy life!

I am still fine tuning my mask and adapting, but thanks to all for the information here (gained by lurking!). I wish my doctors and others had been more tuned into sleep apnea, and connected my urination and blood pressure and put me down this path earlier!

Sleepyhead is tracking my data, and the journey continues! Thanks to all who make this place possible!
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