Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[Phil7]

I'm new.   11 years on CPAP's.  Doing great.   Building up 4 posts so I can insert an image to ask a question

[Sleeprider]

2-more and you're there.  Feel free to post your thoughts so the posts are more meaningful.  You'll get there.

[gettingbetter]

I've been on PAP therapy for 3 months.  For me, PAP success is a journey, not an overnight thing.  While I'm still working towards complete success, I've made much progress...most of which is attributed to help from the AB members.  I'm indebted to you all for your patience and help.  Before coming to this board, I was at the mercy of a physician whose philosophy is "if your AHI is 5 or under, you're cured".  While this may be true for some people, in my limited knowledge, I feel this philosophy ignores a significant portion of people who have more subtle issues that affect quality of sleep (UARS, PLM, etc).  I'm not angry at my physician, as he has the right to practice the way he wants.  I've just chosen to educate myself and take responsibility for my own health.

My physical and mental health were declining.  After much medical intervention, the doctors concluded "you're healthy except allergies, insomnia, and very mild asthma".  I was glad for the news, yet something wasn't right.  After waking up one night gasping, and I went out on my own and purchased a WATCHPat One home sleep study through the internet.  It showed and RDI of 34, AHI of 32, and oxygen saturation levels below 88% for 35.9 mins...severe sleep apnea.  That led to a titration study which showed AHI of 54 and 110 mins spent below 88% oxygen saturation level. I was started immediately on APAP (Resmed AS10 for Her).

I've had many challenges adapting to APAP....mostly skin/mask irritation and aerophagia.  I finally settled into the Airtouch N20 (and F20 during allergy season).  The success has been going from 54 AHI/110 mins below 88% sp02, to AHI less than 1 or 2 most nights and night time sp02 has stabilized (with use of APAP)!  I still don't feel a lot better yet, but believe that will come in time.  I didn't get this way overnight, so getting better will take time!

Now that things are stable, I'm just entering the phase of fine tuning the therapy.  Despite having a great AHI, AB members have helped me realize I continue to have many flow limitations (and the impact of flow limitations on sleep quality for some people).   I actually have upgraded to a Resmed Aircurve Vauto.  Again, AB members have been amazing at suggestions for settings, etc as I'm getting started with the Vauto.

I'm excited to see what the next few months will bring, in terms of progress with fatigue and overall health.  I'm seeing very subtle signs of improvement now, but the next few months will be exciting to see what comes.  I'm confidant things will improve.

[factor]

I'm confidant things will improve.

Congrats and yes it is a journey..  I believe there are a lot more under 5s out there.  The wonderful folks on this board will be right here waiting for them...

[Horseshoez]

Hello fellow apnea, uhhh, Survivors?  Sufferers?  Patients?  Geez, I don't know what we are; anyway...

Back in 2004 my wife basically kicked me out of the master bedroom because of my snoring; I started sleeping up in our cold (for 9 months per year) attic which seemed to help a bit.  As things got worse I'd wake up having tried to inhale so vigorously I'd aspirate the contents of my stomach into my lungs.  Unfortunately when that would happen, I'd need to continue to inhale to get enough air in my lungs to then be able to cough everything back out.  At first this would only happen once every few month and I didn't associate it with my snoring.  By 2007 things had gotten so bad aspirating the contents of my stomach was happening weekly, if not daily; in spite of my busy schedule, I checked myself into a sleep clinic in a local sleep hospital and came away with an AHI of 75!  That number didn't mean anything to me at first, but when it was explained, it scared the heck out of me.  The ENT I consulted with asked, "Why are you still alive?"

A few weeks after consulting with the ENT, I called and asked what the next steps were; they were surprised I hadn't heard form a local CPAP service company, and arranged for me to be contacted the next day.   I started my CPAP journey in early November 2007 with a Respironics REMstarPro M-Series BPAP machine, and all was good, I didn't really think about the fact I was a CPAP user until 2019 when I started traveling a lot for my previous company; yeah, the REMStarPro isn't exactly a breeze to tote around from city to city.  This year I changed jobs, and once the COVID travel restrictions are lifted, I'll be basically on the road 26-weeks per year (some of it international), this in turn prompted me to start researching new CPAP machines to see how the technology has progressed in the last 14 years.

The aforementioned research is what led me to discover CPAP machines should be replaced every 3 to 5 years and masks every 6 months, YIKES!  As mentioned, my machine is nearly 14 years old and my mask is about 12 years old (although I have replaced the seal a few times); me thinks it is time for a new unit.  At this point I'm pretty much set on buying a new Philips DreamStation Go (APAP version), with battery; not only will this allow me to sleep on long international flights, but it will allow my wife and I to go camping again, something which we haven't done since 2006 or so.  The only wrinkle to my plan is, the DreamStation Go is part of the Philips recall and isn't currently on the market; annoying.

[gettingbetter]

Hoseshoez:  I'm a medical professional that's worked extensively with aspiration.  Quite literally, it sounds as though you are very lucky to be alive.  Chronic aspiration can be very serious.  Glad you found PAP therapy!!

[Horseshoez]

Thanks @gettingbetter, I knew I was in deep trouble when things got worse, hence checking myself into the hospital. Ironically, it wasn't the aspiration itself which was the final straw, my possibly larger issue was the severe lack of sleep and falling asleep at the wheel while I drove to and from my (then) place of work, some 80 miles each way. My first night with my PAP device was such an incredibly liberating experience, I mean, actually sleeping for an entire night, geez, what a luxury. Since November of 2007 I think I've only spent two nights without my "breathing machine" as my wife and kids call it, and both were memorable for how horrible they were, even without any aspiration (which fortunately I didn't need to deal with on those nights).

[wrobertdavis]

Subject: Airmini success!

I have used cpap for 30 years.  My main machine is a resmed airsense 10. A few months ago, I bought a resmed airmini for traveling.  I was severely disappointed at first. I thought the humidifier setup was inadequate. It uses a special disk to recycle the moisture in your breath, so you do not need a separate water reservoir.

I finally figured out that the issue was cool air drying out my nasal passages. I woke up multiple times in the night with my nasal passages restricted and mouth breathing.  Everything was completely dried out.

There is no source for warming air on the airmini.  Because the airmini is so small, it occurred to me that I could place it and the air hose under the covers next to my body.  Wow! This worked. I had 9 hours uninterrupted sleep the first night and felt great.  I am on a trip and have slept well every night with the airmini under the covers.

Bob

[OpalRose]

I don't know much about the AirMini, but that's a great idea. Did it also muffle the sound, as I've heard it can be a bit noisy.

Welcome to Apnea Board!

[wrobertdavis]

The airmini, itself, is virtually silent.  The sound of air when I exhale is louder than my airsense10, but barely noticeable.   I do not know where the noise reports come from. Maybe I have a later model. I purchased in Feb 2021.

If it weren't for the cost of the humidifier disks, I could use the airmini as my main machine.

Bob