06-04-2014, 09:02 AM
2nd go around as a hose head
Hi all,
Thanks for the great forum and information! I just wanted to put a post out there mostly to introduce myself, give you my story and ask a brief question.
Here's my brief question so you don't have to read through my whole story and introduction if you don't want to: I've had my S9 Autoset for two nights now. First night I used it 5.4 hours, last night (just got up) was 7.1 hours. Both nights my AHI was 0.0. In comparison on my sleep study it was 46. My question is this: Can Cpap therapy REALLY be that effective that quickly? Or is my machine just not detecting my events properly?
Here's my background and story:
Back in 2009 I weighed 370ish pounds. My wife suspected I had sleep apnea and in talking to a friend who did he said that getting his sleep study done and getting his machine was a life changing event and that he never knew what a good nights sleep was until he had it. So I had my doctor refer me for a sleep study. That study revealed that on average I was having 60 events per hour. I was prescribed a BiPap machine. I don't remember the pressure settings from that machine, I just know that for the four or five months I actually used it, I never felt worse in my life. So I just stopped using it. I tried having the pressure reduced but I just never got used to it I think. Now I never downloaded my data, didn't know about this forum, and was really blind to the whole thing.
During that time, I also had weight loss surgery. I had a Lap Band installed on 08/25/2009, which was about the time I stopped using my BiPap. Subsequently my weight began to fall and I got down to a low of 276. I've been hovering between 295-305 for the better part of four years now and am currently on a big push to lose about another 70 lbs. down to about 290 as of yesterday.
Earlier this year, I started the process of obtaining my private pilots license. I made it through ground school and passed my written exam. I started my flight training and went in for my class 3 medical certificate. Upon finding out I had a Lap Band, my doc deferred my medical to the FAA. They sent me a letter stating they needed my medical records for my lap band and a letter from my treating physician as to my current status and if there have been any complications. There haven't. So off went 65 pages of medical records and letters.
A week later a letter comes back from the FAA saying that they need letters regarding a few things in my medical records, most of which are easily explained, but they wanted more details about my sleep apnea, what I was doing for treatment, and a download of data from the machine I was using ideally. Crap! I hadn't used my machine in nearly 5 years because I didn't feel like I needed to. So I had my doc refer me to ANOTHER sleep study, which I did on May 23rd. I still have severe OSA and I've been rushing everything to get my new machine so I have a good chunk of data to send to the FAA later this month. I got my new machine Monday and have had two nights with an AHI of 0.0 both nights.
I used this forum as well as other resources to determine which machine I thought I wanted, because I really have to show I'm using the machine this time. I settled on the ResMed S9 Autoset, which I was able to get.
I will say, my new ResMed S9 Autoset is much improved over my old Respironics BiPap machine. I used the machine 5.4 hours Monday night and 7.1 hours last night. I don't ever remember using my BiPap more than 5 hours a night. I'm still getting used to being a hose head again, but it seems as though the transition this time will be much smoother.
If you want to see more about my flying adventures and my ordeal with the FAA over obtaining my 3rd class medical, you can go to the blog at: guy trying to fly dot com. (New member won't let me out the link in)
With any luck, later this year I will have my private pilots license, will be a healthy ish 220 pounds and be getting a good 7-8 hours of restful sleep a night!!!
Thanks for the awesome forum and all the helpful advice.
Thanks for the great forum and information! I just wanted to put a post out there mostly to introduce myself, give you my story and ask a brief question.
Here's my brief question so you don't have to read through my whole story and introduction if you don't want to: I've had my S9 Autoset for two nights now. First night I used it 5.4 hours, last night (just got up) was 7.1 hours. Both nights my AHI was 0.0. In comparison on my sleep study it was 46. My question is this: Can Cpap therapy REALLY be that effective that quickly? Or is my machine just not detecting my events properly?
Here's my background and story:
Back in 2009 I weighed 370ish pounds. My wife suspected I had sleep apnea and in talking to a friend who did he said that getting his sleep study done and getting his machine was a life changing event and that he never knew what a good nights sleep was until he had it. So I had my doctor refer me for a sleep study. That study revealed that on average I was having 60 events per hour. I was prescribed a BiPap machine. I don't remember the pressure settings from that machine, I just know that for the four or five months I actually used it, I never felt worse in my life. So I just stopped using it. I tried having the pressure reduced but I just never got used to it I think. Now I never downloaded my data, didn't know about this forum, and was really blind to the whole thing.
During that time, I also had weight loss surgery. I had a Lap Band installed on 08/25/2009, which was about the time I stopped using my BiPap. Subsequently my weight began to fall and I got down to a low of 276. I've been hovering between 295-305 for the better part of four years now and am currently on a big push to lose about another 70 lbs. down to about 290 as of yesterday.
Earlier this year, I started the process of obtaining my private pilots license. I made it through ground school and passed my written exam. I started my flight training and went in for my class 3 medical certificate. Upon finding out I had a Lap Band, my doc deferred my medical to the FAA. They sent me a letter stating they needed my medical records for my lap band and a letter from my treating physician as to my current status and if there have been any complications. There haven't. So off went 65 pages of medical records and letters.
A week later a letter comes back from the FAA saying that they need letters regarding a few things in my medical records, most of which are easily explained, but they wanted more details about my sleep apnea, what I was doing for treatment, and a download of data from the machine I was using ideally. Crap! I hadn't used my machine in nearly 5 years because I didn't feel like I needed to. So I had my doc refer me to ANOTHER sleep study, which I did on May 23rd. I still have severe OSA and I've been rushing everything to get my new machine so I have a good chunk of data to send to the FAA later this month. I got my new machine Monday and have had two nights with an AHI of 0.0 both nights.
I used this forum as well as other resources to determine which machine I thought I wanted, because I really have to show I'm using the machine this time. I settled on the ResMed S9 Autoset, which I was able to get.
I will say, my new ResMed S9 Autoset is much improved over my old Respironics BiPap machine. I used the machine 5.4 hours Monday night and 7.1 hours last night. I don't ever remember using my BiPap more than 5 hours a night. I'm still getting used to being a hose head again, but it seems as though the transition this time will be much smoother.
If you want to see more about my flying adventures and my ordeal with the FAA over obtaining my 3rd class medical, you can go to the blog at: guy trying to fly dot com. (New member won't let me out the link in)
With any luck, later this year I will have my private pilots license, will be a healthy ish 220 pounds and be getting a good 7-8 hours of restful sleep a night!!!
Thanks for the awesome forum and all the helpful advice.
