08-28-2016, 03:29 PM
CPAP Is a Godsend
Full disclosure, I do not recommend to anyone the path I took in order to control my sleep apnea.
I will try to tell my story with as few words as possible.
I know for a fact I have suffered some sort of sleeping problems for at least 10 to maybe even 15 years. When I was married at 25 years old I was 5'8" 180 muscle bound pounds. I was extremely healthy playing several sports including baseball (semi-pro) and football. Right after marriage though I started gaining weight rapidly. I am now 46 years old and weigh 270 lbs. At about 32 to 35 years old my wife starting noticing that I would snore quite a bit and sometimes would stop breathing. I did not start feeling tired during the day until I was 35 to 37 years old. Just recently it got so bad that I would fall asleep in front of the computer or anytime I would sit down just to watch TV, almost instantly. The morning drive was fine but the afternoon drive I had to keep busy with a drink or eating seeds while fighting my sleep.
The final straw was something that happened at work. My boss had noticed these patterns during the day. At meetings I would fight the tendency to sleep. While driving with others as a passenger the same routine would happen. I thank my boss for setting me on the right course. He is a CPAP user and so is my division boss. We sat down to talk about it and it was the first time I had to admit I had a problem. I was in denial all this time knowing there was a health issue. I just chose to ignore it thinking one day I would lose the weight and go back to normal. My boss told me to get help not for the job but for my personal health.
So I scheduled a regular health exam with my doctor. The first one I have had in maybe 5 years. On the physical exam everything checked out fine except I did have slight high blood pressure. I explained the reason for my appointment and he asked for a sleep study referral. I thought this would be a quick process, not. The next morning I came in for a vampire appointment, they drew blood. A week later I came in for the results. My A1C was at .61 (doctor advised I lose weight), cholesterol normal, thyroid normal, everything else normal.
So now I wait for the referral. One week, nothing, two weeks nothing so I called the sleep lab in my town. They had not received anything yet, but the big shocker, they had no appointments until late October! I had to take matters into my own hands. I could not wait, I was desperate. I contacted a local medical supply company and talked to one of their respiratory experts. They recommended an auto CPAP with the ability to record results. All I had to do is convince my physician that this machine could do the same study, maybe even better, than a sleep lab. Well no luck there, the Dr. would not even consider it.
So I went ahead and bought and auto CPAP out of my own pocket with a mask. This is where I shorten the story Wink, I have used my machine without heating the tube and humidifier for two nights now. The first night my AHI was 2.0, 7.3 hours. My wife noticed that while on my side the mask would leak a little. The second night I changed the nose piece to a medium. Last night my AHI went down to 1.5 with 6.8 hours of sleep. My nose is a little sore under one nostril. I believe I have the headgear on too tight.
You know how I know this miracle machine is working? I have not fallen asleep while typing this letter.
I will try to tell my story with as few words as possible.
I know for a fact I have suffered some sort of sleeping problems for at least 10 to maybe even 15 years. When I was married at 25 years old I was 5'8" 180 muscle bound pounds. I was extremely healthy playing several sports including baseball (semi-pro) and football. Right after marriage though I started gaining weight rapidly. I am now 46 years old and weigh 270 lbs. At about 32 to 35 years old my wife starting noticing that I would snore quite a bit and sometimes would stop breathing. I did not start feeling tired during the day until I was 35 to 37 years old. Just recently it got so bad that I would fall asleep in front of the computer or anytime I would sit down just to watch TV, almost instantly. The morning drive was fine but the afternoon drive I had to keep busy with a drink or eating seeds while fighting my sleep.
The final straw was something that happened at work. My boss had noticed these patterns during the day. At meetings I would fight the tendency to sleep. While driving with others as a passenger the same routine would happen. I thank my boss for setting me on the right course. He is a CPAP user and so is my division boss. We sat down to talk about it and it was the first time I had to admit I had a problem. I was in denial all this time knowing there was a health issue. I just chose to ignore it thinking one day I would lose the weight and go back to normal. My boss told me to get help not for the job but for my personal health.
So I scheduled a regular health exam with my doctor. The first one I have had in maybe 5 years. On the physical exam everything checked out fine except I did have slight high blood pressure. I explained the reason for my appointment and he asked for a sleep study referral. I thought this would be a quick process, not. The next morning I came in for a vampire appointment, they drew blood. A week later I came in for the results. My A1C was at .61 (doctor advised I lose weight), cholesterol normal, thyroid normal, everything else normal.
So now I wait for the referral. One week, nothing, two weeks nothing so I called the sleep lab in my town. They had not received anything yet, but the big shocker, they had no appointments until late October! I had to take matters into my own hands. I could not wait, I was desperate. I contacted a local medical supply company and talked to one of their respiratory experts. They recommended an auto CPAP with the ability to record results. All I had to do is convince my physician that this machine could do the same study, maybe even better, than a sleep lab. Well no luck there, the Dr. would not even consider it.
So I went ahead and bought and auto CPAP out of my own pocket with a mask. This is where I shorten the story Wink, I have used my machine without heating the tube and humidifier for two nights now. The first night my AHI was 2.0, 7.3 hours. My wife noticed that while on my side the mask would leak a little. The second night I changed the nose piece to a medium. Last night my AHI went down to 1.5 with 6.8 hours of sleep. My nose is a little sore under one nostril. I believe I have the headgear on too tight.
You know how I know this miracle machine is working? I have not fallen asleep while typing this letter.
![[Image: ry6XtE9.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/ry6XtE9.gif)
