My first night

[denton]

Greetings all, this is my first post.

I've been having issues with dizziness, and just about everything else was ruled out except apnea. I know I've had it for some time, as my wife has to kick me every so often. I also have allergies and I've tried some prescription nasal sprays which sometimes seem to work, sometimes not.

I don't really have the bad symptoms like tiredness, altho I do take meds for blood pressure. The doc tells me I have a narrow breathing passage, and also I've always been a mouth breather.

I saw an article in the NYT about home sleep apnea tests, and after being assured by my doc that they really suck, she let me have one. For various reasons, I just hated the thought of going to a sleep lab. So the home test came back with an AHI of 77. My doc wanted to send me back to the lab for the titration reading and to confirm the test. Did I say I really, really didn't want to go to a sleep lab?

So I decided, based on what I read, to see if I could find an auto-CPAP machine on Craigslist or something and kind of bypass the lab, and hopefully find one cheap so I could give it a try. Cuz i know many people are unable to adapt to the masks and I really didn't want to invest in all this stuff and then find out I'm one of them. In case anyone thinks I'm nuts, I'm in HVAC so the whole concept of positive air pressure is something I understand intuitively.

I found someone selling a new auto ReSmart with humidifier and a full face mask for a song. Last night I gave it a whirl.

I think I'm off to a good start. I usually sleep from about 10PM to 5:30 AM, so that's when we went to bed, and of course I asked my wife to keep an eye on me. It took me a few minutes to get to sleep, but I slept with the mask from about 10 to 11:30. I was awakened for a few minutes, then managed to sleep another hour.

At that point I felt very awake, and I had something on my mind also, so I got up and read until 3AM. I was surprised I didn't feel sleepy at all. I went back to bed at 3AM and slept until 5:30. I was afraid I wouldn't sleep at all so I didn't use the mask at that point. I'm surprised even with that hole in my sleep, today I feel normal.

My wife said while I was wearing the mask it was perfect, no snoring and no holding of breath, and the machine was fine. I remember my doc saying even if I could only wear the mask half the night, I would be much improved.

So I figured, I've survived, and from here on in it will get better. I just pulled the codes from the machine, and my mask time was just under three hours, my AHI was only 5, by average P95 is 11.5 (not exactly sure what the significance of that is), and my high mask leakage is 16% (not sure if that is a good or bad figure.).

I'm hoping next I can experiment with a better mask. I know there are a couple of mouth breather masks that will surely be more comfortable than this full face Aspen mask.

Sure appreciate the information and support!!!


Denton

[trish6hundred]

Hi denton,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
You are off to a pretty good start there, but the goal is to sleep with the mask and machine on all night, as this will help your body to acclimate much easier.
Keep up the good work and hang in there for more suggestions.
Much success to you as you start your CPAP journey.
Another thing I might mention, there are many different masks out there, so if you are having trouble with this particular mask, you can always try a another one, but, give this one a bit more time before you give up on it, as your body is trying to get used to this new way of sleeping.

[herbm]

Welcome..

We can discuss is a LOT but the main advice is going to come down to this: Wear your mask every time you even THINK about sleeping, 100% of the time you are bed, and you will reap the benefits.

Some people, me for instance, never even felt tired before CPAP, but that doesn't mean that apnea was good for our health and especially our internal organs.

Wear the mask. Sleep better. At a minimum, you wife will sleep better without the snoring.

[justMongo]

Welcome denton. Average P95 means your pressure was at or below 11.5 cm-H2O for 95% of the total time on the machine. A cm-H2O is roughly a mm-Hg. That's not a high CPAP pressure, so, you should be able to do the therapy. Finding the right mask is one of the keys to adapting to therapy.

You'll find a lot of opinions on masks -- what's important is how well a mask suits you.

And, I really understand your feelings about the sleep lab.

[zonk]

I just pulled the codes from the machine, and my mask time was just under three hours, my AHI was only 5, by average P95 is 11.5 (not exactly sure what the significance of that is), and my high mask leakage is 16% (not sure if that is a good or bad figure.).

Welcome
Not sure about RESmart machine, P95 might refer to 95th percentile pressure which means pressure was at or below 11.5 for 95% of the night. The software readout can give you more detailed info but have no idea where you can obtain the software, RESmart is not one of the popular machines

AHI 5 and below is fine, the lower is the better but the longer you use the machine, the data can become more meaningful

leak 16% ... again not sure and what BMC machines consider an acceptable leak or whether the leak reported is total leak or unintentional leak

Your clinical manual is available via email from the link at the top of the page .. "CPAP Setup Manuals"

Some info here http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...6#pid39976

[archangle]

Welcome. Sounds like you're off to a good start.

Getting to where you're always using the machine when you sleep is the first and most important step.

I wish you'd gotten a good PRS1 or ResMed machine. We understand those machines better around here and the free SleepyHead machine doesn't (yet) support the RESmart machines yet. I think the PRS1 and ResMed machines record a lot more data, including airflow waveforms.

However, the RESmart CPAP machine will probably do the job despite our ignorance, especially if your AHI stays low and you don't have problems.

You may be able to get your doctor to write you a prescription for CPAP, and then you can send it to one of the online suppliers so you can "legitimately" order machines and masks.

Post about your progress here. Maybe you can educate us about the RESmart machine.

[justMongo]

Supplier #1 has info on that machine. It outputs a Hex string that is decoded by an online application.
Don't want to post links -- buy you can find it by searching for "auto ReSmart"
Another supplier on the list is selling it for $375 USD. So, I hope "a song" is less than that.

[denton]

Supplier #1 has info on that machine. It outputs a Hex string that is decoded by an online application.
Don't want to post links -- buy you can find it by searching for "auto ReSmart"
Another supplier on the list is selling it for $375 USD. So, I hope "a song" is less than that.

Hi there and thanks for the info. The machine I bought came with the clinician data and links to the website. It keeps a year's worth of codes. You pull the codes off the display and type them into the website. Not the simplest but so far it is working.

I paid $200 for the machine and $25 for the mask. Supposedly it is the inventory of a DME or someone who has gone out of business. I didn't have to pay for a prescription either.

My thinking, given the statistics that a large percentage of people can't tolerate the CPAP treatment, was to see if I could handle it via this machine, and then upgrade if I could. But if I'm lucky this one will work for me and possibly I can buy a second for my house upstate, rather than carry this around.

[herbm]

Good that you don't have much money invested. If you LEARN to handle the therapy this way, then GREAT, but notice that if you do not then you have proven nothing.

50% of handling the therapy is deciding to use the machine EVERYTIME YOU SLEEP and then just following through no matter how inconvenient or uncomfortable it is.

50% is finding the RIGHT mask for you -- when generally means spending $100 to $175 (for a new one).

The other 50% is small factors which include getting a machine with data capability and learning to use the software (e.g., SleepyHead) so you can track your therapy, discover if it is effective, AND adjust to increase the effectiveness), getting the humidity right, setting the ramp (off ), and finding the right exhalation pressure relief, etc.

IF you don't get great results with your current setup then the key is to spend what you must to get equipment that will support you on step one:

#1 Use the machine every single time you sleep.