RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
sheepless mentioned awareness. Another thing to add to awareness is the fact that females and smaller males need cpcp equipment that fits smaller faces. I'm having a heck of a time getting a FFM that fits! F20 AirTouch works great, near zero AHI figures, virtually no leaks, but it slips up no matter how tight it is and I end up with sore teeth every morning and the bottom of the foam cushion in my mouth. F & P Vitera also fairly good, but the cushion pokes me in the eye if it shifts at all and it leaks--my small face and nose just don't work!
RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
This exactly. Only in my case, either it slips into my mouth, hurts my teeth or it causes a pressure sore on the bridge of my nose. Even the F30 managed to rub the side of my mouth sore because it's too large and the seal "crumpled" and left a rubbed spot just to the side of the corner of my mouth. And because my jaw drops in my sleep, the mask slips and boom, leaks unless it is way too tight, then sore places.
Though I did spot a couple of FFMs with chin pieces on and I am so tempted to try them.
But yes - OSA is estimated to affect something like a quarter of people... but the doctors automatically assume it's only overweight (and often older and male) people who are affected. People are getting bigger, so there are more obvious exacerbations, plus there is increased recognition of other types of sleep-disordered breathing like UARS as well as the need to treat CSA properly. And that's without even going into kids who are affected too.
It's the same as people saying there's an "epidemic" of autism - there isn't. Research into apparently non-autistic adults found that with the current diagnostic criteria and awareness, there is exactly the same number of people who qualify for an autism diagnosis now as there has always been. It's just that in the past they were just seen as "weird" or "eccentric" or "a loner".
RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
WakeUpTime asked "how and why sleep apnea is becoming so prevalent in society. Yes, there's an element of awareness that is bringing out significantly more diagnoses. However, I'll always wonder if there is something, yet unknown, that humans are doing/digesting/breathing-in that is making this more and more common."
I think there are two principal factors (just my own unproven opinion)
1/ People are living longer than was the case in the 1980's when PAPs came out.
2/ As a general rule, the population is more overweight.
I'll also reinforce the earlier comments about having equipment better suited to small faces. Respectfully, have you considered children's sizes? May be worth a thought.
RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
I did wonder about that, actually. I'm not sure if my sleep clinic would prescribe them and they don't tend to be on sale online here, but I may look into it more.
06-19-2021, 03:40 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-19-2021, 03:48 PM by WakeUpTime.)
RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
(06-19-2021, 03:01 PM)clownbell Wrote: I think there are two principal factors (just my own unproven opinion)
1/ People are living longer than was the case in the 1980's when PAPs came out.
2/ As a general rule, the population is more overweight.
Both valid points. An offshoot of your first point could be that people living longer are also taking a great variety of meds too, that didn't exist several decades ago. Society has also been taking much more sleep medications, heart meds - even meds for hair growth. It would be interesting to compare sleep apnea rates in non-western countries.
For more personally, I was a complexity to the sleep clinic - not overweight, no underlying conditions, far younger than the norm, etc. etc. I had been taking sleep meds for 5-7 years, but that could have been a result of ongoing sleep disruptions that might have been due to yet undiagnosed sleep apnea.
Back to the OP's "Sleep apnea has ruined my life"...
Some take to PAP use quickly and easily. That wasn't my case. It took me 3 years to settle, and it's still far from the near-perfect stats of quite a few users here. It's a constant struggle and I hate it, but I've made it part of my life routine. Treated (or partially treated) sleep apnea, however choppy that is, is soooooooo much better.
RE: Sleep apnea has ruined my life.
The problem with a direct comparison is that (depending on the country) there would be differences in people able to actually undergo that kind of sleep study and therapy. Things like socioeconomic status, poverty, diet, healthcare etc all contribute to underlying problems and may not make it a fair comparison. But it would be interesting to see how it compares if a study can be set up that controls for those issues well.
