What do you wish you would have known in the beginning?

[shewhorn]

For those of you who have been on xPAP treatment for a while now (let's say a year or more), what do you know now that you wished someone would have told you in the beginning?

[surferdude2]

A couple of things come to mind:

1. Wearing the mask with the the flow generator turned on during the day while reading or watching TV makes getting used to it much easier.

2. How important it is to sleep on my side.

[PoolQ]

Strange as it may seem, nothing. I made tons of changes, but they were based on my adapting to CPAP and changing things as they showed up. Do I wish I could have adapted sooner, wow you bet. can I think of anyway I could have done that, not really.

On the other hand my father in law as made 3 changes to his humidity and is sleeping like a baby.

I started on the forums before the sleep study and have never left yet. Still making adjustments and getting better.

[0rangebear]

I do not meet your criteria because this is only my 5th month of therapy. But I have found my sweet spot, identified the benefits and disadvantages of sleeping positions and settings.

I am consider treated and in control by my doctors.

I sleep though the night now around 7 hours. Plus; Archangel told me I was cured, what could be better than that!

I wish someone had told me about the Forum before I had a sleep test and acquired a machine. I wish I had known what the benefits would be 5 years ago.

What I recommend to new folks is: make small infrequent methodical changes based on a good analysis in the forum and a discussion with their doctor. Many people seem to make big random changes and move in circles of confusion.

[OpalRose]

I wish that I had known that I wasn't going to die in the 4 1/2 months from being diagnosed to actually getting an APAP. If I had been more informed of the whole process, I wouldn't have suffered so much anxiety.

I wish that I would have taken more control over the entire process. If I had known more, the DME wouldn't have taken advantage of me and given me a used machine, which I complained about within the first 30 days and then received a brand new machine.

I know that I've suffered from Sleep Apnea for at least 15 years, and wished I would have been diagnosed sooner.

The real blessing for me was that I found this forum early in my treatment.

[robysue]

I wish I had not been so resistant about taking prescription sleeping pills once the Insomnia monster raised his very ugly head.

I also wish that someone had told me that severe aerophagia was a reason for calling the sleep doc's office and insisting on being seen. As well as a good justification for switching from straight CPAP to APAP.

[trish6hundred]

I wish I would have treated my Obstructive Sleep Apnea, (OSA,) earlier than I did and I wish I would have started using a full-face mask )FFM,) earlier instead of fighting so long with the chinstrap, for me, a losing battle. But, better late than never, onward and upward.

[OB-Left]

I am at 1 year and the only regret that I have currently is that I didn't listen to my wife sooner. Please don't tell her. I feel better today than I have in the last 4 years.

[tmoody]

I wish I had bothered to check back with the doctor once in a while after I got my first CPAP machine, nine years ago. By the same token, I wish they'd checked in on me. I really had no idea this wasn't a "one and done" kind of thing. I also wish I'd bothered to find this forum years ago. I probably could have secured a better machine and better therapy years ago if I'd been less passive about the whole thing.

[holden4th]

I wish that I'd known about mouth breathing right at the beginning and ways to resolve it. I'm only about 6 months into therapy and only the last couple have become effective.