Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[SuperSleeper]

Had a stroke afterwhich I was sent to a sleep clinic because of sleeping 11-14 hours/day. Got the machine about 4 months ago for a trial and when I got home thought I should get used to it, so put on the gear in the afternoon for a trial fit and operation. Slept 4 hours right then; and so it has gone ever since. I was diagnosed moderate to severe apnea.

It helped, I think, because I'm used to wearing head apparatus; earmuffs, industrial breathing gear etc.to accept head gear. (mine is pillows)

This has been a great success for me; now sleeping the night through, no bathroom breaks, and sleep hours cut down to 10 and no snoring so "She who must be obeyed" is very pleased.

[SuperSleeper]

I am a 56-year-old female diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. Thinking back, I probably have had it since my early 50’s. My family always complained about my snoring and I always fell asleep at night watching TV, but did not realize it was such a problem until I started falling asleep at work. I knew after I woke up that I had been sleeping, but could not remember falling asleep nor could I stop myself from falling asleep no matter how hard I tried. I found myself making errors in simple arithmetic, not following through on projects and, in general, moving through life at half speed.

I was in such a brain fog that I didn't even realize how bad off I was, or even that somehow this was not normal. With the fear of getting fired from my job, I made an appointment for a sleep study. The results showed that I was having 96.6 apnea episodes per hour, never reached REM sleep and my oxygen level was at times dropping to 40%. This was not good, I had severe sleep apnea, but it did explain my constant tiredness, my unexplained sleeping and my lack of concentration. I was put on a CPAP machine with a nasal mask at a pressure of 20. After the first week, I felt that I was more alert and less likely to fall asleep and had a bit more energy, but I knew after years of sleep deprivation, it could take longer to feel great. I had some problems with the mask creating blisters on the bridge of my nose, but dealt with it.

After 1 month, the results showed I was having only 0-1 apnea episodes in an 8-hour period so the pressure was dropped to 18. After the second month the results showed 0 episodes in an 8-hour period and the oximeter data showed that my average oxygen levels were 100-95 and only dipping to 90 a few times a night, so my pressure was again lowered to 15. When I woke up each morning I was starting to feel like I had a real nights sleep. My concentration was better and I was no longer falling asleep at inappropriate times. At a pressure of 15, I can now wear nasal pillows instead of a mask, thus eliminating the blister problems. This is a big plus! I feel thankful that I recognized that I had a problem and sought medical help. I am no longer depriving my brain of oxygen nor am I further injuring my body from the damaging effects of sleep apnea. I urge anyone who is feeling constantly fatigued and is falling asleep at inappropriate times to schedule a sleep test so you too can start feeling better.

[SuperSleeper]

Maybe it's a little early for me to post a success story. But I'm surprised at how well it is going. I was diagnosed just a week ago today with severe obstructive sleep apnea, waking up 76 times per hour, my oxygenation dipping into the 60's in my sleep study. I had already hit a telephone pole after falling asleep at the wheel. I got my new machine with humidifier and mask a week ago. The first night was awful -- the mask sounded like Darth Vader, and smelled like plastic (felt irritation in my throat from the fumes), and was too wide for me to sleep on my side (I thought they WANTED me to sleep on my side!) I used it for ten minutes, then threw it aside and cried myself into my life-threatening bad sleep.

I got a new mask the next day from my sleep specialist after explaining to him about Darth Vader and all. It's much smaller and lighter, and seals better. That night I slept 5 hours with it. Success -- my sleep specialist said the goal was 4 hours! The next night, I slept all 7.5 hours with it on. As the week went on, I slept all night with the mask. I do wake up a couple of times a night to roll over and readjust the mask, but that is getting better too. On Saturday, I let myself sleep as long as I wanted, and even woke up on my back breathing without effort (lying on my back makes my airway tend to close up even when I'm awake!)

A week ago I was totally convinced that I would never ever be able to wear a mask, and was determined to prove that my BreatheRight strips along with elevating the head of my bed was all that was needed. Wrong -- it did improve my sleep, but not enough. I can't believe I was completely won over to the CPAP in only a couple of days. I'm usually more stubborn than that.

I still feel sleepy during the day, but I feel stronger and somewhat more refreshed. The edema I had in my legs for months has cleared up, and I no longer gasp for air when I climb stairs. I lost 15 pounds without trying (likely mostly water from the disappearing edema).

As for the daytime sleepiness, I can only guess that a few good nights of sleep are not enough to undo years of sleep deprivation. I hope to feel better and better in the coming weeks.

Do most people buy a back up battery in case of power outages? I had a brief power outage a couple of nights ago -- I woke up and the machine was off, of course. But the power came back on in a minute or two, which is typical, but I do wonder what I would do if it lasted a few hours. Any suggestions for a back up battery that isn't too expensive?

[SuperSleeper]

After 10 years on CPAP, I was just retested, and was informed my pressure increased from 8 to 14. My REMstar Plus LX (which has never failed me) was readjusted and I went home. At 11:00pm, it was obvious that I wasn't going to sleep with the new pressure (couldn't breath against the pressure). After a brief panic, I started to explore the Net to see if anyone had similar problems and/or solutions, and came across this site. Within 30 minutes, I discovered I could adjust the pressure in my machine, was instructed how, and in fact did adjust down to 10 which I could handle. I will eventually get to where I am supposed to be, but, a 6 point increase is way too much, cold turkey. Now I am awaiting a new machine (?) to be supplied and delivered, and I am confident that I will learn how to adjust it also to move in stages to my goal. Thank you Apnea Board (I will be sending in a donation!).

Willis

[SuperSleeper]

Firstly Hi to everyone from a n00b and congrats on an excellent forum!

I have to report on what seems like a miraculous success story (from France), after only one night on CPAP!

I am 57, overweight, subject to chronic sinusitis and with some fairly impressive growths in my sinuses (if I can find the CD from my MRI I'll post a picture later). I was tested for sleep apnea 7 years ago because I was tired, had morning headaches, extra systolic heart arrhythmia and suffered from spikes of high blood pressure whenever I stood up. The test was negative. I later found out that I had a pancreas disorder which basically giving me a hangover whenever I ate red meat or drank even small quantities of alcohol.

Seven years down the line and I was again feeling like sh*t every day. When driving in the afternoon I had to fight against sleepiness, often having to stop for a 15 minute nap in order to carry on. I was waking 3-5 times a night for a pit-stop, snoring even more than normal and so fatigued during the day that I would often have to have a nap both morning and afternoon at weekends in order to be able to function at work during the week. Once a colleague had told me that I was often seen asleep in front of my computer screen (I had no idea) I mentioned this to my doctor and he recommended another sleep apnea test.

Now this is where I take my hat off to the French National Health Service. I saw the doc on Monday morning, rang the pneumological dept. at the hostpital and got an appointment for Tuesday afternoon. I turned up expecting to wait for hours but was seen immediately and came home with the data logger to be used that night. I took the logger back on Wednesday morning, waited 10 minutes and was then given my report by the technician who said that I definitely needed a CPAP machine.

I had an AHI of 52, average duration 20 seconds, average oximetery loss of 5% (max 16%) and even had some apnea events during the hour I spent in front of my computer, supposedly fully awake, in the middle of the night. The mix was about 2/3 obstructive, 1/3 central.

Wednesday afternoon the specialist rang me and explained my results, told me that he would be informing my doctor and would also be contacting the local DME people who would be making a home visit. When I asked if he thought that anything would be done before I left on holidays in 10 days time he said that he hoped so.

Thursday afternoon the DME rang and said that they had a technician in my area on Friday. Friday morning a 9am the guy was there with a ResMed S9 Autoset and a H5i humidifier and a selection of full masks (I had warned them about my sinusitis problems). Some explanations on how the S9 worked, mask fittings and he left me with the machine & two different masks, plus a pre-paid envelope to send back the SD card after two valid nights so that they could check/modify the settings. On top of that he noted where we were going on holiday so that the local DME there could intervene if anything goes wrong during our holidays.

Al the above, - consultation, sleep test, CPAP machine - is totally free, covered by the health insurance and our company's supplementary health cover.

So, last night I went to bed with great trepidation, expecting to sleep very little due to the mask, noise etc. I could not have been more wrong!

The ramp-up feature of the S9 meant that I dropped off quite quickly since I was breathing more or less normally. I was quite surprised at how aggressive it was in full swing when I woke up for a pit-stop at 4 am, but I easily went back to sleep. The mask was remarkably comfortable and didn't seem to bother me at all.

This morning I was woken by a mask leak because I had turned my head into the pillow and the S9 was blasting away, but it was 7.45 am and time to get up anyway.

The first thing that I noticed was that I did not have my usual early-morning headache, nor did I become dizzy when I stood up. Also I felt refreshed by my night, something that I had long forgotten. When I checked that S9 data I thought initially that it had malfunctioned, so I downloaded the ResScan software and looked at the detailed log... The data does not lie, my AHI for the night was 0.3.

So far my day has been all pleasure as I have far more energy than I have had for months. I know that it is far too soon to declare success, but if it continues like this I can only call it life-changing.

Tonight I shall be increasing the humidity a tad (it was set to 3) as I had a dry mouth and I shall be hoping that I can get off to sleep just as easily - which might not be the case, as I feel much less tired.

Cheers

[SuperSleeper]

I won't go through the boring details of how long it took me to find out that I have sleep apnea. Long story short: Three weeks ago I shared a hotel room with a friend who knew about the condition and diagnosed the snoring and snorting and also worried all night long about the loooong pauses, in my breathing. "I kept asking myself, should I wake you??" she said.

I had already been to a sleep disorder clinic for help. I am sorry to report that they diagnosed my extreme weary exhaustion as garden-variety insomnia. The doctors taught me all kinds of behavioral things to sleep better plus put me on a sleep restriction protocol, which I followed. Imagine! Sleep restriction PLUS apnea!!

I finally concluded that I would just never sleep well. My late mother was a narcoleptic, so I figured I just wasn't a good sleeper.

Finally, that wonderful night in a shared hotel room! And a diagnosis!

The minute I got home from the trip, I searched for a different clinic. I went for my first evaluation overnight almost three weeks ago. (Two weeks and six days ago, actually; but who's counting?!) Two days later, I had a second overnight, this time using a CPAP. Success!

I've now had my CPAP machine for two weeks. I'm beginning to have better success with it THANKS TO THIS BOARD.

So along with everyone else who says stick with it, I'll say... STICK WITH IT!

I've had my pressure changed three times already; I've adapted to the mask, etc., etc. But day-by-day I know I'm going to be sleeping just fine attached to my CPAP-machine (which I already think of as my treasured CPAP-machine).

I am very grateful that technology exists that helps we apneac (is that a word?). I am also very grateful for and to this board; I intend to send a small donation. It's the least I can do.

Thank you, all of you!

[SuperSleeper]

First night last night under CPAP. All I can say is "OH MY GOD!!!" I felt SO good when I woke up this morning it was unbelievable. During sleep study last week, my O2 dropped to 37% and my AH index was 70. Doc said I'm lucky I haven't stroked out from that low O2. I had no trouble with the mask and I think last night is the best sleep I've had in YEARS!!! I know one night is very anecdotal, but I'm looking forward to putting several months of this therapy behind me and getting a whole new handle on life!

[SuperSleeper]

I got involved in this by accident. My wife's doctor suggested she have a sleep study, and I volunteered to have one at the same time. Turned out she was fine, but I needed to deal with my apnea! I'm sure glad I followed through and got the equipment. My 16 ahi wasn't severe, but now after 8 months I average 1.2 and I don't snore anymore. I sleep about 7 hours and feel rested. I even get to sleep in the same bed as my wife! I recently downloaded the ResMed software, and it provides interesting data; but I find that pushing both buttons on the S9 gives just as much info without all the computer fuss. Also, I have used the S9/h5i while boondocking at 10,000 feet in our truck camper. The Samlex 300 pure sine wave inverter allows operation of the h5i, and does not deplete the battery too much. Overall, my cpap experience has been very positive.

[SuperSleeper]

This is my introduction to Apnea Board too. I'm Chuck, live in Phoenix AZ. I'd been trying to get a CPAP for 2 years, after it was recommended by 2 docs, my GP and a cardio. I ran into many problems obtaining one, but I have one now, got it a week ago. I set it for a bit below the setting originally recommended in my titration study (10.5), but bumped it up to the recommended 12.5 after a couple days, noticing even more improvement. I got average apnea events from 2/hr down to 0.8 after 2 days and now a week later, down to 0.4. It's amazing how much better I feel. I'll post new in the main forum to discuss details.

[SuperSleeper]

Well I've just spent my first night on CPAP at home.
Although the "objective" data from my recent study showed only mild to moderate OSA, the "subjective" experiences of my wife and myself, regarding the quality of my sleep, indicated that the problem was having significant impact on our lives.
During the initial sleep study, despite the wiring, I slept like a baby. No snoring, no waking like normal. Not refreshing, but better than average.
Or so I thought.
The results were actually quite a shock to me. Apnoeas, hypopneas, periodic limb movements, decreased O2 sats, and 27 arousals. Not a lot of REM. If this was a "good" night for me, what was a bad night like?
Needless to say, a CPAP titration study soon followed. This time the "objective" data indicated that with CPAP I had a much better sleep. Once again surprising, as I thought I'd had a horror night.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I used a CPAP machine at home last night. ResMed S9 Autoset, climateline tube and Swift LT nasal pillows.
I did seem to wake quite a few times to adjust the nasal pillows. I am acutely aware of their presence and found them a bit irritating by the morning.
According to the machine I had the mask on for 7.5 hours, with an AHI of 0.5. Not bad going for the first night I suppose.
I could do with a sleep though.

Cheers