Your Personal CPAP Success Story - Post Here

[punkrockcholo]

I see this thread a lot and I just want to chime in to share my ongoing success story (with a myriad of challenges).

For anyone new or struggling, I'm right there with you. I started in October 2023 after being diagnosed four years earlier in 2019. Yes, my experience is based off of two whole months.

But I have to tell you.. what a life saver!

I was at wit's end with waking up every hour throughout the night to use the restroom, feeling absolutely tired all day and falling asleep in movie theaters, in my office, and almost nodding off while driving.

...Not to mention snoring like a freight train.

After two months, I wake up energized, I feel alive throughout the day, my blood pressure (which had been creeping up) is very much under control, my resting heart rate is lower than ever, I can go on and on.

Everyday is still a struggle. Some days better than others, some days worse. Anxiety plays a major part so as MrIvanDrago pointed out, relaxation before bed is a must.

Here's to continued positive health benefits, increased pap usage and overall success for all!

[John70]

Thanks everyone for sharing your success stories.
I initially was diagnosed with OSA after my first sleep study in 2017. This year I had my 3rd sleep study due to my 02 levels being low and having episodes of AFIB. My successes are mostly good with FF mask. I have used nasal and pillow masks with tape. I tried 75% of most CPAP mask from ResMed, Phillips, and F&P. Also some not so well known brands. I tried cervical collars, chin straps, different rituals thinking I might find a "magic bullet" The one item I am using nightly is my O2 Ring by Wellue to track my O2 levels. Some days are great and others not so great.
I have an appointment with my Doctor in a couple of weeks. He took me off the VAuto and ST modes and now just using CPAP with some success.
I appreciate everyone here on the apnea board who have helped me in the past. I have not logged on in awhile. So I thought this thread was a good place to get reacquainted with the apnea board and to know I am not alone working on my OSA. I do download my Oscar data most everyday.

[an4g745]

So I have had CPAP for about 2 years and my wife now for a few weeks. So I am not going to even talk about sleep apnea and much better sleep. There are 1300+ posts about that. That is a given. In addition, for me, I always was a mouth sleeper because my nose was always stuffy. The pillow CPAP mask solved that and now I close my mouth sleeping, which has helped teeth health. My wife, stuffy nose, the same, and she is clear now with CPAP. But, there is more.

For as long as I have known her she has had a condition where she gets excessive mucus in her chest from allergies we think. It can get bad and lead to pneumonia. We have been to countless specialists over the years, and they prescribe steroids, and all sorts of medicine which has one thing in common, it never works. Luckily she doesn't have trouble breathing. So fast forward to an alergist who also gave her the usual list of expensive prescriptions, which made her condition worse, if anything. Anyway, the doctor suspected sleep apnea, which she did have, but even better, the CPAP has really helped her chest mucus problem and it keeps her chest clear. So an indirect success story.

[ButtonNoseBarbie]

Have you looked into meds that worsen sleep problems.

[SuperSleeper]

MODERATION NOTE:

Just a general reminder for a members-- Please use this thread for your own personal CPAP success story.  This thread is not to be used for questions & answers.

If you need help with your own CPAP therapy, please start a new thread in the Main Forum here with a thread title something like "Username's Therapy Thread" (but please use your forum username instead of "Username").

By keeping all of your therapy questions & answers in one single thread, you'll help others see your details & history, which will help them to help you.

Thanks folks.

[WallyPepper]

New to Apnea Board.

Been using a CPAP for 23 years, started with a Respironics RemStar LX. Not the Plus model, this one only had 3 settings, no timer, no SD card. Could only enter the clinical menu (if you want to call it that), by plugging it in while holding the start and ramp button. Only three settings, Altitude, Pressure, Ramp Time. I actually still have this shoe box sized machine and used it for the last time just five days ago.

Picked up a new ResMed Airsense 10 Card to Cloud, as I do not want ResMed to own my data. Found Oscar first then found this board. Watched a lot of YT videos before deciding, and hope to learn a bunch more here.

[Cape67]

I was told for a long, long time that I had apnea even though I personally had no idea but suspecting that many others have discovered their condition through a similar route. Snoring and over thirty second apnea episodes were more common than not. About seven months ago I paid for an at-home test as my insurance who, not surprisingly, decided to not cover a sleep study as not medically necessary.

The result was even worse than I had originally estimated. My AHI score was somewhere in the mid-sixties. They wrote a prescription for bipap (bi-level), the analysis being that my apnea was too severe for straight cpap. As before, ye olde insurance plan would not approve the prescribed bipap, stating that I needed to try and fail regular cpap first.  

I decided to look around and see if I could find a decent bipap machine that was perhaps new or nearly new. I got lucky and was able to find a hospital surplus supplier for the machine, factory sealed but never used from a facility that closed their doors, a Luna G3 25A bipap, for about six hundred shipped. And yes, I know it's not the best, but I really didn't have two thousand dollars to spend on a machine otherwise.  

After considerable experimentation, self-teaching on how to program the machine, change the settings, using a Wellvue O2 ring along with the SD card data to determine what settings worked best and what didn't using BMC PAP Link software, how to clean it, and even flash updating the firmware. 
Incidentally, I have a new firmware update for the Luna 25A bipap with instructions, which makes reading the QR+ codes a lot easier, and fixes a number of issues. v2.00.69 for reference that i had to beg the manufacturer for, since I am not a DME provider or support person. 

Presently my AHI is running in the three to six range, sometimes less, which I'm fine with at this point. Average O2 sat went from 87% to about 94% with, as expected, far fewer desat episodes.
It's a shame though, having to manage this myself. Nobody seems to want to do anything without ringing life-changing amounts of money from you, arguably medical mafia extortion.

Original Rx: auto bipap 10/6-25/21
PAP settings 25/4 PS 4

Current settings, after much experimentation:
Mode Auto S (Smart B on)
Initial EPAP 6.0 Min EPAP 7.5  Min IPAP 11.5 Max IPAP 20.0
I(insp) Sens 5
E(xp) Sens 5
Rise time 2
Leak Alert On
Reslex 2
Ramp time 30 min
Humidifier 2
Heater 0

Man this has been a crazy ride so far. 
PS thanks for nothing, American healthcare lol.

[cpapuaer399]

I've been struggling with CPAP for over a year. Started with the resmed f20 large. Felt very claustrophobic and uncomfortable. I bought the new f40 mask and it's going a lot better. The thing I can't handle is breathing under the mask at all. Sometimes it feels very congested but I'm working on it.

[JonathanRB]

I've only had my machine for a week, but the results have just been completely life changing. I feel pretty lucky to not have had any problems adjusting to sleeping with a mask on, but all of that is secondary to how exceptionally wonderful and satisfying OSCAR is. My morning coffee routine has now expanded to importing the previous night so I can see all the little minute details that are missing from the phone app. It's chicken soup for my nerd soul, and an unexpected perk to finally getting a sleep study done and getting my apnea treated.

[gogailg5]

So, I've been a member and a CPAP users for probably 15 years. 
My 1st CPAP machine was the size of a yellow-page phone book. I've tried everything,lol

Anyway, I recently tried mouth-taping, why not! anything to get a better sleep, right?
 however, it just made my sleep worse. I have a pillow nasal mask, I wear a chin-strap
because I'm a mouth-breather. I 1st tried mouth-taping without the chin strap. but my jaw
seemed to drop and I was not breathing well. So, I tried it with the chin strap. still not good.

ok, so I gave up on the tape. However, the whole jaw dropping issue got me thinking.
what if I use a soft cervical collar? (like I need another layer in my sleep routine)
but it has really improved my sleep. The 1st time, not so much. I realized that I had the 
collar too tight. It needs to set right up under my chin. 

now, I love it. my AHIs have dropped greatly. I wonder what this all means as to why
I have sleep apnea?