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New to APAP - 50 days in - Printable Version

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RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - Steve.G - 01-19-2019

(01-17-2019, 01:55 PM)SleepFoo Wrote: Well, it's been a few more days Steve. How is are you feeling now?

It took me three two and a half months of being on the machine to start to notice a difference. Some people it helps them immediately. For me, it took some time figuring out which mask and pressure settings worked best to allow me to adjust to the mask and the whole process.

Let me tell you one thing that makes this process difficult to adhere to. If you start out with this new treatment in your life and the pressure settings are high from the get go, it will likely defeat most people. Force your doctor to prescribe a lower pressure setting to allow you to get used to this whole new process in your life.

Let us know how things are progressing. Thanks!

I'm not having any problems with the pressure, and my charts look mostly clean. If there's anything I feel I need to work on it's the mask I'm using. Cloth sleeves I made have mostly stopped the morning lines on my face, but I'm still dealing with airflow issues with this particular style mask. There's sufficient air that it's not going to kill me, but I think there are improvements that can be made.

I've dealt with chronic fatigue the last 20 years or so (I really don't remember when it started, but I didn't deal with it in the service in the 80's) and I was hopeful I would be one of those people that puts on a mask and it's all rainbows and unicorns, but I don't think that's going to happen. Still, I'm not going to stop treatment and I'm going to continue to work on trying another mask as money permits. I've stepped so far outside of what the VA has prescribed by buying my own machine I don't expect much help from them. Fortunately that also gives me free license to change settings as I feel appropriate :-)

Speaking of which, I've left off changing setting the last couple days, I need to go download my charts.

Steve


RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - Steve.G - 04-05-2019

I wanted to take the time to leave an update. I've been using the ResMed since getting it and have my charts down to almost no events other than central. I still haven't got used to feeling like I'm being smothered by my Dreamwear full, the nasal openings don't stay lined up and the air restricts if I sleep on my side.

I don't feel any better fatigue-wise but I'm not dead either. This may be the best I get from it.

Thank you everyone who took the time to help me out. I've been thinking of starting to look at different masks, but at $150 a pop out of pocket I'm gunshy ;-)

Steve


RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - Sleeprider - 04-06-2019

Total success! Thanks for checking back in.


RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - SleepFoo - 04-06-2019

(04-05-2019, 10:36 AM)Steve.G Wrote: Thank you everyone who took the time to help me out. I've been thinking of starting to look at different masks, but at $150 a pop out of pocket I'm gunshy ;-)

Steve

I felt the same way. I spent a month going through a lot of reviews and made lists of what I wanted to try. Then what I did was found all the pieces to what I wanted on Amazon/eBay and put them all together. I was able to do 4 masks like that. Ranging from about $42-$78 per set after gathering all the parts in costs. One set, I realized I could make my own band and just did that instead of spending money. Another set, I was able to reuse the headgear from the same manufacturer. 
So there's a way to be savy and try some without a crazy amount of expenditure.


RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - jaswilliams - 04-07-2019

(04-06-2019, 11:03 PM)SleepFoo Wrote:
(04-05-2019, 10:36 AM)Steve.G Wrote: Thank you everyone who took the time to help me out. I've been thinking of starting to look at different masks, but at $150 a pop out of pocket I'm gunshy ;-)

Steve

I felt the same way. I spent a month going through a lot of reviews and made lists of what I wanted to try. Then what I did was found all the pieces to what I wanted on Amazon/eBay and put them all together. I was able to do 4 masks like that. Ranging from about $42-$78 per set after gathering all the parts in costs. One set, I realized I could make my own band and just did that instead of spending money. Another set, I was able to reuse the headgear from the same manufacturer. 
So there's a way to be savy and try some without a crazy amount of expenditure.


Some suppliers like Supplier #1 have mask insurance with a return window for a refund


RE: New to APAP - 50 days in - SleepFoo - 04-07-2019

(04-07-2019, 12:54 AM)jaswilliams Wrote:
(04-06-2019, 11:03 PM)SleepFoo Wrote:
(04-05-2019, 10:36 AM)Steve.G Wrote: Thank you everyone who took the time to help me out. I've been thinking of starting to look at different masks, but at $150 a pop out of pocket I'm gunshy ;-)

Steve

I felt the same way. I spent a month going through a lot of reviews and made lists of what I wanted to try. Then what I did was found all the pieces to what I wanted on Amazon/eBay and put them all together. I was able to do 4 masks like that. Ranging from about $42-$78 per set after gathering all the parts in costs. One set, I realized I could make my own band and just did that instead of spending money. Another set, I was able to reuse the headgear from the same manufacturer. 
So there's a way to be savy and try some without a crazy amount of expenditure.


Some suppliers like Supplier #1 have mask insurance with a return window for a refund

Now that's gonna be where I try my next mask. Thanks for making me aware of that.