sleep apnea

bigdreaux

well guys, i had a sleep test last night, and it's confirmed, i have sleep apnea. does anyone else suffer from this? does c-pap work that good as promised?

kwintestal

When you get used to the machine you'll sleep like a baby. I couldn't get used to mine so it's sat in the box it came in for the last couple years. I may give it another go soon though.

Kwin

did you use it at all? and if so, did it make you more energetic? i felt great this morning, but, it wore off. of course, i was only on the machine for about 3 hours. i couldn't sleep with all those wires on me and the big brother camera monitoring my every move.

orbison11

my partner/roommate has sleep apnea and has been on the machine for about 3 months now.

i already have my own bedroom, so my sleep is no longer disturbed.

i read yesterday that the partner of a loud snorer gets 2 hours less sleep than the snorer

can make for an unhappy relationship..anyway,,,he use to stop breathing,,,a serious condition, especially since he became morbidly obese

sometimes i hear the machine stop, when he stops breathing, then in about 8 seconds later it takes a puff of air to get him going again

as for energy,,,he doesnt have any anyway:(

orb

bigdreaux

i am a big guy, but not obese. i am working on losing the few extra pounds. it's just,half the people i talk to, say cpap is the best thing ever, the other say they couldn't use it.

frozen one

My most valued possesion. Seriously. I'd give up my bike before I'd give up my cpap.

It took me a couple of weeks to get used to using it. I'd wake up during the night and discover I had torn off the mask and threw it on the floor. But I kept putting it on and soon enough I was making it through the night. If for some reason I don't have it with me I really miss it. I've been using it for several years now. Its nice to go through a day without being in a constant fog. Having recallable dreams was an unexpected bonus.

To sum up, yes it will take a few nights getting used to it but stick with it and you'll be feeling much better both physically and mentally in a brief time span.

bigdreaux

thanks frozen.

Elsewhere

I have very bad sleep apnea and use a cpap device.

I'm not a big guy at all. 5'11" and 170 lbs, however during my sleep study they, they monitored about 100 "events" per hour where I stopped breathing. They told me I actually have TWO types of sleep apnea.

The first is the type that most people have where the throat collapses and blocks the airway while your lungs fight to take a breath. (You can see the abdomen spasm as the lungs try to breath).

The second, and even more scary type, is where the brain simply fails to tell the lungs to breath. I will literally lay there asleep and stop breathing...my lungs will just stop moving. They won't even try to breath.

It took me a long time to get used to the cpap device. At first I HATED it. It wasn't until I hacked it and lowered the prescription presser to one I could tolerate that I began to sleep like a baby.

My cpap also has a setting called "ramp" or something like that. Instead of starting at 100% pressure, it starts out at a very low pressure and over 45 minutes will gradually increase the pressure. Using this I can acclimate to the pressure slowly without noticing it.

The cpap also has another feature, I think it is called "c-flex" of something like that. With this the machine will quickly lower the pressure if it senses that I'm exhaling. This way I don't end up fighting against the machine in order to exhale.

Again, it took awhile but I finally got used to it and can't stand to sleep without it!

The mask I use is this one:http://www.cpapsupplyusa.com/Puritan-Bennett-Breeze-Nasal-System-With-Headgear-Y-101400-00.aspx

It is VERY comfortable. If I go to bed without it on I actually feel less comfortable.

Here is the cpap device I use:http://www.cpapsupplyusa.com/Respironics-Remstar-Plus-M-Series-With-C-Flex-And-Heated-Humidifier-Ds200h.aspx

It is VERY quiet. I have to listen very carefully in order to hear it.

bigdreaux

yeah, i have the kind where i completly stop breathing, then gasp for air. i have to get the kind that looks like a grekko roman headpiece. lol i open my mouth too much and have to have it strapped closed. the cpaps are so horrible looking. i used to make fun of my parents when they had to wear them, now i have to . oh sweet irony. lol

Elsewhere

i open my mouth too much and have to have it strapped closed

I did that at first too. Sometimes I would wake up in the middle of the night to find my mouth and throat completely dry. I don't mean kinda dry, I mean BONE dry... so dry it hurt to try to close my mouth. I would stagger into the bathroom for a glass of water... the act of drinking was painful.

After doing that a few times I started using a strap to keep my mouth shut... but after awhile I came "trained" to keep it shut without the strap. I don't need it anymore.

Another thing you are probably doing is opening your mouth and having a bizarre and uncomfortable gust of wind come shooting out of your mouth. In time your brain will learn to keep your tongue in the right position to prevent that. It will literally become an unconscious reflex that you never even think about. At one point I noticed I was doing that and literally had to struggle to move my tongue so the gust of air would come out again... just to see it happen.

sleep apnea

Share this