Sleep study

[lrogers]

I just completed a two night sleep study to determine if I had sleep apnia (sp?). Short story, I did in spades! The first night of monitoring, I stopped breathing (on average) 110 time an hour! Wow, I was shocked. LOML wasn't, she's been telling me for years that I had a problem.
Last night, I slept hooked to a "turbo-charger" (best way to describe it) that provided pressureized air to keep my airway from closing up. I held my breath 13 time an hour, quite an improvement! Doctor said once my brain readjusted to a proper oxygen flow, that would decrease too.

This sleep disorder can have many effects on the body like high blood pressure, increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

Guys, and ladies, if you snore like a chain saw, or have problems sleeping, do yourself a favor and get checked out. I feel better today after only one night on the CPAP machine. It's not too uncomfortable and fairly easy to get used to. Your body will thank you.

[gabedad]

Hi Larry,

Sleep anpnea is the proper spelling and it's a cpap.
I know because they are the bain of my existence for the past 8 years. I hate every minute that I have to use it. However, it does work and you will feel better.

Good luck with it. I find nasal pillows much more comfortable than a mask and it allows you to sleep on your side and turn over easier.

I find that I am more prone to sinus infections with it and it sucks when you have a cold.

unfortunately - I can't imagine sleeping without it.

[DonHo]

I too sleep using a cpap. It's a little hard to get used to at first but hang in there because it'll change the way you feel for the better. After about 7 years on the cpap I can't sleep without it now. My wife feels better too because she can sleep better without all the snoring

DonHo

[Jeffrey Schronce]

I've been on CPAP for a few weeks. I also have insomnia with hyper sensitivity which means anything keeps me awake. Ambien is the only way I can fall asleep with the machine. Like yourself, I was over 100 instances per hour, up to 26 seconds per instance and fully awakening avg 14 times per night. Needless to say I felt like crap in the mornings. I feel better overall now. BP is going down substantially, however my weight has as well. The CPAP has not made as big of a difference in my life as I wished it would, ie energy, etc. I do hate wearing the mask but I have bad sinus problems and have to breath through my mouth a lot. Most recently I have began cutting the Ambien in half, so I talking less. If a few weeks I will cut it into 4ths. Hopefully I can cut it out all together in the next month or two. Don't need a Ambien habit!

[onedash]

i had apnea too but I had 2 surgeries and it went away. They cut out my tonsils and uvula and fixed up my deviated septum. i have gained some weight and am not in as good of shape and I started snoring again and my blood pressure is high and my cholesterol has started to rise and im only 34 years old. I just got off 6 months limited duty for my knee and im getting back in shape now. hopefully all these problems go away once i loose a little weight and am back on a good PT Schedule. ive been doing step aerobics and it sucks. I just ran a mock PFT this morning with a 22 degree wind chill. I passed. gotta run the real one in a couple weeks.
If you don't have any surgical options diet and exercise may get rid of it or reduce it if you are overweight.

[pierhogunn]

I find that when I am loosing weight, and keep my weight below 200lbs that 90% of my health problems clear up, including the sever bruising I get on my back and side from waking up my wife from my snoring. But now that I am running 4X/week in old shoes I am getting shin splints 6 of 1, half dozen of another

[scott213]

Cpap user for close to a year now. At first it was hard to get a mask that was comfortable. I have a mustache and that can cause leakage. All said and done if I use my mask all night I am ready to go in the morning. Ready to make some sawdust and quality firewood.

[gsmittle]

I've been on a cpap for 10 years now. In fact, I wore out my first machine. It's made a huge difference in the quality of my sleep and my attitude when I'm awake.

I don't remember having a huge adjustment problem when I started, probably because I was so sleep-deprived I coulda slept through anything as long as I was getting enough oxygen.

I started with a mask and moved to nasal pillows about two years ago. I find them more comfortable. The only downside is I freeze when I roll over and face my wife. The exhaust air stream makes her cold and then she takes all the blanket....

Hang in there! You'll adapt to the machine before you know it!

g.

[Ed62]

My daughter-in-law has that problem. She's had different health issues for a few years, and nobody had her tested for it until just recently. She stopped breathing over 100 times per hour too, during an overnight study. She couldn't believe it either. They gave her a mask to wear when going to bed. But she hasn't been able to use it because she feels like she's smothering. Has anyone else experienced that? Not sure if this has anything to do with it, but one doctor told her she needed sinus surgery, which she had. The new doc told her she never needed it, and she is messed up because of it.

Ed

[linear]

Hehe, turbocharger, that made me laugh.

My wife is a sleep tech and has done the studies on people with sleep disorders (a lot of apnea but other stuff too) for almost 20 years. And yeah, I have a turbocharger too. I've probably used mine for ten years or so.

We need a "show us your CPAP mask" thread!

[lrogers]

Wow, there are more of us suffering with this stuff than i thought! Looks like I'm in very good company! I too chose the nasal pillows. Felt comfortable enough last night; guess time will tell.
Are you all using distilled of filtered water for your humidifier units?

[kajendo]

Used off and on for 11 years. Next week I have appointment for new hoses and mask. My wife uses one also. First project with craftsman clone BT3.

[jaybee]

We're all just a bunch of hosers

[siliconbauhaus]

I had one a couple of weeks ago. Asked me to try to go to sleep at 11pm (too early for me) and ended up giving me a sleeping pill. Got about 30 mins worth of sleep when they woke me up to put the mask on me. I'm a mouth breather so the mask was annoying. (plus all the wires and stuff stuck to me) 20 mins later I get back to sleep and then I get woken up at 5:30 am to go home.

I've got to go see the ENT now about the cpap kit so count me in with the gang

[DonHo]

I use tap water in my humidifer and change it every night. I clean the humidifer and mask with white vinegar once a week. They tell you to clean it more often but being lazy and thinking the warning was just CYA I've only cleaned it once a week and have had no problems. Of course I might just be lucky and everybody might react differently.

DonHo