Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Check out the link I posted earlier to the mask I use. It doesn't cover the nose - just goes into it and covers the mouth. I find it works great for me.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Yes the one she wears is the one that covers just her nose. I will have her talk to the the company, and try the full face one.

Thanks BigCat I will have her take a look at it.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

I had my follow up with the ENT and they told me I would be getting a CPAP machine. I need to call, as I have not heard from the CPAP people yet.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Hi all,

My name's Jeof and ... uhm ... please place me in the camp with the people who think they MIGHT have sleep apnea.

So here are the potential tipoffs for me:

I snore ... loudly ... my wife has to roll me over onto my side to get me to stop.

Sometimes, my breathing "catches" during the night for a few seconds and I usually gasp to restart, followed by more snoring and rolling over onto my side.

Not often, but sometimes I wake up literally gasping for air with the feeling that my chest has just been sat on by an elephant.

That being said, while I am tired during the day, I don't lack for energy. I eat normally and am in decent shape, having been athletic most of my life. (I've run a marathon and lifted weights for a while before we had kids ... still play golf and basketball) I usually don't go to bed until 1:00 or 2:00 am and have to be up at 5:30 or 6:00 for work with the usual ill effects of not getting enough sleep. To compound this though, I have a one year old daughter who isn't the best sleeper :)

Luckily there is a Sleep Center right in my town and I've begun inquiring about getting looked at ... just need to make sure insurance covers it.

Thanks for the thread!

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

I'm glad it helped!

Keep us posted please. :)

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Better safe that sorry Jeof. I had all the same symptoms as you.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Got my CPAP today. All of the functions of the machine were explained to me. I got the nasal pillows mask. Tonight will be my first night sleeping with it. We'll see how it goes!

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

I have sleep apnea. I cannot sleep on my back at all. I often wake up in the middle of the night with an out of breath feeling and often wake up in the middle of the night feeling like a bomb went off next to my bed. Its gotten about a hundred percent worse in the last six months and the fact that I have no health insurance and little money means no cpap or medical treatment for me.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Good luck Christian...the first night is the roughest, it's all downhill after that one.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

An hour later, can't fall asleep. Back spasms. Dunno if one has anything to do with the other, though.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Dangit, now after 1:30 AM, still can't sleep. This sucks.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Last night did not go well. Took the mask off after a few hours of fighting it. Might try to get the Quattro full face mask. That's the one I used during my sleep study at the clinic.

It's very hard for me to NOT open my mouth during sleep. I find, when using this nasal pillow mask, that if I open my mouth, the choking sensation is unbearable.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Back spasms are chest soreness are some of the initial side affects of the CPAP. Imagine that your basically inflating yourself non-stop throughout the night. They do subside, but in my case, the pressure they initially assigned me was just way too high at 14. It's not an exact science. I self-adjusted down a few until I found a pressure that not only didn't cause the soreness, but also kept my mouth from blowing open while I slept. I used the nose pillows too, and it took a good week or more to get completely comfortable, and then I didn't notice it at all.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

I used to have high pressures and I found it slammed my mouth shut. Now with lower pressures I had to go to a full face mask as the lower pressures would not keep my mouth shut and I didn't want to wear that stupid head band thingy.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Which machine were you given? Does it have Bi-flex with it? Bi-flex allows you to break pressure by opening your mouth without that overwhelming intake of air that chokes you.

Here's the machine I was given and it was best thing going at the time.

http://bipapplusmseries.respironics.com/

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Do any of you have difficulties snorking? I know I'm missing out on a ton of the overall smoking experience because it is so hard to get the smoke flowing smoothly. I thought it was just me (probably is!), but do you think the changing in the breathing mechanics with the CPAP could affect this?

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

If it does I'm luck as I'm not affected by it Patrick.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

Not caused me any problems at all. If anything, my nose is generally clearer for being blasted with warm, moist air every night, so snorking is quite easy.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

It is made by Respironics. Series M, I believe. It is not a Bipap machine. My pressure is set at 14 as well. My machine has a "ramp" button that I am supposed to use when I first put it on. It drops the pressure to 4, then over the course of 15 minutes, it gradually ramps up to 14.

Re: Sleep Apnea Support/Questions Thread
 

14 is pretty high pressure, at least it was for me. I was big guy then, so the pressure of my lungs being fully expanded against my chest wall hurt and I'd be sore all day. I found out how to change the pressure myself and dropped it down to 10 and had no problems after that. Once I had surgery and lost the weight, I had the pressure down to 4 and then just stopped it all together.