I now have a CPAP machine

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So I guess I forgot to mention here that after my sleep study the doctor recommended me have a CPAP machine, and today I picked it up.

hopefully I can get used to wearing one, as apparently I stop breathing 100 times every hour.

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cpap

Melanie Brown's picture

I've had one for years now. Don't even really notice it anymore

To be honest.

I misread the second letter as an "r"... I'm gonna go hide now.

I used to be on a CPAP, but I'm on a BiPAP now

charlie98210's picture

I was on a CPAP machine since, I don't know...maybe 2005?--to combat Obstructive Sleep Apnea (soft tissues in the sinuses would swell and close-up the area above the throat (I think it's called the nasopharynx).

Anyway, about four years ago I started having trouble with it waking me up during the night. (suddenly felt like someone was trying to strangle me).

Turns out my Lewy Body Dementia had progressed and given me Central Sleep Apnea. Central sleep apnea is a disorder in which your breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep. Central sleep apnea occurs because your brain doesn't send proper signals to the muscles that control your breathing. Unlike obstructive sleep apnea, the brain fails to ask the respiratory muscles to activate the sequence to exhale.

I am now on a BiPAP machine. It changes the airflow to enhance both the inhalation phase of breathing and then switches the pressure to stimulate the chest muscles to trigger exhalation.

The good news for you (and it applies to both the CPAP and BiPAP machines and gear) is that a well-fitting mask, coupled with a correctly regulated airflow, makes it easy to get used to. After a couple of days, I didn't even notice that I was wearing the thing after a few minutes!

Good Luck!!!!

It's worth it

db-guru's picture

I started on CPAP around 1991. Got headaches as I was on a very high pressure so switched to BiPAP and finally got good sleep. I now use an auto CPAP which reduces the exhalation pressure similar to BiPAP. It's so nice to have energy during the day. I went through quite a few masks until I found one that was comfortable. Don't give up.

"Natives who beat drums to drive off evil spirits are objects of scorn to smart
Americans who blow horns to break up traffic jams." Mary Ellen Kelly

CPAP, BiPAP, and Masks

Daphne Xu's picture

100 times an hour? YIKES! That means that you stop breathing, partially awaken, shift your throat around to start breathing again, and finally get back to sleep -- only to repeat the process within a minute. And I thought that mine was bad.

I have a BiPAP machine now. When I first got one of those, a number of things had to be adjusted -- primarily face-masks, although I also needed more than 20 cm of pressure. (Conversion: the pressure of 20 cm of water is about 2% of an atmosphere, or perhaps 20 millibars.)

After finding out about my sleep apnea tendency, I would doze off in a chair or on a floor, and my throat adjustment sometimes infested my dreams.

-- Daphne Xu

I've had one since about 2012

Rose's picture

I've had one since about 2012 or so. I don't mind it until I turn just wrong and I hear and feel an annoying air leak from my nose piece. If I don't wear it, I wake up with a bad headache, so it's definitely worth it.

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Hugs!
Rosemary

You do what you have to do to

Lynda shermer's picture

You do what you have to do to stay healthy. It sounds like you’ll adapt fine eventually…

Latest_me.jpgLynda Shermer

Stick with it ...

I used to call (in the mornings) my former Wife "The Zombesi Ambassador". (Where do Zombies come from ... Zombesia, of course).

Morning after her fist night on CPAP, she had a functioning brain, rather than her having to work really hard just to stumble through her morning routine. And I'd had a good night's sleep as well, not waking up monitoring her, and trying to decide how long to wait before nudging her.

So quickly, and so quietly, that it took me a week to notice - she had really bad acid reflux, compelling her to (try) to sleep in a recliner - her acid reflux went 95% away.