Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
navyvet72
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by navyvet72 » Wed Apr 20, 2011 11:45 am

I can relate to change, I lost my sister the day I picked up my CPAP, so change comes whether we want it to or not. thanks for the info.

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idamtnboy
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by idamtnboy » Wed Apr 20, 2011 1:20 pm

navyvet72 wrote:I can relate to change, I lost my sister the day I picked up my CPAP, so change comes whether we want it to or not. thanks for the info.
You're welcome, as is everyone else for the thanks in the past few weeks. I'm glad it's a help.

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SnoozyQ
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by SnoozyQ » Mon May 02, 2011 6:46 am

This is an awesome thread. I'll be hanging on to it....I need it right now.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by chunkyfrog » Mon May 02, 2011 11:40 am

When I was diagnosed, it was like a light came on:
I wasn't lazy,feeling tired night and day-dozing off all the time; or a glutton, nibbling all day long--there was something WRONG with my health.
It was a huge relief that I no longer had to take the blame for all the things that made me miserable and DO something about it.
Using my machine has freed me from so much guilt, along with the nightmares and endless fatigue.
I must also mention the excess weight, which did not come off without working on it; but thankfully, I had the energy to do it.
CPAP has given me back my life.

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MarquisdeStyle
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by MarquisdeStyle » Wed May 04, 2011 9:20 am

Thanks, idamtnboy, for your Coping with Change article! As a psychiatric nurse, I am so very familiar with Kubler-
Ross, but love how you applied these concepts to Sleep Apnea.
I was diagnosed with OSA in 2005, and was briefly an active member of this message board. Then, after losing quite a bit of weight, it appeared that the issue had resolved, and I stopped using my machine. For several years now, though, my fibromyalgia pain has increased to a significant level, and my blood pressure has begun to rise. I started awakening myself with my snoring, and my husband kept stating "It's really not so bad. Don't worry about it. It's no problem." Guess what? It WAS a problem. I feel awful, and finally broke down and had a new sleep study done. Although classified as Mild for most of the night, during REM sleep, my apnea events climb to 27/hr, and my O2 Saturation in my blood drops to 83%. No wonder I feel awful and everything hurts. I'm struggling to breathe all night.
So, here I go again. Titration study tomorrow night, and the emotional acceptance issues of getting "re-attached" are facing me again. This time, however, I know that I am going to feel much, much better once I get started, and I know which mask to pick first, since I've been though it all before.
I'm thrilled to still have the support of this Message Board, as well, since no-one except another C-PAPer can understand fully what is involved and what we need to consider.

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bobbyolympic
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hange

Post by bobbyolympic » Sun May 15, 2011 10:16 am

Hi
Last edited by bobbyolympic on Tue Sep 15, 2015 11:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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idamtnboy
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by idamtnboy » Sun May 15, 2011 6:14 pm

MarquisdeStyle wrote:Thanks, idamtnboy, for your Coping with Change article! As a psychiatric nurse, I am so very familiar with Kubler-
Ross, but love how you applied these concepts to Sleep Apnea.
Thank you.
bobbyolympic wrote:If I am grieving anything, it is the lost potential in not being diagnosed earlier and treated sooner.
Entirely valid. The key word is 'lost'. You will make peace with the loss eventually.

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Peter62
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by Peter62 » Tue May 17, 2011 12:07 pm

I love my Cpap machine. But I was so tired of being tired. I decided to give it a chance. The first couples of month are very annoying, but keep using it. Your energy level is going to be higher.
The challenge for me was to find the right mask. I tried 3 masks. The nasal pillow was the right fit for me.
Peter

beatnikchick

Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by beatnikchick » Sun May 22, 2011 11:06 pm

This reading was so needed by me.....I've been through allot these last 3 years with a house fire and re-build, my be-loved fathers illness and death, taking care of my Mom's needs, becoming Menopausel and going through financial lows - and oh yes - at 56 years old after three children I cound stand to lose about 30 lbs....so to be diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and asked to wear a machine mask every night - this was the one thing I could say "NO" to - so I did. I returned it and said my mind is not ready...that was about six months ago..

But now I think I'm ready or at least want to be, that's a step right?

This read made me cry and take hold of my life "changing" but to a "new normal" as you described - thank you for this - truly - thank you...

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ameriken
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by ameriken » Mon Jun 13, 2011 10:20 am

The emotional phases we go through are shock, denial, depression, and acceptance.
Hi everyone, I'm brand new to this forum as well as a mask and machine. Though, I must be strange because I did not experience the above phases, I jumped right to acceptance. When I got the diagnosis, I was relieved. My wife and I were initially worried that I might have alzheimers or some other kind of irreversible and untreatable illness.

When I first told my doctor about 2 or 3 years ago about my fatigue and how awful I felt waking up every morning, he honed in on 'Low-T' and started testosterone therapy, which I am still on. Initially, it helped a bit but over time the fatigue worsened, yet the Dr never thought of sleep apnea. It wasn't until last year that I did some of my own research and discovered it could be sleep apnea. I also joined the VA health system and got a different provider who seemed to be more open to the idea and she got the ball rolling on a sleep study. That was back in November 2010. So after 7 months and 2 sleep studies, when I was finally told I have both obstructive and central sleep apnea, I was actually relieved and looking forward to the mask and machine. I was feeling so horrible that the idea of using a mask and machine was a very welcome and small price to pay if it helped me feel better than I did.

I've been on the machine 4 nights now and have had no problem sleeping with it. I'm starting to feel better, though not as quickly as I had hoped and I am not totally 'there' yet. I hope to learn more here at this forum about the ups and downs of this kind of therapy, and I hope perhaps that sometime in the future I'll be able to help someone else as well.
Thinking of quitting CPAP?

No problem, here's the first thing to do when you quit:


Advanced funeral planning. When you give up CPAP, you'll probably need it.

antoniospine
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by antoniospine » Wed Jul 06, 2011 3:49 am

It is my second day using the resmed elite. It is a challenge. I was reading that you can review the data generate by the machine if you have the Rescan 3.11 program. You can downloaded to your computer.

Can anyone direct me where I can download this program?

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ameriken
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by ameriken » Wed Jul 06, 2011 10:43 am

antoniospine wrote:It is my second day using the resmed elite. It is a challenge. I was reading that you can review the data generate by the machine if you have the Rescan 3.11 program. You can downloaded to your computer.

Can anyone direct me where I can download this program?
The program I've seen used most often in the forum seems to be 'Encore Pro', which can be found using a search with those terms. Also, you might want to go to your user control panel and post your equipment. Folks a lot more knowledgable than I can probably help you far more than I can and that will help.

Good luck...Ken
Thinking of quitting CPAP?

No problem, here's the first thing to do when you quit:


Advanced funeral planning. When you give up CPAP, you'll probably need it.

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Pugsy
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by Pugsy » Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:25 am

antoniospine wrote:It is my second day using the resmed elite. It is a challenge. I was reading that you can review the data generate by the machine if you have the Rescan 3.11 program. You can downloaded to your computer.

Can anyone direct me where I can download this program?
Do a forum member search for a post by Uncle_Bob. In his signature is the latest version of ResScan which is the software for ResMed machines.

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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by stl2srb » Fri Jul 08, 2011 3:00 pm

How nice it is to have somewhere for support. I read this post a week ago when I was diagnosed. I refused to get the cpap because I thought I could get rid of my apnea by losing weight. After reading several posts here and especially this one about dealing with change. I think I went through all the stages that day. Finally late that night I accepted it and decided to get the machine and do it. Well I got my machine today and I will use it for the first time tonight. I am looking forward to getting a good nights sleep finally. I know it may take a while to get used to but I am in this for the long haul. Thank you all for your stories and future support.

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Dojers
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Re: Especially for newly diagnosed - Dealing with Change

Post by Dojers » Mon Jul 11, 2011 8:56 pm

ameriken wrote:
The emotional phases we go through are shock, denial, depression, and acceptance.
Hi everyone, I'm brand new to this forum as well as a mask and machine. Though, I must be strange because I did not experience the above phases, I jumped right to acceptance. When I got the diagnosis, I was relieved. My wife and I were initially worried that I might have alzheimers or some other kind of irreversible and untreatable illness.
Whew - I was afraid I was unusual in that I didn't experience any of the symptoms either but I think this is a good post - and I've bookmarked it so when I come up on someone who is new to SA I can send 'em to that writing. I'm a Born-Again Believer so I really appreciated the write-up myself.

But I was scared that I was "weird" (well, I am but that's beside the point LOL ) so it's nice to know I'm not the only one who went to immediate acceptance. It made me feel like maybe I could finally start sleeping without fear of suffocating which I had a fear of since I was small and as far as I know, since birth. And I'm hoping that at some point I'll be able to drop the sleeping pills (which I have already but I still don't sleep well) permanently.

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