My CPAP anniversary

[Janknitz]

It’s my one year anniversary on my PR S1 Auto! At least on my own machine with a humidifier after nearly a month-long home titration with no humidifier. I’ve been 100% compliant every night except one particularly snotty, sneezy night with a cold (sorry if that’s TMI ) when I could only do 2 hours.

When I started this journey, there were a lot of “nevers”:

1. “I will NEVER use a CPAP machine. I can’t use a CPAP machine. No way am I going to use a CPAP machine. I will NEVER sleep with a chunk of plastic strapped to my face”. It was the abysmal results on my sleep study (79 AHI, 73% 02) and some people on the forums who gave me a swift kick in the pants about how much I needed this therapy that got rid of that “never”.

2. “ I can NEVER use anything but a FF mask because I mouth breathe”. Some leaky nights and a very sore nose led me to try a nasal mask. What do you know—I could breathe through my nose and didn’t open my mouth once! But my nose was still sore, so I went on to nasal pillows. Who’d a thunk it?

3. “I NEVER sleep through the night”. That was true—before CPAP I did not because I was waking up panicked, gasping for breath, reflux in my mouth (sorry TMI again!), heart pounding, etc. I thought (and my doctor concurred) that it was 10 years of “menopause” symptoms. Funny how that went away when I started CPAP! I didn’t sleep through the night at first, I think it took almost 3 months, but I sure do now! My CPAP (especially with the soft Padacheek covers) has become like a blankie to me—I strap it on and sleep so comfortably all night (except for the occasional face fart when I wear the Quattro ).

4. “I NEVER snore”. Ha! I even woke myself up snoring before CPAP. We are planning a family trip and shared hotel “suite” and all my kids are worried about is how much noise my machine makes—these kids have been kept up because of my snoring through two sets of closed bedroom doors. My husband doesn’t have to sleep on the couch any more, but he misses the excuse to buy new cute footie pj’s for himself (poor guy!).

5. “I can NEVER stay awake when watching a movie or hearing a sermon”. Well, sometimes now I wish I could sleep through the sermons, but I now can see movies all the way through instead of begging my kids to tell me what happened after the first 10 minutes.

6. “I can NEVER wear a full face mask, especially not that horrid, leaky Quattro.” I love my nasal pillows, but I finally tamed my Quattro, and even though I think my nose has finally recovered from its one-two respiratory infection punch, I’m not too motivated to switch back to nasal pillows. With the Padacheek covers there’s no silicone anywhere on my face, and I’m finding it quite cozy. I have a feeling I will want to switch back to nasal pillows when the weather gets warm, but I’m in no hurry.

7. “With the stress in my life I NEVER feel rested.” Things are bad right now, truly bad (they could be worse, so I don’t mean to complain). But I wake up feeling sooooooo calm and comfortable. I wish I could hang on to that feeling all day and it makes me crave bedtime. But getting that respite every night has meant a lot and helps me cope with things.


It was one crazy year, knocking out all these nevers. Someone’s signature (can’t remember whose) says “Never say never” and that’s probably some of the best advice ever for CPAP. It’s a lesson I’ve learned over and over.

If you're new to CPAP, hang in there. And knock out your "nevers" one by one.

[robysue]

Congrats on your anniversary.

It is amazing what we get used to because (in part) it "works" in one way or another. Even with all my insomnia and other issues, I can now identify magically having the "mild arthritis" pain in my hands and feet disappear as a positive.

I hope some six months from now my one year anniversary is as positive as yours.

[bayourest]

thanks for an inspiring post
I am starting to believe it can really happen (someday)

[EricinNC]

Its going on four years for me with CPAP and if it was not for good gear, Id be dead. And I am not exaggerating.

Eric

[Jersey Girl]

Dear Janknitz,

Congratulations on making it a full year! It's amazing isn't it? I mean, what we faced at first seemed insurmountable. Yet, here you are a whole year later and you've tamed the mask, or better yet, "become one with the mask."

May you continue to enjoy peaceful restorative sleep in the years to come,

Jersey Girl

[Starlette]

Hi Jan.

Congrats in your one year Anniversary! Cheers!

I am a firm believer that no one can REALLY understand our world unless you've been there. We do and we congratulate/applaud you on your one victory. You have literally battled and slain your dragons called, "Never" and you won!!! You've discovered that there really is a better life after the machine and mask that has been there all along.

Congratulations Jan!

Starlette

[sister]

Hi Janknitz,
Congratulations! May you have many more restful nights in the years to come.
Thank you for all that you contribute to this forum to help others.
GOD BLESS YOU!

[Sheriff Buford]

My wife has sleep apnea, and has similar symptons that you have. I have begged, bribed and pleaded with her to take a sleep study. But she won't and says she doesn't have sleep apnea. You are an amazing lady!!

You note was a breath of fresh air!! You have re-charged my effort to see that she gets help!

Sheriff

[Janknitz]

Thanks for all the good wishes.

Roby Sue, I'm wishing you a positive experience, too!

Sheriff, my guess is that your wife has to be a pretty strong person to be the Sheriff's wife She's probably a lot like me, the more you push, the more she will push back. So I think you have to back off.

Two things got me to finally give in and get a sleep study: One is that I was VERY sick with bronchitis/pneumonia and I was at the point where I would do ANYTHING to feel better, and the second is that my husband could no longer sleep in our bed because of the snoring. I knew our marriage was in trouble. So I did it for him--but he was smart enough not to push me to do it. He never said a word, and he made a big deal about how fun it was to shop for fuzzy footie pajamas (with firetrucks on them!) so he would be warm sleeping on the couch. He knew that testing and treatment had to be my idea. I hope your wife doesn't have to have an illness convince her, but she may need to come to the realization herself.

Something else that helped was that my insurance (Kaiser) only does home sleep tests. I was NEVER going to do a night in a sleep lab (and this is one never that I truly think I would have held to), but I could deal with the home sleep test OK. Personally I think a lot more people would get tested and treated if there was greater access to home testing. That may be the sticking point for your wife, so perhaps she would agree to be tested if you can find a home test.

[Bodhi]

.

[Janknitz]

The home sleep test was OK. Kaiser uses an older version of the Itamar Watch Pat (google it). It had two finger probes that went on the fingers, and then a velcro "guantlet" on your forearm to hold the machine which was about the size of one of the first cell phones. The newer ones are more like a big wrist watch! You sleep in your own bed, take the thing off in the morning, and return it to the sleep lab.

That's it. Easy Peasy. No wires, no strange bed and people watching you all night, nothing up your nose or in your hair. No paste, no goo. Kaiser does it because it's cost effective, but they also have a vested interest in diagnosing and treating people with SA so they don't develop more expensive medical problems down the line. So it is accurate. Medicare and many other insurers now recognize the validity of these tests and PAY for them. The big difficult is that if you don't have Kaiser, you may have a hard time finding a sleep doctor who will order a home test for you--they make the big bucks on their sleep labs. (There are some good sleep doctors, but a LOT of them are in it to make as much money with as little work as possible, and they want their sleep labs full).

The Itamar records 9 channels of data, enought to get a good idea of your sleeping and breathing. I'm not sure it would pick up on things like RLS or PLMD, but it does get plenty of data for OSA and probably for mixed or central apnea as well.

A sleep lab test would have been the deal breaker for me. I'm very grateful that the home test was available or I would have spent yet another year (and many more) with UNtreated OSA.

[dusty0318]

Congrats Jan..... a lot of that sounded like me.... no wonder you were ready to kick my butt...lol.... thanks... i'm glad to see a success story

[TalonNYC]

Congrats!

[avi123]

The Itamar records 9 channels of data, enought to get a good idea of your sleeping and breathing. I'm not sure it would pick up on things like RLS or PLMD, but it does get plenty of data for OSA and probably for mixed or central apnea as well.

A sleep lab test would have been the deal breaker for me. I'm very grateful that the home test was available or I would have spent yet another year (and many more) with UNtreated OSA.

Hi, and congratulation!

Has your home sleep testing included titrations on a CPAP?

Do these describe the test:

http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/conte ... l.pdf+html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12628865

[rested gal]

What a great post, Jan!

And what a happy anniversary for you!

So glad you conquered the "nevers."

Your success has worked out not only for your own good, but also for the good of so many other people you'll never know... the many people who come to this forum and find your excellent posts. Hopefully in time to get them educated before they are given "a cpap and a mask."

Congratulations, again.