Another approach to Provent

[pats]

I saw my sleep doctor this morning. He looked at the output from my APAP data chip, and is very happy with how the APAP with nasal pillows is controlling my sleep apnea. On the other hand, he also agrees that taking the APAP with me on my Andean vacation would be very inconvenient, and many nights will be spent above the machine's altitude ceiling. He has no problem with my proposed strategy of using APAP at home but Provent for travel convenience. He called me an "ideal case" for trying Provent, because my apnea is relatively mild, just bad enough to need treatment.

I now have a prescription for a 10 day Provent starter pack, and need to find a pharmacy or on-line supplier to fill it. Unfortunately, I don't think our esteemed hosts sell it, so I will have to look elsewhere.

[HoseCrusher]

I think this is an excellent approach to Provent... If it works.

Keep a journal and let us know how it works out.

[pats]

I think this is an excellent approach to Provent... If it works.

Keep a journal and let us know how it works out.

Will do. I need to do that anyway to report back to my sleep doctor.

[pats]

I now have a prescription for a 10 day Provent starter pack, and need to find a pharmacy or on-line supplier to fill it. Unfortunately, I don't think our esteemed hosts sell it, so I will have to look elsewhere.

I got the prescription filled, and put on a pair when I went to bed last night. I had no problem getting them placed with a good seal. I did follow the advice to wash and dry the area around the end of my nose, presumably to reduce skin oils.

I decided not to use a chin strap. I woke up after a couple of hours with a very dry mouth and feeling a bit uncomfortable. According to the advice that comes with Provent, I took of them off. Of course, I then put on my APAP mask, which I had ready lying next to my pillow, and slept fine for the rest of the night. That is one advantage of this approach. I don't have to go without treatment if I take off the Provent.

I'll try for a bit longer tomorrow night, and also wear my chinstrap to reduce the dry mouth problem. I have the chin strap loose enough that I can open my mouth when I'm awake - it only changes what happens if I relax my jaw muscles. That seems to be good enough to keep my mouth closed while sleeping with the nasal pillows and APAP.

Interestingly, the sleep doctor who wrote the prescription and the pharmacist who filled it both pointed out that a Provent that is clean and has enough adhesive can be reused. I put the ones I used last night back on their paper, and may try reusing them tonight.

[NightMonkey]

Sounds like a great way to avoid carrying a little case and ruin a vacation.

Do you plan to thoroughly test Provent at home before vacation time arrives?

What does "relatively mild" mean? What are the numbers? AHI, RDI, O2 desats?

He called me an "ideal case" for trying Provent, because my apnea is relatively mild, just bad enough to need treatment.

Have you and your medical team evaluated yourself for positional sleep apnea and positional therapy?

If your apnea was "relatively mild" while sleeping on your back you might be an "ideal case" for positional therapy.

[hegel123]

I just used provent for a four day backpacking trip in the Sierra. Here's what I found:
1) I had a lot of trouble getting a seal. This was mostly my fault. I did not adequately clean off the sunscreen from my nose before getting into my tent. Also, sleeping alone, it was very difficult to hold a mirror and apply the device at the same time. I ended up "feeling" my way. Also, I have a moustache; bad!
2)on the single night that I achieved a good seal the results were pretty good! Nothing like my cpap machine but definitely a lot better than nothing at all, which I was easily able to judge because of the three nights with no seal!
)even on the good seal night after six hours or so I lost the seal.
3)I will bring these again on my next trip after practicing more. Also I'll be sure to remove oils and sunscreen from around my nose better. also, I'll try to clip back my goatee around the nose.
4)can't say yet if these work good enough to replace my machine on regular travels. Probably not.
5)I have moderate apnea.
6) Provent is wicked light! five weighed about an ounce!

[pats]

Sounds like a great way to avoid carrying a little case and ruin a vacation.

Do you plan to thoroughly test Provent at home before vacation time arrives?

What does "relatively mild" mean? What are the numbers? AHI, RDI, O2 desats?

He called me an "ideal case" for trying Provent, because my apnea is relatively mild, just bad enough to need treatment.

Have you and your medical team evaluated yourself for positional sleep apnea and positional therapy?

If your apnea was "relatively mild" while sleeping on your back you might be an "ideal case" for positional therapy.

With all due respect to the collective wisdom of this group, my decision not to take my APAP with me, and to try Provent for travel, is consistent with the advice of a sleep specialist MD who has reviewed my general medical history, my untreated sleep study, my titration study, the download from my APAP's data chip as of yesterday morning, and my planned itinerary; examined my throat and nose; and questioned me about relevant aspects of my family medical history. I like all the practical live-with-CPAP advice in this group, but I am going to continue to depend for treatment decisions on consultation with a qualified and fully informed MD.

I've already started using Provent at home - only a couple of hours last night, but the package leaflet suggests working up gradually.

[pats]

1) I had a lot of trouble getting a seal. This was mostly my fault. I did not adequately clean off the sunscreen from my nose before getting into my tent. Also, sleeping alone, it was very difficult to hold a mirror and apply the device at the same time. I ended up "feeling" my way. Also, I have a moustache; bad!

Maybe you could rig some way to mount a mirror on something you have with you anyway, such as your backpack, while you are putting on the Provent? I think that without a mirror it would have much been harder to position the Provent correctly without having to move it.

[NateS]

1) I had a lot of trouble getting a seal. This was mostly my fault. I did not adequately clean off the sunscreen from my nose before getting into my tent. Also, sleeping alone, it was very difficult to hold a mirror and apply the device at the same time. I ended up "feeling" my way. Also, I have a moustache; bad!

Maybe you could rig some way to mount a mirror on something you have with you anyway, such as your backpack, while you are putting on the Provent? I think that without a mirror it would have much been harder to position the Provent correctly without having to move it.

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Around-The-Neck-R ... acleint-20

Nate

[NightMonkey]

With all due respect to the collective wisdom of this group, my decision not to take my APAP with me,

No need to apologize. That attitude is not inconsistent with the "collective wisdom of this group". Most of us believe decisions are ultimately the responsibility of each individual.

[NateS]

I feel that many cpap users are ultra-skeptical about Provent for three reasons.

The first is the result of the aggressive and questionable advertising campaign for Provent.

The second is because of the lack of feedback in the form of flowcharts and numbers from an attached or nearby device, measuring the effectiveness of therapy for what we have been taught is a life-threatening condition if left untreated.

The third is because we worked very hard to accept and eventually welcome a very unnatural process into one-third of our lives in order hopefully to be healthier and live longer, and now some company, rightly or wrongly, is whispering or shouting in our ear that maybe all this effort and inconvenience might not have been necessary. So yes, we are skeptical to the point of disbelief and ridicule of the whole idea of Provent.

But then again I try to imagine what it must have been like when cpap came along and these doctors and companies from Australia were first trying to tell the public that our sleeping was unhealthy and dangerous, and that wearing a mask and blasting some high pressure air from a hose up our noses was going to make things a whole lot better.

I assume that people were very skeptical at that time, and no doubt engaged in a lot of ridicule of cpap therapy.

For every theory of a "cure" or therapeutic benefit that gets advanced and advocated in medicine, there must be at least ten that get cast aside and disproven. We see and read about those cases every day.

So Provent will have to prove its effectiveness against this sea of resistance and ridicule and challenges to logic, just as cpap did. We will have to wait and see what the outcome will be.

Regards, Nate

[brucelegs]

I used Provent for my recent cruise with success. I "practiced" for a few nights at home before to see if it could be be a short term replacement for the machine. I was satisfied. It is not something I would use as primary therapy, but for those times I am out for short term travel it fits the bill. I still find my good old S9 comforting. I plan on using the Provent for my monthly 3-4 overnights and as backup when the power goes out.

[pats]

I feel that many cpap users are ultra-skeptical about Provent for three reasons.

The first is the result of the aggressive and undercover advertising campaign.

How should they have advertised it?

The second is because of the lack of feedback in the form of flowcharts and numbers from an attached or nearby device, measuring the effectiveness of therapy for what we have been taught is a life-threatening condition if left untreated.

I have several conditions that could be life-threatening if they got worse and were left untreated. I depend on regular tests to verify e.g. that my blood sugar remains under control with diet and exercise. Maybe the solution is mass production of cheap sleep study equipment, so that my primary care physician could order a home sleep study every six months to check on my sleep treatment the same way she orders a set of blood tests every six months to check on other conditions.

The third is because we worked very hard to accept and eventually welcome a very unnatural process into one-third of our lives in order hopefully to be healthier and live longer, and now some company, rightly or wrongly, is whispering or shouting in our ear that maybe all this effort and inconvenience might not have been necessary. So yes, we are skeptical to the point of disbelief and ridicule of the whole idea of Provent.

This makes no sense to me. There have been many times in my life when I've been used to doing something inconvenient, and better ways have come along. I used to write programs using coding sheets and punch cards, and spent about as much time programming as sleeping. I love modern software development environments, and didn't regret the punch cards at all when I first switched to using a terminal to edit code.

In any case, I don't care whether Provent is popular or not. I care whether it works for me, and makes my life simpler.

[NateS]

…The third is because we worked very hard to accept and eventually welcome a very unnatural process into one-third of our lives in order hopefully to be healthier and live longer, and now some company, rightly or wrongly, is whispering or shouting in our ear that maybe all this effort and inconvenience might not have been necessary. So yes, we are skeptical to the point of disbelief and ridicule of the whole idea of Provent.

This makes no sense to me.…

That's strange - I was writing in support of your position, by engaging in a little honest, psychoanalytic self-criticism of us skeptics!

Did you miss the words rightly or wrongly?

Nate

[pats]

…The third is because we worked very hard to accept and eventually welcome a very unnatural process into one-third of our lives in order hopefully to be healthier and live longer, and now some company, rightly or wrongly, is whispering or shouting in our ear that maybe all this effort and inconvenience might not have been necessary. So yes, we are skeptical to the point of disbelief and ridicule of the whole idea of Provent.

This makes no sense to me.…

That's strange - I was writing in support of your position, by engaging in a little honest self-criticism of us skeptics!

Nate

I just don't see why inconvenience of a current methodology could possibly make anyone want to hang onto it when something more convenient comes along.