New to Sleep Apnea

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
gnsmith
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:51 am
Location: Springfield, Ohio

New to Sleep Apnea

Post by gnsmith » Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:39 am

Hello all,
I'm new to OSA but not new to Internet forums.
I just wanted to post and thank everyone for the valuable information about sleep apnea that everyone has posted here at cpaptalk.com.
I was diagnosed with OSA the beginning of October and started using my CPAP the 1st of November.
Before October I had no ideal what OSA let alone that I have it and how it affects your health.
My wife has told me for many years that I would stop breathing in the middle of the night and I did not think twice that I might have a health problem. When I turned 45 it was like someone flipped a switch and I started having different health issues. High blood pressure, memory loss, heart problems, shortness of breath, and constantly tired. (Being the person I am I just chalked it up as getting old.)
Recently I had some heart issues that laid me up in hospital and my doctor had them run every test he could think of knowing that he didn't have very many opportunities to tie me down. The first night in hospital my sleep apnea raised its vicious head and sent out alarms to my heart monitors and my blood oxygen level dropped below 60 and into the room they came rushing with a EKG machine. My wife told them I had just stopped breathing at the time the alarms went off at the nurses station.
After running further test and doing the sleep study they found out I had OSA and that OSA was one of the biggest contributing factors to my health issues.
So now my journey begins and I found this site. In the last two days of lurking in the background in reading your post I have learned more about OSA then I would ever learn just surfing the web. After 25 days of using my CPAP and now understanding how to use my CPAP with knowledge and links to software I gained from here . I am starting to have energy I haven't had in years.
So think you and keep up the great work!!

Greg

User avatar
OkyDoky
Posts: 2870
Joined: Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:18 pm

Re: New to Sleep Apnea

Post by OkyDoky » Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:50 am

I just wanted to say welcome and thanks for your success story. I also wanted to second the thanks to all the regulars that post because they help many more than they hear from on the forum!
ResMed Aircurve 10 VAUTO EPAP 11 IPAP 15 / P10 pillows mask / Sleepyhead Software / Back up & travel machine Respironics 760

User avatar
49er
Posts: 5624
Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 8:18 am

Re: New to Sleep Apnea

Post by 49er » Tue Nov 25, 2014 10:52 am

Hi Greg,

Welcome and so glad you are on the way to improved health after having numerous problems. Amazing how lucky you turned out to be even though it may not have seemed that way at the time.

By the way, the Cardiologist that I go to for routine yearly testing, runs sleep studies through her office because she definitely saw the correlation between sleep apnea and heart problems. She is an excellent doctor.

49er
gnsmith wrote:Hello all,
I'm new to OSA but not new to Internet forums.
I just wanted to post and thank everyone for the valuable information about sleep apnea that everyone has posted here at cpaptalk.com.
I was diagnosed with OSA the beginning of October and started using my CPAP the 1st of November.
Before October I had no ideal what OSA let alone that I have it and how it affects your health.
My wife has told me for many years that I would stop breathing in the middle of the night and I did not think twice that I might have a health problem. When I turned 45 it was like someone flipped a switch and I started having different health issues. High blood pressure, memory loss, heart problems, shortness of breath, and constantly tired. (Being the person I am I just chalked it up as getting old.)
Recently I had some heart issues that laid me up in hospital and my doctor had them run every test he could think of knowing that he didn't have very many opportunities to tie me down. The first night in hospital my sleep apnea raised its vicious head and sent out alarms to my heart monitors and my blood oxygen level dropped below 60 and into the room they came rushing with a EKG machine. My wife told them I had just stopped breathing at the time the alarms went off at the nurses station.
After running further test and doing the sleep study they found out I had OSA and that OSA was one of the biggest contributing factors to my health issues.
So now my journey begins and I found this site. In the last two days of lurking in the background in reading your post I have learned more about OSA then I would ever learn just surfing the web. After 25 days of using my CPAP and now understanding how to use my CPAP with knowledge and links to software I gained from here . I am starting to have energy I haven't had in years.
So think you and keep up the great work!!

Greg

User avatar
Drowsy Dancer
Posts: 1271
Joined: Mon Feb 28, 2011 9:35 am
Location: here

Re: New to Sleep Apnea

Post by Drowsy Dancer » Tue Nov 25, 2014 11:13 am

Welcome. Also, in your equipment list, if you can set it to "text" rather than "images" it will be easier for people to help you if you have questions about your particular equipment.

_________________
Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Swift™ FX Bella Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Headgears
Additional Comments: Software: SleepyHead. Pressure: APAP 9.5 min/11 max, A-Flex x2
How we squander our hours of pain. -- Rilke

gnsmith
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2014 7:51 am
Location: Springfield, Ohio

Re: New to Sleep Apnea

Post by gnsmith » Tue Nov 25, 2014 11:55 am

Thank you for the warm welcome 49er, Oky-doky and Drowsy Dance

Thank you Drowsy Dance for the heads up on changing my equipment from picture to text.