Hello...just getting started!

[texascatfan]

Hi...Tonight will be Night #5 with my CPAP full face mask. I'm doing a little better than I thought I would, though I am still bummed overall that this is "the rest of my life." I am on match.com and am newly thinking that this is a significant change in my life and a prospective gentleman may not be keen on it, but I'm getting ahead of myself, I know.

Cliff Notes background on all this: I was enrolled in a clinical trial in early November for an insomnia drug...and after the first sleepover I got kicked out because of sleep apnea. Say what?? I said...but it was true. Went to a sleep disorder specialist MD and did another diagnostic sleep study at a hospital, then the titration study sleepover a month later. Everything takes longer than it takes so I just got my CPAP mask March 8. An equipment tech brought it to my home and then we did a speakerphone deal with the respiratory tech. I started using it that night. I have a ResMed AirTouch F20 in size medium; I called the resp tech today and asked to try a Small. One question I have for folks here is -- I just visited the ResMed website and realized there is a "for Her" line...no one had mentioned it. What is the difference essentially? The resp tech said I have 30 days to try different masks then I am 'stuck' with what I have for three months under Medicare guidelines. The resp tech said the sizing (at least for this mask) is all about length so I wanted to try the Small... I noticed last night that lying down the mask bottom was almost at the bottom of my chin. I also have some red marks on the bridge of my nose the next morning. I do get a "happy face" icon for the Mask on the ResMed AirSense 10 machine, so it appears I am wearing the mask well enough. My boykitty who likes to share my pillow is having none of this, however; he is a bit freaked.

So...I just wanted to introduce myself and start reading posts... I'm thinking of going to an A.W.A.K.E meeting that is local every other month... do folks here think they are helpful? I have to say generally I am fairly critical and quick to be negative but I am really trying to psych myself into a "I can DO this" mode. I really would like to sleep all night or at least feel truly refreshed in the morning, and that has not happened for YEARS.

I live in the Houston area, though I am a Ohio native and moved here after three decades in NYC metro. So there may be a quiz on all this now . Thanks for reading this far!

[zonker]

.... I'm thinking of going to an A.W.A.K.E meeting that is local every other month... do folks here think they are helpful?

welcome to the forum. you've come to the right place and you will get lot's of helpful advice!

i chose the above to quote above because i personally haven't heard of this organization. perhaps others who have will chime in.

but just giving it a cursory glance via google, it certainly SOUNDS good. seems to me we all need all the help we can get trying to get accustomed to this thing on our face!

(now, watch...having said that, several people will come in and say that the A.W.A.K.E. group has it all wrong and disseminates hurtful and bogus information! )

[Cardsfan]

Hi and welcome- You will learn lots here so stick with us. About AWAKE- I went to a meeting the the St Louis area at a local hospital. It was helpful, especially to a newer user. They had some vendors that were showing their different types of equipment. And we had pizza and attendance prizes. So I say go for it.

[LSAT]

.... I'm thinking of going to an A.W.A.K.E meeting that is local every other month... do folks here think they are helpful?

welcome to the forum. you've come to the right place and you will get lot's of helpful advice!

i chose the above to quote above because i personally haven't heard of this organization. perhaps others who have will chime in.

but just giving it a cursory glance via google, it certainly SOUNDS good. seems to me we all need all the help we can get trying to get accustomed to this thing on our face!

(now, watch...having said that, several people will come in and say that the A.W.A.K.E. group has it all wrong and disseminates hurtful and bogus information! )

Zonker is right...you've come to the right place for information, but don't disregard W.A.K.E. It's always helpful to discuss your concerns face to face. I don't know why he is being negative regarding W.A.K.E. I've never seen anyone say anything negative about it.

[Sheriff Buford]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Kingwood area. Note that our host is in Stafford.... just down from the southwest freeway area. It may be a bit far, but at least you can get your stuff quick. Stick with us, we'll get you thru this.
You can do this!
Sheriff

[FaethSilverwolf]

Merry Meet Texascatfan,
I've only had my Cpap since January 9,2018. So I'm still fairly new to it. I think the biggest advice I can give you is don't give up on your cpap if you don't feel well rested right away. I'm I still feel tired through out the day if I don't use caffine. So you've been running in the negative for years now it will take time for you to fell rested on a regular basis is what I've been told. So hang in there.

[texascatfan]

Merry Meet Texascatfan,
I've only had my Cpap since January 9,2018. So I'm still fairly new to it. I think the biggest advice I can give you is don't give up on your cpap if you don't feel well rested right away. I'm I still feel tired through out the day if I don't use caffine. So you've been running in the negative for years now it will take time for you to fell rested on a regular basis is what I've been told. So hang in there.

You read my mind! I was wondering when I will "bound out of bed excited for the day".... hasn't happened yet. In fact last night I was awake for 2 hours or more...couldn't get back to sleep. Several years ago I had asked my primary doctor about meds to control urination...I was getting up 2+ times for that. I didn't pursue the meds...now I wonder if there was a "chicken or egg" element to that. Was sleep apnea waking me up (doc never brought that up) so I went to the bathroom as long as I was awake, or was the need to urinate getting me up? In my vast CPAP experience of 5 nights... I have only gotten up once a night, so it's a slight improvement. But I still do feel tired. So thanks for the input on that! I won't see the sleep doc until I've been using the Cpap for 30 days.

As mentioned, looking forward to getting the smaller mask and seeing how that works out... I did also ask about the difference between the "for Her" models and regular.

Oh...how do people put their equipment info on the bottom of their profile? I didn't see any template for that.

Thanks for the welcome!

[texascatfan]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Kingwood area. Note that our host is in Stafford.... just down from the southwest freeway area. It may be a bit far, but at least you can get your stuff quick. Stick with us, we'll get you thru this.
You can do this!
Sheriff

Thanks for the welcome! Who/what is "our host"? Right now my equipment comes from Pacific Pulmonary in California but the doctor's office had also mentioned the option of Medical Monitor (I think name was) and they are in Stafford, is that
what you mean?

[Pugsy]

I was wondering when I will "bound out of bed excited for the day".... hasn't happened yet.

Welcome to the forum.

About that bounding out of the bed ready to do a marathon type of energy thing....I also wondered how long...still wondering after nearly 9 years. CPAP can only do so much and it can't make us into something we simply never were to start with.
It also can't fix problems that are unrelated to sleep apnea no matter how much we want to blame all our problems on sleep apnea and expect cpap to make them all go away.

Give yourself some realistic goals...getting the sleep is the primary goal right now. Without a decent number of hours of good solid sleep there's not much chance of seeing much improvement.

I was never (even before I got sleep apnea courtesy of menopause) a morning person where I bounded out of bed ready to take on the world. It's just not who I was. Took me a bit of time to come to the realization that cpap wouldn't be making me into something I never was.
I don't wake up ready to go run that marathon but now at least I don't wake up feeling like I just ran that marathon and got run over by a bus at the end of it.

In fact last night I was awake for 2 hours or more...couldn't get back to sleep.

Is the insomnia new since you started cpap or something you have had going on for years?
Any idea why you woke up and couldn't get back to sleep?
Sleep onset insomnia....where we have trouble falling asleep.
Sleep maintenance insomnia...where we wake often during the night or too early and can't go back to sleep.

When you have time please add your equipment to your profile. It helps us help you better and faster if we can see at a glance what you are using. Saves time because we don't have to ask and wait for a response.
wiki/index.php/Registering_Equipment_in_User_Profile
If you can't find something...just add it to the comments section or ask us.

The nocturia thing...that was one of the first symptoms of sleep apnea to go away when I started cpap. That alone would make me want to use cpap. Just not having to get up every hour or two to pee and with a full bladder each time would be worth it to me.
Of course sleep apnea isn't the only cause for nocturia and you might have more than one thing going on that causes it but if sleep apnea is your only cause for the nocturia...it will fix it.
The short version of why....when we have an apnea episode the heart gets stressed and when the heart gets stress it dumps a little stress hormone into the blood stream (that hormone is called ANP or Atrial natriuretic peptide). When the ANP makes its way to the kidneys they react by ramping up production and produce lots of urine....and we have to pee.
Reducing the apnea events reduces the stress on the heart which reduces the amount of ANP getting dumped in the system and the kidneys don't go into over drive and fill up the bladder.

[DoubleB65]

I'm three weeks in and new too. I'm guessing that chances are there are plenty of guys on match.com who are on CPAP as well (just saying)...and if you meet the right guy it won't matter to him one bit that you are CPAP. I met my wife on match.com seven years ago

[Sheriff Buford]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Kingwood area. Note that our host is in Stafford.... just down from the southwest freeway area. It may be a bit far, but at least you can get your stuff quick. Stick with us, we'll get you thru this.
You can do this!
Sheriff

Thanks for the welcome! Who/what is "our host"? Right now my equipment comes from Pacific Pulmonary in California but the doctor's office had also mentioned the option of Medical Monitor (I think name was) and they are in Stafford, is that
what you mean?

Our host is cpap.com, and that is the name of their business (bit-ness).

Sheriff

[texascatfan]

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Kingwood area. Note that our host is in Stafford.... just down from the southwest freeway area. It may be a bit far, but at least you can get your stuff quick. Stick with us, we'll get you thru this.
You can do this!
Sheriff

Thanks for the welcome! Who/what is "our host"? Right now my equipment comes from Pacific Pulmonary in California but the doctor's office had also mentioned the option of Medical Monitor (I think name was) and they are in Stafford, is that
what you mean?

Our host is cpap.com, and that is the name of their business (bit-ness).

Sheriff

I thought it was bid-ness. Yes i did finally figure that out but thanks for the reply. They are a about an 8-minute drive if I ever want to do brick-and-mortar for something. I am waiting for my smaller mask to come from PP...I'm in that 30-day period when I can get a different mask, then I have to live with whatever I have for 3 months before Medicare will pay for another one. This weekend I will try washing the hose.... I bought baby shampoo. Yay me!