newbie
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newbie
I had a sleep study and they said I stopped breathing 34 times. I couldn't fall asleep during the 2nd study when they put the mask on me. They tried 2 kinds of masks. I brought home a machine yesterday to do recordings at home and I couldn't do the mask. I asked fora different one and I am going to try again tonight. I went into a panic mode and i had even taken a simply sleep to take the edge off. I have decided to quit smoking and loose some weight. I am hoping that it will be enough that I won't have to use this machine. I always slept well until I started gaining weight from sitting all the time in a call center. Please someone tell me that there is light at the end of the tunnel and with lifestyle changes it can be resolved. My blood pressure has been high also. The dr didn't put me on anything for it and said it will sart to go down. This is so hard!
Re: newbie
Hi, welcome to the forum. And relax, you haven't been given a life sentence for anything, but you do need to focus a bit, take a couple of deep breaths !
First of all, can you please go to your member page, fill out the Profile with the full name of your machine (look on the top) and model, then do the same for your mask, and whatever other info you have, like your pressure, so we can all know whenever you post what you're working with. Secondly, I hate to be the bearer and all that, but it's rather unlikely that just losing some weight will make your OSA disappear along with the need to use the machine. However, we can definitely help you adjust quite well if you give us (and yourself) a chance. Many people here have had panic attacks, etc. when first trying the mask, but with some tweaking and tricks have gotten over it quickly. One way to start is by wearing your mask alone, detached from the machine, while you're e.g. watching TV or reading, and incidentally getting used to the feel. There are other ways too, but that's a good place to start.
Once we know your equipment (and anything else you wish to share) we'll make you our latest project and get you settled as fast as possible. Just understand that it may not be over the first, second or even third night, but once you are able to get some sleep you might just start feeling better, and suddenly have more interest and energy for learning about all this and even finding it interesting.
One question - were you shown how to use a feature called the ramp? That alone, if not explained properly, can sometimes be a problem, but an unnecessary one in the end, so let us know what you were told about it, if you were.
First of all, can you please go to your member page, fill out the Profile with the full name of your machine (look on the top) and model, then do the same for your mask, and whatever other info you have, like your pressure, so we can all know whenever you post what you're working with. Secondly, I hate to be the bearer and all that, but it's rather unlikely that just losing some weight will make your OSA disappear along with the need to use the machine. However, we can definitely help you adjust quite well if you give us (and yourself) a chance. Many people here have had panic attacks, etc. when first trying the mask, but with some tweaking and tricks have gotten over it quickly. One way to start is by wearing your mask alone, detached from the machine, while you're e.g. watching TV or reading, and incidentally getting used to the feel. There are other ways too, but that's a good place to start.
Once we know your equipment (and anything else you wish to share) we'll make you our latest project and get you settled as fast as possible. Just understand that it may not be over the first, second or even third night, but once you are able to get some sleep you might just start feeling better, and suddenly have more interest and energy for learning about all this and even finding it interesting.
One question - were you shown how to use a feature called the ramp? That alone, if not explained properly, can sometimes be a problem, but an unnecessary one in the end, so let us know what you were told about it, if you were.
Re: newbie
Yes, it can be hard to get adjusted to this and to get the treatment fine tuned, but it is so worth the effort. Initial panic is not unusual. The more explicit you can be about what you are experiencing the more targeted our suggestions can be. Is it the idea of the mask over your face and the feel of the rushing air that panics you? Or is it after you have settled in that you feel a sense of suffocating? Differentiating that is a good first step.
Whether losing weight and stopping smoking will in the long term make a difference in your cpap need remains to be seen. I do hope you are not suggesting you do these things INSTEAD of cpap. Do them in conjuntion with cpap and when you reach your target weight have your sleep apnea reevaluated. Weight loss may or may not be enough, but that can take many months and who knows how much health damage could occur in the meantime. Also, untreated sleep apnea is notorious for sabotaging any weight loss efforts and it throws your body out of kilter in regards to appetite hormones, stress hormones, and metabolism.
Do you have a copy of your sleep study? Just wondering about more details. Were you diagnosed as mild, moderate or severe? How low did your oxygen go? How long did your events last? Some people are candidates for using a dental device to treat their sleep apnea. Doesn't work for everyone, but worth investigating is your apnea is mild.
Best wishes as you go forward and come to peace with treating your sleep apnea and discovering a healthier you.
Whether losing weight and stopping smoking will in the long term make a difference in your cpap need remains to be seen. I do hope you are not suggesting you do these things INSTEAD of cpap. Do them in conjuntion with cpap and when you reach your target weight have your sleep apnea reevaluated. Weight loss may or may not be enough, but that can take many months and who knows how much health damage could occur in the meantime. Also, untreated sleep apnea is notorious for sabotaging any weight loss efforts and it throws your body out of kilter in regards to appetite hormones, stress hormones, and metabolism.
Do you have a copy of your sleep study? Just wondering about more details. Were you diagnosed as mild, moderate or severe? How low did your oxygen go? How long did your events last? Some people are candidates for using a dental device to treat their sleep apnea. Doesn't work for everyone, but worth investigating is your apnea is mild.
Best wishes as you go forward and come to peace with treating your sleep apnea and discovering a healthier you.
_________________
| Mask: TAP PAP Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Improved Stability Mouthpiece |
| Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control |
| Additional Comments: Bleep/DreamPort for full nights, Tap Pap for shorter sessions |
My SleepDancing Video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE7WA_5c73c
Re: newbie
Welcome aboard! Great info & folks here!
https://www.cpap.com/viewImage.php?PNum ... rofile.jpg
You can do this!!!
Yup, it is! Now, good suggestions in the previous posts. I have claustrophobia & I started with this mask, Respironics' OptiLife, it's pretty minimal, I wore this (well, replacements as I wore 'em out) for 23 months. Click on this link for the imagebam wrote:...This is so hard!
https://www.cpap.com/viewImage.php?PNum ... rofile.jpg
You can do this!!!
ResMed S9 range 9.8-17, RespCare Hybrid FFM
Never, never, never, never say never.
Never, never, never, never say never.
Re: newbie
I don't really know much yet since they need to do the recordings at home. I just started this. The mask and machine , I think are on loan until they get the recordings. They didn't give me a report or anything. I guess I really don't know much. They did say I stopped 34 times an hour and that was considered severe. My dad lost weight and stopped smoking and gavehis machineback after a few months gut he only stopped 12 times a hour. I fell both sufficated and clastrophobic. What's a ramp? Oh they said my oxygen level went to 80 a few times
Re: newbie
Ok, the 34 times probably means your average (per hour) Apnea Hypopnea Index was 34 (AHI=34). Anything over 30 is considered severe. Lots of us here are in the severe category; there's a thread for people whose AHI was 100+ .
Since you weren't able to complete the second night, called titration, where you wear a mask and they change pressure to determine the ideal pressure to eliminate apneas (stop breathing) and hypopneas (narrowed airways that restrict your breathing), you are likely doing what they call a home titration. This can take place over several nights or last as long as a month or more. The machine is recording data every time you go to sleep.
Suffocated and claustrophic...welcome to the club. Again, you can do this; it's not impossible! A challenge...yes. Hard...yes. Doable...yes!
There are 2 forms of ramp in several of the machines used for this sort of therapy. One is how long it takes for your machine to reach full pressure after it's turned on, for example, it starts at a lower pressure and gradually increases during some defined period of time (some machines go right to full pressure when turned on). The other form of ramp allows you to set the amt of time that the machine runs at a lower pressure. My pressure was set to 11, but my ramp was set to 6; typically, I set my ramp time to either 5 or 10 mins because that's how long it took me to fall sleep and setting it this way allowed me to breathe at a pressure of 6 so I could fall asleep, then after falling asleep, the machine would go to 11. In the beginning before I adjusted to sleeping with the equipment, my ramp time was 25-30 mins, although I used 45 mins the first 5 nights.
80% oxygen is pretty low. Normal daytime levels are in the high 90s. This means that you have been experiencing oxygen deprivation at night. This is dangerous part of sleep apnea, the low oxygen levels, the thing that causes all the bad effects. Hopefully, you caught this before serious damage has been done to your body. Remember, this condition is treatable.
Because you are struggling with this, write down in as detailed a fashion as possible each problem, come post each one, and see if someone here can offer suggestions to resolve the problem. Is your breathing difficult, like not enough air, when you first turn the machine on? Could be the pressure is too low, that's often the case (I needed 6 but many set the beginning pressure at 4 and most of us can't get enough air at that pressure). Does the mask hurt? Where? Is it hard to exhale? See...those kinds of details...most of that sort of stuff can be changed to make this therapy easier. Besides, idenifying these sorts of issues takes your mind off the overwhelming thoughts about beginning this therapy.
Wt loss...my pressure is lower since I lost about 57#s. I've got a lot more to lose and I'm hoping it might fix my airway problem; it might not, but that thought gives me hope and inspires me to continue losing wt.
Since you weren't able to complete the second night, called titration, where you wear a mask and they change pressure to determine the ideal pressure to eliminate apneas (stop breathing) and hypopneas (narrowed airways that restrict your breathing), you are likely doing what they call a home titration. This can take place over several nights or last as long as a month or more. The machine is recording data every time you go to sleep.
Suffocated and claustrophic...welcome to the club. Again, you can do this; it's not impossible! A challenge...yes. Hard...yes. Doable...yes!
There are 2 forms of ramp in several of the machines used for this sort of therapy. One is how long it takes for your machine to reach full pressure after it's turned on, for example, it starts at a lower pressure and gradually increases during some defined period of time (some machines go right to full pressure when turned on). The other form of ramp allows you to set the amt of time that the machine runs at a lower pressure. My pressure was set to 11, but my ramp was set to 6; typically, I set my ramp time to either 5 or 10 mins because that's how long it took me to fall sleep and setting it this way allowed me to breathe at a pressure of 6 so I could fall asleep, then after falling asleep, the machine would go to 11. In the beginning before I adjusted to sleeping with the equipment, my ramp time was 25-30 mins, although I used 45 mins the first 5 nights.
80% oxygen is pretty low. Normal daytime levels are in the high 90s. This means that you have been experiencing oxygen deprivation at night. This is dangerous part of sleep apnea, the low oxygen levels, the thing that causes all the bad effects. Hopefully, you caught this before serious damage has been done to your body. Remember, this condition is treatable.
Because you are struggling with this, write down in as detailed a fashion as possible each problem, come post each one, and see if someone here can offer suggestions to resolve the problem. Is your breathing difficult, like not enough air, when you first turn the machine on? Could be the pressure is too low, that's often the case (I needed 6 but many set the beginning pressure at 4 and most of us can't get enough air at that pressure). Does the mask hurt? Where? Is it hard to exhale? See...those kinds of details...most of that sort of stuff can be changed to make this therapy easier. Besides, idenifying these sorts of issues takes your mind off the overwhelming thoughts about beginning this therapy.
Wt loss...my pressure is lower since I lost about 57#s. I've got a lot more to lose and I'm hoping it might fix my airway problem; it might not, but that thought gives me hope and inspires me to continue losing wt.
ResMed S9 range 9.8-17, RespCare Hybrid FFM
Never, never, never, never say never.
Never, never, never, never say never.
Re: newbie
What kind of damage doesthis do to your bady untreated? I was asked to go about 2years ago but figured my sllep issues were due to working until 1:00 am and hormones. What made me go to the dr was it was cold out and I was horseback riding and cantering and was having a hard time breathing. The shortness of breath has only been this year but I thought it was due to lack of exercise since I sit all day in a call center so when I start to do very physical stuff my stanima is low. HUM?
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BlackSpinner
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Re: newbie
High blood pressure, Heart attack, stroke, diabetes, obesity, GERD, asthma, dementia, Alzheimer's, psychosis, depression, tooth decay, bad breath, death.bam wrote:What kind of damage doesthis do to your bady untreated?
Little stuff like that.
_________________
| Machine: PR System One REMStar 60 Series Auto CPAP Machine |
| Additional Comments: Quatro mask for colds & flus S8 elite for back up |
71. The lame can ride on horseback, the one-handed drive cattle. The deaf, fight and be useful. To be blind is better than to be burnt on the pyre. No one gets good from a corpse. The Havamal
Re: newbie
Hello bam,
You have received some excellent feedback from the others. I just want to welcome you to the forum and encourage you to learn as much as you can about sleep apnea, equipment, and the many tips to make therapy more comfortable. As you can see from the list of untreated sleep apnea consequences, it is very important for your health that you are effectively treated.
Many of us have struggled with the same problems you're going through, and many of us have overcome the challenges and now feel great. Using a machine during the night is definitely a hassle, but you can adapt. To be honest, I would not want to sleep without it now because I feel SO much better during the daytime and my body finally has a chance to heal from the many years of damage done due to nightly oxygen deprivation.
The people here are wonderful about addressing any questions and they can guide you through this new world of CPAP. We were all newbies once, so we do understand what it's like starting out. There is hope for better health, and you can do this! We're so glad you found this forum!
~ DreamOn
You have received some excellent feedback from the others. I just want to welcome you to the forum and encourage you to learn as much as you can about sleep apnea, equipment, and the many tips to make therapy more comfortable. As you can see from the list of untreated sleep apnea consequences, it is very important for your health that you are effectively treated.
Many of us have struggled with the same problems you're going through, and many of us have overcome the challenges and now feel great. Using a machine during the night is definitely a hassle, but you can adapt. To be honest, I would not want to sleep without it now because I feel SO much better during the daytime and my body finally has a chance to heal from the many years of damage done due to nightly oxygen deprivation.
The people here are wonderful about addressing any questions and they can guide you through this new world of CPAP. We were all newbies once, so we do understand what it's like starting out. There is hope for better health, and you can do this! We're so glad you found this forum!
~ DreamOn
9 posts
• Page 1 of 1