New User Introduction and Thank You!

[strongnose]

Hi everyone! I'm waking up after a very successful Night 2, part of a week-long titration study with a ResMed S9 AutoSET. I wanted to thank all of you for being so forthcoming with stories and information and general positivity on this forum. I had slightly under a month between my diagnosis (34 AHI) and the start of the titration study, and during that long time period it was exceptionally difficult to sleep, probably because of worry. I was scared that CPAP treatment would be extremely rough, because the doctor stressed that non-compliance is such a common event, which made CPAP therapy frightening. If so many people can't use it, what's the chance I can? Is hit-or-miss surgery really the only option?

So during that long time period without treatment I read through most of this forum, especially the troubleshooting posts, and I think I came away with a reasonable understanding of the difficulties involved. I read through all the manuals, learned how to enter the clinical mode and read charts, and generally felt confident that I understood what the machine did and how it worked. I learned that the machine has an exhaust vent, and I'm not going to choke in my sleep if the power goes out. My first night with APAP was still a little scary, but when problems arose, I knew how to solve them, because the rest of you solved them before and wrote about it. I can't remember a time I slept as soundly as I did last night. Probably not since at least 10 years ago.

I'm 25 years old and a competitive powerlifter -- I spend 2-3 hours a day training with heavy barbells, which is very dangerous when sleepy -- and I'm so happy that my condition was finally diagnosed and is receiving treatment. I expect the next few months to also show that my other completely unexplained health issues are slowly normalizing. Thank you all so much for helping me on this journey, and I hope to see you all around for quite a while!

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.
Hopefully you will take to this stuff like a duck to water.

[deerslayer]

"I learned that the machine has an exhaust vent, and I'm not going to choke in my sleep if the power goes out."



yup, mine went out last night....Like trying to suck air from an empty scuba tank, LOL.
WELCOME strongnose to the world of stalking dreams Pun intended & refreshed wake ups.
Rock On & Live Long,
tim

[strongnose]

yup, mine went out last night....Like trying to suck air from an empty scuba tank, LOL.

You might like connecting your machine to an uninterruptible power supply. The cheap one in that link ($40) works for only a few minutes, but it would enough to keep the machine purring and you asleep while the power comes back on.

[sewsleepy]

Welcome, Strongnose. The forum has been a godsend to me in the same way also. I am going to go out on a limb and say, if you have the self discipline for competitive lifting, you will have the self discipline to make cpap work for you. Non-compliance is a huge issue not just with cpap but all kinds of health issues. A lot of people resist changing what is familiar to them. With cpap, if a person cannot find a comfortable mask that fits and seals well, it can become frustrating. You just have to find that mask and then stick with it. I think you will find it is indispensable to good strength gains to be able to breathe while you are sleeping! Good luck and don't get discouraged if you run into some problems.

[deerslayer]

yup, mine went out last night....Like trying to suck air from an empty scuba tank, LOL.

You might like connecting your machine to an uninterruptible power supply. The cheap one in that link ($40) works for only a few minutes, but it would enough to keep the machine purring and you asleep while the power comes back on.

Even though our power outages are very infrequent, that's not a bad idea. i have my computer hooked up to one. Only thing is with that one ( it Chirps) incessantly .
tim