New to this forum...

[Ayleone]

Hello.

(I didn't see a topic or area for new members to introduce themselves...if I missed it I'm sorry.)

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in June after a sleep study at my local hospital. I had many clinical symptoms for years, but my insurance wouldn't pay for a study until we changed in May. The study was first on my list of requests, lol. They called me after the study and said I had 8 events per hour, and over 5 was needed for a DX. I went back the next week for a titration study-the nurse let me try on multiple FFM (mouth breather) until I found 2 I liked, I tried the Simplus mask and didn't even need to try the other one that night, it worked so well. The night went awful for me, I kept waking up either feeling like I couldn't breathe or that the air was too warm-the nurse finally told me that I was waking up every time she adjusted the pressure setting, and the "too warm" was when the heater kicked on. I went home thinking I may not get a lot of sleep, but I would do it anyways.

I was sent to a DME about a week later, and got my CPAP on July 5th. I have a ResMed 9 Elite with Hi5 humidifier and the FFM Simplus...my pressure is 9. The first night I realized I couldn't sleep fully on my side, so I began sleeping with a pillow in my back to support me being "mostly" on my side. I spent the first few days playing with the humidifier settings, and realized I like it between 3 and 4. After the first 7 days the mask started leaking into my eyes...the exact same night I washed the headgear and undid the straps. Needless to say, after hours of websearching I found a video on youtube about how to fit a mask properly and realized I was tightening it way too much! lol.

I found out a few things with CPAP;
1. I do not use the ramp feature because the pressure doesn't bother me, in fact, it feels wonderful to my asthmatic lungs!
2. I have more energy during the day, and don't need naps anymore
3. My BP dropped DRASTICALLY and I got dizzy spells for a few weeks-my scores dropped an average of 30 points systolic and diastolic, and my pulse is 20 pts lower. (Did I mention I was hypertensive?)
4. I don't have headaches when I wake up anymore

Overall, I like my CPAP very much!

I wanted to say, however, that I live in a rural town and I don't have a sleep Dr, just the referral to the study from my PCP and the DME-whom I didn't even realize I could call and ask questions of until I started seeing it on the forum! I usually google my questions, and almost every time I had a question I ended up on this forum, and I always found what I needed. ( I am currently trying to download Sleepyhead and try it out-thanks!) So now that I'm ready, I wanted to join here officially instead of just reading.

On a side note, I was honestly shocked to learn about the compliance feature-but once I read here about some of the problems people face starting therapy I could far better understand why. I realize I have been extremely lucky to have mine go so easily.

[Nick Danger]

Welcome! It sounds like you are off to a good start. When you hit a roadblock, bring it to the forum. Odds are somebody here has dealt with the same problem at some point.

[kaiasgram]

There isn't a special Introductions section here, you just have to jump right into the fray -- which you did.
Welcome to the forum, it sounds like you are off to a great start. If you need help with SleepyHead and/or posting screenshots let us know.