Updated: 4 Simple Questions and Six Discoveries

[j.a.taylor]

Update:

Well, it's so nice to get to know more of you who are in the "room." I've really enjoyed this forum, since I started CPAPing in July, and appreciate all of you who so kindly answered the questions in this post.

My original intent was to help those of us who are newer to this therapy spot some trends from your collective wisdom.

So here are six things that I've discovered from your answers:

First: Mask fit is a vital part of your treatment, if not one of the more important elements. If the mask doesn't fit right, you'll be frustrated.

Second: The process isn't always easy, but it's not the end of the world either. Keep at it! As Nodzy said, "Your life is dangling from that hose." (BTW Nodzy: Love that new avatar!)

Third: A good support system is necessary. That's why this forum, and the individuals who so freely contribute to it, are important. These are people who understand what you're going through. (And thanks CPAP.com for making this available to us).

Fourth: Machines do matter, but the machine that's right for you is the best machine for your treatment. Regardless of its brand name. However, insist on the machine that you want.

Fifth: It's important for you to be in charge of your treatment. It's more important to you than it is to anyone else, so make sure that you get treatment that best works for you. Insist on it. Even if you have to fire someone.

Sixth: Being an "old-timer" is a state of mind. Regardless of chronological age or time spent xPAPing, each one of our experiences is intensely personal. Together, we're on an instructive journey, and every member has something to contribute that may help others. Make a contribution! We need to hear your voice!

________________________________________________________________________

I though it might be nice for those of us who are relatively new to the CPAP experience to know a little bit more about some of you "Old-Timers." So, if you could, answer these 4 simple questions for us newbies:

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
2) How many machines have you owned?
3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Feel free to move beyond these questions and tell us more about yourself .

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CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): newbie, CPAP[/list]

[Julie]

Hi, good questions, though I'd say you missed out maybe the most important one, and that is what mask do you use? There are far fewer machines out there, and many are based on the type of machine your MD recommends for you based on your sleep study and breathing habits, but the mask is the thing that can make a real difference to how well you sleep, whether you'll wear it all night every night, and whether you also use accessories like chin straps, taping, padding, etc. with it. No one mask fits everyone of course, and some may seem to be good for you short term, and then become uncomfortable, or ineffective over time and you end up with others. And that's why it's so hard to advise anyone else (no two faces are alike) about which one to try, so most of us do have at least a few 'spares' lying around that seemed like a good idea originally, but no longer do the job or are uncomfortable. So, time - going on 3 yrs, machine Remstar Auto with c-flex (don't use the c-flex), only ever had (still do) a back-up of the same thing though would like to try the new ones (Remstar M series) with a-flex.

[Sergey45]

1. Since February 2006
2. 3 machines
3. Respironics “tank” version
4. None. After more than year and a half I am still learning how to deal with all this and I am still considering myself a newbie

[Hurricane]

[quote="j.a.taylor"]I though it might be nice for those of us who are relatively new to the CPAP experience to know a little bit more about some of you "Old-Timers." So, if you could, answer these 4 simple questions for us newbies:

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
2) How many machines have you owned?
3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Feel free to move beyond these questions and tell us more about yourself .

[papdaddy]

1. been cpaping since december 2001
2. 2 machines remstar pro w/o cflex, remstar m series auto w/ Aflex
3. My new machine is the best by far. Just got the Auto 2 weeks ago (YAY)
4. My only advice is to keep learning every day , you already found one of the best sites for information that I know about. This web site has a vast wealth of knowledge and a lot of fun loving carachters. I would be lost with out it . Thanks to all. RIch (papdaddy)

_________________

CPAPopedia Keywords Contained In This Post (Click For Definition): cflex, auto

[TXKajun]

1) How many years have you been xPAPing? It'll be 3 years Feb. 1, 2008, so about 2 3/4 years now.

2) How many machines have you owned? 2, my original PB 420E and a replacement generously provided through our hosts here when my original broke (the hook-up nipple for my sensor tube snapped).

3) What has been your favorite machine and why? Of course, it's gotta be the 420E. As far as why, that's easy....it's an APAP, it has great software and it's extremely portable (I travel a bunch)

4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie? Sign up for this forum and read, read, READ!!! Learn all you can, preferably before you go for your testing and for darn sure before you buy!

That's about all da words of wisdom I gots.

Kajun

[Pad A Cheek]

Hi and welcome to the hose head club if you are a newbie.

I have been on CPAP going on 4 years now.
I have owned 5 machines
My favorite 2 are the one I use now, the RemStar APAP because it is an Auto titrating machine and because it has the smart card so I can monitor my therapy myself. AND the BreatheX because I can sleep anywhere with or without electicity.
I would say to each newbie.
Get plenty of support and do not give up, be determined to get this to work for you.

Best of Luck
Karen

[Guest]

I though it might be nice for those of us who are relatively new to the CPAP experience to know a little bit more about some of you "Old-Timers." So, if you could, answer these 4 simple questions for us newbies:

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
2) How many machines have you owned?
3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Feel free to move beyond these questions and tell us more about yourself .

Said previously in other posts: I am fairly high on the SDB damage scale, due to lack of timely and spot-on SDB diagnosis and effective treatment. This board and the many knowledgeable people posting here providing ample information from their experience guided me to toward finding the proper answers for my needs. I won’t list names but there are scores of people who contributed much toward that success – I thank each of (you) them. Should I mention that many are also very entertaining?

Unless I have a mask-off rough night, or forget to reinsert the SmartCard in the unit to document my hose-time, I’ll soon have my first ever full month of compliant, beneficial therapy. And I do mean… body-felt beneficial. I feel the difference on every day, during every waking hour. It’s grand to sleep so well that I do not remember sleeping. That means that my eye-flicker-open episodes during the night are to a great extent diminished.

I’m a fledgling in this, a newbie…. but a grateful one who appreciates what the treatment is doing for my body and my life. Not to mention… having kind-of-met some really wonderful folks who give, without tangible compensation of their time, energy and experience to help others sorely in need of understanding, guidance, support and valid answers.


1 - I have about 5-years of unsuccessful “hosing,” and about 2-months of getting some success and some pleasure from being hosed every night.

2 - Three total, thus far. Two were DME supplied and I finally bought my own in the quest to get beneficial treatment.

3 - The REMstar DS510 Auto-M A-FLEX. It has the algorithms and features that allow the machine to “snuggle” with my body, making the treatment much more intimately tailored to me. Of course, switching to the Hybrid mask is making that marriage work. Too, Pur-Sleep aroma therapy balances the mix to keep things calm.

4 - Do not dally in finding solutions in achieving the most comfortable treatment and best benefits from the treatment that you possibly can. Your life is dangling from that hose.

[Nodzy]

I though it might be nice for those of us who are relatively new to the CPAP experience to know a little bit more about some of you "Old-Timers." So, if you could, answer these 4 simple questions for us newbies:

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
2) How many machines have you owned?
3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Feel free to move beyond these questions and tell us more about yourself

Said previously in other posts: I am fairly high on the SDB damage scale, due to lack of timely and spot-on SDB diagnosis and effective treatment. This board and the many knowledgeable people posting here providing ample information from their experience guided me to toward finding the proper answers for my needs. I won’t list names but there are scores of people who contributed much toward that success – I thank each of (you) them. Should I mention that many are also very entertaining?

Unless I have a mask-off rough night, or forget to reinsert the SmartCard in the unit to document my hose-time, I’ll soon have my first ever full month of compliant, beneficial therapy. And I do mean… body-felt beneficial. I feel the difference on every day, during every waking hour. It’s grand to sleep so well that I do not remember sleeping. That means that my eye-flicker-open episodes during the night are to a great extent diminished.

I’m a fledgling in this, a newbie…. but a grateful one who appreciates what the treatment is doing for my body and my life. Not to mention… having kind-of-met some really wonderful folks who give, without tangible compensation of their time, energy and experience to help others sorely in need of understanding, guidance, support and valid answers.


1 - I have about 5-years of unsuccessful “hosing,” and about 2-months of getting some success and some pleasure from being hosed every night.

2 - Three total, thus far. Two were DME supplied and I finally bought my own in the quest to get beneficial treatment.

3 - The REMstar DS510 Auto-M A-FLEX. It has the algorithms and features that allow the machine to “snuggle” with my body, making the treatment much more intimately tailored to me. Of course, switching to the Hybrid mask is making that marriage work. Too, Pur-Sleep aroma therapy balances the mix to keep things calm.

4 - Do not dally in finding solutions in achieving the most comfortable treatment and best benefits from the treatment that you possibly can. Your life is dangling from that hose.

I did it again, posted as Guest. And now I'll see if I can delete the prior post.

Nodzy

[JeffH]

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?

eight or nine, don't remember exactly.

2) How many machines have you owned?

2
3) What has been your favorite machine and why?

M series Auto, because of the flexibility of it.

4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Don't give up for ANY reason. Keep trying until it becomes second nature to you. It will.

[Wulfman...]

I though it might be nice for those of us who are relatively new to the CPAP experience to know a little bit more about some of you "Old-Timers." So, if you could, answer these 4 simple questions for us newbies:

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
Since 05/14/2005

2) How many machines have you owned?
3 - (1 REMstar Pro 2, and 2 REMstar Autos)

3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
Sentimental favorite is the Pro 2, but since I run them all in straight pressure mode, they're all about the same.

4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?
Take control of YOUR therapy.

5) What mask is your favorite? (as per Julie's suggestion)
ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face

Feel free to move beyond these questions and tell us more about yourself .

I don't think I qualify as an "Old-Timer" in either of the categories. There are lots of hoseheads that are OLDER than I am (right Ed/Hurricane?) and lots more who have been on the hose for many more years than I have been.....
I feel fortunate for the "timing" of my diagnosis and starting therapy. The data recording capabilities of the machines had matured to where it is now and the software was readily available. I'm also glad that CPAP.COM and this forum existed.

By the way......HAPPY ANNIVERSARY CPAP.COM! (as near as I can tell, it started around the first of September of 2004.)

Best wishes,

Den

[Lee Lee]

Not an oldtimer, but I have been XPAP ing for 2 years.
2 machines, ResMed S8 Elite and S8 Autoset Vantage. The favorite is the S8 Auto, because it can be either CPAP or Auto, it has EPR and it's very small, so I can travel with it.
Favorite mask used to be the FP HC407, but it just leaks too much. (It is so very quiet and light, and you can side- sleep with it. )
Now I use the Activa and t's pretty good, but so far, nothing is perfect.
Advice - do not feel sorry for yourself...read this forum everyday, don't give up .Also, be in charge of your own therapy. Educate yourself - learn something new every single day about OSA treatment. Get the software for your machine if you can, and use it everyday. "Pay it forward"- if you've been helped on this forum, give something back to someone who needs YOUR help .

[j.a.taylor]

Hi, good questions, though I'd say you missed out maybe the most important one, and that is what mask do you use?

Julie,

Actually, I had considered asking the mask question, but thought I'd forgo that for another day.

I had a recent thread that ended up being a debate on the benefits of ResMed vs. Respironics.

I thought I'd let everyone discuss the benefits of their mask in a separate post, and I knew that some of you would share that important piece of information anyway.

[cflame1]

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?
Almost a year and a half

2) How many machines have you owned?
Owned... one (my current one), Used... 2 others (rented)

3) What has been your favorite machine and why?
My current bipap auto, very comfortable, first machine that I could actually use the CFLEX/BIFLEX on without hyperventilating (have asthma)

4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?
Don't give up, ask questions (none of them are stupid) and read

5) Current mask?
My hybrid... I've been using it for over a year now.

[billbolton]

1) How many years have you been xPAPing?

Since 2003

2) How many machines have you owned?

4 machines

Resmed S7 Lightweight + H2i (my orignal CPAP machine)

Resmed S8 Lightweight + H3i (bought as I travel a lot and it was easier to transport - it was basically the same as the S7 Lightweight but smaller, lighter and battery powerable)

Resmed S8 Autoset Vantage + H3i (bought because I got an amazing deal on a brand new flow generator from a fellow CPAPtalker in the US)

Resmed S8 Autoset Spirit + H3i (bought locally because I found the Autoset feature set so useful that when another great brand new deal on the same flow generator came up I grabbed it for my travel kit - which also acts as a backup for my home system)

The S7+ H2i has just gone to a CPAP user in Western Australia who wanted to upgrade from an S6 to a flow geneartor with an integrated humidifer. The S8 Lightweight will go on the market soon.

3) What has been your favorite machine and why?

Resmed S8 Autoset - does everything I need it to do, plus has excellent product support.

4) What is the one piece of advice you give to every newbie?

Persist with treatment not matter how difficult it seems at first, it takes a while to see the full benefits.

5) Current mask?

I've used a few different masks but have settled on the Fisher & Paykel 405 nasal mask as the overall best for me. I also have a Resmed Swift II and a F & P 431 which I use occasionally when particular circuimstances dictate.

In my personal experience, and what I have directly seen in working with other Sleep Disorders Australia members, mask selection is a very personal thing and what works for one user may be a disaster for another user.

Cheers,

Bill