New and a bit overwhelmed

[shaggyzack]

Hi everyone ~~ First of all, I want to thank everyone for all of the helpful information here, even though I am completely overwhelmed by it. I am sure in time I will sort it all out and it will make sense. What I have learned so far is to not just take what my Dr ordered and say okay; I have learned some of the major points about different machines and that *I* can tell my Dr that *I* want a better machine--it is my money, my sleep, and my comfort, my health; and I have learned that I can buy this machine online for more than half the price that I can pay cash for at my local DME, and at almost a third less than what it will cost me if I go through my insurance. You folks have already been amazingly valuable to me. THANK YOU!!

I got started on this road in April when my nurse friend and I went on an overnight shopping trip. <sighs> and she well let me know the next morning that she hardly got any sleep at all, that my snoring was horrible (worse than her husband's), that I stopped breathing regularly, gasped for breath...etc etc. My only way to get her forgiveness was to see a doctor about it quickly. So I did, and here I am (and she is still my best friend!).

Gracious, I don't know all of my numbers of things that I see so many people have posted here, I don't even know yet what most of them mean, though I did find that info in the Wikis. I will keep reading and learning. Sleep clinic said I stopped breathing an average of 69 x hour and had an oxygen level of 64%. They could have told me more, but that is engraved in my brain as it scared the h*ll out of me. I have never been much of a sleeper, and the last few years I have gotten worse, only getting about 6 hours a night, and huuum, seems I am not really getting that. And now I have this panic thing going on thinking that every time I go to sleep I am just killing myself, so the less the better. Running on about 4 hours a night now, and last night I spent much of that awake time here reading. I really need to get this machine and get on with this. I am extremely motivated. The second night in the sleep clinic when they used the machine and mask, I had no problem sleeping. Didn't wake up one single time, and I am normally up 2-4 times a night, so I am looking forward to it for the most part. I see a lot of people have problems with them at first, I so hope I am not disappointed.

Dr has written RX for Resmed S9 Elite, but I am calling today to ask for the S9 autoset. The sleep clinic is at my Dr office, and the people there are very very nice. I am sure that will not be an issue.

Again, thank you all for the information that you have shared, and hopefully I will be able to return the favor to others in the future.

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

Yes, all this can be a bit overwhelming at first. Just bite off small chunks at first in what you what to try to absorb. It will get easier to understand it all...I promise.

Just keep reading and rereading...that's what I had to do and eventually more and more of it will stick.

[KylaManhattan]

Hello and welcome!

You sound very motivated, so even if your initial experiences are less than you had hoped for, you will be successful in adapting to CPAP. (And you might be one of the many who adjust pretty quickly and easily.)

I know what you mean about all the information being overwhelming. Small bites, as Pugsy notes, are the key.

For myself, I decided early on to just deal with the immediate next step, whatever that was. I have a habit -- one that sometimes works to my advantage, but oftentimes does not! -- of wanting to know everything about whatever it is I'm doing before I start. That can sometimes lead to "paralysis by analysis," as an old friend of mine would say.

So in my first few months, I concentrated simply on using the machine -- all night, every night. I primarily read posts that dealt with aspects of adjusting to the machine -- mask fit, strategies for getting used to the sound and feel, humidity levels, etc. I didn't want to read about interpreting data, because for me, that would have been a distraction from the first-order task: using it all night, every night. And while it took me a while to get there, I got there.

Once I'd gotten there and recognized the incremental improvements in my life that I could attribute to CPAP, I started learning more about the science and the mechanics of it all, downloaded and read the clinician's manual, began looking at little bits of performance data, etc. More recently I downloaded software and have begun peeking at graphs and charts and tables. (I am a words person, easily intimidated by numbers and statistics and graphical representations of same ...)

You'll find your own way to navigate all this stuff (and there are some amazingly knowledgeable and articulate folks around here who will offer encouragement and answer questions). I don't know enough yet to be helpful about most aspects of CPAP, but I do know this: it's a marathon, not a sprint. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other.

[shaggyzack]

Thanks to you both for your replies and encouragement. I WILL get there!!!

[DreamDiver]

Thanks to you both for your replies and encouragement. I WILL get there!!!

If you slept through your titration, I hope and suspect you'll take to this like a duck to water. Welcome. Here's to low AHI and snore=free nights for you.