Using Provent

[chunkyfrog]

This thread is entertaining as well as informative!
I was considering getting a trial pack for when we're on the road and
hubby insists on "getting there before morning--come hell or high water".
Now I am doubting if this is just too much bother for me.

[neurotony]

I tired Provent customer line and talked to someone who said that most people average whatever 1-15 days to adjust. I keep asking if there are people who take longer to adjust, but ultimately do, and she doesn't really know because those people don't call her back.

Aventus really needs to take some lessons in customer care. Why she doesn't get a number to follow up on I find ridiculous. You'd think a pharmaceutical company would have stuff like this down. Apparently not. <sigh>

I hope you stick with it and at least start monitoring your SaO2 to get data that's other than anecdotal. My Provent supplier is giving me a loaner machine, but at the doctor's request. So it's free and apparently a common courtesy. You may want to call your supplier to see if they offer the same service.

[neurotony]

This thread is entertaining as well as informative!
I was considering getting a trial pack for when we're on the road and
hubby insists on "getting there before morning--come hell or high water".
Now I am doubting if this is just too much bother for me.

I adapted to it right away without really any problems. It seems to be a very individual thing. Whether you do it for the trip or not, you should try it just to see how you adapt. From what we've read there really isn't any criteria for the doctor to know whether you'll get benefit from it.
Take a look at my thread here to see my experience so far. I started after journaling and smore-monitoring my first night. It include research links and discussions. When you ignore the trolls it's a pretty great thread.

viewtopic/t77392/A-new-apnea-patients-j ... ovent.html

[deltadave]

From what we've read there really isn't any criteria for the doctor to know whether you'll get benefit from it.

Actually, there is a diagnostic Provent kit that allows a pressure cannula to be attached to specialized Provent patches, thus allowing NPSG and objective analysis of therapy.

[-SWS]

Actually, there is a diagnostic Provent kit that allows a pressure cannula to be attached to specialized Provent patches

I encountered it in a search yesterday:
http://www.proventtherapy.com/hcp/asset ... -Sheet.pdf

[SleepingUgly]

I had some success last night! I used my jaw & mouth covering chinstrap and with 10mg of Ambien, I couldn't care less that I couldn't breathe well through my mouth! When I woke up in the night, I just breathed through the fabric on the mouth when I felt I needed to, and kept the Provent on all night! It's been one step forward, one step back all along, but if I can keep this streak going, I'll try to back off the Ambien. Oh, and I used the tennis ball in the fanny pack technique.

I think I'm a tougher case than the usual one because I exhale through my mouth and have a tough time with just an ordinary chinstrap even on CPAP.

I was really hoping to lose that chinstrap with this therapy, but at this point, if I can just do the therapy with the chinstrap, that will be progress.

[SleepingUgly]

I hope you stick with it and at least start monitoring your SaO2 to get data that's other than anecdotal. My Provent supplier is giving me a loaner machine, but at the doctor's request. So it's free and apparently a common courtesy. You may want to call your supplier to see if they offer the same service.

I actually have an oximeter, and I could occlude my finger, in addition to my nose and mouth, and get some oximeter readings. I'm not sure why I'd bother, though, as the only data I care about IS anecdotal: My subjective report of my EDS. My SaO2 without CPAP is 92-93% at the lowest, and I haven't seen any research that indicates that is harmful to my health. Quality of life/EDS is my outcome variable and as long as that's improved, I'm OK with it. If I tolerate Provent and it helps my EDS, I'll do a sleep study with it. But honestly, even if the study came back saying that I still had an AHI in the clinical range, I don't care as long as the EDS is taken care of. This treating the numbers business seems ridiculous in a case like mine (notwithstanding any research that may come out in the future showing some health concerns for people like me). In fact, my guess is that I can lower my numbers best by just going to another sleep lab.

I'm having a lot of misgivings about the field of sleep medicine. Not only do their measures suffer from abysmal inter-rater reliability, I'm starting to feel the constructs themselves lack validity. Just give me my life back and I will be happy (at least until I hit menopause and my SaO2 tanks...).

[Puppeteer]

I use them when I'm away, and I really wish they came in a slightly lower resistance. They are effective for me, when I get to sleep, but I do wake during the night due to the sensation of not being able to breathe out properly.

I actually have better success if I leave a tiny gap or wrinkle in the sticky part for a little bit of air to escape from one nostril. It lets just a tiny bit more air out and I sleep well, without snoring. I'm thinking of experimenting with puting a pinhole in one of the patches to see if that helps, instead of the haphazard crinkle method.

I only use them when travelling, and have used then about 5 times now. The first night was real hard, the second night I woke up in the morning with the Provent stuck to my fingers (must have subconsiously removed it during the night), the third night I had the small leak and it worked well, and I haven't really had too many problems since.

I found that being consious of the fact that they are supposed to stop you breathing all the way out helps, and breathing out hard helps as, as it empties your lungs a bit faster, but not as good as a little bit of leakage.

For me, it's the timing of breathing out that's the source of the discomfort, more so than the back pressure.

[pats]

After about 5 nights on Provent, I can keep it on all night, though I typically wake several times during the night.

Pats, I'm thinking about trying it for travel too. Are you saying it takes 5 nights to get used to it every time, or just the first time?

Seems it may not be much good for a few nights away from home if it takes 5 days to get settled in each time.

I'd like to know the answer to this, too. I don't have any issues using cpap at home but really dread traveling with it. But if I don't travel that often...

I just had a gap of a few weeks between finishing the trial 10-pack and getting a full prescription. For the first night of re-adaptation I only used Provent for about 3 hours before going back to APAP. The second night, last night, I was on Provent all night, but felt a little sleepy in the morning and took a short nap with the APAP. It took me about a week to get to that point first time round.

Based on this, it seems to me that my re-adaptation is going very much faster than the original adaptation.