I love this site! I found this site because I have been having trouble with compliance. I have had my cpap since January and have yet to sleep through the night with a mask on my face. I was taking the mask off during the night, usually after an hour or two of sleep based on what I can figure out from what my husband tells me and when I wake up myself. Anyway, my sleep center is great! There is lady there who is a patient who runs the A.W.A.K.E program and does "desensitizations". She has me come in and we tried a ton of different masks. The first time I went in, I was completely anti-nasal pillows. I thought I would hate them, so we tried several different nasal masks and ff masks. The ff mask did not work for me at all, but the comfort gel nasal mask worked better than what the DME had given me with my cpap. That was back in February with I got the comfort gel and I still had never made it through the night. So far, the latest I have documented that I actually kept the mask on my face is 3am. I went back to the sleep center again today armed with a LOT more information because of reading this site. I wanted to try the Comfort Curve, Swift, Breeze, and Comfort Lite II. The only ones she had immediately available were the Swift and the Comfort Lite II. Each seemed to have its plusses and minusses, but I left with a Comfort Lite II. I had always thought that I would absolute HATE having the nasal pillows on my nose but I actually LOVE it! I don't feel like I'm smothering like I always did with the nasal mask. I can't wait until tonight to actually get to try to sleep with my new friend. We'll see how it goes, but so far after a short nap at the sleep center this afternoon I think I'm going to really, really like the CLII. Thanks for all of the great reviews and information and just the general discussion of everyone on this bulletin board. I'll come back tomorrow and let you know if I wake up with the mask on!
Tonya
Asheville, NC
Newbie here....
4 posts
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littlebaddow
- Posts: 416
- Joined: Wed Dec 08, 2004 12:21 pm
- Location: Essex, England
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Guest
Thank you! My journey to hosehead land has definitely been a long one. I had my first sleep study 6 years ago and they said that I did not have apnea, I just was a severe snorer. I was told at that time that a cpap machine would probably help me, but it would cost me thousands of dollars because insurance won't pay for it with no apnea. Of course, I was stipid and listened to the doctor. I'm sure that even that long ago cpap machines weren't "thousands of dollars."
My husband has severe OSA and he is on a bi-pap machine. He's been on it since right before my study and he didn't have to pay all that much even with crappy insurance. My hubby's machine was a magical cure for him. He never had any compliance problems and has only ever used one mask, a basic nasal mask. I guess because of his experience, I expected the same and was extremely frustrated when they told me I couldn't have one.
Last August, I was researching weight loss surgery and was advised to have a sleep study in preparation for meeting with the surgeon. I had this current study on August 30, 2005, and it took them a month and a half to get back with me. When they finally did, I went back and had a study with the cpap in early November. It took another almost two months after that before the DME called and said they received an order from the sleep center and I got my setup on January 1, 2006.
Since that time, it has been nothing but frustration. I am a mouth breather so they tried the full face mask. I was also having trouble with stuffiness. I had a heated humidifier from the beginning and constantly have to play around with the setting on that. I gave up in early April and didn't use it at all until I started reading this bulletin board last week. I started using it again and only kept it on an hour to two hours at the most at any given time. Last night, for the first time since I've had the damned thing, I actually kept it on until 3:00 am. Tried putting it back on but my nose was just too stuffy so I couldn't, but I was happy to have made it that far! Now, I'm really looking forward to putting my Klingon mask tonight and seeing what happens! Again, I am extremely grateful for the internet! If it wasn't for this bulletin board, I would probably have just given up and returned the machine to my DME. I'll look forward to hanging around here and learning more and more about this disease and therapy that we all are taking part in!
Gotta go get some zzzzzzzzzz!
Tonya
My husband has severe OSA and he is on a bi-pap machine. He's been on it since right before my study and he didn't have to pay all that much even with crappy insurance. My hubby's machine was a magical cure for him. He never had any compliance problems and has only ever used one mask, a basic nasal mask. I guess because of his experience, I expected the same and was extremely frustrated when they told me I couldn't have one.
Last August, I was researching weight loss surgery and was advised to have a sleep study in preparation for meeting with the surgeon. I had this current study on August 30, 2005, and it took them a month and a half to get back with me. When they finally did, I went back and had a study with the cpap in early November. It took another almost two months after that before the DME called and said they received an order from the sleep center and I got my setup on January 1, 2006.
Since that time, it has been nothing but frustration. I am a mouth breather so they tried the full face mask. I was also having trouble with stuffiness. I had a heated humidifier from the beginning and constantly have to play around with the setting on that. I gave up in early April and didn't use it at all until I started reading this bulletin board last week. I started using it again and only kept it on an hour to two hours at the most at any given time. Last night, for the first time since I've had the damned thing, I actually kept it on until 3:00 am. Tried putting it back on but my nose was just too stuffy so I couldn't, but I was happy to have made it that far! Now, I'm really looking forward to putting my Klingon mask tonight and seeing what happens! Again, I am extremely grateful for the internet! If it wasn't for this bulletin board, I would probably have just given up and returned the machine to my DME. I'll look forward to hanging around here and learning more and more about this disease and therapy that we all are taking part in!
Gotta go get some zzzzzzzzzz!
Tonya
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birdiebaby
- Posts: 137
- Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:34 pm
Wow, Tonya --- Kudos for you for your perseverance! You're an absolute model for try, try again!
I have a lot of nasal congestion, too. Have you talked to your doctor about other ways to treat that to make your CPAP treatment more comfortable?
As an aside, I met a Tonya from Asheville a few years back on a cruise. I'm sure your not the only Tonya in Asheville, but it's a funny conincidence since I just looked at our pictures a few days ago!
Best of luck to you... keep at it!
Shelley
I have a lot of nasal congestion, too. Have you talked to your doctor about other ways to treat that to make your CPAP treatment more comfortable?
As an aside, I met a Tonya from Asheville a few years back on a cruise. I'm sure your not the only Tonya in Asheville, but it's a funny conincidence since I just looked at our pictures a few days ago!
Best of luck to you... keep at it!
Shelley
4 posts
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