Hello from newbe!

Snowmanrk wrote:Can I ask - what is wearing the mask like? Does anyone actually enjoy it? Is it really full on air pressure and, if not, when it ramps up through the night what is it like if you do wake up?

9 years ago (almost exactly) I had my first sleep study. I really was looking forward to the test to find something. I did a two part sleep test, first part without a mask which was pretty much like just sleeping in a strange place hooked up and the second part with a mask where they did titration.

The second part was very interesting after a couple false starts (mask leaked, changed mask etc) and I finally lied down... when I woke up I was very disorientated, couldn't figure how to get the mask off etc... when the tech came in, I told him that I will try to sleep again and he told me it was time to go home. I had slept a solid 3-1/2 hours! Driving home all I could think of was "I gotta get me one of them things".

It took a couple weeks before I got my machine (actually not what I wanted due to the high pressures) and took the better part of 2-1/2 months to figure it out, get a better machine, figure out the mask etc.. but I saw benefits pretty quickly.

Now, I have no problem going to sleep and in some cases actually can't wait. Works well when I don't feel good and I like the sleep and rest I get from it.

Snowmanrk,
I found it difficult to sleep at my sleep study too. I suspect the tech thought I was like the princess and the pea. I asked for extra pillows. (Theirs were flat.) The blankets were too thin. (I need something comfy on my body.) I wasn't happy with the noise the air conditioner made. (Very loud.) There was also some noise the machine in the room was making. (I'm sensitive to sound.) lol You get the picture.
I actually thought I was going to be like a friend of mine' who went in for her study and did NOT sleep at all. She had to reschedule. I was able to get it done though and learned I had one apnea, but that hypopnea was actually my problem. I'm in the mild/moderate level, but think over time it has taken a toll on me.

As I lie in bed with my nasal pillow, I wonder how did it come to this. I just never thought I would have a cpap. (I used to awake frequently for some unknown reason in 1999, but that sleep study revealed NO breathing issues, no apnea or hypopnea. I just lived with frequent wakeninsg.) What is important to me now is my health. I want a healthy heart, healthy muscles, and a healthy BRAIN. Nothing else really matters to me. If I'm uncomfortable, then so be it. I'm actually doing pretty well. (I'm on day 6.) Rest for my body has to be my top priority, regardless of what it takes. And, I don't think it's that bad. Of course, everyone has their own levels of tolerance. When I was a teen, I could sleep in electric rollers.

In your first post upthread, you say that you were getting up multiple times per night. Was that to go to the bathroom or just to walk around? That has been an issue for me and I've read about why not getting the right oxygen causes that. It's getting much better on cpap.

Palerider, that information you posted upthread about the cpap machine's air force is great! I never knew that about the force of the air coming out. I wish they would have explained that to me in the intro meeting.

Hello all - this is the OP's better half.

My husband has shown me the thread and I feel compelled to post - noting that two of the posts mentioned his family.

I am shocked that two people have taken it upon themselves to tell my husband to find an alcoholics anonymous group to join. Initially, I found the advice a little funny, but when I read on and I see mention of my husband's apparent drinking problem and our family life, I took it a little more personally.

The post was about sleep apnea - not about drinking - so I am unsure why two people decided to take issue with that and suggest he goes to an AA meeting for his family's sake? I've honestly never heard anything so ridiculous.

We've been together for longer than I care to remember, have an amazing family, and spend every moment that my husband is home together cherishing that. I am quite sure my husband does drink too much when he's on a work trip (the stories I hear about his Hong Kong and Bangkok trips certainly support this) - but he enjoys having nights out with his work colleagues - and when he's stuck away from home for two or three days (sometimes up to a week) at a time, I think I'd be hitting up the Hong Kong nightlife too. I know at least 15 other flight crew, all who have exactly the same lifestyle.

But our family life is different - we are full on as parents, from 5am until 10pm our kids are our focus. I am absolutely discussed that two people conclude from my husband's comment that he "drinks too much" that he is nothing short of the perfect husband and father for our kids. I am not quoting, but someone suggested living with him must be horrendous - someone else suggested my kids would thank my husband from finding an AA meeting.

Please people realise that the internet is a huge, public place, viewed by millions of people. People asking for assistance in health forums are obviously already dealing with some kind of issue, without others jumping to wild extreme conclusions. It is also a community of many hundreds of different cultures - also different drinking cultures. In many places I have visited, alcohol is just a no-go. Where we live, it is very different - in fact, we have just spent an amazing weekend away with our amazing family staying on a winery.

Go on, conclude that I am also an alcoholic if you like - I'm a consultant in a busy A&E. I know more alcoholism (and sleep apnea) than most - I've been encouraging my husband to do a sleep study for at least two years - one thing I have encouraged him to do is go to an AA meeting!

Please be careful with what you read into things people - you may be causing more harm than you would think in your implications (i.e. someone at the end of their tether with sleep issues suddenly being told something completely different from a slight comment on their post).

Thank you, however, for the very many helpful posts - he doesn't like talking to me much about medical issues and I know some of them helped!

Hi - I was the first one to mention AA, etc. so I'll try to explain... it didn't come from nowhere, though it also didn't come from personal (family) problems with alcohol.

Your husband was the one - please read his first note carefully - who said

"When I drink, it's a nightmare. I should say - when I drink, I always drink too much! I've cut right down on drinking (actually went about 7 weeks without drinking anything) - but my issue is if I have one, I get a taste for it - and keep going!! Nights where I drink, I'll sleep well (well, I think I sleep well!) for about 4 or 5 hours, and will then spend the rest of the night waking up every 20 mins or so. Even without alcohol my sleeping is rubbish."

Can you please put aside your (natural) reaction to defend your husband for one minute and consider just what might be conveyed to complete strangers by that paragraph? Possibly to complete strangers who happen to be tuned in to hearing 'problem with alcohol' for reasons that have nothing to do with their own consumption? Not to mention that the media are full of stories re pilots who drink too much (and put hundreds at risk because of it).

Red flags went up all over the place on reading what he said, and whether you realize it or not, alcohol can be a big factor for people with OSA if they've spent hours just prior to bedtime drinking too much. It's not only a matter of drinking too much in general, but of mattering to how we sleep 'on' alcohol. We're here to help with the whole process of apnea, from prior to having sleep studies through diagnosis, being set-up with equipment, what meds they might take, and how we manage our sleep with Cpap. There are some extremely knowledgable people here not only about Cpap (in a narrow sense), but about many health issues that may be related, and they'd feel remiss if they didn't address those things along with explaining about e.g. Cpap pressure changes.

We have no idea at all who your husband is - and don't really care - but while on one hand his (and your) defensive attitude seem over the top in that respect (and he certainly would be far, far from the first person in a responsible position to have dangerous apnea symptoms while at work - any idea how many truckers fall asleep at the wheel, alcohol or no alcohol?) the attitude also strikes me (and others, it seems) as typical of someone super sensitive to being confronted about substance abuse because they are in fact abusing something. So please give us a break here - we're trying to help people, not put them down (or expose them - this isn't Facebook). Seeing as you mentioned that the internet 'is a huge public place' though, you might want to mention to your husband that he should have considered that before he wrote in!

Julie wrote:Hi - I was the first one to mention AA, etc. so I'll try to explain... it didn't come from nowhere, though it also didn't come from personal (family) problems with alcohol.

Your husband was the one - please read his first note carefully - who said

"When I drink, it's a nightmare. I should say - when I drink, I always drink too much! I've cut right down on drinking (actually went about 7 weeks without drinking anything) - but my issue is if I have one, I get a taste for it - and keep going!! Nights where I drink, I'll sleep well (well, I think I sleep well!) for about 4 or 5 hours, and will then spend the rest of the night waking up every 20 mins or so. Even without alcohol my sleeping is rubbish."

Can you please put aside your (natural) reaction to defend your husband for one minute and consider just what might be conveyed to complete strangers by that paragraph? Possibly to complete strangers who happen to be tuned in to hearing 'problem with alcohol' for reasons that have nothing to do with their own consumption? Not to mention that the media are full of stories re pilots who drink too much (and put hundreds at risk because of it).

Red flags went up all over the place on reading what he said, and whether you realize it or not, alcohol can be a big factor for people with OSA if they've spent hours just prior to bedtime drinking too much. It's not only a matter of drinking too much in general, but of mattering to how we sleep 'on' alcohol. We're here to help with the whole process of apnea, from prior to having sleep studies through diagnosis, being set-up with equipment, what meds they might take, and how we manage our sleep with Cpap. There are some extremely knowledgable people here not only about Cpap (in a narrow sense), but about many health issues that may be related, and they'd feel remiss if they didn't address those things along with explaining about e.g. Cpap pressure changes.

We have no idea at all who your husband is - and don't really care - but while on one hand his (and your) defensive attitude seem over the top in that respect (and he certainly would be far, far from the first person in a responsible position to have dangerous apnea symptoms while at work - any idea how many truckers fall asleep at the wheel, alcohol or no alcohol?) the attitude also strikes me (and others, it seems) as typical of someone super sensitive to being confronted about substance abuse because they are in fact abusing something. So please give us a break here - we're trying to help people, not put them down (or expose them - this isn't Facebook). Seeing as you mentioned that the internet 'is a huge public place' though, you might want to mention to your husband that he should have considered that before he wrote in!

Great response, it was that paragraph the OP posted that made it seem that he had a problem with alcohol.

Snow's wife : Quote:

Go on, conclude that I am also an alcoholic if you like - I'm a consultant in a busy A&E. I know more alcoholism (and sleep apnea) than most - I've been encouraging my husband to do a sleep study for at least two years - one thing I have encouraged him to do is go to an AA meeting!

is this a typo ... or do you also see a problem ?