Newbie just diagnosed no machine yet

Hi, I was recently diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. I had the sleep study which said in the 4 hours of sleep I stopped breathing twice. Once for 32 seconds and the other for 52 seconds. I am a mouth breather and sleep mostly on my side. I was so uncomfortable with the generic full face mask that cut into my face and leaked that I was awake most the night struggling with the mask. I am a side-sleeper and the mask hurt when I was on my side. I did not stop breathing on my side. Only on my back. My sat level dropped to 89 when I stopped breathing for 52 seconds. The mask woke me up with the pressure and I started breathing again. So that was a good thing. So when I slept on my back it was only because I couldn’t sleep on my side.
I hardly wake up tired. I have no memory loss. I am not overweight or diabetic or typical for a sleep apnea patients. I have not gotten the equipment yet. Have been waiting since July. I will try it but if it is as uncomfortable as it was in the study I will not continue to use it. My cousin quit for that reason. I was hoping they made a full mask for a female side sleeper. I have not seen any. I am clueless about the workings of a CPAP machine and how to disinfect it. I see on TV there is a machine that does that. Any advice would be welcome.

cpapyesno wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:24 pm

Hi, I was recently diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. I had the sleep study which said in the 4 hours of sleep I stopped breathing twice. Once for 32 seconds and the other for 52 seconds. I am a mouth breather and sleep mostly on my side. I was so uncomfortable with the generic full face mask that cut into my face and leaked that I was awake most the night struggling with the mask. I am a side-sleeper and the mask hurt when I was on my side. I did not stop breathing on my side. Only on my back. My sat level dropped to 89 when I stopped breathing for 52 seconds. The mask woke me up with the pressure and I started breathing again. So that was a good thing. So when I slept on my back it was only because I couldn’t sleep on my side.
I hardly wake up tired. I have no memory loss. I am not overweight or diabetic or typical for a sleep apnea patients. I have not gotten the equipment yet. Have been waiting since July. I will try it but if it is as uncomfortable as it was in the study I will not continue to use it. My cousin quit for that reason. I was hoping they made a full mask for a female side sleeper. I have not seen any. I am clueless about the workings of a CPAP machine and how to disinfect it. I see on TV there is a machine that does that. Any advice would be welcome.

welcome aboard! i will try to do my best in answering some of your questions. more people will come along shortly and will give even more answers.

you've come to the right place. we all start out as green as grass and we have to learn as we go along. the good news is that there are people who have been on this forum for almost ten years. they have a wealth of experience and are always happy to give advice.

one of the very first things you should do is be sure to get a copy of your sleep report. it will be a source of info for you when answering questions. you will also need a prescription for the cpap machine. you'll need this in order to acquire your machine. (there ARE places you can get one without a 'script, but no need to go into that for now.)

i hope that your doctor has written that prescription for an auto cpap and not just a straight cpap and also hope it's data capable. this last bit is very important. if you get the data capable machine, it will have an sd card reader built in. with that, you can transfer data off the card and into free software that will allow you to monitor your own progress.

with that data, the experts here can help you tailor your therapy to YOUR NEEDS.

i say that because, already, you show some trouble.

" I will try it but if it is as uncomfortable as it was in the study I will not continue to use it. My cousin quit for that reason. "

there can be many reasons for this. it could be that your minimum pressure isn't set right. but we won't know until we get you going and get some data from you.

also-
"So when I slept on my back it was only because I couldn’t sleep on my side."

just a tip, sleeping on your back can increase the severity of sleep apnea. it's best to sleep on your side and it's been said it's even better on your left side.


"I am clueless about the workings of a CPAP machine and how to disinfect it."

oh, dear! please don't be suckered into spending good money on anything to disinfect your machine! soap and water will do the job. and the inside of your machine won't need it.

one last thing. if you haven't already, start looking at cpap.com for masks.

in the meantime, good luck!

If you want, do a forum search on SoClean - you'll see 1,000 reports of it's being a total scam - the insides of machines do NOT need cleaning - and maybe 1-2 from those who must justify to themselves having spent $300 for junk. Don't do it!

If you only stopped breathing twice in 4 hours you would not be diagnosed with Sleep Apnea. To be diagnosed you must have an average of 5 or more events per hour. In 4 hours you would have had to stop breathing a minimum of 20 times.

Get the report (yours by law) from your MD and let us see it if possible, otherwise read it again and at least tell us the summary etc.

You can cover up your identification.

cpapyesno wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:24 pm

I hardly wake up tired. I have no memory loss. I am not overweight or diabetic or typical for a sleep apnea patients

There is no 'typical', sleep apnea, it's not just for old fat men anymore.

cpapyesno wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:24 pm

I am clueless about the workings of a CPAP machine and how to disinfect it.

There's no need to disinfect it, any more than there is your sheets, your dishes, your clothes.

The scam machine on your tv is un-necessary, and *NOT* recommended by ANY manufacturer.

As to being clueless as to the workings of a cpap... do you understand the workings of a microwave oven? .... I'd be willing to bet that you don't, you just pop stuff in, punch a couple buttons, and your food comes out warmer.

There are dozens of masks out there.
Some sleep labs use whatever mask they have, and crank it down to the point of pain.
Forget them. Find YOUR best mask.
You deserve to succeed.