Cats, menopause and CPAP

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:43 pm

As far as the other defaults...it's actually pretty close

That's good to hear, Pugsy.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 24, 2022 6:43 pm

I just don't have the time or energy for all the hand holding.

You've held more hands than most of us have shaken or exchanged hello-waves with. And stating the preferences prominently really ought to be enough.

You do good work.

Don’t want to veer off topic too far but for me I mean no disrespect. Rather, I am often either on my phone or a computer that isn’t mine and a bit of a challenge for me (I dislike Macs), and the flexibility of sleep hq is of great value to me.

Kittymom -

So many responses, mostly with hopefully helpful advice.

I hope you can develop a positive outlook on CPAP use. I was very reluctant, but the results of therapy for me have been so life changing, that I have not missed a night in over 4 years.

I had 2 cats when I started therapy. The oldest cat has continued to sleep on the bed, and now usually sleeps against my legs since I don't thrash around like I used to. The younger male cat was hesitant to come up on the bed at first, but after a few weeks he was back, usually beside be, near my head. Today's units are pretty quiet. The young cat will sometimes wake me up, and give "kitty kisses" to my mask where the air vents out. LOL.

I did have a period of time where he did start chewing or clawing on the hose. I stopped using the heated hose after replacing a couple of those. I mostly use the non heated type now that I can purchase for $10-20 depending on the exact type. For awhile I was wrapping the hose in foil, and then covering with a cloth hose cover. Now the cat doesn't bother the hose at all, but I do store it away during the day.

Getting some type of hose management system is a good idea. I developed a simple method. I have 2 pillows. One I sleep on, the other I prop standing up against the head board. I route the hose from the machine behind the pillow, and over the top of the pillow. This works at home, and also when I travel. No extra equipment needed.

I also hope you can use the CPAP for the full duration of your sleep time. It will make a big difference, and if you can adjust to the therapy, you probably will find that you don't want to go to sleep without it. I wish you well!

lynninnj wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 24, 2022 7:47 pm

Don’t want to veer off topic too far but for me I mean no disrespect.

Any software that helps patients help themselves is fine with me. Just wanted to give you a good-natured hard time in expressing an unpopular opinion. I have several of those T-shirts, myself. Diversity of experience and voice is a good thing when done with respect in forums, from where I sit.

I first used ResScan. Loved it. Many hate it.

Then used MyAir. Loved it. Many hate it.

Now I use a card-to-cloud, so no mo' MyAir fo' me.

If I needed the help of sharp-eyed experts, though, (and one day I might), I would use whatever program they preferred at whatever format and resolution was easiest for them when I request their valuable time. Just me.

I consider this highly on topic for our friend KittyMom22. She can use software of her choice to solve her own problems OR she can get immediate help using the program and formatting of the day that posters here can easily work with OR she can go the full-doc-no-fellow-patient-help route OR she can use something besides PAP. Either way, I hope she sees we wish her the best.

But the offer from others to look at her data is a gift. And the opportunity to make PAP work is a gift. The timing may not be right at the moment for everyone. But maybe one day it will be for her. And threads like this one can show others who come here that we can be a welcoming helpful bunch to the downhearted and even the deniers who still have enough gumption to try to do things for their own health as best they can. I see it as a win either way. Cast your bread out onto the Internet waters, I say.

lynninnj wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 24, 2022 4:34 pm

Another reason why I don't care much for Oscar (sorry, I know you guys love it) but it shows whatever name you used to sign up for the software at the top so if you aren't careful the name may be posted.

No reason on earth for you to add a real name to OSCAR - you edit your profile to use whatever moniker you choose. Whatever you put in the profile is what gets posted.

Lynn, I wonder if you're aware that SleepHQ has been around for less than a year, just a few months before you started therapy. OSCAR, a descendant of SleepyHead has been around for many years, and at present supports more machines than SleepHQ, and shows your correct time. Some of us have been here for years, since the bad old days when you had to run through hoops to get your machine's company's proprietary software, and we are ever grateful to the SleepyHead, and the OSCAR developers who have created this amazing tool that helps us see what's going on, helps us help ourselves, and helps us help others. It's not a question of "you guys love it" it's a question of years of experience with using it - on the one hand and SleepHQ being a very new kid on the block.
Anyone can use whichever they prefer and get advice, without revealing who they are.

That said, some people reveal more much about themesleves than others in what they choose to post about in the forum.

SleepHQ has the great advantage of letting any viewer zoom on the info you upload. And, and as lynninnj mentioned it works on different devices. OSCAR does not. SleepHQ still hasn't fixed the bug of showing the viewers their own time zone, instead of the sleeper's time.
OSCAR doesn't have you upload your raw data to the internet, SleepHQ does - all your data on their servers. This makes SleepHQ portable, viewable, as you say from your phone, or somebody else's computer.
Both programs are good, both keep you as anonymous as you can be on an internetted world.

Thanks Ozij for the kindly explanation.

I didn’t know that.

I have seen sleep hq show some glitches but never enough on regular basis to think it needed to be ditched.

most folks just say upload your Oscar. I guess I keep putting the sleep HQ out there because I wouldn’t want newbies to just give up because it’s a more daunting task.

thanks

But the offer from others to look at her data is a gift.

I do understand and appreciate that. It's a gift with homework, however, and I currently don't have the spare brain cells to do that homework. I also know that it will lead to 40 different opinions and a lot of debate, which I also don't have the brain cells to analyze nor the energy for. This whole experience is humiliating enough already ("hose head" indeed). Hopefully I've gained some empathy for other patients I encounter in future, both in my social and professional life.

So no, I don't really want my data scrutinized online but I do appreciate the generosity of the offer of your time and experience.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 25, 2022 7:50 am

I don't really want my data scrutinized

Understandable.

I am pretty sure the offer stands if you find down the road you need it.

In the meantime, please accept the online virtual hugs and pats on the back of this thread.

We're still cheering for you, and there's zero humiliation in that--only the opposite, whatever that would be. De-humilitization?

May everything in your life show steady improvement, KittyMom22.

I totally get it that this is alot. Aging parents is alot. I just lost my mom in December to a heart attack and it’s alot. It’s also part of why I want to avoid having a heart attack so badly which makes me want to manage my OSA and be empowered to manage my own healthcare.

Maybe think of this board differently. There’s no snark here. Imagine posting in a cat kessage board. Newbie comes in, never owned a cat but wants to get two kittens. Most folks would try to offer help to transition cats into the home and deal with issues as they crop up ie new dog in the home, scratching sofa etc. You advise based on your understanding. When someone says one of the cats is doing X, you know that could be more serious and tell them they should take cat to the vet.

The failure to get the needed help from that board might be: vet expenses, furniture or rugs ruined, didn’t get my deposit back etc. But you try to share what you know anyway because they are sentient beings worthy of love and help.

Here, you have 50 masks, DMEs, hose issues, and a variety of problems that crop uo and like the next new cat issue you figure it out and move on.

The consequences of failed OSA treatment however, according to the research, includes things like increased risks of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, organ damage due to lack of oxygen which may include organ failure and even dementia risks, metabolic disorders like diabetes and yes death. This is a scale and you are at one end. It’s up to you how far or fast you progress. Nothing is inevitable and not everyone moves at the same speed.

People here just want to help. I am a newbie and I can tell you what to smear on your nose for a better seal. I don’t need credentials like you don’t have to be a vet in order to help someone. Sharing experiences is not a replacement for professional help.

Me, I am just waiting til I get to the point in my care where OSA is no longer messing with my metabolism and making it harder to shed pounds. I have menopause holding me back as well. lol

Take what you need and leave the rest.

HTH

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 25, 2022 7:50 am

So no, I don't really want my data scrutinized online but I do appreciate the generosity of the offer of your time and experience.

So, it's ok if you don't want to share any data. But please note, that means we're working blind when we make suggestions to try to help you solve the very real problems you are dealing with in terms of making xPAP work for you. And seeing some daily detailed leak data in particular would go a long way in getting some useful suggestions on what you might try to fix the leaks that you've complained about.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 25, 2022 7:50 am

This whole experience is humiliating enough already ("hose head" indeed).

The only one who can humiliate you is yourself. Health problems are not humiliating unless you tell yourself that they are.

And your sneering about the fact that we're "hose heads" because we have been able to make xPAP work for us, often with a whole lot of effort, is your way of patronizing and insulting the folks who are simply trying to help you.

I understand from your other thread that you are touchy right now. You do have a lot on your plate. But when you tell us that you are humiliated because you have been told you have OSA, you have been told that xPAP should help, and numerous posters here have done their best to provide you with reasonable ideas to try to help you make xPAP work, you are in fact telling everybody here that we too should feel humiliated that we too have been diagnosed with OSA and that we too have been told that we have to use xPAP for the rest of our lives.

Well, guess what: Most of us decided a long, long time ago that there is nothing humiliating about having to sleep with a mask on our face at night that is connected to a machine that blows air that prevents our upper airways from collapsing.

Many of us have spent years being patronized by doctors (particularly sleep doctors, but also PCPs and other specialists) who have refused to even look at our data when we've had significant problems with our xPAP therapy and/or our other sleep issues. For many of us, the road to becoming a successful "xPAPer" has been long and difficult and it involved a lot of hard work. So yes, many of us have real pride in the hard work we have done to go from "newbie xPAPer with lots and lots and lots of problems" to "successful xPAPer who finally feels refreshed when they wake up in the morning."

Hopefully I've gained some empathy for other patients I encounter in future, both in my social and professional life.

If you tell other people you tried to make CPAP work for you for a couple of weeks and then gave up because it was just so horrible, you'll get plenty of sympathy from people who already believe all the negative stereotypes about OSA and CPAP. They'll pity you that you have such a horrid disease, but privately they'll wonder what you did to cause the OSA to start---particularly if you're carrying around extra weight. And you'll also convince others that CPAP will never work for them if they're ever unlucky enough to develop OSA.

The sad reality is most people have little or no sympathy towards people who develop a disease that is commonly regarded as a "lifestyle" disease. People routinely think that others who develop Type II diabetes, high cholesterol problems, OSA, high blood pressure, lung cancer, colon cancer and a host of other things "did it to themselves" by gaining too much weight or smoking or eating the wrong foods or being too sedentary.

The fact that reality for any individual patient and their particular health conditions is not based on the stereotyping of those health conditions simply doesn't factor into how most people react when finding out that Person A has disease X.

I read it more as "humbling." And not just the OSA. All of the recent changes in circumstances.

Personally, anyone able to stay in the workforce at all with Long COVID is an inspiration.

And I read the hosehead reference more as her not yet being willing to embrace the term for herself, not so much denigrating others in any way.

Hey, just me. And I tend to have selective hearing.

Until someone reveals personality sensitivities, I tend to keep repeating the obvious until I know it is heard, so I assume that I must often come across as a bit patronizing myself.

lazarus wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 25, 2022 1:34 pm

I read it more as "humbling." And not just the OSA. All of the recent changes in circumstances.

Personally, anyone able to stay in the workforce at all with Long COVID is an inspiration.

And I read the hosehead reference more as her not yet being willing to embrace the term for herself, not so much denigrating others in any way.

Hey, just me. And I tend to have selective hearing.

Until someone reveals personality sensitivities, I tend to keep repeating the obvious until I know it is heard, so I assume that I must often come across as a bit patronizing myself.

I don’t get it. -crickets-

Oh, nevermind.

I like “humbling” better too.

I know brain fog is OSA symptom but didn’t realize it’s also a long covid symptom. Probably something to do with lower Oxygen levels.

Sorry, yes I meant having a hose on my head is embarrassing for me. Especially when my own cat of 4 years residence bolts from the room in terror at the sight of me. Eventually I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now I feel like a Borg. I really don't want anyone else seeing me like this.

My brain fog with Covid was complete forgetfulness. I had to write everything said in a meeting down, and take notes or record every conversation. Sometimes I could hear people talking and know it was English but be unable to grasp the meaning of the sentences, especially under stress (like with clients). It took about 6 months to start to feel like myself again, but I still take copious notes just in case. I spent hours rehearsing monthly presentations.

KittyMom22 wrote: ↑

Tue Oct 25, 2022 2:12 pm

Sorry, yes I meant having a hose on my head is embarrassing for me. Especially when my own cat of 4 years residence bolts from the room in terror at the sight of me. Eventually I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now I feel like a Borg. I really don't want anyone else seeing me like this.

I prefer Snufaluffagus or teletubby.

Sorry, not helpful?



Those who matter don’t mind and those who mind don’t matter.

Somebody smarter than me said that. Kitty will be back and as you said she has upheaval of her own to deal with so be patient with each other.

I prefer Snufaluffagus or teletubby.

Borgs are connected to a machine, and have been assimilated into a collective. I've been warned that I will be assimilated and resistance is futile. (Both Borg statements, from Star Trek).

Teletubbies have antennas but they aren't connected. Snuffy is just cute!