Conversion from Newbie to Old HoseHead

Today marks one year that I have slept with my nose to the hose. That might mean I am no longer a newbie. My husband says it seems like no time at all. I have to disagree. It has been a long year of very long nights.

The first 6 weeks nearly put me over my limit of endurance. No wonder people drop the use of CPAP when getting adjusted to it makes an already exhausted person take on the battle of the mask, leaks, and pressurized air. Fortunately for me (?) stopping was not an option as my O2 levels without CPAP dropped to 71%. I had to stick with it no matter how difficult if I wanted to continue living.

Long ago I asked to hear success stories, and you can read them somewhere in the wealth found when you click on the yellow light bulb.
(Newbie with nose to the hose would like to hear success stories, viewtopic.php?t=14494&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0 ) They helped me then and now as I read them again. I would encourage newbies as well as experienced hose heads to read that thread again for the welcoming and helpful words.

So here I am, on my 4th machine and umpteenth mask. I never did have that famous burst of energy, but I have had incremental improvements which I celebrate and acknowledge. I no longer focus on the misery of it all, but pay attention to all the good parts of using CPAP. I met many wonderful helpful people here at cpaptalk. My data from the card and software show that I am doing well so far as can be determined that way. I have been 100% compliant in the true sense, all night every night. The passing of time has allowed me to become adjusted to the huge change of using CPAP. I have hope for the future that my health will continue to improve as more time passes and I implement other ways to supplement the good that is done by CPAP, namely exercise, diet, and humor.

I am grateful to the members here for help offered to me directly or indirectly. In particular I am grateful to a former member for telling me about cpaptalk. What a wonderful gift he gave me.

Thanks, everyone. Now on to the next year.

Catnapper - Joanie

Congratulations on your anniversary, Joanie.

I never experienced that burst of energy either......just incremental and subtle changes and improvements.

Wishing you the best of health,

Den

Congratulations, Joanie!

O.

I really enjoyed reading your post. Throughout it felt much like what I too would write at the end of a year. I also have wondered at what point am I no longer a newbie? I think one year sounds good. I couldn't find a picture of a cake with only one candle on it - so each of the others are best wishes for your second year : )

Congratulations!

Congratulations Joanie! I agree with your praise of this site. I am very very grateful to have found the help and support and information. I likely would have stuck with my treatment but I would have been miserable and not very hopeful. I had the infamous "burst of energy" for about 4 days then it all went south again. I know that I feel better than I used to before cpap but it is in small increments that aren't noticed until you realize, hey, I haven't fallen asleep at my desk for a long time! I found lots of great new friends here and also, don't feel like some kind of freak! (at least I have lots of company!)

Catnapper, from a newbie to a (new!) old hosehead - thanks for your stories and the success stories link .

Congratulations!!!!! Happy Anniversary, too!

Great!!! Thanks for your help. it got me over the hump

John M

Open letter to Mom (the rest of you know her as Catnapper):

I remember this time last year--your telling me that you were going to have a sleep study, what happened during that night(mare), and your prodding me to have a study done. You blazed a trail for me to follow, found a better sleep doc than your first one and gave me his name.

I knew I had apnea, but did not have any idea that it was treatable, or how many other things were related to it. I wasn't able to get started on the program for another couple of months, for a variety of reasons, but I'm glad I did.

I had an easier time adjusting, mentally and emotionally and physically, to the idea that I would be using this machine or one similar to it for the rest of my life because I had the benefit of your experience.

In life, I've found that there are two very important words for a son to say and mean.

Thanks, Mom.

Gosh, thanks to everybody who responded or read this thread. Participating in this forum has so many benefits, and many of them show up unexpectedly.

For example, I have been searching for my own success story. Since I asked for them from others, I wanted to share one of my own. While replying to another thread, I think I discovered mine.

Here it is for all you newbies:

I got over it. Just that simple. In the beginning, everything about CPAP bothered me - the idea of it, the discomfort, the noise, the skin reactions, the dry eyes, the blues. In time, I soldiered on, learning ways to fix things from the wonderful tips found here. I took advice, some of which was to focus on the good parts, not whine all the time about the many parts that were not so great. Today, I have gotten past it, at least for the most part. I don't mind the sound, the idea no longer overwhelms me, I have fixed and tweaked and so on. It may have happened sooner than a year, clearly I never really noticed when it did, but I got over it.

Thanks again for the nice replies, and especially to t-bone. I needed to hear (read) that!