Since the majority has been piling on, I am going to agree with the above comment to a certain extent, as I think it was misinterpreted a bit.Billy6 wrote:You keep it straight by keeping it simple. I have a basic machine with no software or card readers. I throw the mask on at night and slide it off in the morning and that's it.
For me, once I realized I had apnea, I thought I would just get surgery. So I went to see a doctor in September, thinking I would get things in order for the new insurance year starting in January. He suggested that I try CPAP first, and I agreed, so it gave me several months to do some research about the condition more and about the machines.
From my doctor's office, I recognized ResMed machines, so I focused more on them. Using the ResMed site, I though nasal pillows would work better for me and so that helped me during the sleep study when they went to fit me with a mask. Now maybe both of these choices are not the absolute best for me, but there are so many options, it helped to do some kind of narrowing to start.
When I started my therapy, I did have a terrible time getting used to the machine. I was generally ripping the mask off before the 4 hour mark each night. But after 2 weeks, I got used to it and I had only made very minimal changes to my setup. Luckily, I still found the nasal pillows comfortable. I did get a data card and software and have looked at my data some.
For the past month+ (I have been on it almost 2 months), I have done very little though. This is for a couple of reasons. I went on vacation out of the country, so I was busy preparing for that, being on the trip, and then catching up when I got back. Also, I had to send my data card into my DME and they have not sent it back yet.
I do want to look at my data more closely, but my machine has been pretty consistent with an AHI of like 2.1 and 0 AI's, so I think I am doing ok.
Now, I may have been lucky in a lot of ways, but my point, and I think Billy6's, is that you do not necessarily have to tinker with your setup all the time. I have found this board extremely helpful, and again, maybe it was luck and the fact that I did do some initial research. But I would not go into therapy thinking that it will be extremely complicated. I suggest doing some research to start, but then getting your cpap and just using it for a couple of weeks and avoid tinkering with every single problem, as it will just take time to get used to it. You may surprise yourself and find yourself adapting better than you thought you might. I did not think I would struggle as much as I did in the beginning, but when it got easier, it just got easier.
The other thing with Internet discussion boards like this is that you tend to get evangelists, for lack of a better word. (I am thinking how they used to refer to some Mac users as evangelists, not religion.) I thought I would spend a fair bit of time on here, but I have not. My evangelism still lies in travel, so I spend most of my time on flyertalk.com. If you went over there, you would think travel is this extremely complicated thing with all the deals and elite levels in airlines, hotels, and car rental companies and you would wonder how anyone ever traveled anywhere and kept it all straight. But most people do travel without all that information and they generally make it to their destination and back. So try to be informed, but keep it at your comfort level in terms of information and involvement. Maybe you will find that you will want to be incredibly involved in your therapy because it interests you or you are having problems, or maybe not.
And before someone wants to pile onto me, I do recognize that a health issue is more serious than travel, but my point still holds true about the people that hang out on a particular discussion board. They are more involved and that is neither good nor bad; it just is. But that devotion can sometimes overwhelm the newbie, who has not had enough time yet to determine how devoted they are.
BillJ
