Why forever?

After watching my mother give herself insulin shots and all the testing and stabbing and all her other medications that must be taken at certain times and the memory of turning into a zombie with migraine drugs, the negative reactions to certain drugs and the real possibility of dying during surgery due to anesthesia - I love my cpap machine!!!

BlackSpinner wrote:After watching my mother give herself insulin shots and all the testing and stabbing and all her other medications that must be taken at certain times and the memory of turning into a zombie with migraine drugs, the negative reactions to certain drugs and the real possibility of dying during surgery due to anesthesia - I love my cpap machine!!!

So right, so absolutely right. We should all give thanks that we have been given the diagnosis and subsequent information to truly self medicate and take control of what is debilitating us.

What would any cancer sufferer give for such power.


We are in charge of this bloody thing.

Black Spinner, you just reminded me of something I hadn't thought about for a long time. I was with my Mom when she was diagnosed with diabetes and they gave her an orange and some syringes to practice with. I ran from the room crying and until the day she died 15years later I never was able to watch her give herself her insulin shots,I always left the room. It was somewhat the same way I felt when I saw the cpap equipment but I guess she was watching over me and I didn't run this time.

I love my APAP and can accept the fact that it will be on my nightstand until the day i die.

It is the need for increased pressures in the years to come that i fear the most. Currently using around 7cm with EPR of 2 and dread having to use anything above 10cm

Count your blessings.

From a post earlier this year from Rooster:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=41631&p=365976&hili ... ng#p365857

I'll take my CPAP, thank you very much.

Uncle_Bob wrote

It is the need for increased pressures in the years to come that i fear the most. Currently using around 7cm with EPR of 2 and dread having to use anything above 10cm

A few forum members have been on the hose for over 10 years (Autopapdude and others). You may want to PM them and ask what their pressure was when they started and how their pressure has changed over the years. You could also do a Poll of members asking them to share what pressure change (+ or -) they experienced during their XPAP use. A member would need to specify starting and ending pressure and the difference in months or years between the two pressure readings.

I think such a Poll might alleviate members fears of the Big Unknown or "how will I cope with increased XPAP pressures X years from now". Good luck.

I have been on Cpap for 21 years and my pressure is the same as day 1. My last sleep study was around 10 years ago and I was a bit concerned lately about my therapy and was lucky to get a new Cpap with data capability and see that My ave AHI is about 1.2 which are usually hyponeas. The whole process has become a normal way of life and sleeping without the Cpap is impossible no matter how tired I am.

I have been on Cpap for 21 years and my pressure is the same as day 1.

Wonderful news - same pressure after 21 years of use!

I would like to be around in 20 1/2 years (I only have 7 months use under my belt) and would really like to be dealing with the same pressure that I have now. Thanks.

Well, for one thing, how do you *know* you didn't have apnea before?

I spent 17 years complaining about being exhausted all the time before a doctor caught on—I was 11 when I started complaining. How do you know you didn't have apnea before you were diagnosed?

I, too, am curious if there will ever be a day when apnea might be curable. There was a post about a new implantable electronic device that keeps your airway open during sleep. For me, I'd rather not risk a surgery since I have a perfectly good, fairly non-invasive treatment.

Until the "cure" day, my trusty APAP will be on my nightstand.

Just think, technology evolves so fast, there may be a day in the near future when we wear a tiny device, completely portable, with it's own "power cell" that only needs to be recharged once a year. I'll take it with me in my flying car.

I have a thought. I wonder if there's a possibility that after fine-tuning everything and and paying back the debt with restful restorative sleep,that an otherwise healthy person might be able to use a lower pressure to maintain the status quo. Any ideas about that?

DoriC wrote:I have a thought. I wonder if there's a possibility that after fine-tuning everything and and paying back the debt with restful restorative sleep,that an otherwise healthy person might be able to use a lower pressure to maintain the status quo. Any ideas about that?

Not that I've ever heard of, unless you do something that might affect the way your airway bends and so forth. I mean, some people can use a lower pressure if they lose weight or if they generally exercise more and improve overall muscle tone, but I can't think of any reason why simply catching up on sleep might make one's airway less likely to collapse (which is the only way you could use a lower pressure).

revnice wrote:Hi all:

I've been on the CPAP about 7 years and what I want to know is why it's 'forever' ?

There was a time I didn't have apnea and didn't need a pump - what changed?

And now that it's changed, why can't it be changed back again?

If it's increased weight, I can lose it, if it's diet, I can change it, if it's an airway that's changed due to aging, what about surgery?

Thanks - rev

There are many underlying causes/reasons for Sleep Apnea. Sometimes it's physical (jaw, nasal, throat, etc.) and sometimes it's neurological (Central Sleep Apnea) and sometimes it's a combination of both.
Looking back, I've (been told that I have) snored for many, many years. It wasn't until about 6 years ago that the daytime sleepiness started to manifest itself. There are lots of younger people who have or are being diagnosed with this condition.

You have NO idea when you actually started down this road.......it probably developed gradually over the years and you adjusted to it......it's just that at some point, you couldn't compensate for it anymore. Did you gain weight over the years? Apparently you did, from your comments about it. Sleep Apnea can cause weight gain and has other health ramifications.

Until someone finds the fountain of youth and we can go back to a time when we didn't have this condition, this therapy will be (for all practical purposes) for the duration of our lives. To me, the word "forever" applies to eternity and after I'm "pushing up daisies".


Den