Partner of new CPAP user, am I welcome?

Hi, I'm Tara, I'm 30 and my boyfriend of 3 years, Conn, is 40 and he was just diagnosed with sleep apnea and as of last week is on a ResMed Autoset 9 with a Mirage mask and humidifier.

I'm the more forum-savvy one of us, so I was wondering if I'd be able to join you all here and maybe put in my/our 2 cents on this apnea thing.

I'm a medical transcriptionist by trade, so I've written up sleep lab letters to GPs, and thus am familiar with some of the lingo and concepts, but there's obviously more I don't know.

Anyways, I've been looking around this site, and found a few topics I'd like to reply to, but everyone seems to be users themselves, and not partners of users, so I thought I'd check if it was okay first. If not, I'll just continue reading.

Thanks,
Tara

WELCOME!

Dori C. is also the partner of a CPAP user, and a very good resource. There may be more that I am not aware of as I am a newer member.

Of course you are welcome!

You'll find that member Dori C is in the same situation that you are. She helps her husband with his therapy and actively particpates in this forum. I think that he is computerphobic.

You'll probably have much to discuss with her.

OH GEEZ,
I wish my husband took such an interest! Bless your heart, and welcome!

It is wonderful that you are taking an active interest in your boyfriends therapy, because, this is almost an impossible
task to get through by yourself..


He is very lucky to have you!

elena

You are welcome, Tara. Anyone is has or is sincerely interested in OSA is more than welcome. Feel free to post and to respond to those threads that are of interest to you.

I like partners.

Thanks for the welcome, everyone

Elena, it's funny, I don't think I could ignore his problems, in fact, sometimes I wish he'd pay more attention to his health. His being diagnosed with OSA has kicked me into losing weight myself, and I hope to encourage/inspire him to join me. We've both suffered from the relationship weight creep.

He was having issues last week, his machine would jump up to 19 cmH2O and wake him up... but when we went back yesterday, they narrowed the pressure range from 7-14, and last night he was able to wear it for the first time almost all night, so that's great Hopefully this will continue. Although he did just go down for a short nap just now. We'll see how things go over the next week.

it will help if you give him lots of praise and encouragment, it can sometimes take a long time to adjust to using a CPAP, daytime naps using it are good

Tarazed wrote: Although he did just go down for a short nap just now.

With the machine, I hope.

roster wrote:

Tarazed wrote: Although he did just go down for a short nap just now.

With the machine, I hope.

No, sadly.... I've yet to convince him of napping with the mask, but I'll do what I can to encourage it, plus I'll mention it at his next appointment (I go along for support and collateral history).

Tarazed wrote:

roster wrote:

Tarazed wrote: Although he did just go down for a short nap just now.

With the machine, I hope.

No, sadly.... I've yet to convince him of napping with the mask, but I'll do what I can to encourage it, plus I'll mention it at his next appointment (I go along for support and collateral history).

Welcome, as you are savvy I sent you a PM with some useful stuff to go with the S9

Welcome, Tara! We love it when spouses/partners/family/friends of CPAP users join us here! You can be an Honorary Member of the Hosehead Society if you wish.

You mentioned that your boyfriend is using the Mirage mask. Which one? ResMed has several masks in their Mirage line. Some are full-face and others are nasal masks. If his mask is nasal (covers nose only), then watch for mouth-breathing during sleep. You can usually hear it, but many people will sleep right through it. If too much therapy air is lost through the mouth that way, then therapy may not be fully effective. He'd probably have dry mouth too. Some of us wear a chin strap or tape our mouths closed if that is a problem, while others find they need a full-face mask.

Good to see that he got a top-of-the-line machine. His S9 Autoset is capable of reporting full data, so you can monitor the leak rate there. The machine won't specify where the air leak is coming from, but there are only a few possibilities: mouth, mask or hose/connector. Via the LCD screen you can also monitor AHI (hourly apnea/hypopnea index) and see whether the apneas were central or obstructive.

If you do have any questions, feel free to ask! We're here to help.

DreamOn, he does have a full face mask, the Mirage Quattro. He says he has no problems with fit, except for what I mention below.

One of the issues so far is that I'm wanting to jump in with both feet, get all the gadgets such as a special pillow, hose hanger, aromatherapy, etc.... and sometimes he feels a little pushed/rushed by my enthusiasm So I'm scaling it back. Sometimes I think it would've been easier if I had been the one with OSA (I apparently do snore, but not loudly, and am just starting a weight loss regime to deal with it and other things), so that I could "play" with the neat gadgets to see what helps.

So far, his biggest issue, I think is that he sleeps sorta half on his side, half on his stomach... like the "recovery position" in first aid; upper leg bent up, one arm behind, upper arm in front, tucked under the pillow. He has problems with the pillow pressing his mask off to the side and getting leak, so he's forced to either sleep on his back, or directly on his side, which causes his lower arm to go numb. I've been reading about these CPAP pillows, which say they're good for stomach sleeping, but we haven't figured out how he can do that without blocking the vent in his mask.

Any suggestions?

Tarazed wrote:DreamOn, he does have a full face mask, the Mirage Quattro. He says he has no problems with fit, except for what I mention below.

One of the issues so far is that I'm wanting to jump in with both feet, get all the gadgets such as a special pillow, hose hanger, aromatherapy, etc.... and sometimes he feels a little pushed/rushed by my enthusiasm So I'm scaling it back. Sometimes I think it would've been easier if I had been the one with OSA (I apparently do snore, but not loudly, and am just starting a weight loss regime to deal with it and other things), so that I could "play" with the neat gadgets to see what helps.

So far, his biggest issue, I think is that he sleeps sorta half on his side, half on his stomach... like the "recovery position" in first aid; upper leg bent up, one arm behind, upper arm in front, tucked under the pillow. He has problems with the pillow pressing his mask off to the side and getting leak, so he's forced to either sleep on his back, or directly on his side, which causes his lower arm to go numb. I've been reading about these CPAP pillows, which say they're good for stomach sleeping, but we haven't figured out how he can do that without blocking the vent in his mask.

Any suggestions?

Generally speaking, most snorers and pre-therapy apneans are discouraged from sleeping supine (on our backs). However, with the machine, he may be interested in back sleeping. My wife kept me sleeping on my side for years. Couldn't go to sleep on my back if I tried - until my titration sleep study. I didn't move an inch for nearly 7.5 hours. Now, I sleep on my back the entire night with CPAP.

Hose management? Yeah there are people here who have that figured out. I know nothing about that except keep the machine below the mask (if looking at a horizontal plane). Otherwise rainout can occur when using humidification. Nothing like a nostril full of condensate.

Might want to try directing the hose from the S9, around the bedpost down to his face. That'll reduce rainout and allow him to turn over a bit. Pillows? Yeah, not me. Sorry.

And yes, I wish my wife as more interested in my therapy. She's looking forward to me having more energy to engage her and the kids more and get more work done around the house. Reading and posting here? Not for her. That's where she is. I'm good with that. She's helped with the budget to make the 2 sleep studies and machine happen.

Tarazed wrote:So far, his biggest issue, I think is that he sleeps sorta half on his side, half on his stomach... like the "recovery position" in first aid; upper leg bent up, one arm behind, upper arm in front, tucked under the pillow. He has problems with the pillow pressing his mask off to the side and getting leak, so he's forced to either sleep on his back, or directly on his side, which causes his lower arm to go numb. I've been reading about these CPAP pillows, which say they're good for stomach sleeping, but we haven't figured out how he can do that without blocking the vent in his mask.

Any suggestions?

do a search on the "Falcon" position... rooster probably knows exactly where to find the info. It's supposed to be how you can sleep on your tummy and not block the vents.