# CPAP users, tell me some stories **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 17, 2022, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105 "2022-11-17T21:39:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/101 "2023-01-01T16:31:51Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > would only power my CPAP for about 3 hours How can you tell this? Some of the reviews say they last much longer. What’s a UPS? ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2023, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/102 "2023-01-01T23:20:12Z")
The battery you linked states 153 Watt hours (Wh). My CPAP draws 56-73 watts. 153/56 is 2.7 hours. A UPS is an uninterruptable power supply. They provide battery backup, normally for computers and servers. They contain a rechargeable that kicks in when power is lost. They also provide surge protection. The one advantage I see with the battery pack is that it is more portable, so may be easier to transport to another location to charge. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/103 "2023-01-02T20:24:27Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > so I’ve been thinking someone should invent something that can charge off a car battery. You can buy **[an inverter for your car](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=car+inverter&crid=34J3ZEA46032J&sprefix=car+inverter%2Caps%2C246&ref=nb_sb_noss_1)** that plugs into the cigarette lighter and provides you with a standard 120VAC outlet, which you can then use to charge a CPAP battery (or anything else that normally plugs into a wall outlet). You’d need to do some checking to see whether you could properly charge an overnight CPAP battery with a 1-hour drive, or whether it would take a ridiculously long time behind the wheel. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2023, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/104 "2023-01-02T21:30:39Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > I know we’ve had CPAP threads before but I’d like to hear any updates or new tips. > > I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about 15 years ago but I could never adapt to the CPAP. I think it was 50% discomfort and 50% wonky settings (I could not properly exhale). I was never very compliant and gave up too quickly. > > Now I am feeling more motivated and ready to give it another go. I went to a sleep medicine physician this afternoon and will soon undergo a home sleep study, followed by, I am sure, CPAP therapy. > > So I would like to hear any tips you may have, particularly about which specific masks you have found most tolerable. I’m also interested in stories about home sleep studies (my previous one way back when was inpatient/overnight, which it sounds like they don’t do so much any more). > > I need better sleep. I feel strongly that it will happen this time. > > Thanks, > > mmm OP checking in. After much back-and-forth, I finally had my (home) sleep study last week. It was annoying and inconvenient, but do-able. Now I have to wait until my sleep physician returns from vacation on January 11. In the meantime I have been making an effort to use my old machine with mixed results. There are times when I feel I cannot effectively exhale, which sort of puts a damper on efforts to fall asleep. Anyway, I wore it all night 12/31 and 1/1. New Years resolution, I guess. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2023, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/105 "2023-01-06T13:10:41Z")
There’s another factor here…If you’re powering the CPAP off the 110v side, Your battery life will take a hit. I have a 175 Wh pack and it’ll last 3-4 hours on the inverter, but 14 hours at straight 12v, and 35 or so hours if I turn the humidifer off. (I haven’t actually tested the ultimate life that way…I’ve never had to, but it’s nice to know it’s available…it was something like 5 nights.) See if there’s an ‘car-kit’ for your CPAP. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/106 "2023-01-08T19:07:26Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > In the meantime I have been making an effort to use my old machine with mixed results. There are times when I feel I cannot effectively exhale, which sort of puts a damper on efforts to fall asleep. My initial pressure setting seemed fine to me but my doctor upped the pressure. I got online and found out how to reprogram it and lowered it back to a comfortable level. I can’t go without a CPAP machine. If I can’t breath I start to get claustrophobic dreams that get progressively worse. If anyone has ever experienced a claustrophobic attack they know how unpleasant that is. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/107 "2023-01-08T19:23:37Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > There’s another factor here…If you’re powering the CPAP off the 110v side, Your battery life will take a hit. I have a 175 Wh pack and it’ll last 3-4 hours on the inverter, but 14 hours at straight 12v, and 35 or so hours if I turn the humidifer off. (I haven’t actually tested the ultimate life that way…I’ve never had to, but it’s nice to know it’s available…it was something like 5 nights.) > > See if there’s an ‘car-kit’ for your CPAP. I just assumed that was true and plugged my CPAP into a backup battery to test how long it would run before I went camping. It didn’t work. I had to get a specific cord from the manufacturer (Philips model Dreamstation) in order for it to work. It was a $26 cord when it should have cost a few dollars. It must have had some kind of sensor in it that talked with the CPAP machine because I plugged it into the same source and it worked. ---
**Author:** ![Mortimus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mortimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mortimus)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2023, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/108 "2023-01-08T21:45:35Z")
I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2014. Started using a CPAP as prescribed and easily adapted to using it. I never noticed any improvement in my sleep quality. I was motivated to keep using it because it stopped my snoring, thereby increasing my wife’s sleep quality. I got to the point where I couldn’t sleep without the CPAP. It was part of my sleep routine and comforting in some weird way. But then I lost 75 lbs which completely cured my snoring, according to Mrs. Morty. I don’t feel compelled to use the CPAP since I don’t feel any personal benefit and my wife can sleep without listening to me saw wood and gurgle. I still attempt to use the machine nightly but can no longer get through the night without the machine tattling on me, telling my provider that I have major mask leakage. So my provider sent me back to the sleep study folks. A very thorough mask fitting session ensued. They sent me home with several different masks. Despite my best efforts, I cannot get any of them to not trigger the mask leakage sensor. Normally I can feel any air leaking out of the mask, it’s pretty obvious when I can feel the air rustling my eyebrows and ear hair. But I don’t feel any leakage, at last not while I’m awake enough to do so. Maybe the machine has a problem being too sensitive to leakage? Nope. Machine checks out fine as do the hose and connectors. It didn’t used to be a problem but now I can’t seem to use the CPAP more than maybe 3-4 hours a night before I wake up irritated by the damn thing smothering my face. I take it off and chuck it onto the night stand where it sits until I clean it up for the next night. Rinse, lather repeat. Probably not the best story for OP, but it’s another fuzzy datapoint. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/109 "2023-01-09T18:10:53Z")
For sheer entertainment value in the field of sleep therapy, you gotta give props to the guy who made a facehugger CPAP mask for himself: > **[Jared Gray](https://www.jaredisgray.com/tinker-gnome-cpap-facehugger/)** > > Writer, IT Burnout, Tinker Gnome ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2023, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/110 "2023-01-10T03:30:03Z")
That is hilarious but imagine if a young kid saw the movie and then the CPAP mask on a parent? ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/111 "2023-01-11T17:05:53Z")
I’m not sure if anything I’d add at this point brings any additional value. After reading through the full thread, I guess I would focus on a few things: - 80% of CPAP/APAP compliance is mental attitude. I tried CPAP years ago and had many of the same objections and challenges as others have shared here on why they were never able to be compliant and ultimately quit. Years later when my condition had so negatively impacted my life that I got my head right to face the reality of having severe OSA. From a proper mental place of accepting that I need to make this work, it then moved to what can I do to make this easier to adjust and be successful. - Not all DMEs or sleep centers are equal. It blows my mind to hear people talking about things like having trouble exhaling. That is something that should be addressed immediately with your device being properly configured to provide exhale relief when it is delivered. If not, once brought to the sleep center or DME’s attention this should be corrected. It’s a simple “no-brainer” type thing to do and makes adjusting so much easier. Same applies for mask fit, noise levels of the CPAP, use of ramping, etc. The DME and/or sleep center should be setting you up for success, not doing the bare minimum to get paid for a new piece of medical equipment and get you out the door. If your sleep center or DME is not setting you up for success, get rid of them and select another. I’ve done it at the drop of a dime because it is my life and health on the line. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/112 "2023-01-11T18:15:01Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > - Not all DMEs or sleep centers are equal. It blows my mind to hear people talking about things like having trouble exhaling. That is something that should be addressed immediately with your device being properly configured to provide exhale relief when it is delivered. If not, once brought to the sleep center or DME’s attention this should be corrected. It’s a simple “no-brainer” type thing to do and makes adjusting so much easier. Same applies for mask fit, noise levels of the CPAP, use of ramping, etc. The DME and/or sleep center should be setting you up for success, not doing the bare minimum to get paid for a new piece of medical equipment and get you out the door. If your sleep center or DME is not setting you up for success, get rid of them and select another. I’ve done it at the drop of a dime because it is my life and health on the line. My DME was pretty thorough with me when I was getting my first CPAP set up. Did a great job of explaining things, trying out various settings to see what was likely work well, and making sure the mask was a good match for me. 3.5 years on, and I haven’t had to make any adjustments with them. My second unit was a portable unit for travel that I bought over the internet, so support for adjustments would have been a bit more challenging. In the end I googled how to access the clinical settings menu and made some changes myself. Anyone struggling with a maladjusted CPAP who is so frustrated by challenges of trying to work with their DME that they’re considering giving up should be encouraged to search the internet for help and try adjusting settings themselves, with the important caveat that they should first write down or photograph the initial settings so that they can always get back to their starting point if they really screw it up. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/113 "2023-01-11T20:27:03Z")
> [@MeanJoe](#): > > The DME and/or sleep center should be setting you up for success The first thing my first DME guy did was to show me how to get into the settings menu and showed me what I shouldn’t mess with on my own. Of course that didn’t stop me from adjusting my pressure . . . when I got the letter telling me I needed to see him to adjust my pressure. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2023, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/114 "2023-01-14T13:32:48Z")
OP check in. (home) sleep study completed. Received a voicemail from sleep physician to make a follow up appointment so we can discuss treatment. Question about mask-fitting: How do they allow you to try several different masks? I assume masks are one-person use and they cannot have multiple demo masks for you to try on? Which leads me to wonder what happens after you have tried, say, six different masks - do they just give you the masks because they are now used? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/115 "2023-01-18T10:03:54Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Before I got my CPAP I was getting up to pee around 3 or 4 AM. I haven’t gotten out of bed to pee since I got it. I know this is somewhat old, but I found the same thing. It’s quite rare now for me to need to go to the bathroom during the night. My theory is that if you aren’t sleeping as soundly as you ought, the “gotta pee” signals are likelier to make it through to your brain when the bladder isn’t quite as full. If you’re sleeping more soundly, there has to be a bit more water pressure to be enough to wake you up. I usually don’t get up even when I’m sleeping in on the weekends. And no, it does not mean I need new sheets every morning, nor Depends at night. As far as getting used to sleeping with the damn thing: I took an Ambien at bedtime the first couple nights. After that, there was no need. > [@adhemar](#): > > I had to replace my machine because it stopped working in the middle of the night. They supplier had to have a new prescription and the sleep clinic wouldn’t do another prescription without another sleep study. I told my Endocrinologist (who sent me for the original study) that I was not going to do that as the experience was so bad. (the apparatus they strapped on me was actually painful and they were abusive to me because of that). That’s ridiculous. My husband and I both have had machines fail, and neither of us had to do another sleep study. Also, sleep clinic people are evil. Interesting that the machines are available at CVS - that really surprises me, since an improperly titrated machine can cause more problems than it fixes. The supplies, on the other hand, should be OTC. (related grumble: I cannot buy a nebulizer machine without a prescription. The meds, yeah, should be prescription. The machine??? crazy). > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Question about mask-fitting: How do they allow you to try several different masks? I assume masks are one-person use and they cannot have multiple demo masks for you to try on? Which leads me to wonder what happens after you have tried, say, six different masks - do they just give you the masks because they are now used? I kind of wondered that myself. When I got my first one, the DME rep came to my house. She said “I have several with me, but I recommend you try this one first”. And I liked it. I did do an in-office fitting once a few years later, and I have no clue what they did with the pillows etc. I tried. Maybe they tossed them, maybe they autoclaved and reused them. It wouldn’t surprise me if the manufacturers provide samples, because it drums up business. I may try to do this again soon - it’s been a few years, and the two types I’ve been alternating between both have issues these days. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/116 "2023-01-18T16:49:27Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I know this is somewhat old, but I found the same thing. It’s quite rare now for me to need to go to the bathroom during the night. The person who did the little class on CPAP when I got my machine claimed that no one not suffering from medical incontinence really needs to pee at night. It’s all from waking up from breathing interruptions and noticing the urgency, rather than the urgency waking you up. And according to him everyone except very young children have breathing interruptions, even if just a few a night. I’m a bit dubious about his absolutist claims. I’ve dreamed I needed to go to the bathroom and then woken up needing to go to the bathroom, which I presume is my body telling me something. But he may have a point for at least many people much of the time. Anecdotally if it doesn’t eliminate the need to pee at night, it certainly does seem to reduce it. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2023, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/117 "2023-01-18T17:54:11Z")
This reminds me of the old line - If you see a toilet in your dream, don’t use it! mmm ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/118 "2023-01-19T19:12:14Z")
OP check in. Just came from my doctor appointment post-sleep study. As expected, severe sleep apnea. I stopped breathing 30 times/hour with sats dropping into the 80s. Getting a new machine next week. Excited, I am. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2023, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/119 "2023-01-19T20:01:24Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Question about mask-fitting: How do they allow you to try several different masks? I assume masks are one-person use and they cannot have multiple demo masks for you to try on? Which leads me to wonder what happens after you have tried, say, six different masks - do they just give you the masks because they are now used? I just started with a CPAP back in December. As I understand it, at least in my area, things are a bit different than they were before COVID. After my doctor connected me to the right equipment provider that was on my insurance plan, all my contacts have been online or on the phone. My doctor wrote in the prescription what he described as the least intrusive, most minimal mask available. If that turned out not to work well for me, he said I could request follow up phone visit where the provider’s technician could help identify a next option and send that to me. The doctor said that I had 60 days where I could try as many masks as I wanted as long as I talked with the technician each time. More or less meaning I couldn’t really just do my shopping and put in unlimited orders, the need would be vetted by the person who could see the actual data and then help diagnose the issues. At any rate, the simplest, lightest mask has worked very well for me. I did accidentally get shipped a full face mask, which wasn’t returnable as I had opened it not knowing what it was the wrong thing. So I tried it, confirming that I like the simple nasal mask much better. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2023, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105/120 "2023-01-20T18:49:51Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > Excited, I am. For varying definitions of “excited”, anyway! I have heard of people claiming their CPAP made such an absolute, dramatic improvement in how they felt that they fell in immediate love. Hopefully you’ll be in that group! If you’re not (as most are not), you’ll at least feel noticeably better, and/or can work with the professionals to sort out any problems you have so you DO get past the obstacles. My FIL, at our nagging, had a sleep study some years back. His picture could be in the dictionary next to “sleep apnea risk factors” - short neck, hugely obese, snores loud enough to be heard on the next continent, etc. He tried a couple different masks, and admitted he did feel better - but ultimately returned the equipment for “reasons”. I think at one point he claimed to be worried about what if the power blipped out while he was using it (simple answer: you wind up waking up and pulling the mask off, you don’t just suffocate! I once put my mask on and tried to go to sleep - and it took me several minutes to realize I wasn’t breathing as easily as normally. My machine has an “auto on” feature (turns itself on if you start to breathe through it), and so I didn’t press the power button - and it turned out the plug was loose and it hadn’t even come on. Clueless, much? 😜 > [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > This reminds me of the old line - If you see a toilet in your dream, don’t use it! I HATE those dreams. Typically I’ll find and use a toilet, and STILL need one, repeatedly, until some part of my damn brain nudges me awake enough to deal with it in real life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpap-users-tell-me-some-stories/975105.md?page=7)