Yeah, mine has that, it’s a separate button. I used it the first two nights, then three nights going straight to “full blast.” I tried the “ramp up” again two nights ago, then “full blast” again last night. I’ve decided the “ramp-up” made it worse.
I normally sleep with my mouth shut as well, but for those first several minutes with the machine I just don’t seem to be getting enough air. I’m wondering if it’s a psychological thing at this point, though.
Something else I thought of: the mask came with four different “sizes” for the nose piece. I don’t really understand the point, because while the bigger sizes are in fact bigger, the slit that goes under the nostrils the same size in all four. I think I’d be happier if the slit was bigger.
I also tried the “ramp up” feature on my cpap. It made me feel like I couldn’t breath as I was falling asleep. I have it set to start at the full prescribed strength and I have no problems.
I spoke too soon. Right after I wrote this last night, I checked the one nose piece I hadn’t tried yet, labeled “MW” (the others being S, M, L). It has a wider slit. Duh! I get it… Medium Wide! I used it, and it was much better. But I still woke up three times last night to find the mask on another part of my face.
Look into whether your sleep clinic (or your DME provider) can work with you to try various types of headgear. Sometimes a couple of adjustments to your existing gear can make it work much better.
Hint on the above: one of the things they list is a “tube management clip” (a brand name and one of their own). I bought a 2-pack of these… and it is literally just a Velcro One-Wrap cable tie with a plastic and metal badge clip slid through the open slit. When the ones I bought broke or got lost, I simply bought the pieces separately from Amazon and made my own. More expensive than the 2-pack, but ultimately cheaper as I have the fixings for a dozen or so now.
Prob should have reported back a long time ago… maybe I did in another thread. I used it for a month and then gave it up. Too much of a distraction.
I continued to use Ambien every night until about six weeks ago when I decided to try to quit which has been pretty succesful. My main side effects were a failure to make memories for the first part of the day and, more importantly, minor depression.
Some herbal stuff, melatonin, warm milk and white noise have been helpful.
I got the Inspire implant for sleep apnea, making me one of maybe 10,000 people that have it so far. It’s a surgically implanted thing the size of a pacemaker that has a sensor down amid your ribs so it can send some stimulation to the hypoglossal nerve (under the tongue) to gently move the tongue forward with every breath in to keep the airway from collapsing.
It’s doing what CPAP never did for me - letting me sleep with less snoring and now my brain gets oxygen when I sleep. Yes, I made that red as it’s that big a deal for me. I used to just go dead out but now I have dreams and I’m not falling asleep at my desk at 3:30.
If you thought CPAP had its downsides…the biggest one for Inspire is that it’s an implant and there’s no way to do a trial with it to see if it works for you before the 3-4 hour surgery. Other big issue is its cost and insurance coverage. Some carriers are still resisting, saying it’s experimental. Others have no issues at all, even though it’s quite expensive.
But, if you hate CPAP with the fire of 10,000 burning suns, take a look at Inspire.
It’s entirely inside your body, so the millimeter-wave scanners where you stand with your hands up will not see it. They’re great at finding pocket flaps and forgotten receipts, but pretty much blind to your insides. I’ve had no problems at all with the old-style magnetometers in the PreCheck line, probably because the device’s case is titanium, and again, it’s inside me. I’ve also never had a problem with my artificial spinal disc or fusion hardware in PreCheck or the regular lines.
When I tell people I’ve had six sleep studies, their jaws drop, and I grin and say “I’m such a slut”.
I can’t say I feel better with the CPAP than I did before - but then after nearly 10 years with it, I feel worse if I don’t use it. Go figure. I’ve definitely noticed as I get older, that if I do something like dozing off on the couch I’ll get into a state where I’m not breahing well, and struggling to force myself awake enough to take a deep breath. Pretty unpleasant. I’m not any heavier than I was 10 years ago. I genuinely wonder if long-term use of the machine might not be contributing to a weakening in the muscles that keep the throat open - due to disuse or something.
If you use a nasal pillow mask (or even a nasal mask that surrounds the nose) you may find a chin strap to be helpful in keeping your mouth closed while you sleep.
I would caution folks to be very wary of so-called “sleep clinics”. Their main mission in life is to get you diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea, sell you the expensive machine, and then frequently hound you to buy replacement parts.
The reason I feel like this is that there’s very little effort that goes into the medical exam, but a lot of effort in scheduling follow-up visits and resupply messaging.
To give you an example, there was a time in my life where I was routinely binging on alcohol, was less than 50% compliant on my APAP usage. I went in one morning for a follow-up the night after a heavy drinking session. My BP was 190/100, pulse 105 (these are often crisis-level numbers).
The nurse said “Your numbers look great, need any new equipment or medication?” A competent practitioner would have thrown a red flag and started asking WTF is going on with me.
IDK how to avoid that sort of situation, but beware these clinics that are basically fronts for sleep-aid equipment sales.
Oh yeah… specific to the OP question about actually using one… I feel somewhat less daytime sleepiness, but more importantly, I get to sleep with my spouse because I no longer snore like a freight train.
I’ve been using a CPAP (ResMed AirSense 10) for about six weeks. I’m not looking forward to traveling with the thing so I’m considering buying a travel CPAP, such as the ResMed AirMini. Any opinion on that or other travel CPAPs? One thing holding me back is the expense of it; I assume I’d need to pay out of pocket, since the insurance company is paying for the regular machine.