Sleep Apnea woes.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I got tested for sleep apnea because I snored loud and have a family history of others with SA. Turns out I have it. And the treatment is a pain in my ass. I never felt fatigue after sleeping without my CPAP… at least no more than I do with it on. The CPAP wakes me up at night all the time, as I like to bury my face in my pillow, and toss and turn, and I can’t with this lame mask on. I tried the nostril cushions, (or whatever they are called), but it mad my nostrils hurt so much, I went back to the mask.

I regret getting tested, because the place that provided me with the machine knows when I’m not wearing it. I’m getting the pressure tested soon, to see if that helps. But I personally don’t see a difference. I don’t know how much I woke up during sleep before the mask, but I know I wake up a lot with it on. It’s a huge pain.

I would think a lot of people that snore, if tested, would have SA… but not sure they need to be treated for it, because I personally don’t see results. I’ve worn the mask long enough to have ‘gotten use to it’, but I’m not. It’s just a pain in my ass. Cleaning it is a pain in my ass too.

I know people have died because of SA… or so I’m told.

Anyone here with SA that can relate?

2

Also, I need it pretty warm in my room so the water doesn’t pool up in my hose, and I wake up with water up my nose.

3

Moved from MPSIMS to IMHO, the home of medical anecdotes and advice.

4

Thanks… after seeing the “Chiropractic pure woo” thread, I wondered if I put this in the right place.

5

I wore the over night oxygen monitor. The one that is placed on your finger. The results showed 90 events per hour I was oxygen starved (less than 75%) In other words every 45 seconds, I was gasping for breath. These events never woke me up. But, I was tired all the time (no REM). Now, with the CPAP, I sleep all through the night and am not tired throughout the day. Before, I would have to pee 3-4 times a night. My CPAP blows, and I love it!

6

I’m sorry that you are having CPAP woes! I did a quickie research project on CPAP prescription vs. CPAP use, and while there are a few oddballs out there who immediately loved and slept well with their CPAP, most people need awhile to adjust, and lots of people are just never able to make it through that adjustment period/quit after a few fitful nights. Good on you for continuing to try to find peaceful nights with the nose hose! Some thoughts:

Have you had someone sit down with you and explain all the ins and outs of your CPAP machine? They can try and fix things so you don’t have a watery hose, for example. A lot of CPAP machines are handed over to people without any real instructions on how to maximize all of the bells and whistles, to make it easier to actually sleep with.

Have you tried a variety of masks (were those the nostril cushions)? They make masks specially designed for stomach sleepers - (I don’t know how much better they are (if any) than regular masks, but they’re out there). Alternatively, have you tried changing your sleep position? Trying to convert to being a back-sleeper would undoubtedly result in lots of bad nights at first, but maybe in the long run, back + CPAP would be a more acceptable combination than stomach + CPAP.

Have you investigated non-CPAP alternatives? There are a couple kinds of oral appliances (hold jaw or tongue in a more breath-friendly position) which can be used in place of CPAP machines.

Do you smoke? Are you overweight? If the answer to either is yes, you should quit/endeavor to become less so. Obesity is the most well-documented risk factor for OSA, and current smokers have 3x the risk of sleep apnea as do non-smokers.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) PSA: People can die from OSA. People with OSA have a propensity for nighttime cardiac death, and people with untreated severe OSA have 3-6x the general mortality when compared to people without OSA. OSA contributes to hypertension, pulmonary hypertension, coronary artery disease, and ischemic stroke (among others). Car crashes are 2-3x more likely in people with OSA.

Good luck!

love
yams!!

7

Hehe…

I never felt tired at all. I take more naps now than I ever did. I thought it might help in other areas… (anxiety, depression). Never had to pee in the middle of the night either.

8

I’m into my fourth month with the nasal pillows. I don’t mind them to begin with - and I’m a stomach/side sleeper. However - I have only gotten to 6 hours with it, once. Most nights I average 1.7 hours before I rip it off in frustration.

I keep trying and I’d love to have it make a difference. Like harmonicamoon I have serious oxygen issues at night and stop breathing a horrendous number of times per hour. Even in the 1.7 hours of sleep with the CPAP I have several instances of interrupted breathing.

I’m going to go back to the retailer and see if they can suggest anything to help me. Like you, MyFootZZZZ, I’m doing worse than without. However I’ve had horrendous fatigue for years - so I’m really trying to have this work. It’s just so frustrating.

9

I am one of the lucky ones that had no problem getting adjusted to CPAP. I am a scuba diver and the mask and positive pressure is very similar to breathing with regulator. I wonder if that helped me?

Before CPAP I had 70 events per hour with oxygen sats dropping to the high 70%. Now I am at an average of 3.5 events per hour and oxygen sats in the low to mid 90%.

On nights that I have a high AHI - maybe - 7 to 8 events per hour I don’t feel nearly as good as I do when it is it the 3 to 4 range.

10

When I was originally diagnosed with SA, my case must have been much worse than yours. I immediately slept through the night the first night I had it on. Now that I am regularly getting a good night’s sleep, I do wake up several times a night, but nothing like before, and I still get a full night’s sleep.

After a lost a bunch of weight, my SA went down from severe to mild/moderate. The sleep doctor said I could probably get along with the CPAP, as long as I didn’t try to sleep on my back. But now I am so used to it, it is difficult for me to sleep without it.

The main thing with SA is to make sure you get enough oxygen during sleep, that you spend enough time in REM sleep, and that you don’t rouse too often. Snoring is only a symptom and a side effect of SA, it’s not harmful in itself (except possibly to anyone sleeping next to you!)

If you only have mild or moderate SA, there are other treatments, did your doctor discuss them? For example, they can do things to your uvula, either freeze it so it doesn’t wobble, or remove it. There are probably other treatments. See if your sleep doctor will discuss these with you.

Good luck,
Roddy

11

It took me two years to get used to wearing a mask to bed, and I was highly motivated. Sometimes I gave up for months, then decided to try again. Now I’m more comfortable sleeping with the CPAP than without it. I definitely prefer the nasal cushions.

A while back I was in a doctor’s exam room that had an air purifier that sounded just like my CPAP machine. I had to turn the thing off to keep from falling asleep. The sound becomes a cue that it’s time to fall asleep.

12

Have SA. Tried CPAP. Can relate. (ETA: And yes, many details of it were all a pain in the ass.)

Tried it for several months. But I cannot sleep on my back, and it just didn’t fit right to try sleeping on my side or front.

Try multiple different masks, nasal pillows, whatever other options they have? Discuss it with the sleep doctor? Get detailed instruction on all the bells and whistles that might be tried???

Gosh, all you rich folk must be paying for this all out of your own pocket, or else you have some damn fine medical insurance to cover all that. All I get with my HMO is perfunctory, assembly-line style, one-size-fits-all treatment. I got to try one mask and when that didn’t work I got to try another one. Presumably, I’d have to pay for any more, but nobody bothered to discuss that with me or ask me if I had any questions. Nobody mentioned if I could come back just to ask questions, or even who there was for me to come back to. It’s not just about SA, it’s about everything my HMO does.

I figure if I die of sudden cardiac arrest, as long as it happens in my sleep, that’s about the best outcome I could hope for.

13

I have been on CPAP for about two years after being diagnosed with sleep apnea without having any symptoms. I am a stomach sleeper and have always used a mask with nasal pillows, as they allowed me to lay totally on my stomach (head to left or right, though), or either side. My current mask is also one with nasal pillows but because of some shoulder surgery, I am having to sleep on my back or left side. It still works well, though. There are many types of masks out there. My Apria contact told me they stock 15,000 different masks.

As far as problems with your nostrils hurting, a lubricant applied to the pillows and the outside of the nostrils should help until you get used to them.

Keep trying and be sure to let your sleep therapist know that the mask is not working well for you.

Bob

14

…also you don’t have to use the humidifier part of the CPAP.

15

The apnea itself doesn’t kill you, but it causes other conditions that can kill you.

Several years ago a friend in his 50’s had a stroke that left him with permanent speech difficulties. In the course of treating his stroke his doctors discovered that he had severe SA, a known risk factor for strokes. Suddenly he understood why he had been tired all the time. He now sleeps with CPAP, and is resting much better.

16

I’ve had one for several years now. It took 2 to 3 weeks to get used to it. Now, I would rather sleep on a train track than spend a night without my BiPaP ( a bidirectional CPAP). I love it in the cold winter months. You can pull the covers up over your head, and have a supply of fresh air delivered to you while sleeping in that warm cocoon.

I tossed out the humidifier on day one and have never missed it, or the mess/frequent cleaning that it required.

In short. Spend the time getting used to it. It’s worth it.

17

I think I have SA (my doctor disagrees because I’m not a short, overweight man, but I do have a deviated septum and the symptoms of SA), I bought those nasal strip things and started wearing them whenever I start to feel tired all day, even though I slept all night, and it seems to help.

18

My sympathies. I have had surprisingly little trouble with adjusting to the mask (though a few months ago I tried a different one, and HATED it).

Re the hose: adjust the temperature of the humidifier, or reduce the amount of humidification, or try putting a “hose cosy” on the hose. Supposedly these steps can reduce the amount of water pooling. I’ve only once or twice had that problem with mine, though somehow the humidifier setting on mine tends to reset itself to the lowest.

For what it’s worth, I didn’t feel like I felt at all better when I went on the CPAP. I have other sleep-related issues as well which don’t help. Weirdly, now I feel worse when I don’t sleep with it, than I did before I had the damn thing.

19

I went in for a sleep study at my wife’s urging, because I snored loudly. I thought I’d always slept fine, and well, and seemed rested during the days. But the sleep study showed me I had severe obstructive sleep apnea. Many times each minute, I stopped breathing. Wow.

I struggled at first with the CPAP, but eventually found a mask that works well for me. My CPAP has the humidifier built in (I do much better with the moisture, otherwise my nose gets very dried out -can you say boogers?), and even the hose is heated. That’s a good thing since it keeps the water from condensing in the hose and migrating to my nose.

To the OP: stick with it, find a CPAP solution that works for you. I thought I slept well enough before CPAP, but wow, I now know that wasn’t the case. If you have sleep apnea, it’s simply great with one. Good luck to you.

20

Hi.
CPAP user here.

I use a mask. They started me with the nose mask, but that didn’t work. I breathe through my nose and my mouth simulataneously all the time, and so had my mouth open while the CPAP was blowing air through my nose - sounded funny, felt really strange, and didn’t help.

A regular full face mask works much better for me. I have to tighten the straps really tight, though, to keep it from leaking and blowing air in my eyes or making fart noises all night.

I’ve found it works best to run the hose over the head of the bed (if you lie on your back then the hose would run over your forehead, then behind the bed, then down to the floor where the CPAP is.) If I don’t run it over the head of the bed, I end up with the hose wrapped around my neck - not comfortable, and a strangling hazard. Run over the head of the bed that way also allows me to toss and turn without needing much slack in the hose.

The fracking masks are built ass backwards, of course. There is a grid of small holes that lets out air when you exhale, and of course it is right where the hose runs when you lie on your back with the hose going over the head of the bed. When the hose is over the holes, I get a hissing noise. Since I sleep on my side, the hose is mostly canted the side a bit, so I don’t have a lot of trouble with that.

The hose shouldn’t have any dips in it - it should run as straight as possible from the head of the bed back down to the machine. This will let the condensed water run back into the machine instead of running into your face or collecting in a low spot and making gurgling noises.

Park the CPAP on an old pillow UNDER your bed. The machines vibrate a bit, and the pillow will damp the vibration - if I don’t do that, the whole bedroom hums. Putting it under the bed will help muffle the sound of the air intake.

My CPAP dynamically adjusts the pressure, so when I go to sleep it is very quiet but gets louder during the night. When things are really bad, it makes a “chuffing” noise in time with my breathing that drives my wife nuts and sometimes wakes me up. Being under the bed muffles the intake noise a lot. If it doesn’t help enough, a thick down comforter wadded up over the CPAP can help reduce the intake noise even more.

I wash my mask every morning as part of my daily routine, just after brushing my teeth and before cleaning my glasses. I keep a bottle of dish soap under the sink. Squirt a few drops on the seal and the forehead pads, scrub with fingers, rinse under HOT water, shake out over the tub, let dry all day. Once a month I disassemble the mask and scrub all the hard reach cracks and crannies using a tooth brush and Q-Tips.

The straps on the mask have velcro closures. I hate them. They wear out, then the mask comes undone in the night. Right now I’ve got the straps adjusted well and duct-taped so they don’t come unstuck. I’ll sew them down the next time I wash the straps. The damn velcro also likes to stick the the blankets - you roll over and “riiippp!” the mask falls off.

Adjusting the mask is pain if you have an auto CPAP like mine. If you adjust it so that it is comfortable and doesn’t leak before you go to sleep, you will likely wake up with it leaking all over hte place and blowing in your eyes and making fart noises. To adjust: Put the mask on and tighten until it feels like it ought to have a good seal. Attach the hose and turn on the machine. Take a deep breath and huff it all out in one big, powerful burst. This will run the pressure up to something like what the machine uses during the night. If it leaks, readjust and retry. Keep adjusting and retrying until huffing no longer causes leaks.

I run the humidifier on the lowest setting. That keeps my nose from drying out, but minimzes the amount of condensation. I do have to have the humidifier, though. Without it, my nose dries out and I don’t just get boogers - I get BLOODY boogers and sneeze blood in the morning.

Honest to christ I don’t know how the manufacturer’s expect anyone to deal with the machines without all of the above having been explained. Mine drove me nuts for months before I got it all figured out. Sleeping with the mask wasn’t problem. Sleeping with a mask that liked to flop around, get loose, leak, and make noise was a major pain.