How many of you use a CPAP machine?

Saved my life. Saved my marriage. I can’t live without it. Got on Monjourno and exercise and lost 40 lbs. Now I don’t really need it but still use it. I use the ne Phillips Respironics and AirSense 11. Nasal pillows Swift FX for the win. Doc has my Cpap turned down to lowest level since I lost weight. That’s the key.

I have tried every mask made and cannot tolerate anything on my face. Its horrible. And the hoses are just as bad. There is a device called Inspire that I’m hoping will be approved by my ins.

Best wishes for you.

I have tried every mask made and cannot tolerate anything on my face.

Have you tried the CPAP Pro? I love it. No mask, no straps around my head.

BAck when I still had TRICARE I got a RESMED AirSense 10 machine, used it for a year with ZERO objective results - I STILL felt like hammered sh!t in the morning, blood pressure was still a little elevated and I would crap out around noon and nap or fall asleep on my feet.

I got a dental appliance from our family dentist of 25 years which turned this around until the appliance broke; by then our insurance had changed and I couldn’t afford $625 out of pocket charge for the device (basically a HARD night guard for bruxism with a jaw lift bump).

Went back on the CPAP about six months ago as I’m 100% VA disabled and VA has sent me a handful of nasal masks and nasal pillows. Difference being the pillows stick into your nose a bit and are a little easier to get used to. The nasal mask had me wake up in a panic dreaming a face-hugger from ALIEN was on my face and I couldn’t breathe. THAT got thrown away. I have a beard/mustasche so most masks won’t fit. I’ve gotten used to the nasal pillows but they shift a bit during the night and blow air into my eye which wakes me up.

Noise? Silent. The positive pressure pump makes no sound I can hear other than the airflow out the nasal pillows/mask until I put it on.

I’ve been using CPAP now for about six months straight and I STILL wake up like a zombie, have midday slumps (I’m retired, I can nap when I want to) but have more days where I’m awake 5 AM to midnight and get a lot of stuff done, and my BP is a little lower (but for some inexplicable reason goes UP every time I’m at the VA. Heh-heh).

Hope this helps.

I wrestled with mine for years until they green-lighted my sleep apnea surgery.
They reconstructed my nose and removed my uvula, adenoids and tonsils.
What a difference. I now sleep like a rock

Have upper airway (nasal) obstruction (allergies and deviated septum) as well as apnic episodes. Use nasal pillow. Have resmed 11 and portable S2 devices.

Best thing ever for rest and for my marriage. Can’t say enough positive about it.

THIS IS TRUE!

Good studies showing as little as a ten pound weight loss can affect airway patency/flow.

I’m about five pounds over my IBW but even when I was 20 lbs below that a few years back I STILL had OSA.

Sometimes weight isn’t a direct factor, but it can definitely help to lose a few pounds.

This might be unintentional and inevitable if the present WH regime steals the election next month…

Couldn’t survive without my CPAP. - actually use an Auto-Pap (APAP). Had severe obstructive sleep apnea... 72 episodes/ hr of disrupted sleep with oxygen levels falling into the lower 70s (normal is greater than 92%). FYI up to 20% of men and 12% of females have OSA, not always associated, but more frequent with obesity. If interested see: http://nasemso.org/wp-content/uploads/neuro-epworthsleepscale.pdf
Degrees of severity: Normal - less than 5 episodes / hr of abnormal breathing, Mild - 6-15 episodes/hr, Moderate - 16-30, and Severe - greater than 30.
In one study, patients with untreated sleep apnea of moderate degree had an 8 year mortality of 50%.
This is a MAJOR health issue and is so much more than just a snoring issue.
Various treatments are available and CPAP (APAP and BiPap) are the most common remedies, but for those who won’t / can’t tolerate that, other treatments can be implemented. See your physician if you are having any issues with fatigue, snoring, falling asleep easily, concentration issues, low testosterone issues (up to 50% of low T patients have low T and treating with Testosterone can make the sleep apnea worse !!!