Who are all of you?

[Dickman]

It is a word of comfort that most of us hoseheads are singles and have kitty as our friends to talk to.

[deltadave]

[Less Sleepy]

Well, seems to me that most of the pappers I've run into here are in very long-standing and happy marriages. That certainly is true of my situation, having been married to a wonderful man for 29 years and having a son who is the apple of my eye. Sorry if that isn't your situation, Dickman.

We did have a family cat for 17 years, but sadly, she contracted a particularly aggressive form of cancer and we had to put her down 18 months ago. She never showed any interest or concern about my BiPAP, maybe because she was around 15 years old by the time I got my machine, and had mostly retired from her duties as household pest-control specialist. I still miss the little fur-ball.

I have a BA in chemistry with minors in biology and education. For the last 11 months, I've worked as a lab assistant in the biology department of a local community college, focusing on biotechnology. I find the work absolutely fascinating and satisfying. I work on DNA analysis and protein electrophoresis, developing methods that will work well for student laboratories.

To repeat my story, I was diagnosed after I fell asleep at the wheel of my car, and took out 2 utility poles in a school zone, at 8:30 a.m. October 1, 2003.

I went in for my diagnostic sleep study October 28, which I learned is unusually quick. Having had an accident seems to build fires under people when it comes to sleep disorders. I slept only 93 minutes during that study, which showed an AHI of 38 with little stage III/IV and no REM observed. For anyone wondering how that can be accurate with so little time spent asleep and no REM, I know that the AHI of 38 is probably a serious underestimate of the severity of my sleep apnea, but it's really irrelevant. With an AHI of at least 38, and having already had an accident, my sleep apnea needs treatment.

My titration study was November 11 (I got on the cancellation list). Unfortunately, I only slept 93 minutes for that study also, and it showed an AHI of 48, and that was on CPAP. I cried when I got the report that said, "Failed titration due to patient's insomnia."

On December 5, I got a ResMed S-8 Lightweight, with passover humidifier, pressure set at 8 cm H2O, and a Nasal Aire II interface. I actually had no trouble adjusting to sleeping with the machine. Only problem was that after 4 weeks of using the machine, I still felt just as awful as before. The DME suggested to my family doctor that I try a data-recording AutoPAP. I was on this for 4 weeks, with the data down-loaded the day before my first appointment to see the sleep doctor. Based on that data, the sleep doctor increased my pressure to 14 cm. I also asked for and got a prescription for a heated humidifier, since I was congested and continuously sneezing since starting CPAP (the good folks here at TAS suggested the heated humidifier).

The heated humidifier brought an immediate end to the sneezing, and loratidine and Flonase ended the congestion. The increased pressure produced an REM rebound with delightful dreams. My sleep patterns by this time were a mess due to the sleep apnea, so I adhered rigidly to principles to good sleep hygiene, which did help to improve my patterns. I felt some better, but still sleepy, and the pressure was causing bloating. I still regularly woke up snoring. In February, the doctor increased my pressure to 16. This ended the snores, but it was difficult to exhale against so much pressure. At this point the doctor suggested that I schedule a Bi-PAP titration.

My Bi-PAP titration took place May 27, 2004. I did sleep for 204 minutes, or 3.4 hours. Still not long enough, but they did determine that at a pressure of 13/9, I no longer had O2 desats. I continued to have 13 events per hour at that pressure.

In mid-June, I received my VPAP III (ResMed's Bi-level) at 13/9, along with an UltraMirage FFM. This improved the problem with bloating. I continued to be sleepy, though. The DME let me try the software to download my data. That showed that the number of events I experienced using the FFM skyrocketed to as high as 38 (the level at which I was diagnosed)! With that information, I decided that the FFM was not my best interface. I went back to the NAII, and the number of events was in the range of 12 to 18, consistently. I took this information back to my sleep doctor. He increased my pressure to 17/13.

At the same time I received the new pressure in September of 2004, I received the Swift nasal pillow system, which had just come out. The new pressure brought my AHI down under 10 consistently, but now the machine seemed to not be coordinated with my breathing. When I would breath normally, the pressure would drop before I completed my inhale. After a frustrating time trying to get my DME to make the adjustments, I made contact with one of the posters to this board and learned to adjust those comfort settings myself. It took a few nights, but with my machine properly adjusted, I was unable to feel the change from the change in pressure from inhale to exhale and back. My AHI also dropped another few points to between 5 and 7. At this point, I'd been on PAP for one year.

What have been the benefits?
1. My blood pressure, which my doctor was about to put me on meds for, has returned to normal, with no meds.
2. I have more energy.
3. I am now a safe driver.
4. I am more even-tempered.
5. I enjoy life more.
6. My weight has stabilized.

It may take time, but it is well worth the effort to make treatment work. You also need to continually monitor your condition. I check my AHI every morning. If I were to see a big jump and stay up for 2 weeks or more, I'd go back to my sleep doctor, who would probably order a new titration, since it's been 4 years since my last one. Long as my AHI is under 8 and I feel good, I don't sweat it.

[Less Sleepy]

Like many others, I was saddened to learn of the death of Randy Pausch Friday. If you haven't yet watched his Last Lecture, I highly recommend it:
www.download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
If you have trouble getting onto his home page due to the heavy traffic it receives, try Googling Last Lecture or YouTube. His lecture on time management given at University of Virginia is, if anything, even better.

As Dr. Pausch said, we can choose to be a Tigger and have fun with life, or a sad-sack Eore. If he could choose to be a Tigger in the face of pancreatic cancer, sleep apnea should be easy. He also said that while we cannot control the hand we are dealt in life, we can choose how we play those cards.

I choose to play my hand with joy. No, I don't have as much energy as I wish I did. No, my body is NOT a perfect 10 (or even a 5, for that matter). Life is too short to be beating myself up about not being perfect, and I am much too busy having a blast!! We travel all over the USA in our motor home (well equipped for PAP). I hike a mile or three nearly every weekend. In May we took a 2.5-week trip to Guam where I discovered how wonderful snorkeling can be (what a GREAT way to get tennis elbow!!). We're already thinking about our next great adventure.

In my postings to this site, I hope I've encouraged others to live with OSA joyfully. You don't have to hate yourself for being overweight. You don't have to wait until you feel perfect or have lost those 50, 75, or even 100 pounds to get more active or before you deserve to have fun. Make love with your spouse NOW!! Hug your kids and grandkids NOW!! Whatever you love to do, DO IT NOW!! Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow!

[Hawper]

Well here I am

I'm 40 year old male been married for 19 years have one wonderful and big pain of a daughter that is 16 going on 27. I was dx with osa back in 2006. have had nothing but troubles with the cpap thing. Go in for a titration test on 8-14. HOPE THIS WORKS!!!! I need rest! I remember as far back as high school pushing myself up in the middle of the night to get air! I am origanally from Rochester MN have 2 sisters that work at the Mayo Clinic and now I live in the beautiful state of Colorado. If it weren't for the winters and summers the other two weeks of the year would be great to live in MN again!!

[Dickman]

Hawper,
Nice to hear that you lived in Rochester. Rochester was ranked #1 in the country as the best place to live by Money magazine in 1994! Even I am from the country of Mugambe (Capital Timbuktu) I lived in Minnesota for a number of years. Aside from 2 months of hard winter it is the most civilized part of North America. Quality of lifestyle is unmatched to any town in the US. These days I travel from New York to Los Angeles, Seattle to Miami, but I never find anything close to the quality of that part of the country.

Dickman

[Perplexed]

My family and I have been going to Mayo Clinic in Rochester for some 50 years. What a FANTASTIC medical facility and staff! And I fell in love w/Rochester on my very first visit as a youngster!

Frankly, I loved Rochester much more when Mayo Clinic was a big fish in a small pond so to speak. I miss the wonderful small town atmosphere that Rochester had for so many years. It is a shame that so many chains and outsiders are buying out the family owned businesses, restaurants and motels. I miss Colonial Inn Cafe and the excellent food, fair prices, flexible menu, diet substitution knowledgeable waitress Colonial always had. I miss the wonderful staff at what was the Centre Towne Inn and the reasonable prices. You can't find a reasonably priced good home style meal anywhere near the Clinic anymore.

[White Beard]

Perplexed oh I don't know about that, I just got back friday from up there and I had " home style meals" every day I was up there! Came back with 6 dozen fresh brown eggs too! Had a real nice time up there! Hope you are doing well Perplexed haven't seen many post from you lately.

[i'm here]

I've had OSA for 4 years and mask intolerance for most of that time till I figured out not focusing on the mask would solve it (dumb look on face!)...

I'm 48 and haven't worked since then because of OSA--just been too sleepy all the time and sleeping more than 8 hours a day so who could work with that going on.

No kids, lucky me since I have enough of a time taking care of just me...apnea has made it hard enough to get along (with it untreated for so long) and it would've been hard on any kids if I had them.

At first when I was diagnosed my doctor just said, "It's a breathing disorder that strikes at night" leaving me thinking it had nothing to do with sleep deprivation. Boy did THAT ignorance backfire because when my brain fog hit I had no idea where it was coming from for 3 whole years! Thanx a lot bad doctor ! I finally figured it out over time that sleep apnea is a sleep disorder and "sleep" being the keyword meant you're sleep deprived...what a relief to finally know what all that brain fog was about!

At first my apnea was in the severe range but I lost 100lbs so now it's only moderate. Lucky me or I'd have MORE brain fog than I do right now . Now I'm working on losing the rest of the weight (about 130lbs.). Unfortunately before I got the mask intolerance settled I gained 35lbs. due to the sleep deprivation making me hungry more often (I had an outrageous appetite! for about 6 months early this year), but now with the mask intolerance solved I can get back to losing rather than gaining (good riddance ).

That's it I guess. Bye all.

[Ramp Flow]

Hello everyone. My name is Ramp Flow, Iam 67 yrs. old divorced female from Michigan. I have 4 grown kids and 7 grand kids. I retired from the medical field as a Medical Assistant after my first heart attack in 1999. I have three stents, and a pacemaker.I was diagnosed with sleep apena in 2004 after my triple bypass heart surgery. I think if I had been diagnosed earlier I may have NOT had heart problems. I had septorhynoplasty for a deviated septum in 2005. I wasn't getting the full benefit of my C-Pap machine.
Today Iam doing great health wise, just had pacemaker replaced. The energizer bunny was going on strike. lol

[Eersfan4life]

Age: 36 years old
Sex: Male
Marital Status: Married
Children: One 17 month old son
Pets: One 7 year old yellow lab (who I swear to God is still a puppy)

Hardware: Respironics BiPap Plus with Bi-Flex, Mirage Swift II Pillow System, Respironics EverFlo Oxygen Concentrator, Resmed Chin Strap

Usage: Started using three weeks ago (8/13/0. I'm averaging about 6.5 hours of usage a night. I'm running 14/10 with the bi-flex dipping the first part of exhalation to 8.5, oxygen is 2 lpm. At first, I was using the ramp-up, but quit that about a week ago.

Issues: First few days I experience some heavy bloating. I am now sleeping in an elevated position, which has decreased bloating dramatically. I hate my chin strap, but am not giving up on it as it does help. I have had some sinus congestion recently, but I believe it is unrelated to the use of the machine. To be safe, I am being militant about cleaning the nasal pillows and water reservoir every night (tubing and filter once a week). The congestion ends up being one nostril or the other, so I can still use the machine. I can sense I am not getting enough air as I have felt sleepy during the day the last few days.

Results: More energy, better mood--heck, I'm even going to the gym at 5:15 am.

[Tex Mex Dad]

Hi! I'm Charlie, AKA Tex-Mex Dad. I am 34, married for 11 years and have 3 kids ages 10, 8, & 4(almost 5). I am a Native Texan who is living in SE Michigan.

I was dx'd w/ OSA in July of 2005 after a fatal 2 car accident (obviously I didn't die) in May of that year. I am on a Respironics Auto w/ c-flex and alternate between my ResMed Ultra Mirage FF and Mirage Quattro FF masks. I sleep w/ a titration setting of 15cm H2O. If you want to know anything else, feel free to ask!

[darlindeb]

Hi, my name is Deb. I live on Long Island New York, moved here almost 4 yrs ago from Michigan.

I went to my new neurologist to discuss my celiac disease and neuropathy. He walked in the room, took one look at me, and started asking these questions that made no sense to me, not in respect to my reason for being there. He was asking about my headaches, when are they gone, when are they the worst, when, when when. Then he asked me about my memory and I said, "My what????" When he looked in my mouth, he told me my mouth is too small and my breathing passages too small, to which I said, "CAN I GET THAT IN WRITING!!!" Then he told me I have sleep apnea and need to do a sleep study.

I never even thought of sleep apnea, even though 2 of my sons have it. Now, when I listen to the symptoms, I know I have had this for years, and years. I think I may have mild insomnia too.

This will be my 5th night with CPAP therapy. The headache is gone when I wake up, but comes back within an hour or 2. I'm still extremely tired, but am hoping this will be the answer to part of my problems.

[Blacklyst]

Hello I am Blacklyst, I am a 36 year old married Texan still living in Texas. I have twin daughters who are 3 years old now. I joined this forum because I am hoping to find some answers that will allow me to adjust, finally, to my CPAP mask and allow me to reap some of these benefits I was told about that haven't happened yet.

[Tex Mex Dad]