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If it hasn’t happened to you yet, there is a decent chance it soon will. The day when your spouse or partner says to you in the morning, “you hold your breath when you sleep”. Should that occur, there is a pretty good chance that you suffer from sleep apnea (SA). You would be in great company with these familiar folks; James Gandolfini, Regis Philbin, John Candy, Jerry Garcia, William Howard Taft, Reggie White, and Antonin Scalia to name a few. The difference is that you’ve not died from Sleep Apnea like they all did, yet.
October 8th marks my fifth year on a CPAP contraption. Use of the machine has not been without its challenges. In order for Medicare to continue paying for the therapy, I must use the machine for at least four hours each night, 70% of the time. In the beginning It took all my will and ironically many sleepless hours, when I would lay awake until hitting the four hour mark, then taking off the mask so I could get some sleep.
The silicone irritated my skin and the mask put pressure on my sinus. I broke one mask after tearing it off my head. As a last resort I switched to a mask with a memory foam seal. I could tolerate that pretty well, and eventually got my average usage to nearly eight hours per night. Still, I had issues with seal leakage, which would interrupt my sleep, and irritation, though improved, was still an issue.
Once again I began missing nights as a result, and finally decided to talk to a sleep doctor about a surgical solution. The problem was that I was still technically in compliance with minimum usage requirements, and the doctor couldn’t do the procedure.
I had been using a full face mask, one that covers my mouth and goes up to the bridge of my nose. The doctor suggested a different type of mask. Still considered full face, it covers my mouth, but only butts up to my nostrils. Well, that irritates my skin as well, but I found that alternating between the two types of masks gets me over the finish line.
As of today I’m at about 300 consecutive nights of six or more hours. I think that I should get a commemorative coin when I hit the one year mark.
My message is that you should stay positive if you start CPAP therapy. It is not easy, many of those who begin, don’t succeed. Some people actually love their CPAP, I am not one of them, still, I know I rest better, and I don’t want to end up like Tony Soprano, may he rest in peace.
The timeliness of this post is freaky. (I agree with the others that said nasal only mask is easy sailing). I have been using mine so long (probably 10 years), my machine is now giving me a message that it has reached the end of is useful life. That’s right folks! Technology obsolescence is everywhere! Now I’m trying to get a replacement sent as purchase NOT as rental so that I don’t get caught running into January insurance resets and paying the full shot for a few months. Between the dr, the cpap supplier, the cpap suppliers biller and the insurance company I have been sent in so many circles I’m dizzy. Machines run about $1000 so I will continue to battle! Best wishes to you in your journey.
Ps I store mine in the bottom drawer of my nightstand and get a 10 ft hose instead of 6. Having it so far below the bed cuts any noise WAY down.
I’ve been on a CPAP machine since 2012. After trying several masks I settled in on nasal pillows which fit directly under and in the nose. Haven’t missed a night in all of that time. I love my life too much to cut it short.
I do remember that it took more than a year to get comfortable with it. One of the benefits in my hearing loss is I’m not bothered by the noise:). My BMI was about 32 when I started and is now 28, but my doc says in my situation weight loss won’t help, but I’m still struggling the old fashion way to keep the weight off.
Hang tough, Dan. Your loved ones will thank you.
Thanks for this, Dan. Two of the gentlemen I love most in the world use CPAP machines. One has done it for some time but the other is a newbie trying to find the right mask, so the info here may help.
Linda, tell your newbie friend to hang in there. CPAP masks are expensive, and Medicare doesn’t give us a blank check to try new ones. I have found that masks and other supplies can be found with far better prices on Amazon.
Dan, hang in there – I have been using a CPAP for 12+ years and can’t imagine sleeping without it. Yes the full face mask was a struggle, tried various other masks but zeroed in on the Fischer & Paykel nasal pillow (Fisher & Paykel Brevida Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask) about 5 years back and this has been a game changer. I would in fact I used to travel with my ResMed 11 until recently when I got the ResMed mini (and no, Medicare doesn’t pay for the travel CPAP), the machine literally fits in my palm and with the bag, contraceptions and all fits in my backpack.
With ResMed, you get an app that (a) tells you exactly how long you slept (b) how many “events” you had and (c) how many times you took your mask off. The machine has a cell service and uploads this data to the cloud and my doctor has access to this.
i used to have the Philips resporonics until the foam causing illness scare but ResMed is a remarkably quiet (although the travel machine is a bit more noisier).
With the CPAP on, I get great sleep, log 8 hours consistently so I would say hang in there and don’t give up.
I’ve been on the machine for 13 months without missing a night, which surprised the heck out of me after hearing how many people give up on it so quickly. I don’t ever wake up with a headache any more. I use the less constricting nasal mask, which just sits under your nostrils, and have had good luck dealing with it. Yes, having to deal with the mask and hose can be clunky and takes getting used to, but, no, Mark, no jet pilot issues. LOL! In fact, the machine itself makes absolutely no noise at all.
Ted, I tried the nasal mask but then I breathed through my mouth, which caused serious dryness. I know there are straps and tape I could use, but that seems like a pain. Chrissy suggested I try duck tape over my mouth, but I think she has an ulterior motive.
You can use an open source app to review all your data if you want to do so.
Check out OSCAR, the Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
Dan, I feel for you. Trying to get a good night’s sleep with what sounds like a jet pilot’s oxygen mask strapped to your face must be awful.
I’ll admit I didn’t know much about this, so I went down a Google rabbit hole. It would seem about 60% of cases are linked to a BMI of 25 or higher, according to both the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study and a New England Journal of Medicine meta-analysis. I’m going to remind myself of this the next time I reach for the chocolate!
Apparently losing weight can cure or significantly ease symptoms. For everyone else, it’s just a really unlucky quirk of throat anatomy. No amount of salad is fixing that one. Whatever the cause, keep CPAPing… I’d be rather annoyed if you decide to stop breathing while dreaming of pink fluffy clouds and I didn’t get to read anymore of your articles.
Thanks for the pep talk, Mark. When my ex first mentioned my not breathing, my BMI was about 22, when I started therapy it was about 24. Today it’s 25.6. I’m only about seven pounds away from 24.7. I’ll soon get there, but sadly, my apnea won’t go away until the rest of me goes with it.
How does anyone track your use?
The machine has some sort of sd memory card that transmits the data. I have an app on my cellphone that tells me how long I used the machine last night, how many apnea events I had per hour, and air leakage from the mask. It also lists the data for 30 and 90 days, and 1 year periods. Big brother is tracking my sleep.
That’s pretty scary. I had a plan with for HP printer where I bought ink from them and they monitored printer use and were supposed automatically send cartridges at discount. One time they said they didn’t receive payment and they locked up my printer. Turns out the printer cartridge had a chip in it to allow them to do that. I was incensed. Called to complain and they told me if I bought a cartridge from a store printer would work. I canceled that service fast.
That’s crazy!
I hate that! And don’t you dare buy off-brand ink either!
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