Sleep Apnea CPAP Users

[Webby]

I suffer from Sleep Apnea and use a CPAP machine. Since switching to PVs, I've found I don't have the gray residue or need to clean the filters anywhere NEAR the way I used to.

While my respitory functions have eased in general (God FORBID I claim I feel healthier due to PVs...) I haven't noticed any other major differences and just wondered if there were any other CPAP users out there?

 

[phinneyk]

yes there are... my dad is one of em. ha ha ha srry had to get my 1 sarcasm in. no thats interesting that you feel better after using pv's. right on man

 

[cliff5550]

I use a BiPap (similar to CPAP) and I'm thinking of changing my nose inhaler because, more and more, I can smell the smoke breath on it from my analog days.

 

[stevo_tdo]

yes there are... my dad is one of em. ha ha ha srry had to get my 1 sarcasm in. no thats interesting that you feel better after using pv's. right on man

Yeah, My pops has one too...lol

 

[NY JETS]

Very cool to hear that Web, thanks for sharing. When I joined this board most of the posts were related to the positive effects people were feeling. Now it has become all ban-paranoia and negativity.

 

[sporkus]

I use CPAP as well and I have noticed my apnea has gotten better since I went off Analogs.

Good vaping

 

[Vaporista]

I clocked up 55,000 hours on an autopap three years ago, (over a 2-3 year period) until one day my eustaction tubes completely disfunctioned and I suffered substantial hearing loss accompanied by the most horrific tinnitus. These things are dangerous in long term therapy. They'll cause a condition called patulous eustation tube disorder and it's just awful.
suffice to say the damage is done and while the tinnitius has lessened to managable levels, the hearing hasn't returned. I'm convinced CPAP at high pressures caused this damage. Maybe one day it will be medically proven. I avoid these things like the plague.

 

[sporkus]

Was the damage caused from the noise of the machine? My unit is not that bad noise wise. I usually have headphones on listening to ambient sounds anyway.

 

[lobro1]

Hi-

I've been using a cpap for about 3 years (vaping for 2 mo.) and also noticed mask smells MUCH better. Also I sleep longer (uninterrupted 4 hrs. to 6 hrs.) , seems generally easier to breathe and quieter.

 

[Webby]

I clocked up 55,000 hours on an autopap three years ago, (over a 2-3 year period) until one day my eustaction tubes completely disfunctioned and I suffered substantial hearing loss accompanied by the most horrific tinnitus. These things are dangerous in long term therapy. They'll cause a condition called patulous eustation tube disorder and it's just awful.
suffice to say the damage is done and while the tinnitius has lessened to managable levels, the hearing hasn't returned. I'm convinced CPAP at high pressures caused this damage. Maybe one day it will be medically proven. I avoid these things like the plague.

WOW, Vaporista...

Good to know but I'm sure sorry to hear (no pun intended) about your problem.

I've had to bleach the begeebus out of my mask because the stench of smoke (from before) made it almost intollerable. I still wake up with it thrown across the room and wonder if I had it on for six hours or six minutes, but sleeping through the night is a Holy Grail I'm willing to work for, so I'll keep trying.

 

[shivadance]

I put my CPAP mask on for the first time just over 8 years ago and haven't slept without it since. I was severly sleep deprived so I guess my body just said, whatever that is, I LIKE it and other than finding the right mask, no issues. I LOVE the nasal masks like the Breeze.

Anywho, I noticed I sleep more soundly. Don't need to use my inhaler at night anymore. Oh yeah, I noticed no more gray residue on the nasal pieces as well. That was icky!

And although I still have some morning breath, it's not yesterday's smoke from the lungs morning breath when I take off my mask.

Keep working at it Webby, a full night's sleep is a beautiful thing and CAN be achieved!

 

[Keiyla]

My sleep/relaxed breathing has gotten thicker... not sure how else to put it... but I think that's because I've gained 15 pounds in the two months I haven't been smoking. Whoops. I didn't even notice. (My uvula gets thicker. It's almost like snoring, but not quite. Though I sleep alone so for all I know I could be snoring, rofl) I'm back in the gym 4 days a week and watching my diet more carefully, so I'll know more when I lose it again. =)

 

[dmohn28]

I was severly sleep deprived so I guess my body just said, whatever that is, I LIKE

I know what you mean. I have severe sleep apnea. Got to the point that I would fall asleep at red lights and stop signs a few blocks from my house. I could fall asleep while standing and working at my job.

The only time in the last two and a half years that I have slept without my bipap is when it died. That was the worst week I've had in the time that I've been using it.

I really hope that not smoking and losing some more weight will help my apnea. Then again, I don't know if I will ever feel comfortable NOT sleeping with a machine again. It's funny... When I first got it, I didn't think that I'd ever get used to sleeping WITH it.

 

[shivadance]

I'm with ya, dmohn. My chronic sleep deprivation lead to a personality change. I was this 'other' person I didn't know. I was riding the bus so I didn't have to worry about falling asleep at stop lights like you, but I was getting close to losing my job due to tardiness. I would wake up and sit up on the edge of the bed... and fall asleep sitting up. I'd go to the bathroom... and fall asleep on the toilet. Gah, it was not fun.

I'm totally used to it as well. The white noise of the blowing air and the hose draped over my side. It's almost comforting now. It has to be more effective without all the tar and crap in my lungs I would think. If I could just shed a few extra lbs myself I'd like to go in for another test and see if my pressure can at least get lowered. Good luck to you!

 

[dmohn28]

shivadance, I know exactly about falling asleep sitting up in bed. It used to scare the crap out of my wife. She'd wake up in the night and see someone sitting on the bed beside her. Like you, I really hope to at least get my pressures dropped. I get so tired of waking up with a painful gut full of air.

 

[RIAFlight25]

Wow,

I didnt realize there were so many apneacs out there!

When I worked in the operating room, I always used to wonder what all those patients checking out of the sleep lab in the morning were doing in there all night... I mean a sleep lab... really?

Until I met my ex... He had terrible apnea. I remember laying there listening to him stop breathing. I would count the seconds until I would hear that god aweful rumbling snore that csame with a new breath of freash air. If it got over 45 seconds between breaths, I would have to wake him.

I finally got him to go to a sleep center, and he came home with a shiny new CPAP machine. Of course I teased him to no end, telling him if he didnt watch it, I would kink his hose while he was sleeping...lol

8 years later and the dude cant go without the thing for one night. Amazing the difference it makes.

I tried it on one day and couldnt stand the feeling of positive air pressure blowing up my nose for more than two seconds.

Congrats to all you newly sleep wealthy people out there!

Safe travels!

 

[DaveDzRochNY]

... Of course I teased him to no end, telling him if he didnt watch it, I would kink his hose while he was sleeping...lol ...

Ha! I get the threat of somebody farting near the air intake whenever I
"misbehave"!

I find that sleep has become extremely intense and deep since I started
vaping in early June. I've also considered trying a few nights without the
CPAP (use the Breeze headgear Puritan Bennett Breeze Nasal System with Headgear - CPAPSupplyUSA.com
which, by the way, is a godsend for guys with facial hair).

Vaporista's post has struck a chord with me... "they" upped the pressure
to 16Cm last year (from 10) and, while I've become accustomed to it, I
feel it's excessive. I shall make an appointment and see if they'll bump it
down a couple notches.

 

[shivadance]

(use the Breeze headgear Puritan Bennett Breeze Nasal System with Headgear - CPAPSupplyUSA.com
which, by the way, is a godsend for guys with facial hair).

And for folks with higher pressures! I'm at 15 and all the leaks with a traditional mask about drove me crazy. I have a whole collection of masks I bought (b/c insurance buys one what, every year to two? I don't even both with insurance now) that I didn't like sitting in my closet. The Breeze was my 2nd mask and I should have never tried another.

 

[Webby]

Ha! I get the threat of somebody farting near the air intake whenever I
"misbehave"!

LOL! My wife made the same joke just the other night to me. Oh great...now I have sleep apnea AND I have to sleep with one eye open.

New question - how do you clean yours and do you use the water basin?

 

[DaveDzRochNY]

LOL! My wife made the same joke just the other night to me. Oh great...now I have sleep apnea AND I have to sleep with one eye open.

New question - how do you clean yours and do you use the water basin?

To be honest, I don't have a cleaning regimen. Except, I do scrub out the
humidifier reservoir because - again - I don't follow instructions and use
tap water instead of distilled.

However, I get new supplies every 6 months and change everything out:
hose, headgear (entire), air filter. So any flora/fauna growing do get
tossed regularly.

By the way... tell her farting is not very feminine!