Sleep Apnoea and CPAP

I was diagnosed with 14 an hour and told it was mild enough. But my snoring would wake the dead. I don't feel rested wearing the machine, or not wearing it, but my snoring is far far reduced/eliminated (so i'm told...) so I must persist and wear the shaggin thing. I hate it. Wearing it 5 years now. Often times it has the adverse affect of waking me during the night as when I move the tube can pull and slip the mask a little, creating a hissing etc.

Giving Away AirFit N20 Headgear (Small)

I was sent the wrong size replacement headgear for my Resmed AirSense.

ResMed AirFit N20 nasal CPAP headgear - Size: SMALL.

I tried it on once and discovered it wouldn't fit. Because all the other parts were fine (small nasal cushion, frame, short tube) they told me to keep it all and they'll send me just the new headgear later on.

So I have a spare headgear (see picture below) that I would like to give to the first person that privately messages me and who lives on the island of Ireland. I will pay for postage. Please note a few things:

1. It's size SMALL. On your current headgear, you may see the size printed in white text (S) on the blue strip on the very top. As I understand, if the size is not printed there, it's a medium. But I am open to correction on this.
2. I (impetuously) disposed of the packaging before noticing the size issue so it won't be in its original packaging when I send it.
3. I am only offering the neoprene headgear with the two magnetic clasps; no mask cushion, no frame that the cushion clips onto, and no small tube.

This is only my second time posting on Boards.ie so if I am breaking a rule, please let me know.

I presume people will be able to private message me. If not, reply to my post I guess.

There is a severe lack of knowledge or consistency of opinion in sleep apnoea consultants as far as I can see. I have been to, I think, a total of 5 with experiences ranging from good (sadly now retired) to poor, including (in one case) blatant money-grubbing.

However going back to Drumpot's post, 6 is low, at 6 I think it would be unusual for a machine to be even recommended, under 5 is considered 'not sleep apnoea'. I had an initial diagnosis of 29 (after being assured that I did not have sleep apnoea as I 'didn't look as though I did'. That was the consultant, the nurse independently said the same thing 'I can recognise people with sleep apnoea'. I was put on a machine but that was before internet linked machines and there really was not a lot of support or information, and I gave up on it. I started the process again more or less by chance some 10 years later (about 3 years ago) to be told that I had a reading of 47.

In the meantime (over the 10 years) I had issues with atrial fibrillation which intensified until I had an urgent cardiac procedure and since then it has been mostly ok. It is recognised that there is a connection between A.fib and sleep apnoea, but no-one has shown any interest in joining the dots on this.

The sleep apnoea is still a significant issue though, generally I am keeping them to between 3 and 15, averaging about 8. I have realised that the most important contribution to reducing the readings is lying on my side, if I turn onto my back the numbers go up very significantly. I am more comfortable on my back but I have mostly trained myself to lie on my side.

I wish I could find a consultant who actually has some in-depth knowledge on the topic and is willing to do more than talk platitudes, propose irrelevant and unnecessary (but remunerative) procedures, and take my money.

I had actually known I had sleep apnea for a number of years; I just didn’t do anything about it. My wife would tell me that I stopped breathing during the night and that she would lie awake counting the seconds until I started to breathe again. I thought I was sleeping through the night, so I never really gave it a lot of thought. But it badly affected my health, and as a result, I got diabetes and hypertension. A year ago, I went for a routine physical, and my doctor diagnosed me with sleep apnea and suggested using a Respironics dreamstation while sleeping. From that day until today, I have slept with a CPAP machine, and it really helped me reduce my breathing problem. It helped me a lot. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable with it. But after 2 to 3 days, I felt ok with it. Now I can’t sleep without a CPAP machine.

I think I rented mine (something like 110/mo) for over a year, and asked them about buying it and got it for 800eur or so.

It was with BOC gas (I was surprised too!)

Hi, Sorry to hear this; I got a better experience after using a CPAP machine. By using this, I improved my sleep and reduced hypertension and diabetes. This CPAP machine help me to cure my respiratory issues(https://www.cpapoutlet.ca/product/respironics-dreamstation-auto-with-humidifier-heated-tubing-and-cellular-modem-cax500t12c/3190), and I'm happy now.

I tried and failed.

well, that was not fun.

score of 38, but the really worrying part was oxygen sats down to 72% during the night. Doc said I absolutely had to go on cpap immediately.

Looks like some fun and games coming.

I've been wearing my machine for 6 years almost. Do I feel better? No. Honest answer, no. I only went to a doc about it because my then girlfriend, now wife, was driven demented by my snoring and didn't like listening to me choking and not breathing in my sleep. So I wear it because it stops the insane snoring. But honestly I don't feel more rested, but I'd like to think I'm less likely to die of a heart attack! Whenever my wife is away for the night I don't wear it, the freedom of not having a hose off your face is great!

Totally agree, I wake up exhausted. However I already have the associated heart issues so I know I need to wear it, I do know that it helps prevent the events and if I don't wear it my blood goes down significantly - as the other poster says, into the 70s (I have an oximeter that I have worn a couple of times without the machine, and its scary).

I also find that it did not give me the rested sleep or energy levels I was hoping for. I do feel slightly worse and more groggy in the mornings when I don't wear the mask, so it is having some mild benefit. But I wonder sometimes if there is more than just my sleep apnea going on.