MED Card Help!

I'm like you BK I believe if the machines help people live better, more power to em! Me, I'm a side sleeper, always have been, I would think those masks would be a pain using. Aside from team driving, it was hard to get a straight 2 hours sleep in the moving truck. Especially how some of my co drivers, drove, hit every pothole, or jerk the rig exiting etc. Most sleep was once we were parked for awhile. But I still am used to going on 4-6 hours of sleep most of my life. Plenty of time for sleep when I'm dead, I said lol.

I myself have always believed the CPAP makers and the Dr's were in cahoots making money. I've snored since I was a kid, my mom used to ask me "How the hell do you sleep, snoring so loud ?" She heard me from their room in the front of the house lol

I said "duhhh mom I'm alseep!" lol.......I have heard a recording once of my snoring. I sounded like an alien on rampage ! I was like dayyyum that's me??......Only 1 time at a company physical, the assistant nurse who takes your weight, height, BP etc, was going to measure my neck. I said eh hold on, you're wasting your time. I have an 18 inch neck, and have had it, since I was in high school! She never did measure it.

I've snored at every weight, 150-265, more so when I'm dead tired and go to bed. Also my necks been 18 inches as long as I remember. Once I began to buff out in high school, from smokin' weed, to drinkin' and weight lifting. I used to vertical press 1000 pounds with my legs in gym. I remember how much of a pain it was finding a dress shirt that fit my neck (most are 16.5 inches) not that I wore em much.@ 185 pounds I look anorexic, because I have a large frame body anyways. 215 is my ideal weight, and now I'm closer to that than the 265 I was from eating crap food.

The majority of prescribed CPAP users that FAIL treatment, usually do so for three reasons

1, they have an "old school" sleep Doc that is stuck on the "auto titration machines just chase mask leaks." That was true, with the original auto set machines of the early 00's. The algorithm in today's auto set machines is smart enough to understand the difference between a mask leak, someone with their mask off, machine running, to "fake" usage, as well as tell the difference between an apnea event, a hypopnoea event, and a RERA event.

2, they have lousy support from the Durable Medical equipment provider. Their respiratory therapist set the machine, "fit" you for the same mask used in your sleep study, and send you on your way.

3, they think "they don't need it." And they "feel worse with it than they ever did without." Untreated sleep apnea causes irreversible brain damage, speeds up the onset of dementia, and can tip someone into Alzheimer's. This is in addition to all the heart and weight related issues that are popping up due to lack of sleep. The thing is, you WILL feel like dead for about two to three weeks with treatment. Suddenly your body is getting correct sleep, going through the sleep phases at the right time, and is not approaching adrenal fatigue from the constant startling awake that happens with apnea.

Then, you have my first sleep provider. She wanted to throw Ambien at me. That didn't make sense, because why would I have gone through the sleep study and machine purchase, just to be drugged anyway.

One of my best friends now works in a sleep center. Her husband had been avoiding a sleep study for YEARS. HE FINALLY got tested. His AHI was above 20. This means, on average, his body was having a sleep event 20 times per hour. PER HOUR. That's once every three minutes. 5 events an hour (and under) is considered non affected (in a sleep study) or "controlled" with someone carrying an apnea diagnosis. Her husband almost failed in CPAP usage, because NOBODY told him what to do, if he gets into his own head, and is breathing against the machine instead of with the machine. Once that issue was solved, he won't even nap without the machine. He feels too cruddy.

With Apnea board, I have the program that I can read the SD data card. I can look at every breath I have taken while asleep going back 7.5 years. Every inhale, exhale, natural pause in breathing. All of it. After 7.5 years, my AHI is constantly below 1. Typically in the 0.6 area. I look younger in my 40s than I did in my 20s. I had no idea I was sleep deprived. My body never went into REM sleep. Ever. CPAP is life changing, but you have to understand the rough entry to treatment, and put your idiotic pride to the side and save your own life.

NaeNae, this explains my irreversible brain damage, dementia and Alzheimer’s. The cause has baffled my doctor for a long time. I am eager to tell him, unless I forget.

Sorry, but the CPAP didn’t work that way for me. What would have killed me was the lack of sleep actually caused by the machine itself. As I said, I’m very happy for those that experience benefits from the treatment, but it’s not a “one size fits all” treatment. Women commonly say not to tell them what to do with their bodies, usually in relation to abortion. Perhaps not the best comparison to make, but you or anyone else can’t know what effects the darn machine had on me; only I can know that. I actually enjoy most aspects of my irreversible brain damage, dementia and Alzheimer’s. I did not enjoy the CPAP at all.

3, they think "they don't need it." And they "feel worse with it than they ever did without." Untreated sleep apnea causes irreversible brain damage, speeds up the onset of dementia, and can tip someone into Alzheimer's. This is in addition to all the heart and weight related issues that are popping up due to lack of sleep. The thing is, you WILL feel like dead for about two to three weeks with treatment. Suddenly your body is getting correct sleep, going through the sleep phases at the right time, and is not approaching adrenal fatigue from the constant startling awake that happens with apnea.

It took me years to get used to it. For the first year or two, i hardly slept, was congested all the time and would wake up suffocating and coughing, and yanking the mask off. The provider claimed i needed to use the humidifier which made it worse. I wanted to melt Vicks and put it in the machine.. which would be bad. They told me to keep switching masks until I found the right one. Yeah right.

I complained on here, but was told I was wrong for feeling the way I did. One horrible, evil side effect for me was that i stopped dreaming. I have dreamed all of my life and for about 2 years, nothing. I felt like a part of me had died. Along with my dreams went my creativity. I had always written stories and poems... even a few novels. But once on the machine.. nothing.

Trucking allowed me to sleep when I needed and I felt really well rested until year 2 when i got the machine. I honestly don't know how i drove once i got the machine.

Now I am used to it and congestion has gone.. but I dont have that feeling some do of "i cant sleep without it". My dreams came back. But still not as frequent as before. I used to dream every single night and sometimes the stories continued from night to night like a soap opera.

I think it is crap that they only test overweight people when it is also hereditary, regardless of weight.

There was one study I read that the ability to remember dreams is directly affected by not being in a state of deep sleep. In other words, you can only remember dreams if you were partly conscious. This is of interest to me because I've had vivid dreams, both before and after starting the use of CPAP. My dreams are often very crazy while other times they relate to real life situations.

I'm 66 and first started the use of CPAP about 20 years ago but gave up as I didn't sleep well with the noisy machine and uncomfortable mask. The doctor told me that if I lost some weight and slept on my side that I wouldn't need CPAP as much. But I often woke up with headaches (because of oxygen deprivation) and decided I need to try again about 6-7 years ago. I was amazed at how much quieter the machines were and how much more comfortable the masks were. I slept very well during that particular sleep study and commented to the technician that I felt more rested than I had in a long time. I was eager to give CPAP a try again but went through several different masks before finding one that worked well for me. I paid for the Airsense 10 and masks out of pocket, not cheap. I had another sleep study about a year ago and had a terrible night sleeping. They tried to get me to go to sleep at 8pm which just wasn't going to work and kept interrupting me. Completely different experience. Further, they said I didn't have much apnea. Well, surprise, I had hardly slept! I decided to do my own at-home study to show my pulmonary nurse practitioner (not a true sleep study but just measuring oxygen saturation level through the night using this device) which showed I had numerous periods in the low 80s which is bad. She agreed that I needed to continue with CPAP and prescribed a new machine for me and I'm now using the Airsense 11. I've had both the terrible and great experiences and suggest not giving up if you have a bad experience but try different doctors, masks, etc. and look for advice on the Apnea Board forum.