Anyone sleep with CPAP therapy?

-

dibbons

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 6, 2009
Messages
5,692
Reaction score
3,755
Location
La Paz, B.C.S., Mexico
Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is a pump you wear at night that makes up for the short periods one may stop breathing during sleep. I know four men that have had an evaluation/test and all four were diagnosed with "sleep apnea" which is the condition the CPAP is meant to address.

I do find it suspicious that of the people I know who were tested, 100% of them (four of four) were found to have sleep apnea which would predicate the acquisition of the CPAP device. Although I don't deny that many of us stop breathing for moments at night while asleep, I believe that this entire testing fad and marketing of the CPAP has been overblown and in many/most cases we just sleep this way for some reason undetermined by science for now. I was one of the four diagnosed with "sleep apnea".

I did not buy into the idea that the CPAP was for me (and besides not being convinced in the first place, in my case the CPAP mask caused unbearable jaw pain).
 
I haven't met anyone who did the test, who didn't get diagnosed with sleep apnea. I find that odd also. I could be diagnosed probably, but my main issue is dust at my workplace. My girlfriend said I turned into a freight train after I started working at my job.
 
My ex used one for about eight years. She recently had an operation to roto-route her nasal passages. She was re-tested and they told her she didn't need the CPAP. She probably never did need it and it never did seem to help her.
 
i wear the nazal strips helps me breath a lot better at night
I had s.a. bad. I also did the mask thing, and literally hated it, wore it for about 3 nights, and couldn`t go all night on it--miserable piece of crap! Had the operation, they took everything out that can be taken out, (READ-***** OF AN OPERATION) the throat part busted open 1 week after doing it, I almost bled to death on the way back to the hospital. Lost all kinds of weight, couldn`t even drink water for a week or so, much longer on any kind of food. Sure helped in the long run !
 
I had s.a. bad. I also did the mask thing, and literally hated it, wore it for about 3 nights, and couldn`t go all night on it--miserable piece of crap! Had the operation, they took everything out that can be taken out, (READ-***** OF AN OPERATION) the throat part busted open 1 week after doing it, I almost bled to death on the way back to the hospital. Lost all kinds of weight, couldn`t even drink water for a week or so, much longer on any kind of food. Sure helped in the long run !
Also had a distant relative that had it done, he got on a plane and went to Ohio the next day ! Wasn`t near as bad as mine, don`t think they removed as much on him.
 
Girlfriend wears one , used to have just a device in the mouth(like dendure prothese)to keep mouth open and ease breathing , the effect of tht wore off so now she has cpap and I agree If you have health insurance they want to tap into the well . Must say it helps my sleep alot because when she forgets it or just rips it off in her sleep , the snoring starts (freight train)!
 
I have been diagnosed with s/a and slept with the machine on the 11 well it helped a lot but I agree everyone gets diagnosed if they are tested but blame it on the federal gov DOT. I am a DOT regulated driver so I have todo it.
 
I do and I can tell a big difference from when I wear it from when I don't. Before I got tested I was falling asleep driving home from work. Then when I got home all I wanted to do was lay on the coutch and sleep. I went I had the test done. I don't see how anybody could sleep with all the leads and crap that's all hooked up to you. Well my test results said I stoped breathing 30-40 times a hour. Also during that time my Blood oxygen levels dropped below 60 percent. I have been useing one for 3 years now
 
I do and I can tell a big difference from when I wear it from when I don't. Before I got tested I was falling asleep driving home from work. Then when I got home all I wanted to do was lay on the coutch and sleep. I went I had the test done. I don't see how anybody could sleep with all the leads and crap that's all hooked up to you. Well my test results said I stoped breathing 30-40 times a hour. Also during that time my Blood oxygen levels dropped below 60 percent. I have been useing one for 3 years now
Been diagnosed recently. Very interesting. They say theres a tiny nose unit out now.
Instead of facemask. If it helps ,gives you back energy etc. thats good to hear.
 
The earth is flat....anti-depressants help every person with mental health issues.....Slowpars make the best motors...LS motors suck...
Believe what you want to...
Had sleep study done. After I dozed off they monitored me for 30 minutes. 59 apneas...which means I stopped breathing 59 times in 30 minutes. Really good for the heart. As someone who deals with a crap load of chronic pain I can also tell you that this also results in very poor sleep...which just makes the aches and pains worse. And let's not forget that some folks, like my wife, who have sleep apnea snore...loudly....constantly. Wasn't for her CPAP machin I would be sleeping out in the garage...which i did not to long ago when we had a power failure.
Have spoken with more than one person who was told they need a CPAP. And used every excuse they could to avoid using it. Just like anything else it takes time to adjust. Your mask was uncomfortable? So we're the first 4 I tried. I found one that fit...and don't find it the least bit uncomfortable.
When I first started using it I struggled with it....alot. Seen my doctor multiple times getting the pressure adjusted. Seen my equipment supplier multiple times, for the problem with the masks. Now I can't imagine not using it.
Dennis, a friends husband, passed away July 2015. Cause of death....heart attack...bought on by sleep apnea. Dennis stored very loudly. To the point that he slept in a bedroom in the basement while his wife slept upstairs.
So you say CPAP is a scam. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Global warming, Russia, big brother...believe what you chose to believe...
 
I told my general doctor that I was often tired in the morning, so his first test was for me to wear a finger device that measures oxygen levels in the blood. This was "prescribed" and I was given this device to wear overnight and it continuously measured oxygen levels. The device did show that during the night my levels got down to 83 - which is a problem. I was waking up every morning at about 4:00 a.m. My nose has always had some blockage, and I am a mouth breather.

So the next step was to have that sleepover at the lab: all hooked up. This is an expensive procedure and insurance companies don't want to pay for it, but mine did. My S.A. doctor said that even plain snoring is a sleep disorder.

Anyway, a CPAP machine and mask was prescribed and I use it every night. The mask was hard to get used to at first (which is pretty common). I now sleep through the whole night. I swear by it, not at it.
 
When you go for a S/A test and they tell you to sleep on your back and you don't sleep on your back. TELL THEM NO! It will definitely muddy the results.

Another thing I found is most insurances pay half for equipment. You can go to any Cpap website and buy one for less then your insurance co-pay.
 
Well, it seems so darn unnatural a treatment. I kinda would think that whatever "being" created all of us could have figured out how to rest our bodies at night without a damn machine hooked up to us. I wonder how many other mammals (i.e. dogs) stop breathing while snoozing? I still say it's a scam to sell everyone a CPAP device. If trying to sleep without a machine ramming air down my throat kills me (or makes me drowsy daytime) then so be it.

Of the three of us guys who were out chasing girls in our twenties together and diagnosed with sleep apnea and now in our 60's, the first (and only one) to pass away (last year) was the only one of us who used the CPAP religiously. And I'm not saying the CPAP was the cause.

Then you have the case of the man who adopted me, also diagnosed with sleep apnea but did not use his device. Lived to be 86 years old (longer than average life expectancy). He began smoking non-filter cigarettes in 1930 (at the age of 10), never exercised, ate all the greasy meat and potatoes he wanted.
 
Well, it seems so darn unnatural a treatment. I kinda would think that whatever "being" created all of us could have figured out how to rest our bodies at night without a damn machine hooked up to us. I wonder how many other mammals (i.e. dogs) stop breathing while snoozing? I still say it's a scam to sell everyone a CPAP device. If trying to sleep without a machine ramming air down my throat kills me (or makes me drowsy daytime) then so be it.

Of the three of us guys who were out chasing girls in our twenties together and diagnosed with sleep apnea and now in our 60's, the first (and only one) to pass away (last year) was the only one of us who used the CPAP religiously. And I'm not saying the CPAP was the cause.

Then you have the case of the man who adopted me, also diagnosed with sleep apnea but did not use his device. Lived to be 86 years old (longer than average life expectancy). He began smoking non-filter cigarettes in 1930 (at the age of 10), never exercised, ate all the greasy meat and potatoes he wanted.
Apples to oranges comparison. Not everyone responds to things the same. We all know folks who smoke, and have done so for their entire life, who never developed lung cancer. Family across the street growing up were Irish. Mr. Curtin was first generation from Ireland. His dad still lived there. Grandpa came to the states to visit his great-grandchildren. Grandpa was mid90'so when I met him. Smoked three cigars daily for 60 years. His diet was the Irish 7 course meal...a 6 pack and a baked potato. Stayed up drinking til 4a.m. daily. Passed away at 105 of natural causes. His grandson Mike also had lived on the Irish 7 course meal...at 33 Mike's liver failed. Somehow he got a transplant...on the way home from the hospital he stopped to "celebrate"....as he put it to break this puppy in. He also smoked...by age 36 he was in an urn...lung cancer..
I am sensitive to the sun. Have had several areas surgically removed, several others frozen. My sister used to spend every available minute in the sun. With baby oil slathered on. She moved to AZ and continued to do so. Absolutely 0 skin cancer....
Wifes family is gigantic. Of the 150+ females there has been 2 instances of breast cancer...Ernie being one of them...
Have spoken to very few folks that feel the way you do about CPAP. Most folks that need one struggle in the beginning. I know I did. This is why Medicare has a 30 day compliance period. If I remember correctly they only wanted to see something like 4 hours of use 5 nights a week by the end of the compliance period.
I am a very light sleeper. Thanks to being bi-polar my brain often ramps up at night. I dreaded going for the sleep study. Once I got wired up and plugged in I told the tech there was no way I was going to nod off..this was around 11. By midnight he woke me up, telling me of all the Aeneas. Gave me a nasal mask...he came in at 7:30 to wake me up...even all wired up that was the best nights sleep I had in a very long time...
 
Well, it seems so darn unnatural a treatment. I kinda would think that whatever "being" created all of us could have figured out how to rest our bodies at night without a damn machine hooked up to us. I wonder how many other mammals (i.e. dogs) stop breathing while snoozing? I still say it's a scam to sell everyone a CPAP device. If trying to sleep without a machine ramming air down my throat kills me (or makes me drowsy daytime) then so be it.

Unfortunately we weren't meant to carry all the extra weight a lot of us carry. I'm sure that contributes quite a bit to the health issues folks develop as they age, S/A being one of them.
 
Just one more quick question:

Is there a forum member who has had the overnight sleep apnea evaluation and was told he/she did NOT have sleep apnea? Thank you.
 
Mine just goes around your nose. It took me a little while to get used to it. I don't know if they are related. But I have had more sinuses infections this year, than I have had the last 2 to 3 years combined. I have had my machine sense 2013
 
Just one more quick question:

Is there a forum member who has had the overnight sleep apnea evaluation and was told he/she did NOT have sleep apnea? Thank you.

My wife did. Had the test. Negative on sleep apnea
 
Last edited:
Is there a forum member who has had the overnight sleep apnea evaluation and was told he/she did NOT have sleep apnea? Thank you.

Yep
 
I use one!
In fact, I'm past a CPAP and use a BiPAP. 19cm.
I don't mind telling you it has made a huge difference in my life too.
As for whether I need it or not, the VA did the study and signed off on the BiPAP.
The VA is a bunch of tight wad ****'s, so if I didn't need it, I wouldn't have got it.
I had trouble the 1st few nights, but once I got used to it, it was all good.
In fact, if I don't have it, I don't sleep.
 
Unfortunately we weren't meant to carry all the extra weight a lot of us carry. I'm sure that contributes quite a bit to the health issues folks develop as they age, S/A being one of them.

This is correct. Being overweight is one of the contributors to sleep apnea.
 
-
Back
Top