Well I went to a sleep specialist today for the first time, and they think I might have the APNEA...

[bsman]

Years ago, I took a sleep study test at Stanford where they insisted I needed a CPAP. I questioned a fair number of people who had endured such tests, and EVERY SINGLE one I spoke to had the same result. I wonder if these sleep labs aren't just fancy sales floors for the machines. At any rate, I couldn't sleep at all during the study, due to the noises, discomfort, etc. of all the machines and wires, so I felt the test was unrepresentative of my actual experiences. In addition, the results on the graphs and charts I saw didn't correspond to what I (and my wife) had observed over the course of about 35 years of sleeping together.

At any rate, I never did get the machine, but lost about 30 pounds, which (at least according to my wife) successfully eliminated the noise I had been making previously. I have to say that I'm still skeptical about basing a recommendation for an expensive and inconvenient therapy based on one night's experience in an uncomfortable, annoying sleep lab. I would credit more validity to the 'test' if it: 1) was conducted at home, where I'm more comfortable, and 2) was conducted over a few nights (to allow adaptation to the constraints of the test equipment) rather than a one-off.

However, all that said, I do know at least one person who swears by his CPAP machine. That shit just ain't me, however.

 

[GomezAddams]

I use a CPAP. I was the second worst they tested and showed me on the video and computer what was happening. Literally, the morning after the test I felt absolutely rejuvenated. I usually woke up feeling as tired as I did when I went to bed. Could fall asleep anywhere at any time in any position. Since being on the CPAP I haven't napped during the day since and that's been about 7 years.

WARNING: 5 years before I got diagnosed I did a sleep test and they said I didn't have a problem. This was a very well known hospital I was referred to. Later my wife continued to be concerned because she knew I stopped breathing in my sleep for long periods and she began to freak so she insisted I be tested again and not in the same place.

If they put you on the machine it's going have a water tank etc., etc. I thought the heated water thing was nasty and hated the way it felt so I stopped putting water in the tank and turned the heater off and that's the way I've rolled for 5 years.

I quit using my humidifier for a few years as well. I now get nosebleeds which is something I never had before. I don't know if the two are related, but my theory is that the continuous dry air shrunk my nasal membranes letting a small vein get too close to the surface. Again, pure conjecture. It may very well be unrelated.

 

[bsman]

Again, pure conjecture. It may very well be unrelated.

Could be!

 

[Chad]

Years ago, I took a sleep study test at Stanford where they insisted I needed a CPAP. I questioned a fair number of people who had endured such tests, and EVERY SINGLE one I spoke to had the same result. I wonder if these sleep labs aren't just fancy sales floors for the machines. At any rate, I couldn't sleep at all during the study, due to the noises, discomfort, etc. of all the machines and wires, so I felt the test was unrepresentative of my actual experiences. In addition, the results on the graphs and charts I saw didn't correspond to what I (and my wife) had observed over the course of about 35 years of sleeping together.

At any rate, I never did get the machine, but lost about 30 pounds, which (at least according to my wife) successfully eliminated the noise I had been making previously. I have to say that I'm still skeptical about basing a recommendation for an expensive and inconvenient therapy based on one night's experience in an uncomfortable, annoying sleep lab. I would credit more validity to the 'test' if it: 1) was conducted at home, where I'm more comfortable, and 2) was conducted over a few nights (to allow adaptation to the constraints of the test equipment) rather than a one-off.

However, all that said, I do know at least one person who swears by his CPAP machine. That shit just ain't me, however.

I'm not sure how long ago you did that, but I did mine a couple of years ago. They gave me a device to take home and I used it for 3 nights at home and that is how they diagnosed me. Now how much of me not sleeping well was due to the thing I had to hook up to myself, I don't know. I will say that after about 3 weeks of using the CPAP, I felt better than I had in years, but a few more weeks and I felt better than I did before I started using it but not enough to keep using it and paying for it out of my pocket. I think the exercising and weight loss helped me more than the CPAP, in addition to feeling better, my cholesterol dropped to the lowest it's ever been.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I'm not sure how long ago you did that, but I did mine a couple of years ago. They gave me a device to take home and I used it for 3 nights at home and that is how they diagnosed me. Now how much of me not sleeping well was due to the thing I had to hook up to myself, I don't know. I will say that after about 3 weeks of using the CPAP, I felt better than I had in years, but a few more weeks and I felt better than I did before I started using it but not enough to keep using it and paying for it out of my pocket. I think the exercising and weight loss helped me more than the CPAP, in addition to feeling better, my cholesterol dropped to the lowest it's ever been.

Those are always good steps. My septum is a bit deviated, (don’t want to do surgery) and I can get allergies and clogged up. So I am a mouth breather at least part of the time. Not all the time. Using my Neti pot and keeping the sinuses open seems to help me. Also, it is not all the time that I feel like there is an issue. But sometimes, I wake and feel like I was not breathing. So, . . . Probably I need to get that checked out. Not sure I am going straight to a sleep study though. Also, I can lose some winter weight and improve diet and exercise also. Getting lots of skiing in, but that is not cardio. More a strength/agility/core sport.

 

[335clone]

Yeah, I think my weight is a major factor, and I'm hoping that if I lose some this issue will clear itself up. I'm 100% certain they will tell me I have to wear the mask or die, and I do believe it is in their financial interest to tell me this.

 

[GomezAddams]

I'm not recommending that any of you do this, because that would be giving medical advice, but a family member did it, and I thought I'd pass it along.

Said family member thought they might have apnea. Two sleep studies were inconclusive (mainly because family member couldn't sleep wired up in a strange place). So, family member bought a used CPAP machine off craigslist, set the pressures to 6 - 12, and used OSCAR to look at the results. Months of OSCAR reports confirmed that she was having almost no apneic episodes, and the CPAP machine never advanced from 6 cmH2O. She turned around and donated the CPAP machine to St Vincent.

 

[DinoMikeSr]

I quit using my humidifier for a few years as well. I now get nosebleeds which is something I never had before. I don't know if the two are related, but my theory is that the continuous dry air shrunk my nasal membranes letting a small vein get too close to the surface. Again, pure conjecture. It may very well be unrelated.

I haven't had that issue so far. I'm live on Virginia's East Coast so it humid most of the time. I lived in Wyoming and South Dakota for 10 years and that was very dry and I could see there being a big difference if I were still in that climate.

 

[Devil is Dill]

Sleep studies have creeped me out since I saw Dreamscape as a kid.

 

[DinoMikeSr]

I'm not recommending that any of you do this, because that would be giving medical advice, but a family member did it, and I thought I'd pass it along.

Said family member thought they might have apnea. Two sleep studies were inconclusive (mainly because family member couldn't sleep wired up in a strange place). So, family member bought a used CPAP machine off craigslist, set the pressures to 6 - 12, and used OSCAR to look at the results. Months of OSCAR reports confirmed that she was having almost no apneic episodes, and the CPAP machine never advanced from 6 cmH2O. She turned around and donated the CPAP machine to St Vincent.

You can get them on Amazon too. I buy a lot of my supplies from Amazon for my machine. Also, Youtube gave me information on how to adjust the pressures.

 

[GomezAddams]

You can get them on Amazon too. I buy a lot of my supplies from Amazon for my machine. Also, Youtube gave me information on how to adjust the pressures.

Vendors pop up selling CPAP machines on Amazon now and again, but Amazon shuts them down when it finds them.

It used to be easy to by complete masks on Amazon, but here lately, I've had to buy the individual parts and put them together.

cpap.com has good prices on machines and masks, but they require a prescription.

 

[DdBob]

They want me to come back to do a "sleep study" where I am there overnight with wires on my dick or something. To see if I have APNEA.

Maybe this is why I feel like shit all of the time? I mean literally all of the time I feel like a bag of wet diapers.

it's a well known fact that they can just hook the wires to your ear lobes but most of the doctors and nurses are freaks so they just take the opportunity to hook them to your dick....knowledge is power! Tell them ":No I will not be part of your sick game"...stay strong!

 

[DinoMikeSr]

it's a well known fact that they can just hook the wires to your ear lobes but most of the doctors and nurses are freaks so they just take the opportunity to hook them to your dick....knowledge is power! Tell them ":No I will not be part of your sick game"...stay strong!

Wait a minute! They can just hook it up to your dick? They don't have to insert a 3 inch probe up in it to connect the wire too!?

 

[Chicken Man]

I felt like I had x-ray vision the first day after using a CPAP machine. Hadn't slept that well in 20+ years. Would recommend.

 

[Tralfaz]

Wait a minute! They can just hook it up to your dick?

That's how they get the warm water for the humidifier.

 

[OGG]

I have been told that my snoring sounds like the apocalypse is happening in the back of my throat. Like I'm choking to death. I probably will need a PAP smear machine as well. What a pain in the ass.

Um... wrong orifice, but... MOJO?!

 

[335clone]

How much noise do the newer machines make? The wife is a light sleeper, and I'm hoping not to just be trading human noise for machine noise.

 

[GomezAddams]

How much noise do the newer machines make? The wife is a light sleeper, and I'm hoping not to just be trading human noise for machine noise.

The machines are pretty much whisper quiet. Masks, on the other hand, have an exhaust vent that can vary wildly on the amount of noise it makes. You can put the machine on the floor, well away from the SO. The mask is on your face, so potentially right up against SO's head.

 

[Flatspotter]

I have been told that my snoring sounds like the apocalypse is happening in the back of my throat. Like I'm choking to death. I probably will need a PAP smear machine as well. What a pain in the ass.

Yo mama so fat when she went to the doctor to get a pap smear, he used a storm window!

 

[dodgechargerfan]

Nomask[dot]com looks like an interesting solution to the whole not-wearing-a-mask issue.