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

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.

I had one like 2 years ago. My wife never made me leave the room when I snored, but she kicked me out of the room after 2 or 3 days with the machine. It wasn’t the machine itself, it was the mask.
 
My wife insisted to our doctor that I snore and probably have sleep apnea. I told the doc that she also snores like crazy. We did the three night thing like @Chad did. She had it. I didn’t. Lol. Same deal. She used it for a bit then returned it.
Between her on one side snoring and the dog on the floor on the other side it’s a wonder I get any sleep at all.
 
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 get very mild nosebleeds when I leave the generally moist and/or humid south & go to higher elevations in the west. The dry air also dries out my normally moist skin, sometimes to a point of peeling if I don’t use lotion & moisturizer on my skin & lips. I agree that there is a relationship.
 
I've been wondering if I have it.

Back in January one night as I was trying to fall asleep, as soon as I nodded off I'd snort so loudly that I'd wake myself up. Every time. i was thinking "son of a bitch, I can't get to sleep, what's going on here?"

Then, one of the times, as I was just dosing off but my mind was still semi-conscious, I noticed that my neck muscles were relaxing so much that it was closing off my wind-pipe and I couldn't breathe, that's why I was 'snorting' and waking myself back up.


I've also noticed I don't do it if I sleep on my side or stomach, only when on my back :shrug:
 
Well, that went well I suppose. Felt as though I never really got to sleep, which is typical when I sleep at a hotel or a guest bedroom. I guess they got good data, or some data, or something. Will find out more on the follow up. No jizzing, but I had paste on my hair in a dozen places from the electrodes, so there is that.
 
Another CPAP user and supporter here.

Thank you @GomezAddams for the detailed medical information. I've experienced many of those run-around and shady shit proceedures.

My sleep study was not just for snoring... my wife would wake me up often because I would do that stop-breathing-snort-wake-myself-up stuff which was keeping her awake, making me feel like a freight train ran me over, etc. My sleep study they stopped me half way into the night because I stopped breathing so many times in an hour, it was off the top of their scale and my Oxygen levels were in the low 80's. Almost IMMEDIATELY started feeling better once I got used to using it. I use a Phillips nasal pillow because I couldn't sleep with a full mask.

I feel so much better in the mornings and sleep so much more soundly without keeping my wife awake. It was ruining our marriage before not to mention bothering guests who would sleep across the hall and could hear me.

My insurance at the time paid for all the testing but made me buy the machine $800. Instead of paying the inflated pricing when I needed new hoses and masks, I'd buy "samples" from our local Medical supply for a fraction of the price. Now Amazon has most of the pieces I need to replenish. I stopped using the water add on because it just got gross and I had a harder time cleaning it. As long as there's moisture in the house, I'm fine, or in the driest part of winter we'll run a humidifier in the room.

I started asking about how often the machine needed to be upgraded to ensure it's working right... the Doc wanted to sell me a $3000 CPAP or rent one to me for a couple hundred a month. No thanks.

Called the insurance concierge and got switched to different doc where I was able to buy a $900 machine and 50/50 with the insurance. That was great, but the medical supply I got it from calls me every goddamned month trying to sell me filters and hoses and shit that I don't need to replace. I keep everything clean and replace the pads and filters from Amazon.

The combination of CPAP, diagnosing my thyroid issue, and finally addressing my ADD meds have regulated my body to actually feeling good and healthy every day, I'm finally able to curb much of my weight gain from the past several years (down 15 lbs from Christmas, prob 15 to go) and I'm productive at work and home.
 
...
I started asking about how often the machine needed to be upgraded to ensure it's working right... the Doc wanted to sell me a $3000 CPAP or rent one to me for a couple hundred a month. No thanks.
...

The generally accepted max lifetime of a machine is 20,000 hours on the blower, which equals about 7 years of 8 hours per night use. Most insurance companies will pay for a new machine every 5 years.
 
The generally accepted max lifetime of a machine is 20,000 hours on the blower, which equals about 7 years of 8 hours per night use. Most insurance companies will pay for a new machine every 5 years.

That's good to know... my old one was 5 or 6 years old when I started asking "How long before I need to worry about replacing this?"

I have slept without it a handful of times when I was so congested from cold or flu that it couldn't blow air in my nose anyways, and if it did it would just fill up my lungs with ick. Needless to say, I felt worse than sick the next days after barely sleeping.
 
I did change my diet and started exercising more.

I'm not saying people don't have sleep apnea, they do and it is real, but it's kinda like every kid who is a little hyper has ADHD. It's the lazy diagnosis doctors give instead of really getting to the real issue.



I'm with you 100% on this. Seems like they diagnose everyone. My wife told me to get tested or get stabbed. I asked her to give me a shot at losing some weight first. Lost the weight, lost the snore, sleep sound.

One thing I'll add is we tend to get our deep sleep earlier in the night, not earlier in the sleep cycle. In other words, if I sleep from midnight to 8am I don't get as much good, deep sleep as if I sleep 10pm to 6 am.

But yes, some people actually need the c-pap.
 
Haven't read the thread yet, but...

I just went through this. They should be able to provide you with a device that you take home for a sleep study... much easier than going somewhere for a sleep study.

I have a CPAP machine now and I fucking hate it, but as I get more used to it, I'm definitely sleeping better. You won't start to see effects of improved sleep for a few months, but if you talk to people, a common claim is "I feel like I have a new body". I'm hopeful. I'm definitely feeling better (when the fucking CPAP doesn't wake me up).

The absolute best thing about the CPAP is that you can pull the blankets entirely over your head and be 100% safe from monsters and boogie men... and breathe easily the entire night.
 
Haven't read the thread yet, but...

I just went through this. They should be able to provide you with a device that you take home for a sleep study... much easier than going somewhere for a sleep study.

I have a CPAP machine now and I fucking hate it, but as I get more used to it, I'm definitely sleeping better. You won't start to see effects of improved sleep for a few months, but if you talk to people, a common claim is "I feel like I have a new body". I'm hopeful. I'm definitely feeling better (when the fucking CPAP doesn't wake me up).

The absolute best thing about the CPAP is that you can pull the blankets entirely over your head and be 100% safe from monsters and boogie men... and breathe easily the entire night.

Strange, but my insurance covered the test 100% (not even a co-pay) if done at the sleep center, but would not pay for a home sleep test. So, everyone should check with their insurance before scheduling either version of the test.
 
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