I have had suspicions about OSA for several years. All the symptoms added up, the snorong,  exhaustion, headaches, high BP, weight gains. The final straw was when I started awakening fully, finding myself sitting on the edge of the bed with a pounding headache. I participated in a sleep study in West Virgina three years ago, and was told I did not have apnea. I then struggled for the last few years, using various sleep medications, extra caffeine during the day. I was miserable. I moved to Kansas and found a wonderful primary physician. After I related all of my difficulties, he immediately referred me to a Wichita sleep center. Feb. 22, 2008 I had a sleep study. The atmosphere there was a major change from the West Virginia study. The room resembled a nice hotel, with a very comfortable bed. I had no trouble falling asleep. The staff awakened me at 1:30AM and said my apnea was so severe that they had to intervene. They fitted a mask, and I was able to get back to sleep. I was awakened at 5:30AM and was told the CPAP worked wonders. I went on to work and had the most amazing productive day!
 I had 118 apnea events each hour!! My Oxy level dropped below 65% at times, and was under 90% 2/3 of the recording time. With CPAP at 14cm, only 1.4 events each hour with oxygen levels remaining at 90% or higher.
 The sleep center agreed to let me see the RT only three days later. I was introduced to a Respironics REMstar Plus with C-Flexand ComfortSelect mask. So only ten days from my primary physicians referral, I was heading home with CPAP and mask!
 I must be one of the few lucky souls who have little trouble adapting. I don't use the ramp feature, and actually find the full blast refreshing. I have been 100% compliant from day one, and have noticed a MAJOR difference in my sleep quality and my life in general! I have not needed a weekend nap since starting therapy! My family noticed a difference immediately, commenting on the new "energetic" Dad. I am so relieved that I may be lucky enough to see my little ones grow up. I am 47, and started a family late. I have three kids, a daughter, 13, and two boys who are 7 and 5.
 I had a follow up visit with my sleep doctor two weeks ago. He downloaded my card, and was pleased to see how compliant I was.

 My next challenge will be camping. I am reluctant to spend the $400 dollars for the Respironics battery pack. I looking into the option of a properly fused deep cycle battery for the overnight camping trips.

add me to the success story page
i was one of the uber-lucky ones, went to sleep straight away with the full face mask on, noticed the difference after my 1st 7.5 hours of proper sleep. it's taken me a week to find the most comfortable way to wear the mask.

i've gone from 10 hours a night 'sleep' then being unable to stay awake for more than 2 hours
to having 7 hours sleep and staying awake for the rest of the day.

I just had my 30th birthday party and woke up at 8am that morning, ran around getting things ready all day - and went to bed at 4am the next day.

unheard of for me only just one week ago.

i cry a fair bit though now thinking of the past few years i've wasted
my partner is happy to not be living with a zombie, but is now having troubles sleeping herself as she is unnerved by no noise or movement coming from my side of the bed

I've been lurking here quite a bit and getting a lot of great info. Thank you all so much!

I've snored all my life.  My spouse started noticing that I would stop breathing in my sleep, and I thought it wasn't a big thing... after all, I always started again, right?   I would also sweat at night and have to remake my bed every morning due to the tossing and turning.

Almost a decade ago, I started waking up in the middle of the night choking on my own stomach acid.  My doctor prescribed antacids, then stronger and stronger medications such as Losec and Nexium.  I had no heartburn, but after about two hours of sleep, I would wake up with this horrible event.  The doctor said I had GERD and to just keep taking the Nexium.  I bought an adjustable bed to raise my head, and I could not eat anything within four hours of going to sleep.  If I wanted to go to sleep sooner, I could set an alarm to wake me up once per hour until the four hours had passed.  Sometimes I would ignore the alarm though or shut it off without fully waking up, so that was a tactic only to be used in desperation.  

After looking on GERD forums, I realized that I had none of the other symptoms that the GERD patients did.  I started searching around and found one site that said GERD could be caused by sleep apnea.  Hmm, so that's why I would "hold my breath" for a few seconds while I was asleep.  

I told my doctor that I wanted to be tested for sleep apnea.  She referred me to a specialist.  He agreed that my acid inhalation could be caused by GERD causing a pressure differential.  He told me I could wait for the gov't program (Canada) that might take two years to test me, or I could pay $75 to get a take-home test from a local company.  I was desperate to stop the horrifying acid episodes, so I did. The test results were frightening, and confirmed my self-diagnosis.

I managed to wear the test equipment for six hours.  During the first hour and a half, I was experiencing two apnea events every minute that would last up to 15 seconds.  So 120 per hour.  My blood oxygen levels dropped to about 90%.  When I went into deeper sleep, my oxygen levels bounced between 30% and 50% for an hour!  I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen the graph myself!  No wonder I was waking up with my body screaming for air!

I paid to rent a test machine from the company to determine my pressure levels and to see if I could tolerate CPAP.  It was a Respironics M series APAP with humidifier, and a ComfortGel nose mask.  When I tried it on in the office and the therapist had me sit back in a recliner and relax while he tested the fit and pressure, he left the room for five minutes and I fell asleep!

The first two nights were amazing.  I woke up before the alarm and felt awake!   I got up and made our lunches for work.  I realized what the "brain fog" was that everyone was referring to.  Previously, I was always thinking about sleep.  Could I nap after work, before I ate?  When could I eat and still get to sleep early?  How much longer until I can sleep?  Can I take a nap in my car at lunchtime at work?  The biggest event on my weekend planner was extra sleep.

The next few nights I wasn't as totally exhausted, and so ended up noticing the mask more than I had before.  When I felt a bit claustrophobic I would just lie on my back and breathe slowly.   I wore the mask all night for the first week, and slept a bit under seven hours a night.  

To my dismay, I was feeling tired again.  I checked the forums and saw that many other people had the same experience.  The brain fog was gone, but now the sleep debt had to be paid back!  It was still so amazingly good to just feel tired and not feel DEAD tired.  

I realized by Tuesday that I could not spend another night's sleep without a CPAP machine.  I called my doctor and begged him to send me my prescription so I could buy a CPAP of my own before I had to return the rental.  He agreed, but of course I'll be following up with him and the results of the week's data will be given to him.  

So I've purchased a Respironics APAP with humidifier and the comfortgel nose mask.  I don't even know right now if it will be covered by my work insurance, but I consider it to be a more important purchase than a car or anything else right now.  It's saving my life and giving me my waking life back, and that has to be my priority.

My AHI on APAP was 3.5.  So nice.

After a Week and a half of Cpap Therapy, I think there is enough consistently positive results to believe that CPap has been a successful therapy for me.

These past 10 days have resulted in consistently good sleep that has helped me to function well throughout the day. No longer am I sleep deprived, or wake up in the middle of the night feeling horribly sick or scared that I may die of a heart attack or a stroke. With my Full-Data capable APAP machine, I can be confident that my nightly AHI is low (<5) and therefore, my body is receiving restorative rest and sleep.

I recommend everyone who has problems sleeping to get a Sleep Test done. And if it is confirmed that you have Sleep Apnea, please get yourself a Data Capable CPap machine if it is possible.

For me, I am grateful, and so happy that Sleep is no longer Hell, but Heaven. :)

-Former SleepIsHell Sufferer


_________________
5'9 234lbs 37 years Old Male
Original Sleep Study: AHI = 30

Owner of Remstar Auto A Flex M series
ResMed Ultra Mirage Full Face Mask
Viewer 1.0 Software, Smartcard Reader
Integrated Heater/humidifier
Prescribed setting: 7-10 Cm

For many years I've known I had sleep apnea. I remember my father had it really bad. I remember watching him on the couch and wondering how long he would go before breathing. I quit smoking and put on about 20lbs, and I think that was the straw that broke the camels back. Finally, my ENT talked me into going to get a sleep study. I was woken up and cpaped because I was so severe (108 events/hr 67% o2) and I took to it like a duck in water. Those few short hours I had no idea what I was missing for all those years. Sleep, glorious sleep!! Still working out a couple small bugs, but it's been wonderful. I'm awake during the day, no more napping when I come home from work. I'm actually going to the gym, and I've dropped 15 pounds, my BP is coming down, and I feel like a new man. Thanks to everyone here that got me on the right track, and guided me to fighting for the right equipment. Cpaped and never looking back!

Found this website by accident the other day and spent several hours reading. Ill start with an introduction and tell my story... My name is Justin, I am a 27 year old daddy of 2, and soon to be married. Before my daughter was born back in sept. of 2007 I had a car wreck, totaled out our car a month before she was born. I fell asleep driving and was about 2 blocks from where I work. I thought at first that it was because I was about to be a daddy again - you know - the late nights up with the pregnant significant other, and we have a 2 1/2 year old boy as well....

In November, I had another wreck in our new minivan. I fell asleep at the red light and tapped the chick in front of me and got a $700 ticket out of it. I figured I might need to see a doctor about this problem I was having before I got hurt. As I sat in the waiting room at this neurology clinic filling out a questionaire, I reflected back on symptoms I had been having. For one, I remembered falling asleep driving to work on several occasions and coming to as my tired hit the shoulder on the road. I should say that I am a computer network technician for a company and I travel alot for Murphy Oil - who is based out of the town I work in - and roughly a 55 minute drive from my house. I would fall asleep on the airplanes during travel and my snoring almost caused a fist-fight on several occasions.

I thought back to all of the "excuses" or "reasons" I was the way I was, but none made sense until I was doing this questionaire. I would fall asleep at work, and got wrote up over it, I gained more weight than I should have, I would fall sleep in the middle of conversations if I sat still for more than 5 minutes. It got really bad in the last few months prior to my doctor visit, almost narcoleptic in nature. I found myself sleepwalking alot, woke up in the closet one night. My fiance woke me up one morning, aparently I had gone outside with my blanket and fell asleep on the porch where it was cool. I always though it was because I was so hot natured, but I realized the cool air made it easier for me to breath and that's where I ended up.

I look back on 10 years ago, when I was in high school, my mom always complained about my snoring - though we always thought it was sinuses. I always had to sleep with a fan blowing on my face or under an air conditioner...some cool moving air always got me really good sleep...never did we connect the 2 together.

I had my sleep study and was miserable for all of 5 minutes of them connecting me to these sensors. The technician said they saw the apnea 5 minutes after I laid down, and I stopped breathing 172 times an hour? Forgive my lack of info, I am not a doctor, I am a computer tech :P I put on a bipap machine 2 1/2 hours after the test started and slept like a friggen champion the rest of the test. I picked my Cpap machine up the following morning after I got out of bed. Aparently I had been like this so long that when I woke from this sleep it was almost like I was coming out of anastesia(sp*). My face was completely numb, slurred speach, and a need to just go back to sleep. It felt ABSOLUTELY wonderful...sleep...my long lost friend.

Now, 7 months later, I have more energy. I have no more problems at work. No more driving and feeling like I'm going to pass out. I have had no more problems on business trips, that sometimes requires me to stay up over 24 hours. If anything, the cpap has caused my purchase of birth control devices to TRIPLE, way more drive than I had before :) The computer geek in me has even put my CPAP on a battery backup UPS, one I got for free from doing a server replacement/upgrade. It runs about 3 hours on that friggen thing. I have recommended getting testing done to friends of mine, I got it under control before I got hurt or worse.