My CPAP machine is my new best friend!!

[Demondosage]

I need a Rx just to adjust the fucking pressure on my machine. Don't ask me why, most likely a way for someone somewhere to charge my insurance.

My insurance has been great though, they cover every expense. Think about that for a second... My insurance is willing to pay for every expense related to sleep apnea. That says a lot about the potential health problems that will happen if you don't get it treated... The insurance company is just trying to avoid paying for worse shit down the road but still.

The machine I have is about $1300 by itself, the other stuff adds a couple hundred to it.

The route I took was pretty quick and it still took a few weeks to go through the process. If I had chosen to do it another way it can take over a month.

Once I got the diagnosis and then had to wait to get machine it was the worst... I knew how bad it was actually getting at night and it made me scared to even go to sleep.

I developed it before I ever took AAS, once I would get into the upper 230's it would start. AAS aggravated it a lot though and made it much worse. When I get into the 230's now it doesn't go away.

The entore process for me took a little while. I had to do two sleep studies, one without the mask and then one with it. Then I had to wait about 6 more weeks to get in to see the doctor and get the machine. It took a good 4-5 months total, def isn't that fast

 

[jaymaximus]

I guess I was "lucky". After 2 hours they came in and put the mask on. Rushed me a machine by the end of the week and sent me 5 different masks to try.

 

[BBC3]

WELCOME to the most addictive lifestyle on the planet EARTH. Its a trap... For sure.. But if you need it you need it.

Nasal pillows are the best. I've been thru them all. I can give advise if anyone wants.

The guy with 127 episodes per hour..? WOW. I was 46 and it was a nightmare for me. I got in that stage that I knew something was wrong when I kept waking everytime I nodded. Went on for 3 days straight. ITS A VICIOUS CYCLE because the tireder you get, the less chance your body has of running the sleep muscle throat routing to keep you breathing. I LITERALLY GOT TO THE POINT AT WHICH I WAS GONNA DIE...! SO tired and the tireder, the less chance I stood of supporting my airway in sleep... FUCKING CRAZY TEARS OF INSANITY THOUGHT MY LIFE WAS OVER...

I once thought DECA caused it for me. WHile I saw my dad do the same, he never used DECA... And my FIRST DECA use was TIME PROXIAMTE. What I have come to realize is that the DECA was in some part related. It basically caused my mandible fracture to heal to aggressively and made and underbite. Some of you have seen the dentist on TV that invented the JAW Positioner to alleviate SA...? Well he has a point. What I finally realized is that my lower jaw has grown so far forward, that when I bite in my normal occlusion, it FORCES my lower jaw back and thus cuts off my airway. This is a large proximity of the cases I suspect. As we all know Chins, noses, foreheads and all that stuff grow bigger with life. Too bad our diks dont. MANY SLEEP DOCS WILL DENY THIS OUT OF SOME STRANGE POMPOSITY I CANT UNDERSTAND. All you have to do is lay on yer back. Pull yer lower jaw back, and if ya feel airflow block from a normal bite - THERE YA GO. Literally to fix mine I would have to have some teenage style mandible surgery in which the take a few Centimeters out of my lower jaw, remove teeth, and a long stent in braces to regain new occlusion. MEDICAL SCIENCE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT THIS..!!!! INSURANCE AND ALL...!

There are many forms of sleep apnea ranging from brain failure to physical error. Kinda chicken or egg and indiscernible if you split the atom But HEY they need their livelihoods right...!?!

WHAT DRIVES ALL THIS CONCERN FOR ME IS THAT LITERALLY I COULD NOT BREATH DURING SLEEP WITH NO MACHINE or POWER TO RUN IT...! ITS SCARY WHEN YOU THINK THAT YOU POSSIBLY COULD NOT EVEN LIVE AND WERE MEANT TO BE DEAD IF NOT FOR THIS DEVICE...! I NEED TO KNOW THAT I CAN BREATH AT NIGHT IF I DONT HAVE THE LUXURY OF MY MACHINE...

The mouthpiece fix is expensive and we know even on a good dental plan, you get 50% coverage tops.... What my plan is, is simply to try a football type mouthguard and leave the bottom flat so that my lower jaw can come OUT and not be forced to try to Sqeeze in behind my top teeth. I honestly think this will do it. But I might wind up looking like Gomer Pyle... LOL

I short I believe steroid use DOES contribute, but not for soft tissue reasons and what we may think. I truly suspect that the anabolic effects of whatever steroid increase the rate at which our lower jaw grows forward... Thus creating conditions that when we make a normal bit during sleep, it forces the lower jaw back too far closing off the airway. I got money that says this is 75% of the known cases...!!

But while we are at it.... WHY IN THE FUCK IS THIS EPIDEMIC TODAY.!!??? OUR DADS never needed these things. Or course my dad could win a breath holding contest and did not know it. He just seemed to stop doing it after many years. My brother had a brief bout, and his stopped at some point after using the dental device briefly/ Never needed anything after that...

As far as my occlusion(bite) goes these days. At mid forties, and coming from a childhood background of a perfect set of chompers even after a mind braces application for a year.... I can tell you this. To make a good bite today will strain my Temporal Mandular Joint considerably. CHEWING GUM is out of the question... If I pull my lower jaw back laying down I can barely get it under there to make a solid bite. If I push my lower jaw forward these days, I can clear my upper teeth by 3-4 CM.... I hope I dont start grinding at night....!

AND FYI - I just got a new machine. Most insurance will let you do it every 3 years. Good insurance will pay 80/20 with annual out of pocket of 100-$250 if now already accrued.... I switched from the phillips Respironics APAP to the RESMED. Resmed is apparently the stone of the business and been here for 27 years. Phillips is stated to have gained the software/firmware routine knowledge from RESMED... I was nervous at first after 10 years on Phillips. I will NEVER LOOK BACK. The THING IS BETTER IN EVERY WAY SHAPE AND FORM. The clincher for me was looking at sleep ap forums and folks talking about 'They have had the RESMED going on 10 years and they thing is time to change.... L.... O.... L.... You are lucky if you get 2 years out of a phillips. In fact they had failures they still have not admitted to which I got their attn regarding. I will also say that FDA just FORCED Phillips to recall hospital utilized ventilators or breathing apparatus which failed categorically in medical use in hospitals a couple years back. BUT NOOO, they did not want to hear what was wrong with their CPAPS. A fine examply of how POOR BUSINESS PRACTICE, GREEDY PROFITEERING, and STUPIDITY with regard to a simple CPAP let to the hospital respiration equipment. Would they have had this massive loss if they had paid more attention to the problems with their simple sleep apnea equipment..?? ME THINKS NOT.... They say, "There were no knows deaths"... But wouldn't it have SUCKED ASS TO BE ON ONE and NOT CONSCIOUS TO TELL.. Assholes...!

So I have very mild sleep apnea. After a sleep study it was detemined that my oxygen saturation dropped just below normal a few times during the night. I wanted to get the study done just to see how my sleep was and if I did in fact have sleep apnea. Anyways, I can't believe how much I dreaded wearing a CPAP mask until now that I feel the difference. Holy shit, it's like night and day now!! My energy and focus is like crazy, I don't crave caffeine as much, and I'm not irritable during the day anymore. The fucking thing is like my new best friend, I love it!! Workouts have improved and I finally feel complete once again. If you think you may have a sleep issue or are constantly tired then I urge you to go through the process!!

I wear just the nose piece, I didn't want to have anything covering both my nose and mouth during sleep

 

[BBC3]

These reported lag times are INCREDIBLE bordering on MALPRACTICE....

I someone thinks they have sleep apnea, got to sleep doc. They should have you an appt for a sleep in without mask in 2-3 days depending on extent of symptoms... Then follow up study with mask within a couple more days.. And for those thinking its all good here. NO THEY TORTURE YOU WITH THE MASK ON TURNING DOWN AS LOW AS IT WILL GO TO SEE MIN PRESSURE... LOL But insurance or cash up front and you should have a machine in 2 weeks tops ANYWHERE...!!!! And the good ones are 800$ online all day... unless bipap... And the provider to sell you the CPAP will be beating down yer door. Just tell them the name of the doc and they will call over and get the script for machine settings. another note/ That deuschebag industry made it harder to get one by yourself now needing a fucking script for almost anything. I usually get masks sent no prob, but to buy a machine you essentially have to buy from private party used now- if no script....

LASTLY - on the guy talking about needing a script to TUNE the machine. Just put the machine dial on SetUP and hold the SELECT BUTTON for 5 seconds and there ya go.... With resspironics you have to depress again on SETUP as well as hold the select button. Same with RESMED I am thinking.

BE WARNED. I first got mine and was defective of course and motivated me to set myself. There is a tendency to want to increase the pressure and tweak it to "Breathe for you". AVOID THIS MISTAKE. What you will find is that you want the LOWEST PRESSURE THAT WILL WORK. Essentially you want to be able to exhale to yer DEATH BREATH If possible. Else you build up carbon dioxide in lungs that never gets out is the pressure will not allow total exhale...!

The entore process for me took a little while. I had to do two sleep studies, one without the mask and then one with it. Then I had to wait about 6 more weeks to get in to see the doctor and get the machine. It took a good 4-5 months total, def isn't that fast