British Snoring & Sleep Apnoea Association

Good morning,

I went to the hospital yesterday and they confirmed that I had OSA with an AHI of 20. They gave me a CPAP and showed me how to use it etc. It is a Phillips Respironics one they gave me (are they a decent make and model?) with a full face mask.

So, just finished my first night with it. I got on quite well with it but found that as I was moving in the night it kept breaking the seal and making a really load air rushing noise that kept waking myself and my girlfriend up. I tightened it a bit further than the nurse had set up and that seemed to be a bit better but still seemed to leak a bit. I didn't have any mark around my face (apart from a bit just to the side of my eyes) so I think tonight I can go even tighter with it so it will be less of a disturbed sleep. I feel distinctly odd this morning, i still feel tired but feel a bit refreshed too, someone has already commented at work that I looked better in the face this morning than I usually do! Hopefully over the course of the next few days I can get the seal just right and enjoy a full night's rest.

I also found out why they wouldn't tell me my results over the phone. The nurse said that as they had notified me that day of the OSA I had to tell the DVLA but because I have been issued with the CPAP on the same day I can tell them that I am also now compliant so they will not need to take my licence away. If they told me over the phone, I would have to refrain from driving until I received my machine.

I would like to thank everyone on this site for all the helpful advice, tips and feedback. I will still stay around to see if I can help others too, as the reassurance given by others can be so helpful, especially in that crucial time period before suspected OSA and then being treated. I guess over the coming months, i will end up gathering a whole load more silly questions too to ask you lot anyway

Glad to hear that you now have a diagnosis AND treatment to manage your condition. The Respironics equipment is fine, though I get the feeling that there's a certain amount of Respironics v ResMed feeling a bit like whether you support Man City or Man United!

Hope you are now starting to see light at the end of your tunnel and all questions will be fine by us!

WELCOME TO THE HOSEHEAD CLUB ... all the best people are members!!

Nice one Headthrob energy surge coming your way soon

This is the exact model they have given me:

http://www.eu-pap.co.uk/system-one-rems ... -cpap.html

Glad you got your diagnosis you even beat Mountain's ahi score

Onwards and upwards my friend to a new refreshed person .

Take Care,

LOL Yep, low score but previously feeling crap I can't imagine how bad some of you guys must feel without your CPAPs I almost feel like a bit of a fraud with my low score

My colleague is also a fellow mild but very symptomatic OSA sufferer, and was telling me that he's had real problems with hypertension which increases when he's 'not very compliant'.

Was looking at this study earlier which appears to pretty much contradict the NICE pathways for OSA.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2564769/

Headthrob, I'm waiting with interest to see how you get on. I don't even really notice my mask now, just part of the bed-time routine. One thing I have found is, it's all mostly about getting the mask on right. That took me a while to get right.

PS with regard AHI. I notice that it's Apnoea Hypopnoea Index.

I was told I averaged around 10 apnoeas per hour but was having a lot of hypopnoeas

Sorry to 'hijack' your thread Headthrob

apnoeas + hypopnoeas + central apnoeas all add up to make the nights ahi score .


Regards,

Just found out, as wasn't previously told my test in november was 25 ah? didnt know anything about ah?'s until reading on here and finally got round to asking the hosp cpap nurse today my pressure is now set at 16.
Wish they told u all this at the time!

... +2 Headthrob, I just got a machine and mask as well

Getting the mask right is easier in theory I reckon, my first night wasn't great either.

Hope you're doing ok

Thanks

The second night was a lot better. I still get the problem of leaking air in certain positions, is there an optimal position to sleep in? If I sleep on my side it scrunches the mask up on the side and air leaks out of the other, if I sleep on my back, it stretches the straps and leaks on both sides

A couple of odd things have happened, the first odd thing that has happened is every night is that at about 00:30 to 01:00, my girlfriend says that I just take my mask off and put it down and leave it off. She has to prod me to put it back on. I have no recollection of these events at all, I must be doing it in some sort of sleep trance?

The second is that sometimes my machine seems to just go mad? My girlfriend says it gets really loud and then I start spluttering. I have woken up a couple of times to it really blowing air in hard and making my cheeks swell up and it doesn't seem to ease up until I switch it off and turn it back on again?

This will be my 5th morning since using the machine and i definitely feel the difference, I still feel a little tired here and there but that will be just trying to get the mask to stay on properly.

How are you getting on with yours Dee, can you feel any difference?

I think my mask must have been leaking or something, I feel really shattered again

Check your mask fit ... lying down with the machine OFF etc... Might you be feeling the stream of exhaled air from the safety valve and hearing its hiss and thinking that you are 'leaking'?

I'm guessing it was leaking because I feel so shattered today. My machine turns itself on as soon as I put the mask on my face and that's when I adjust the straps, if i turn it off, it just comes back on again. I'm wondering if it's faulty because I woke up a few times and it was blowing full blast and wouldn't cease again?

It IS possible that it's a technical fault so do go back to the clinic ASAP. You might also see if the machine has an EPR feature to make it easier to breathe out ... and get that enabled too. Actually I think it does sound HIGHLY POSSIBLE that the machine hasn't been correctly adjusted for you so contact the clinic today. You can't go on like this, and even if it's just a case of getting used to the machine and its quirks, the sooner you're feeling reassured that all is well, the better.