Posted by sleepbetter on January 07, 2004 at 20:44:17:

Hello everyone,

It's been one year now that I have had my CPAP machine.
I visited this forum frequently but due to work and other events I have not visited the forum. It was a lot of help to me then and I see it continues to help others still. I am glad to see some familiar names still posting (D.H. and fog). D.H. is amazing and I see he continues to give great advise and he always shoots straight from the hip. Good to see you again!

I received my REMSTAR CPAP last January along with the heater/humidifier. Innitially i was given a mask which turned out to be terrible by my accounts and many other readers of this forum. It constatnly leaked and I had to wrench on my my face but even that did not really help. I got a Mirage next and still have it. I am very use to this mask now and even though I have the Nasal Air I have still use the Mirage mask. I tried the nasal air but I could not get comfortable with it and the noise seemed to be disturbing and made it hard to fall asleep. I will wait until my Mirage craps the bed and then I will give the Nasal air another try. With my health insurance I get a new mask every six months. I am in the US Navy so i have not spent anything on my whole sleep apnea problem. Being active duty our medical is fully covered. I have looked into what I will do once i retire (1.5 years from now) and if anyone needs info on that let me know. WHen I first got on CPAP I found it really uncomfortable. Leaks, retricted movements and so on. I would often pull the mask off throughout the night and the wife would have to wake me to put it back on. She finally gave up. But, eventually, (as everyone here said I would)I finally got use to the whole CPAP thing. In fact, I can't sleep without it. I guess I am addicted to it now, if there is such a thing. I have adjusted to the head gear, the mask, the hose and the restricted movement. I don't really feel I am getting the sleep I once did years ago when I could sleep forever and wake up totally relaxed and rejuvenated. I guess at 38 years old this is probably normal with or with out sleep apnea. I don't snore anymore according to my wife. I don't wake up with sore muscles in my legs and my eyes don't feel like they were being sucked out of my head. Before CPAP, it felt like I was in a fight or something. It was weird. All in all, my sleep has improved tremendously. I still feel a bit sleep deprived at times. The snoreing before CPAP could have damaged my hearing. I know that the snore would reverberate throughout my skull and surely it must have had an effect on my eardrums with all the tiny bones in there. I think it would be wise of me to have anohter sleep study done just to make sure my settings are still at 10cc's and all is well. I will ask my doctor about that. Although i am use to the CPAP now after one year and I am getting bettter sleep, I often wonder if there may be a day when I can get off the machine. Maybe a new technique with surgery. I don't know, it would be nice though. For now, I will continue to use the CPAP and reap the benefits. For those of you just starting I can tell you that it will get better and just let your body and mind get use to it and soon you won't be able to sleep without it. Thanks everyone, glad to be back with you and if you have any questions insofar as the military and sleep apnea let me know. Or questions of any kind for that matter.

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