I’ve known I have sleep apnea for years now, but when my doctor told me it’s actually quite dangerous we scheduled a test. So in the spring of 2024 I did a home sleep test. I wore a harness on my chest, a nasal cannula, and a blood meter on my finger.
After the results were analyzed I got a note that said I needed to have an office based test done as soon as possible. So it was scheduled for 8 months later.
The average person has 5 or fewer “events” per hour while sleeping, where an event is something that wakes you up even a tiny bit. Rolling over, coughing, whatever. 15 is considered a problem and 30 is very serious. I had 89. Also, I had a 3 hour period where my blood oxygen level was below 35%. That’s a point where brain cells are dying.
Fortunately, after only 4 months I got a call that there was an opening, and I could come in that very night. The attendant looked at my chart and said “Oh my”. Long story short I tried a CPAP machine (more on that in a few min) with two different mask styles. The next morning I asked the attendant how it went and she said “Well… you slept.”
So they recommended a machine.
The Machine
A few days later I got a call from AirWay Oxygen about getting a machine. “Let me look up your chart”, she said. A long pause. “Oh my. Can you hold?” A few minutes later she came back and said “Well, we don’t get many of these. You’re getting a special machine usually reserved for coma patients.” As it turns out it’s NOT a CPAP machine, it’s an ASV machine (more on that in a minute).
It also turned out that it was $4500, and we were in a tight spot at the moment, so I didn’t get it.
In January 2025 we decided we could afford the monthly payments, and picked up the machine. We met with a nice woman who went over the machine with us. She looked at my chart and said “Oh my. You’re very sleepy aren’t you?” I said “All day every day!”
Some Definitions
So apnea is a brief pause in breathing, often (but not always!) during sleep. There are two kinds, Obstructive and Central.
Obstructive is simply where the trachea becomes closed for some reason. This is common with older or heavy people, it just gets kinked. You stop breathing for 45 seconds or so, and then take a big gasping breath. People with apnea rarely wake up for this, it feels normal.
Central is where the brain forgets to make you breath. Otherwise it’s the same. You stop until it realizes it needs air and then you take a big gasping breath. An interesting thing about this though is that it can happen while you’re awake. Then you notice you’re not breathing and take a deep sigh. This is the kind I have.
It’s not painful at all, but often leads to snoring. I am a VERY loud snorer.
There are also different kinds of machines to help with this. CPAP is the most common, and it stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. You wear a mask that might cover only your nose, or perhaps nose and mouth, and there’s a gentle breeze blowing all the time. It forces the airway open and you breath al the time.
What I got is called an ASV machine, Adaptive-servo ventilation. It can tell when you’re exhaling, and stops blowing. Then it starts again when you’re inhaling. There’s a picture of mine in the featured image of this post. My mask covers my nose and mouth, and the air is heated and humidified, to try to make it as much like breath as possible.
How It’s Going
I’ve had it for a few weeks now. My biggest issue is that the head harness isn’t very comfortable. To make a solid seal on my face I need to cinch it pretty tight.
I have a sore spot right under my nose, but I don’t know why. Nothing touches me there. I’ve wondered if it’s drying out from the air passing over it.
My water reservoir tends to run out before morning and the air gets really dry. I can control the amount of water in the air, so I need to experiment with that.
I’ve been quite happy with the app that comes with it. Every morning I can see how I slept, how the seal was, etc.
The whole point of this is to improve my sleep, and it’s working and it’s not. I’m waking up about every 2 hours to reseal the mask or get new water or whatever. That said, while I am asleep, it’s deep good sleep. And I can tell it’s working because I’m not falling asleep in the middle of the day or while driving anymore.
So my hope is that I’ll get used to the harness and this will all feel normal, and I’ll sleep well for the rest of my life.
I jumped on the CPAP train in the last six months or so and it’s been really helpful. My machine looks almost identical to yours. The bridge of my nose was.. irritated… for a while, but it became used to it or messing with my mask enough to finally help.
I haven’t had to adjust the humidity level, but I definitely do need to ensure it’s to the max each night. Sometimes, it seems like I could get two nights out of that (and the midpoint line is what I actually need for a nigh) and others, it’s running pretty low.
Anyhow, good luck getting used to it. It took a few weeks, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.
Yay!