Sleep Apnea

[JustLurkin]

Anyone have sleep apnea? My mom recently went to get fitted for the mask after experiencing a day where it was very difficult for her to wake up. She didn't notice a difference, but it was just one night, while they basically calibrated the machine and monitored her.

When she got up the next morning she said her face was tomato red and took hours to go back to normal. The clinic nurse told her it was because she was light-skinned--is that normal, I've never heard of that? My mom was open to using the mask until then--she said no way in hell is she going to work everyday looking like a tomato-head!

Anyone tried any other treatments?

Thanks.

[mmhmm]

Is your mother overweight, JustLurkin? If she is, that can be a significant problem. Often, sleep apnea can be stopped or, at least, eased by weight loss. In the meantime, however, if she's having real trouble breathing and has had an incidence of difficulty arousing, she really needs the CPAP, red face, or not. Better a red face than a dead face, and that's where she could be going if she doesn't get a handle on the problem. Another thing she can do is see an ear, nose and throat specialist to see if there's something they can do to help her.

[JustLurkin]

Yes, she's overweight, not obese, but needs to lose weight.

I didn't see her, so don't know what her face looked like--she read somewhere your face only turns colors if the mask is being fitted improperly, which at least lets me know she's still considering it.

She didn't take it so seriously until it was hard for her to get up that day. Before that day, she was basically being treated for insomnia, during the sleep study they said she stops breathing which is why she wakes so often at night.

I was the one who woke her that day. I know it's really bothering her, because my dad wasn't at home and I just happened to be there and was only checking her because she's usually an early bird and it was *very* late.

[teen persuasion]

DH uses a CPAP machine every night. The mask does leave a bit of a mark (creases & very slight redness), but it goes away quickly. Tomato red sounds extreme, maybe the mask isn't fitted right, or the machine isn't calibrated just right.

There are a variety of different masks out there - DH wants to try a form called a nose pillow. It is just below your nostrils, not all covering your nose and mouth. Maybe a different mask would work better.

For some people, the CPAP machine makes them immediately sleep SO much better. For DH, it is better, but still not right. He's got obstructive apnea, but also central apnea, so he probably needs a BiPAP machine, but they of course started him w/ the standard CPAP machine to see if it was enough, and he hasn't gotten around to looking into the new machine (and all the testing it would entail).


ETA: When DH first got the machine, he had to go back for calibrations fairly frequently, maybe every few weeks for several months? The machine kept records of how often he stopped breathing or whatever, and they used that info to tweak the settings. When he complained that the machine made him too dry every morning, they added a reservoir.

[fuzzylumpkins]

Boyfriend (25 and overweight) has sleep apnea. The only thing that was a pain was getting used to him not snoring anymore.

It sounds, to me, like her machine isn't calibrated properly. Does her mask cover the entire lower face or is it the one that has the tubes going into the nose and a portion covering the mouth? I would think she has the pressure too high and having all that air being blown into her face is basically chapping her skin. All she has to do, if she can't get a new mask, is use a moisturizing face cream at night. Boyfriend uses my Oil of Olay (for sensitive skin) with SPF15.

Boyfriend also thinks the mask may not be fitting properly and advises she remember to use the humidifier with the machine and have her pressure checked.

[JustLurkin]

Thanks for the posts, will pass the information on to her. She hasn't been issued the machine yet, they've just been observing her so far and recently asked her to come in for a third time.

[fuzzylumpkins]

That seems normal. Boyfriend went 4 times before he was happy with what they'd done.

[Genuine GA Peach]

DH has used a CPAP on and off for years. He's obese. He recently had surgery for a deviated septum and had tubes put in his ears. The ENT says that everything looks really good following the surgery and that DH should be able to tell a BIG difference in the next few months. DH hasn't had a sense of smell for a long time and also has problems with something similar to vertigo (can't remember what it's called, but that's why they did the tubes in his ears).

Dad uses a CPAP. He's obese too. He hasn't had as many issues with his CPAP as DH has.

Sis uses a CPAP. She's had sinus & allergy issues as long as I can remember. She's also snored all her life! Sis hasn't had any weight issues in years. Her apnea seems to be strictly due to sinus problems.