by David Stillwagon

Created on: January 29, 2011   Last Updated: January 31, 2011

I remember when I was younger hearing my father snoring loudly at night. So loud that it seemed to make the walls shake. I don’t know how my mother put up with it but she did. At the time we didn’t know that he was suffering from something called sleep apnea. Well, it turned out that I had sleep apnea too, I didn’t get diagnosed with it till I was in my thirties. After putting up with my snoring, which is more of a grunting and then gasping for air, my wife suggested that I see a doctor, who promptly set up an overnight sleep study to determine whether I had sleep apnea or not. I knew a little about sleep studies because one of my friends had one too, and he told me that the most common solution to sleep apnea was wearing a CPAP mask. I didn’t know anything about the CPAP machine or the mask, but was soon able to find out about it.

The sleep study in itself was an experience. I was hooked to many wires from the top of my head to my ankles; this was all needed to monitor how I slept or didn’t sleep. A camera was in the room so a technician could not only monitor how I was sleeping via the wires connected to me but they could also watch me. This wasn’t very conducive to sleeping! Needless to say I had a very difficult time sleeping. About half way through the night the technician came into the room and put a mask over my face. The mask had a tube at the end that would blow air continuously into my mouth. It was a very odd feeling to have the air blowing into my mouth. No matter how hard a tried I just couldn’t seem to sleep with it. The sleep tech came back into the room and tried to make adjustments and they did help a little but not a lot.

After that experience I didn’t think that the doctor would want me to attempt to wear the mask at home. But as he explained it most folks have a difficult time at first wearing the CPAP mask. So I agreed to give it a try. A nurse came out to the house the next week with my new CPAP machine. She went over all the features and showed me how to clean the filter, the mask and the hose. It all seemed simple enough so I was ready to give it a go.

That first night was memorable. I adjusted the mask, turned it on and the rush of air blow into my throat. Something that I didn’t notice at the sleep clinic was the noise of the machine, which was very loud and annoying. But that was the least of my problems; my mask kept slipping which in turn allowed air to escape which make hissing noise that competed with the sound of the CPAP machine. I tried to tighten the straps on the back of the mask but to no avail, I even tried to put masking tape to block the leak, it still didn’t help. The next morning I called the nurse who gave me the machine and she suggested trying a new mask. I tried a new mask and then another one, but they didn’t help either. The nurse then suggested checking to make sure the setting was correct on the machine. It was.

I continued with this CPAP mask and machine for about 6 months before I gave it up. A few years later there was different type of CPAP machine called a BIPAP which regulated the amount of air coming in the mask, in other words it was continuous. The air was only supposed to come in when you were breathing and this machine also had a humidifier which helped with the dry air. I used this machine for about 8 months before giving it up.

I don’t suppose in the future I will be trying anymore CPAP machines or masks. While I know that it has helped plenty of people I wasn’t one of them.

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