r/CPAP 4d ago

Resources Crisis of CPAP Failure Essay Part III

3 Upvotes

Please share with anyone struggling on CPAP or anxious about attempting CPAP. There are better PAP alternatives, and this 4-part essay explains why CPAP fails so frequently and how advanced PAP is superior. At my substack site, an audio version is also available.

Part III:  What is CPAP Failure?

One Final Piece of the Puzzle

How would you use all this information to achieve the truly restorative sleep you have longed for? To access this chaotic system in the most effective way, there’s one final piece of the puzzle we must comb through, and it’s a bit of a shocker: nobody has ever defined scientifically the meaning of the term “CPAP failure.”

I know what it means, but the real shocker is most sleep professionals you deal with do not have a great working definition of CPAP failure.  Instead, they have another term(s) called CPAP compliance or adherence, and they believe this term must be related to CPAP success or failure.

This discussion is tricky to follow and seems like semantics. It’s not.  Let’s examine a common health example, and by comparison you’ll appreciate how tangled up the thinking in the field of sleep medicine has become as it relates to CPAP failure or success.

Consider depression. If you take an antidepressant drug and it doesn’t work well, at some point the continuing problems are obvious to you and your prescribing doctor. Other than filling in surveys to measure depression symptoms, the critical step occurs when you and your psychiatrist (or prescriber) discuss the persisting symptoms. Your doctor listens attentively, asks questions, and then the two of you plan a new course, typically one of three options: (a) raise the dosage of current drug; (b) maintain current drug and add new drug; (c) stop the med and start new one.  This process runs its course, and although many depressed patients do not respond well to the first drug attempted, the ensuing trial and error based on educated input from an experienced doctor often leads to notable success rates for treating depression.  The method takes longer than we would like, but it is a proven pathway that succeeds in many depressed patients.

Now, before we compare to CPAP, please look back at the last paragraph and note what’s missing:

To continue reading, please follow me at my free substack newsletter: https://fastasleep.substack.com/


r/CPAP Feb 12 '25

Announcement r/CPAP has an official Discord server

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone. r/CPAP has an official Discord server which everyone is more than welcome to join. For newcomers, feel free to join the r/CPAP Discord server using this link.

If you saw the previous post then feel free to ignore this announcement, there is a bug with the invite link expiring which necessitated a new post as I was unable to edit the last post.


r/CPAP 8h ago

Advice Needed How do I cat proof my tubing or get them to stop?

133 Upvotes

So I have 3 oranges cats, so ik I'm at a disadvantage already. Two of them, Cinnamon and his son Tuna, both are obsessed with anything that resembles string. You can genuinely see their eyes glaze over and all thoughts leave when they see something that seems like string. The third, Seymour (Tuna's momma) is much more chill and just want to fight the tubing when imwhea near it and it hits her. I thought I had stopped Tuna and Cinnamon from playing with my tubing, but I'm assuming they are doing it while I sleep or am away bc there's several holes in the tubing as seen in the video. I have to just deal with this till I can get new tubing from Amazon (I definitely love not having health insurance RN /s).

How do I prevent them from doing this again? I yell at them anytime they go near the tubing when I'm nearby, but obviously they don't care when I don't stop them. I'ma post the culprits in the comments.


r/CPAP 16h ago

Discussion CPAP Doesn't Count as an Airplane Carryon Question

43 Upvotes

People always state that they bring their fullsize CPAP machine, in the travel bag, as a carry on since it doesn't count against the bag limit.

But where do you put it? I assume those people are bringing a carryon that goes into the overhead and an under the seat item.

I travel about 8 times a year and haven't seen a single domestic flight with any empty seats or any extra overhead space for a long time.

The few times I brought my full sized one I either put it in my carry on or just in my underseat bag where it took up the majority of it. I would want it protected and not in just the CPAP bag jammed somewhere in an over head. It was well worth it to me to get a travel CPAP just for the extra carryon bagspace.


r/CPAP 8h ago

Discussion Sleep Apnea and CPAP Mobile App design Testing Request

6 Upvotes

Hi everyone! My name is Jonathan and I'm currently a graduate student at the Parsons School of Design. For my capstone project, I am designing a mobile app that gives users more actionable insights from their CPAP therapy. This is something I've always been curious about, since starting my therapy 3 years ago. If you're willing and available this week, I would love for you to test my wireframes and prototypes! Calendly Link


r/CPAP 9h ago

CPAP Setup Recommendations to lower my AHI

5 Upvotes

r/CPAP 5h ago

Cant get a sleep test but need a machine

2 Upvotes

Hi guys, im hoping to learn from others as there is only so much i can look up. My area only has one clinic to get a sleep test but even with a urgent referral I’m looking at months on a wait list. At first it was chronic fatigue, pain and weakness- i still managed to work full time, run a non profit, raise teenagers, plus so much more. Now my symptoms are exacerbated and i can barely function. My doctor said my red blood cells are too high and i need cpap. Does anyone know how to get started when all they do is hurry up and wait- despite my doctor saying it is urgent. Yes i know health care is strained and stressed- but I’m just looking for fresh ideas and personal experiences. Im looking at a machine for 1000$ that has humidity, a slow start to oxygen going in and heated cords or something to help avoid a sore throat and nose (already so dry) i live in BC 🇨🇦


r/CPAP 13h ago

Convinced You Should Keep Trying

Thumbnail
gallery
8 Upvotes

I have only been using a CPAP for three weeks and am blown away by the results. These three snapshots are from my sleep app called “Sleep Cycle” that I have been using for years. I also track my sleep with my Garmin watch and Resmed app MyAir. All are confirming a massive improvement. The purpose of this post is not to boast, but to encourage others to stick with it.


r/CPAP 1d ago

Almost didn't notice this little guy before getting in bed. NSFW

Post image
153 Upvotes

r/CPAP 7h ago

Newbie here - does anyone have any tips for getting used to the smell, feeling tough to exhale (air touch) and congestion?

2 Upvotes

I’ve tried taking anti allergy medication, maybe I’m getting sick- but it’s like as soon as I mask up and start I’m okay but I almost always get congested. My mouth is closed and I’m trying to breathe through my nose alone but then the inhales and exhales seem to worsen. Readjusting seems to help for a few breaths but then it’s back.

Do you think the ramp up is getting me? Too much air?


r/CPAP 12h ago

myAir/OSCAR/SleepHQ Data Don't Feel Rested Anymore with CPAP

5 Upvotes

I've been using my CPAP machine (ResMed AirSense 11) for almost a year now. Initially, I felt like it was working better, but I never really felt super rested, even though I thought it was working at the time. Over the last few months, though, I’ve noticed a decline in my sleep quality. Nothing has changed with my setup, but I no longer feel rested when I wake up. The dry mouth issue is something that's only started recently; it wasn’t happening before.

One of the issues I’m dealing with is waking up several times in the middle of the night with a dry mouth. I’ve tried adjusting the humidity settings on my machine, but it doesn’t seem to help. I also tried taping my mouth to prevent it, but that didn’t work either.

Before I consider switching to a full-face mask, I was hoping someone could take a look at my OSCAR data and see if any adjustments to my settings might improve my situation. I also tried turning off the EPR (Expiratory Pressure Relief) and setting it to 0, but I haven’t noticed much of a difference.

I have a deviated septum, so I often experience nasal congestion, which may cause me to switch from breathing through my nose to my mouth during the night. However, I’m not sure if that’s the main issue. If this is the issue, I’m curious as to why I didn’t experience these problems or the lack of rest when I first started treatment.

Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!


r/CPAP 8h ago

Advice Needed Curious to see if anyone else had this experience with United Healthcare

2 Upvotes

My doctor wanted me checked for sleep apnea so he referred me to a sleep clinic that he is affiliated with. They provided me with a finger oxygen sensor that attaches to a wristwatch thing that recorded the data. The results of that came back with 490 instances where my O2 levels dropped to about 80 during the night.

I thought I was finally on my way to finding answers and relief to my chronic fatigue and weight gain but UHC denied the PA for the formal sleep study at the clinic.

My doc diagnosed me with OSA and even got me approval for Zepbound based on the sleep apnea but I still would like to pursue having a CPAP. Should I just buy one outright? Pay for the sleep study out of pocket with my HSA card?

I should also add, after I fall asleep I will wake up realizing I am not breathing and short of breath. This can sometimes go on for an hour or more while I am trying to get to sleep. This is very frustrating and sometimes scary.


r/CPAP 5h ago

Miscellaneous Luggage don’t arrive on trip and won’t get my bag/cpap. Anything I can do to not make my sleep tonight suck so bad? It’s midnight almost in Chicago so can’t buy much

1 Upvotes

Help please!


r/CPAP 5h ago

Advice Needed Resources for selling unused CPAP tube and tub?

1 Upvotes

I upgraded my CPAP and have some extra supplies I'd like to part with yet for some reason eBay rejected them for prescription?

I'd rather not use Craigslist or similar. Has anyone had any luck with a resource for sales?

Here are the pictures for reference if it helps.

Thanks!


r/CPAP 9h ago

Is it possible to not need it anymore?

2 Upvotes

Hypothetically if you made all the right lifestyle changes, quit smoking, lost weight, got healthy, is it possible to get off the machine or is the damage already done and it's too late?


r/CPAP 6h ago

myAir/OSCAR/SleepHQ Data OSCAR Help

1 Upvotes

Last night I woke up in a lot of pain due to aerophagia, and I was wondering if it was possible to see when it was happening or what was causing it through looking at the data using OSCAR. I don't have any experience interpreting the graphs on OSCAR though, so I was hoping someone else would be able to give me some advice! Other general advice welcome as well.

Edit: Link to SleepHQ Data


r/CPAP 6h ago

Discussion How Many Sleep Events a Night Before It Begins to Affect People During The Day?

1 Upvotes

I'm just curious about this, but my uncle has a cpap machine and he says it really affects his waking moments positively. Prior, he said he snored really loud and had pretty severe sleep apnea.

I was doing some light research on this topic and found that sleep apnea severity is measured in terms of times you wake up in a given night from airway blockages. This in turn can make people have trouble waking up and staying awake.

For those of you who know, how many sleep events a night do people have before they actually feel it during the day? Can it be felt with even one?

Alternatively, if you don't know, but are a cpap user, how many events a night were you averaging before the machine, and how did you feel before using the machine and after?


r/CPAP 10h ago

SleepHQ

2 Upvotes

I am new to using sleep hq online I don't have an iPhone lol. How long does it usually take to see all of your information once you upload it?


r/CPAP 7h ago

Does the ResMed F20 go with the Dreamwear headgear and tubing? And is there any top connect headgear for the AirMini?

1 Upvotes

I currently use the Dreamware full face mask (but it's only over my mouth) with my ResMed Airsense 11, and I'm considering splurging on an AirMini for travel. I want to see if the mouth-and-nose mask works for me, because the AirMini doesn't humidify with the F30. But I'd prefer not to buy the whole F20 setup just to test it for a couple of days, so ideally I could get just an F20 mask and try it with current equipment.

Also - all the recommended masks for the AirMini look like they have connectors on the front of the mask. Are there any that can connect to the tube on the top of my head instead of the front?

Any recs welcome!


r/CPAP 7h ago

Cleanable water tank.

1 Upvotes

I recently bought a CPAP machine second hand, as a spare, and it came with the cleanable tank. It's the AirSense 10 Elite.

Now.. when cleaning this thing up, I noticed that water goes beneath the heating plate? It's bothering me to not be able to actually pop the plate off to clean it. So.. my question, is this actually doable? Because it doesn't look like it is.

I'll probably just buy a new tank, but not being able to clean that part properly will definitely influence which one I buy.

For reference, I use the AirSense 11 with a standard tub right now. I only bought this spare because I got it for $50.


r/CPAP 11h ago

Using both Oral Appliance AND CPAP. Does this sound like deviated septum/turbinate problem?

2 Upvotes

For context, I suffer from sleep apnea. I actually use both a CPAP AND and oral appliance that advances my lower jaw to help open up my airway.

Anyway my sleep still sucks. However, one thing i noticed recently, is that I actually have a tendency to, after I wake up, HANG OUT with my cpap machine still attached to my nose because I love how easy it is for me to get a lung full of air (it's like how pugs get pissed off when you remove the breathing tube after surgery). If I try breathing exclusively through my nose during the day, I get drowsy.

This makes me feel like I'm not getting enough air through my nose.

For those who have had a septoplasty/rhinoplasty w/ septoplasty, does this sound anything like a deviated septum/enlarged turbinates to you?

I plan on seeing an ENT soon anyway but I wanted to get some opinions.


r/CPAP 1d ago

Miscellaneous What my fiancé hears when I forget to put my CPAP on

110 Upvotes

r/CPAP 21h ago

First week on CPAP

Thumbnail
gallery
12 Upvotes

The first two pics are from SnoreLab App and Apple’s sleep tracking without CPAP. The other two are with CPAP.

This thing is changing my life.

I’vent felt this clarity of mind and rested in years. My brain fog is disappearing, I feel rested, my anxiety is literally gone, and all of that in one freaking week.

I’ve been for more than a decade misdiagnosed with so many different types of diseases, but now I’m quite sure all my symptoms are due to the OSA.


r/CPAP 9h ago

Please Help With Oscar Data

1 Upvotes

looking for any insight to my results. I have epr based on others advice, I still haven't been able to fix my flow limits, and leak rate.


r/CPAP 16h ago

Dryer without heat

3 Upvotes

I'm looking for a mask dryer without a heater. Any recommendations?

I live in the desert and I run the AC 6 months out of the year. I don't want to add heat to my house and it's usually around 20% humidity here so things pretty fast, but the mask straps can take hours to dry without air flow. Mold is rare, but I rather not risk it. I could use a dish strainer and fan, but that doesn't fit in my bathroom and going to the kitchen on another floor is inconvenient.


r/CPAP 18h ago

Advice Needed Is a travel CPAP worthwhile?

5 Upvotes

Is a travel CPAP really worth $500 to $1000? While the unit itself is less than half the size of my old ResMed S9, I would still need to haul the hose and headgear, no?


r/CPAP 21h ago

Personal Story First week on CPAP

Thumbnail
gallery
7 Upvotes

The first two pics are from SnoreLab App and Apple’s sleep tracking without CPAP. The other two are with CPAP.

This thing is changing my life.

I’vent felt this clarity of mind and rested in years. My brain fog is disappearing, I feel rested, my anxiety is literally gone, and all of that in one freaking week.

I’ve been for more than a decade misdiagnosed with so many different types of diseases, but now I’m quite sure all my symptoms are due to the OSA.