Anybody else have sleep apnea? CPAP?

[ashling]

I just had to shave my beard ... I had it pretty much like I liked it and then I got this new CPAP machine to help with my sleep apnea, but I couldn't get the full face mask to seal properly because of my beard, so I had to shave it.

Here is me with the beard.



I can't show you my current picture, because I feel naked.
:rofl:

[Kali]

1. I do, but I never had a beard since I am female.

Good for you - stay with it - you will feel so much better in a short while.

When you get more used to sleeping with it you could give some of the nasal pillow "masks" a try - you might be able to grow your beard back (looks good)

Here is a good site for info and more support: http://www.apneasupport.org/index.php

[ashling]

2. I tried that during the sleep study

but it didn't work to well. I have nosebleed and other sinus junk and having that cold air blowing
straight into my nostrils really gave me a headache.

However, it didn't have tha humidifier and heater that I have on mine, so maybe that would work.

[elshiva]

3. I have sleep apnea, but I'm a woman.

Sorry, dear. :hug:

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

4. Don't worry- you'll get used to it.

I shave it off every summer and grow it back every winter. I've found it does me good to unmask once in a while- besides, I like to tan up a bit in the summer and having a clean face helps!

[Common Sense Party]

5. I have the apnea & the CPAP, but didn't have a beard.

I still feel like hell every morning, so I don't know how well the machine is helping.

[mvd]

21. It's not a miracle worker for everyone

It's helped me a little, but I still don't feel near as fresh as I did before the apnea. I use it because it has health benefits regardless.

[badgerpup]

6. ashling, you is a VERY nice-looking dude...

...and I'm sorta curious about the CPAP. Not sure if I have sleep apnea (often wake up with sore throat, so pretty sure I snore...and the cats won't tell me one way or the other), but I've been told that one feels SO MUCH BETTER when you use it...

Except I've got a 'thing' about masks. :scared:
They FREAK ME OUT. For some reason, putting a mask on me triggers my 'fight or flight, HIGH-GRADE PANIC' reflex.
Had to warn them about this before I went in for shoulder surgery, because otherwise I would have come out of the anesthesia fighting.

Not a good idea when you're woozy, groggy, don't know if it's New York or New Year, are right-handed and your right rotator cuff has just been cobbled back together...

They were very nice about it and used an O₂ nasal canula for me. :pals:

[Adsos Letter]

7. I have used the CPAP for 2 years...and I have a beard...

but I have to adjust the mask straps a bit more tightly than is probably necessary. It works great!

[ashling]

13. Well, I'm just getting used to it

I tried tightening the chin straps but it became a torture device.

[REP]

8. Hosehead for 10 years

That was after years of being told I was "too young, too thin and too female" to have sleep apnea. I had the highest AHI the clinic had ever seen.

[Missy Vixen]

9. I do, but of course, no beard

I'm a female.

I've been on the machine for two years now; I don't know what I did before I got it. (Well, besides fall asleep at my desk and be constantly exhausted.) I had an apnea episode every minute pre-CPAP, and now they're alllll gonnnne. (YES!)

I hope you'll figure out a way to wear the mask and still have a beard. Mostly, though, I wish you the best of health, and hope the CPAP's really working for you.

Julie

[ashling]

14. Thank you

:hi:

[Bertha Venation]

10. I use an interface that one could use with a beard, I think.

http://www.cpapman.com/mirage.html#anchor399487

I'm sorry you had to shave it. Good luck!

[hobbit709]

11. I use a BIPAP and a nasal mask

Sometimes the straps get caught in my beard. The humidifier helps a lot.

[ogneopasno]

12. CPAP, yes; apnea, used to; beard, no. HOWEVER -- I found that after using my CPAP for six months, I

didn't have to use it anymore. I got it about seven years ago, and now only use it maybe one or two nights a year. It's like it "trained" my anatomy to behave. Good luck to you. How long had you had the beard?

[ashling]

16. Had the beard in one configuration or the other

for a couple of years. Before that I had one about the same time some years back. I'm just whining about that - really just was interested in people's experiences w/ CPAP.

Last year I we had to do a teaching presentation for a graduate school class in professional practices. I shaved of the mustache and below my lip and colored it and presented a piece on Lincoln dressed as Lincoln. Got an A and a lot of good reviews, as well as suggestions from my professors and others that I do some Chataqua stuff, so I guess it went pretty well.

[abq e streeter]

23. I started on CPAP last summer and wondering

how you found out you didn't have to use it and that your anatomy had been trained... Another sleep study? Just by how you felt? I'm seeing the sleep Doc on Monday, and I've been exercising like crazy and have lost about 15 of the 20 to 25 pounds I needed to lose, and I've heard that being overweight can be a cause of it, and that losing that excess weight can help "cure" it. Would love to not have to use it anymore, but I understand the health risks of untreated apnea, and want to continue doing whatever it takes to maintain the improved health that I've achieved...I'm also one of those people that doesn't feel any better in the morning than before, but assume it (CPAP) is still doing what its intended to.....

[ogneopasno]

25. I felt much better, and then there were some nights that I didn't use it because I was sick and had

a stuffy nose, or I didn't bring the machine on an overnight trip, but I still felt rested in the morning. Also, my partner told me I wasn't making apnea sounds anymore, so I sort of tapered off. If I have a bad night, he'll wake me up and tell me, and I'll use it for a night or two, then go back to not using it.

My apnea was anatomy-related, not weight-related (as the doctor told me, "You might gain 10 pounds and it goes away, or lose 10 pounds and it gets worse -- your problem is apnea, not weight"), and so my case might be different. Also, while I had a LOT of "wakeups" or whatever during my sleep study, I don't need that high a pressure to keep the airway open (7, I think), and someone with a higher psi might not have the same outcome I did.

Good luck to you. I'm sorry you don't feel better with your CPAP -- mine was an overnight difference.

[hellbound-liberal]

15. I've been using a CPAP for 12 years and it helps a lot!

I also used to have a beard, now it's just a goatee. It doesn't seem to interfere with the operation of the machine. Good luck with yours!

[DainBramaged]

17. I have a friend with it, same problem

He looked like Jerry Garcia (I mean it, twin brother) and people would stop him on the street to talk to him thinking he was him (until Jerry dies, then they wanted a picture with him). Now, shaved, he's invisible again.

[Felix Mala]

18. I have severe sleep apnea and I refuse to use the CPAP...

I thought the study was just a 6-hour infomercial to get my insurance to buy the machine. I found the noise bad and forced air, worse.

Instead, I did what a friend did. I went to an oral surgeon and had a mouthpiece made. It's quiet and easy to travel with. It opens up your airway by holding your jaw forward when you sleep. I like the way it works, although it has required some adjustment. I'm sleeping really well nowadays. I do have to say that I got the adjustable kind and I don't think I like it as much as my friend likes his fixed kind.

[ashling]

19. I have severe apnea and felt the same way for a long time

but I haven't found anything else that helped. So I'll try this.
:shrug:

[abq e streeter]

24. Interesting; I'm going to show this to the sleep specialist

when I do my 6 month followup on Monday...sounds a lot less of a pain than the CPAP , which I do use faithfully every night ( started last summer).

[Blue Diadem]

20. My husband went to a full face mask and he has a beard.

So far he's not having any problems with it. He couldn't use the nasal interface due to mouth leakage. God that lip vibration sounded awful.

His beard isn't as thick as it used to be and he keeps it relatively short.

[JitterbugPerfume]

22. sleep apnea is serious business

my sisters Dr said it could have caused her stroke!

[ogneopasno]

26. I got very high blood pressure from it. It was a little scary. But once I started with CPAP, it

went away.

[Missy Vixen]

27. Another interesting sleep apnea side effect: Impotence

I've wondered to myself how many guys currently using ED drugs need a sleep study...

Julie

[cordelia]

28. I have sleep apnea

Funny thing is, I adapted to the CPAP pretty well. At first.

About 6 months after I started using it, I'd find the head gear part flung all 'round the bedroom in the middle of the night.

After a while, I just stopped using it.

This will be a discussion item with my doctor when I have a physical next month.

I appreciate your bringing this up.