Sorry in advance for the length here.
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I disagree. In my case, my snoring would keep my dear wife from getting any rest, even if she went to the basement guest room - I snored so loud I would keep her up even there! Once I got my CPAP and used it for a couple days to get acclimated to it, both of us started sleeping soundly. If your partner cares about your well being, they'll deal with the hose & mask for a bit until it gets like second nature to don it before dozing off.
I agree with everything you said. I think he was more or less talking about sleeping next to Darth Vader. It's a little tough to cuddle up to an extra from the movie COMA.
I had a big snoring problem. Joyce didn't mind it at all. But it was serious. Camping ..guys sharing hotel rooms when the various couples got married ..extreme.
When it developed into apnea, Joyce couldn't sleep. She'd hear me stop breathing, ..gag..gasp .. I'd wake up seeing stars when she'd whack me in the face as she immediately passed out. I'd be looking around wondering what happened.
Started having a serious problem driving home from work. Finally got a sleep test that was done at home. They tape the monitoring leads to you ..and leave. They pick up the recorder the next day. Fine. Got the machine...etc..etc. I couldn't hang with the nose cone.
A bit later (months or maybe a year), I got another sleep test. This one was about 2 blocks away. Nice comfortable setting. They did it over 3 days. I forget the sequence, but they would have you just lay down for 20 minutes 3 times. They wanted to know if you fell asleep. Then they monitored you overnight. Then the last night was monitored with a CPAP machine.
Now here's something I think was one of those wrong turns that cast some things in stone.
When I was on the machine they used a nose cone. My nose had been broken when I was a teenager and my septum was severely deviated. When being referred to as a "mouth breather" ..it was literal. I had to really control my nasal breathing or it was LOUD.
Anyway, I kept saying that I couldn't breath with the mask ..and they kept turning up the pressure. After about half a dozen cycles I blurted out "why don't they have a full face mask?". The Russian physician ..who was playing sleep tech while he passed our intense AMA filter, says, "Oh, you want a full face mask"?
So, I get a full face mask ..and we're now at the higher pressure. I pulled the mask off a couple of times in my sleep, but the guy said I was doing very well.
So, full face and 18cm3 (I think it's some metric equivalent to W.C.) of pressure.
There's a side effect of higher pressures with CPAP. You lose your ability to breath on your own. When I was in the ER with my back, when the narcotics would come in (for some reason drugs "pulse" or wave with me) the monitor would start beeping since I would instantly have my O2 drop below the alarm level.
Essentially, you're married to that machine for life. I haven't researched it, but I don't know if there's a reconditioning process to re-pattern yourself to normal. For those who have relatively light settings, if all else fails ..or you need to sleep in a car, all you typically have to do is sleep sitting somewhat upright, and you're fine. I, otoh, will go to some state of hypoxia.
The higher the rating, the more dependent you'll be on it. You're vulnerable to power outages ..heck, if your machine takes a hike, you're going to be tap dancing to get it replaced in short order. They want sleep studies done every 2-3 years. They'll pay to rent the machine for 90days (the rental is about as much as the machine costs ..which the insurance company also charges after the rental). I think my current machine was $2500+. It's much more full featured than my last one.
Here's the blower unit out of my original "turtle". I got it to last a while longer with Pennzoil Long Life 15w40, iirc. Our was it MC 5w-20?? The lube went on the motor ..not the internals of the blower.
I did manage to find the company who made the motor. I inquired about getting another one. I got an email back asking if I was OEM or aftermarket (
). When I said "aftermarket" (
) the guy emailed back, "Well, you're out of luck since we only sell to OEM" (
).
Just like our engines, air filtration is critical. Not so much for your lungs, but the impeller blades.
