My Loud snoring/Sleep apnea problem - What to do? Do I need a CPAP machine?

[Daddy Wu]

Winston! My son!

gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab...

You act like silly man! Again!

Just fix problem! Then forget!

Simple!!!

Love,
Your Daddy

[Winston]

One more question:

CE, if I order a travel auto CPAP device from them, can I just turn on the auto settings and just let the device adjust itself according to my breathing during sleep? Can I do that and follow the instruction manual for all my needs with the device? Or do I need to get the assistance of a nurse or sleep specialist? Can I just do it all by myself using common sense logic and the instruction manual without any outside help? Or even if I need outside help, I can just ask forums like this for advice or assistance right?

I hope so, because it's a pain in the butt to go to the hospital here and find a sleep specialist. There's a language barrier, and plus the closest sleep center is far away from me too. I'd have to bother my parents to drive me there, since I don't even have my own car here. So I'm looking for a way to use this thing without needing assisting from nurses and sleep specialists.

What do you think @Contrarian Expatriate?

The issue there is that a doctor has to determine your AHI (Apnea/HypoApnea Index) and then therapeutically set the machine to treat you. You could set the low and high levels yourself (mine are 5 and 20), but those might not be therapeutically ideal for you.

Also, the specialists determine your mask size and fittings which are critically important, and the teach you how to keep the masks and tubes clean each week to prevent infections. Finally, you need to know to have filters and how and how often to change them.

So there is a great deal of information and guidance that you would be missing. You should at least find some YouTube videos addressing all of that and get to a specialist as soon as you can.

Well if I have to guess, what is a safe low risk range to set an auto CPAP? Usually the best things are mid-range. For example, if you are in a store and can't decide whether to buy the expensive brand or the cheapest brand, the best deal for your money is usually the mid-range items that are not too cheap or too expensive. Those tend to be the best value in my experience. Likewise, what would be a good safe midrange for me to set an auto CPAP if I have to?

I still have my sleep lab report from 2016. Where do I find my AHI? What does it look like? Can I calculate it on my own or with help from others?

Btw, how often do you get a sleep test to check on your sleep apnea? Every few years? Isn't it expensive to do a sleep test, unless you have medical insurance? Even if you had medical insurance, does it pay for a periodic sleep test? How often are you supposed to get it?

Also, while you lose weight CE, doesn't your sleep apnea go down? Isn't it possible your sleep apnea will be cured as you lose weight eventually? If so, how would you know? Medical doctors tend to want to put you on something for life. They never tell you when you can stop taking something, whether its high blood pressure medication or acid reflux or diabetes, etc.

[Contrarian Expatriate]

One more question:

CE, if I order a travel auto CPAP device from them, can I just turn on the auto settings and just let the device adjust itself according to my breathing during sleep? Can I do that and follow the instruction manual for all my needs with the device? Or do I need to get the assistance of a nurse or sleep specialist? Can I just do it all by myself using common sense logic and the instruction manual without any outside help? Or even if I need outside help, I can just ask forums like this for advice or assistance right?

I hope so, because it's a pain in the butt to go to the hospital here and find a sleep specialist. There's a language barrier, and plus the closest sleep center is far away from me too. I'd have to bother my parents to drive me there, since I don't even have my own car here. So I'm looking for a way to use this thing without needing assisting from nurses and sleep specialists.

What do you think @Contrarian Expatriate?

The issue there is that a doctor has to determine your AHI (Apnea/HypoApnea Index) and then therapeutically set the machine to treat you. You could set the low and high levels yourself (mine are 5 and 20), but those might not be therapeutically ideal for you.

Also, the specialists determine your mask size and fittings which are critically important, and the teach you how to keep the masks and tubes clean each week to prevent infections. Finally, you need to know to have filters and how and how often to change them.

So there is a great deal of information and guidance that you would be missing. You should at least find some YouTube videos addressing all of that and get to a specialist as soon as you can.

Well if I have to guess, what is a safe low risk range to set an auto CPAP? Usually the best things are mid-range. For example, if you are in a store and can't decide whether to buy the expensive brand or the cheapest brand, the best deal for your money is usually the mid-range items that are not too cheap or too expensive. Those tend to be the best value in my experience. Likewise, what would be a good safe midrange for me to set an auto CPAP if I have to?

I still have my sleep lab report from 2016. Where do I find my AHI? What does it look like? Can I calculate it on my own or with help from others?

Btw, how often do you get a sleep test to check on your sleep apnea? Every few years? Isn't it expensive to do a sleep test, unless you have medical insurance? Even if you had medical insurance, does it pay for a periodic sleep test? How often are you supposed to get it?

Also, while you lose weight CE, doesn't your sleep apnea go down? Isn't it possible your sleep apnea will be cured as you lose weight eventually? If so, how would you know? Medical doctors tend to want to put you on something for life. They never tell you when you can stop taking something, whether its high blood pressure medication or acid reflux or diabetes, etc.

Those are all medical questions that only a specialist could credibly answer. I can say the AHI determined is from a an at-home sleep test which only they can provide.

[Winston]

Links to English version of CPAPPAL: (posted for my reference)

[5/14, 10:33 AM] CPAP PAL Store In Hong Kong: Hard to tell which one is the most comfortable. But Wisp and Pico will be the most common mask. Also a newly launched mask call Dreamwisp got rather good feedback currently.
For more model, you can browse:
https://shop.cpappal.com/en_us/product-category/mask/

[5/14, 10:35 AM] CPAP PAL Store In Hong Kong: The online shop of our site had finished 80% English translation. You can know more information here: https://shop.cpappal.com/en_us/

[Winston]

Winston! My son!

gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab, gab-gab...

You act like silly man! Again!

Just fix problem! Then forget!

Simple!!!

Love,
Your Daddy

LOL Daddy Wu you forgot to say something like:

"You fat lazy son! If you would lose some weight and exercise, you wouldn't have this sleep apnea problem! I told you many times. When I was your age, I was never fat and lazy and spoiled like you, and I never had sleep apnea. I was not spoiled. We worked hard everyday! No time for sleep apnea when I was young!"

[josephty2]

Lol if you didn't have sleep apnea happier abroad wouldn't exist

Edit: misread, you don't have sleep apnea, you just have snoring

Ok, I think you would only have success with American women once you cure snoring.

Or, be open minded. I'm glad you were a Christian once.

I think Winston, you should check out archive.org or wayback machine. I like seeing old websites but happierabroad is excluded from wayback machine. Why?

[Winston]

Lol if you didn't have sleep apnea happier abroad wouldn't exist

Edit: misread, you don't have sleep apnea, you just have snoring

Ok, I think you would only have success with American women once you cure snoring.

Or, be open minded. I'm glad you were a Christian once.

I think Winston, you should check out archive.org or wayback machine. I like seeing old websites but happierabroad is excluded from wayback machine. Why?

I don't think so. lol. I don't even get AW into bed, so sleep apnea cannot be an issue. lol. Even if I did, an AW that really likes you or loves you will not break up with you over that.

I do have sleep apnea. I went to a hospital and did a sleep test and the test confirmed that I have severe obstructive sleep apnea. Remember?

I don't know why my site is excluded from the wayback machine. Maybe because the content here is considered taboo and offensive?

[josephty2]

Do you have anger over not being loved & appreciated? Do you have repressed emotions? Do you feel as if your creativity is stifled? Did you stop being selfish?

[Winston]

Do you have anger over not being loved & appreciated? Do you have repressed emotions? Do you feel as if your creativity is stifled? Did you stop being selfish?

Yes to the first two questions. No to the second two. Why? What is your point? What does this have to do with sleep apnea?

[Winston]

Update:

I think I will get the DreamStation Go Travel CPAP. Everyone seems to say that that's the best travel CPAP machine available. The reviews on YouTube all said that too. The HK website I mentioned above said they can get it to me in Taiwan and get it through customs ok. Anyway, I have a few questions if anyone knows the answer to them.

1. Can I just turn on the auto settings on the CPAP and just let the device adjust itself according to my breathing during sleep? Can I just follow the instruction manual for all my needs with the device? Or do I need to get the assistance of a nurse or sleep specialist? Can I just do it all by myself using common sense logic and the instruction manual without any outside help? Or even if I need outside help, I can just ask forums like this for advice or assistance right? I hope so, because it's a pain in the butt to go to the hospital here and find a sleep specialist. There's a language barrier, and plus the closest sleep center is far away from me too. I'd have to bother my parents to drive me there, since I don't even have my own car here. So I'm looking for a way to use this thing without needing assisting from nurses and sleep specialists.

If I have to guess, what is a safe low risk range to set an auto CPAP? Usually the best things are mid-range. For example, if you are in a store and can't decide whether to buy the expensive brand or the cheapest brand, the best deal for your money is usually the mid-range items that are not too cheap or too expensive. Those tend to be the best value in my experience. Likewise, what would be a good safe midrange for me to set an auto CPAP if I have to?

2. How often are you supposed to get a sleep test to check on that status of your sleep apnea? Every few years? Isn't it expensive to do a sleep test, unless you have medical insurance? Even if you had medical insurance, does it pay for a periodic sleep test? How often are you supposed to get it? Just once or every few years?

3. I have a lot of nightmares and dreams with anxiety. Does sleep apnea cause bad dreams and nightmares? Or is this an issue with the subconscious mind and unconscious fears, as Carl Jung and Freud would say? Have any of you alleviated your bad dreams or nightmares by using a CPAP machine?

4. I also have this unusual sleep problem that I don't know whether it's been classified or labeled by science yet. Every few days, my sleep schedule seems to roll forward a few hours. I cannot maintain a regular 10pm to 6am sleep schedule. It keeps rolling forward every few days. Like one time it will be 2am to 10am. Then a few days later 4am to 12noon. Then a few days later 6am to 2pm. And so on. Eventually my sleep schedule is upside down and I can't even get any errands done because every business closes at 5pm or 6pm. Then it pushes forward again back to normal cycle again and so I come full circle. And then the cycle repeats again.

I've had this problem for years. It happens usually when I live a sedentary lifestyle on the computer and have nowhere to go. But if I'm traveling and on the move a lot and walking or hiking a lot, then I get tired at the end of the day and can sleep a normal schedule. I'm wonder, does sleep apnea cause this rollover effect? Have any of you experienced something like this before? If so, does CPAP fix this problem and help set your sleep in regular cycles?

If any of you can answer these questions, then thanks in advance.

@Contrarian Expatriate and @HouseMD any ideas?

Btw, this is the CPAP I'm getting from the HK supplier. See the link below. Does this site look credible and legit? Any red flags or suspicious elements that I should be worried about?

https://shop.cpappal.com/en_us/product/ ... 9975706be3

[Winston]

It seems according to the responses to my threads on sleep apnea forums, that most people who have sleep apnea also have bad dreams and nightmares. So the correlation does seem to be there, and understandably so since you're basically choking and gasping for breath during sleep apnea. See below.

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread ... viate-that

http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic/t1792 ... -that.html

[Winston]

LOL.

http://www.cpaptalk.com/viewtopic.php?p ... 5#p1354485

Considering the pandemic and current travel restrictions, you might be better off scheduling your visit to the US sooner than later. Get your cpap then.

Isn't it kind of scary in the US now? Seems so when I watch CNN. Lots of violence and martial law. The US seems like a police state now. Is it as bad as it looks on CNN and the news? Or does the media exaggerate as usual? The thing is, the US is still on lockdown until who knows how long. A lot of controllers in the US are control freaks and enjoy authoritarian power. It's like crack to them, gives them a power trip. There are two kinds of people in the US - those who like to control people and those who want to be left alone. Strange dichotomy. lol.

The thing is, here in Taiwan, as well as Japan and Korea, there is no lockdown. Everything is functioning as usual. No martial law. I definitely would not want to go from that to a police state under martial law in the US. Would you? lol. Sounds kind of scary. Like a sci fi dystopia. Besides, if I went back to the US, wouldn't I be trapped there? No international flights are allowed from there right? I'd be stuck in the suburbs working on my computer and watching movies and going to Waltmart, the supermarket, Trader Joes, and Subway for food. It'd get kind of old and routine after a while right? lol. No offense to any of you who are doing that, but you know what I mean. lol

Besides, I already found a way to get my CPAP from a HK supplier. See my previous post above.

[Winston]

Well I guess CPAPPAL.com is a legit site after all. Some third party reviews.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4672543

https://www.kake.com/story/41842868/mil ... p-machines

https://www.snntv.com/story/42093490/cp ... ider-today

Btw, check out these reviews and comparisons of the three best travel CPAP machines. Now there is one called Transcend Z2, besides Resmed AirMini and Philipps Dreamstation Go.









Question for @Contrarian Expatriate: Some of these reviews say that the humidifier for Resmed AirMini isn't that good and not good for long term use. Is that true? Do you agree with that?

Also, how important is the humidifier? Can a CPAP machine work good without it? Can you get a good night's sleep regardless of how good the humidifier is? How do you tell a good humidifier from a bad one? How big of a factor is this? Is this a major issue or a minor one?

Thanks.

[Winston]

Dreamstation Go Review

[Winston]

Wow CE. This new one called Z2 Auto Travel CPAP is about the same size as yours, but much cheaper. What do you think?