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Comment by balls187 | Hacker News Reader

Do you wear a cpap?

It sucks. I have an OA now. And it also sucks.

I've been using CPAP for 10 years, and it's pretty much the best thing that ever happened to me!

The morning after my first real sleep in ~5 years was an unreal improvement. It felt like I was snatched from my death bed and back to normal.

I use the nostril mask, and it doesn't really bother me. The full face mask experience is a lot worse.

PS Technically, it blows!

I started with full face -- I thought I needed to because I was a mouth breather at night. But with the nostril mask I breathe through my nose.

It's a common issue. If you breathe through your mouth at night, it's often because you can't get enough air because your airway is compromised. Once you add PAP, that problem goes away, and many people can revert to nasal breathing.

There is an adjustment period, turbinates can swell up from the extra airflow, and it might be uncomfortable for a while. And some people have such awful septum deviations that they're breathing through a straw. But most people are fine.

I assumed that my need for CPAP was mostly because I'm old and overweight. But I've always been a mouth breather even when I wasn't overweight, so it seems it could be more than my weight issues.

Untreated sleep apnea is often a cause of overweight. Being obese can contribute to sleep apnea, but unless you're extremely obese, it's rarely the cause.

I tape my mouth shut and use the CPAP nostril mask, work great, I wake fully refreshed.

That was my plan, I expected to need the tape. But I tried it without the tape and found it unnecessary. Have you tried without the tape? Worth a try if you haven't.

My CPAP provides 3 massive life changing benefits:

- a proper night's sleep

- moisture that ensures I don't wake up with a massive sinus headache that destroys my morning

- letting my partner have a proper night's sleep

Any one of the 3 would be worth the minor inconveniences of a CPAP.

My CPAP does the first two. But generally if you get event the tiniest leak (and it's hard to stop all the leaks) it's very noisy for my partner. My masks leaks so little that I have between 0 and 1 events per hour but it's still annoyingly loud so my partner usually sleeps in our guest bedroom. If I could take a pill instead I would do so gladly. That being said my CPAP machine typically reduces events by 98% or so, so 56% just isn't going to cut it.

Luckily my partner likes to sleep with a large fan; the noise of the CPAP blends well with that. But you're right about the leak noise -- about once a month I do get swatted in the middle of the night to adjust my mask.

There are cheap white noise machines that can cover the CPAP noise, without producing wind.

Took me 1-2 nights to be used to it when I tried it.

I can't agree more!

I was always tired. Falling asleep was a chore. Waking up was worse.

I pushed back against the sleep study for so long because I feared the mask. The sleep study was the best night of sleep I could ever remember.

Nasal Pillow CPAP, even with the little extra burden when travelling, has changed my life for the better - full stop.

> letting my partner have a proper night's sleep

I’m interested in this: how’s the CPAP noise perceived by the partners?

I don’t snore and usually wake up quickly when doing the "apnea noise", stopping before waking her up. In the meantime I read that CPAP produce a a constant sound + an inconstant sound from the air coming in and out. She needs quietness to sleep and disturbing her sleep refrained me to try it out. Non trivial price is also a factor through, otherwise I would have tried it since a long time.

A new Resmed machine is inaudible to my ears. But after 1-2 years, all 3 of mine has developed some kind of noise.

I recently found an online service that repaired one of mine, and it's quiet now.

There is also mask noise. If my nostril mask slips out a bit, there will be noise. Not too big a deal.

One fix that I think would work for most people is a white noise machine. It's briefly annoying, but after a while (a few nights at most is my personal guess) you stop noticing it, and it drowns out other noise.

> A new Resmed machine is inaudible to my ears. But after 1-2 years, all 3 of mine has developed some kind of noise.

This is my experience, I've tried swapping out tubes, the water container, but the noise is just unbearable and I can't even fall asleep while wearing it.

This place silenced and returned mine within a week: https://cpap-repair.com/

Nice, and I can use HSA funds for the repair..so that's a plus..

Godspeed!

Different ones have different sound profiles. Even the quietest isn’t my favorite so I use a https://getsnooz.com which are pricey but easily the best white noise machines I’ve used. The noise machine even on very quiet is enough to mask the inconsistent breathing sound. That’d be my best advice on it.

I have one of these, I believe I got the first batch from Kickstarter when they first came out. It's still working flawlessly on my nightstand. It's not just a digital white noise maker, that's why I really like it. Authentic sound.

Unless there’s a leak (and there shouldn’t be) CPAPs are much quieter than you think they are. The only time I even notice mine (Resmed with P10 nasal pillows) is when using it from a battery during a power outage when everything is dead quiet. If you have any kind of background noise (fan hum, AC, air purifier, living near a freeway) you probably won’t even notice it.

My wife has been on a CPAP since before we got married almost twelve years ago. It’s extremely quiet—I can’t usually hear it at all.

My partners prefer it to my not-breathing for 30 seconds or more, then gasping for air.

My partner has never heard any “cpap noise”. I just asked.

I've been using one for 4 years, and would never go back to sleeping without it.

I know it's annoying at first, took me a couple months to really get use to, but if you put in the effort to find a mask that works for you, it's 100% worth it. I dealt with bad sleep for 15 years before getting one, and I'll never go back.

My cpap mask doesn’t suck at all. It blows. (Wokka wokka!)

But it also makes sleep way more comfortable. I slept the entire night in my mask the first night, I was so worried about it and it turned out to be a non-issue. I love my mask.

I use one, and I love it. I'd probably continue to use it (or something like it) even if my apnea was cured. Breathing purified, warmed, perfectly humidified air piped directly to my nose is wonderful.

I wear one, and it’s great. I much prefer it to surgery or drugs.

I do. It's not the greatest, but you get used to it, and it makes sleep a hell of a lot better.

I do, a ResMed AirSense 11 with a ResMed Mirage FX. Wonderful sleep, wonderful comfort, and no need for the water supplement.

Yes, I don't think a lot of people realize that it's possible to run the AirSense 11 (I don't know about other models/brands) without distilled water. Resmed even sells "ResMed AirSense & AirCurve 11 Side Cover", which takes the place of the water tank.

My humidifier broke years ago and I haven't bothered to replace my unit. It gives me a little extra space to sneak a few more things onto flights by stuffing them in the CPAP bag where the humidifier would go. (I don't remember what model number I have, it's ancient, but the humidifier is easily detachable.)

They sell the same cover for the AirSense 10 as well, I just bought one.

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