We use cookies and other tools to enhance your experience on our website and to analyze our web traffic.
For more information about these cookies and the data collected, please refer to our Privacy Policy.

Biguglygremlin

Biguglygremlin
Joined Nov 2018
Bio

Male aged 60+

Overweight

Very Severe Apnea

CPAP user since June 2014

Airsense 10

Pressure <12>

Nasal Pillow

Airfit P30

RLS PLMD PTSD CFS RBD

Australia

Biguglygremlin
Joined Nov 2018
Bio

Male aged 60+

Overweight

Very Severe Apnea

CPAP user since June 2014

Airsense 10

Pressure <12>

Nasal Pillow

Airfit P30

RLS PLMD PTSD CFS RBD

Australia

I like to hijack a thread from time to time, and I know this one was aimed in the opposite direction, but it touches on an area that I have been thinking about for a while now.

Anxiety and stress are basic ingredients of life, and they enable us to survive and function as a society, but we have made our world so complicated that doubts and uncertainty often amplify the anxiety.

I've seen comments within this forum to the effect that the only way to compel people to comply with the sleep industry is by using fear, and that seems to be a very effective strategy.

Fear of damaging or losing your relationship because of snoring.

Fear of personal failure through confusion and fatigue.

Fear of losing your license because of noncompliance.

Fear of losing your job because of incompetence.

Fear of losing your health benefits through noncompliance.

Fear of dying from a whole list of nasty diseases because you aren't using a CPAP.

Fear is the basis of anxiety and essentially the entire sleep industry aims to instill fear and cultivate anxiety in order to control (Oops I meant help) as many people as possible, so it's hardly surprising that there seems to be a connection between anxiety and CPAP users.

People participate in this forum for a variety of reasons, some, like myself, are here because they like twisting words and logic, some, because they are driven to solve puzzles and find answers, but many are here looking for assurances to help them manage their anxieties.

Anxiety and stress are basic ingredients of life, in the right proportions they are essential to everything we do.

I understand the argument that you use regarding vents Sierra and all of the masks I have used over the years have been survivable under normal cirumstances, except the one I am using currently. (Dreamwear Nasal)

I believe without a doubt that given the right circumstances it could be fatal. Yes it has 2 vents, primarily because in order to reduce complaints about noise and draft the vent at the nose is merely a token and when it's been all drooled over it is pretty much useless so that leaves an effective working vent on top of the head. Theoretically that should be enough to prevent asphyxiation but only if you can suck the air from that vent down through the air channels to the nostrils. Therin lies the issue.

If the mask is fitted enough to stay on, those air channels are already flattened, and the moment you try to suck air down with no pressure from the CPAP they suck closed. Still you reckon the user will wake or open their mouth or brush the mask off. I believe that is a dangerous assumption. It may work for you but there are times when I know it would not work for me. Times when I am just too sick and too unaware, too zoned out, times when I would be distressed and confused and most likely black out before I figured out what to do about it. At the moment when the machine shuts off or when the power fails I eventually wake up, totally distressed with a colossal headache, but I know that if I was really sick that would not be the case.

I'm stuck with the Resmed 10 at the moment and I consider it to be the least dependable machine I have. Currently it senses the resistance of those flattened hoses and just quietly slows down and, because they respond by further resisting the airflow, the CPAP simply stops blowing. It just sits there humming away waiting for an opportunity to start pumping more air. In the meantime I am loosening the mask to facilitate the useless machine, but in the process it now leaks air all over my face and ceases to work as a nasal pillow mask. The machine is happily pumping away at full bore and I am facing a hurricane but none of it getting where it should. All part of the fun right?