I have a love/hate relationship with my cpap machine.  I've been partners with it for about 10 years now or more and will probably always need it.  I was young and hated the idea of it when I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea, but after a month and getting used to the mask I came to love it because I was finally sleeping well and waking up rested.  Although I remember thinking to myself MANY times how UNSEXY this was to sleep tethered to this thing my husband actually enjoyed the "white noise" of the machine.  As a matter of fact, when we traveled and had to stay in a motel or as a guest in an unfamiliar place it actually made it easier to fall asleep - it cut down on unfamiliar noises I guess.  The hardest thing for me to get used to was the mask itself - it made some pressure places on the bridge of my nose - the newer gel masks help with that now.

I am having a gastric bypass Friday and it would be great if I someday didn't need it, but my guess is I will still need it because of my age and muscle tone - but maybe I'll be able to get the pressure lowered anyway after I lose weight.  In the meantime I don't know how to go to sleep without the cpap machine - I don't even nap without it.  

I noticed that I was very "dry" each morning.  I went back for a sleep study after 3 months and my setting was lowered.  I am currently 6 months out, still use the CPAP and hven't been having any problems.  Hopefully, I'll be able to drop it soon.

My pcp sent me for a sleep study day before Thanksgiving because he thought I wasn't losing any weight in my pre op diet becasue of apnea.

I do have sleep apnea and received the BiPAP machine last week. I had a cold 2 days and didn't use it, last night  I lasted two hours.

I think the machine is the most humiliating thing I've endured in a long time. I absolutely despise it.

Its bad enough being fat and then having to lay next to your husband with this freakin fighter pilot mask on making Darth Vader noises is horrific to me.

I just hate the darn thing.

I'm also not losing weight and more exhausted from fighting with the machine.

What do you do?

I feel like I've hit rock bottom.

My doctor told me that I needed two sleep studies. The first would be the sleeping test to see if I had sleep apnea. It would take two weeks to get my results and if I had it then I would go back for another study with the CPAP.

When I went to my first test the tech told me that if I was able to sleep for at least 4 hours then my insurance company allowed a split test where I would be switched to a CPAP half way through the night and could then avoid the second study (yeah!).  He said that the only way I wouldn't be switched was if I 1) didn't sleep for at least 4 hours or 2) had no sleep apnea at all. 

So my guess is that if you were switched half way through the night you had to have had at least one episode.

Are you still able to use it when you sleep?