Hi everyone! This is my first post here, so I hope I'm in the right place. To make a long story short, I'm 26 and was recently diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea. I am currently waiting to be scheduled for my titration study before I can get a CPAP/BiPAP, and the waiting is miserable.

I had my initial sleep medicine consult back in February of this year, hoping it would solve my fatigue issues and make my last semester of law school a little less miserable. Unfortunately, the earliest sleep study appointment I could get wasn't until after my graduation in May. I got my results in June, and now I'm sitting in pre-cert purgatory waiting for my titration study because my sleep doctor doesn't think an auto-CPAP is appropriate in my case given how severe my study was.

My sleep study showed a lot, but the numbers that really stood out were: an AHI of 120 events per hour, a lowest oxygen saturation of 62%, and an average oxygen saturation of ~80%.

Looking back, this honestly explains A LOT for me. Over the past year, I have been constantly exhausted. I fell asleep in every class and at work, and I even fell asleep while driving between my hometown and campus during breaks (about a 4-hour trip). Despite having a family history of sleep apnea as well as a horrible snoring problem, I honestly just thought I was lazy, burned out, and/or depressed. Turns out I was just previewing asphyxiation in my sleep. Go figure.

This whole thing has kind of put my life on pause. I ended up postponing taking the bar exam and entering the workforce until I can get everything sorted.

Since I'm in limbo right now, I wanted to come to Reddit and ask for some advice. For those of you who had to wait weeks or months to start treatment, what helped? Sleeping positions? Ways to cope with the fatigue? Things you wished you'd known before getting your machine?

I'm currently using a wedge pillow, which has helped some, but I'm still dealing with a lot of fatigue.

Thanks in advance! I appreciate your time and any advice or wisdom you can share. :)

title essentially. I am suspecting sleep apnea strongly and i am having a test done next week. But i am starting to connect the dots and in my life and i wonder if the two are related? does sleep apnea cause depression and does depression cause sleep apnea?

I got a couple free unused, still in the box masks from my sleep study. The tech was all like we have a ton of these in the back 🤣 is it legal to resale those? If so where would I even start?

I’ve been using my CPAP pretty consistently since late February, with very few days off, and I’m finding my sleep is worse.

I’m waking up much more often, taking off my mask without realising between 3am-5am, and my sleep score is generally pretty bad. My symptoms also haven’t been improving, my daytime sleepiness is still pretty bad, I’m struggling to wake up, and struggling to stay awake.

A few days ago I took a night off from my CPAP as it needed a clean, and it was the best nights sleep I’ve had for a while.

Any suggestions, or tips on what to do?

I should note, I adjust my mask fit to suit, rarely have mask leaks, and can comfortably fall asleep wearing the mask, I don’t feel any claustrophobia. I use an AirSense 11 with a full face mask.

Also not sure if this is useful, but I take antidepressants, and regularly attend therapy, so I don’t believe the issue with sleep is linked to my mental health.

Anyone ever re-took a sleep study and the test appeared to have no findings of AHIs or no proof of sleep apnea?

have a re-test and not sure if the results show i "improved" I'll lose the treatment/diagnosis.

Anything helps, thx.

Looking for an original Belgian FN Browning Auto-5 12 gauge 32 inch barrel. If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know. Thank you

Im struggling with hair thinning, since i also have sleep apnea im wondering if low rem/deep sleep can have this issue regard hair health. Is anyone here struggling with both/ has anyone here regained their hair density after cpap/ djs?

Curious to hear your stories / thoughts!

I was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea in 2023 and was prescribed a CPAP. I really tried to make it work and used it consistently for about 7–8 months, but I just couldn't tolerate it.

I had a full-face mask, and I'd wake up 5–6 times a night (or more). I'd often take the mask off in my sleep without realizing it, and every morning I'd wake up with deep marks on my face from the mask. I ended up feeling like I was getting less sleep with the CPAP than without it, so I eventually stopped using it.

When I was first diagnosed, my sleep doctor mentioned that surgery was also an option, but at the time I thought, "Why would I have surgery if a machine can fix it?" Since then, though, I ended up having an unrelated surgery in 2024, so surgery doesn't seem nearly as intimidating to me as it once did.

Now I'm wondering if I should revisit that conversation with my sleep doctor.

For those of you who couldn't tolerate CPAP and ended up having surgery:

What procedure did you have?

Was it worth it?

How bad was the recovery?

Did it significantly improve your sleep or reduce your sleep apnea?

I'm not looking for medical advice, just interested in hearing real experiences from people who have been in a similar situation.

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I just wanted to throw this out there for people who were like me and couldn't get traditional chinstraps to work for them. For me, the traditional chinstraps did not prevent my jaw from dropping open when I slept and they caused some pretty bad jaw pain.

I started using a soft cervical collar Jan 2026 (so only like 7 or 8 months) and it was amazing and a game changer. It kept my jaw from dropping, no jaw pain, I even woke up with no shoulder or neck pain and didn't realize this until recently, but it must have been keeping my tongue in proper position somehow. Well, I hit the 60-65lb mark on my weight loss and suddenly everything started going wonky for me. I started getting really bad aerophagia, my jaw started dropping again and my AHI started bouncing all over the place. Which for me, if my machine shows even a small leak of like 2L or 7L, my AHI jumps up and I know it's caused by mouth leaks because of how dry my mouth is.

Well, getting desperate after every new collar I tried didn't fit comfortably or properly, I splurged and bought the Knightsbridge DualBand Air Deluxe chinstrap (the most expensive one). After measuring, it said I was a medium. I got my order and it was too big even though it's the smallest size you can order online.

I called their customer service and explained my issues and the guy said that it sounds like it is too big and to measure and email him my measurement and he would have a Small size made and sent out. When I measured the circumference, I measured in at the smallest measurement for medium. I decided to take additional measurements of my head in all different spots and included those.

I got an email back and was told that yup even tho the circumference measured as a medium, with all the additional measurements I sent, I do need a small. He said they are going to custom make one based off of MY measurements so the cap fits my head properly!!! And that they will also extend my 30 day return period while this cap is made and then tried out to make sure it works for me.

I am flabbergasted at the amazing customer service I received from them and the fact that they are going to custom make this cap for me totally makes the cost I paid worth it. I'm just hoping that this new one will fit properly and will work for me. Even if it doesn't fix the aerophagia (which I suspect it won't), I'm hoping it'll work well enough that I can drop the collar.

Suspect I might have sleep apnea, all the symptoms match, so I want to get started on getting an official diagnosis, but have no idea how to get started. How did you guys get your diagnosis/treatment started?

So I’ve been a bad snorer, so bad that my wife sometimes needs to go sleep in a different room.

I’ve gotten sleep studies done and I don’t have sleep apnea, but still bad snoring.

Well, recently my wife said my snoring is gone! She hasn’t noticed my snoring in a few days.

I’m only on week 3 of reta, and I’m beyond happy with this side effect.

Anyone else have this happen?

I just got my resmed autoset 11. I've been messing around with the pressures and had it on for around 4 hours last night and couldn't sleep with it on. I'm using the resmed P30I mask and the mask itself isn't bad. The problem I have is, as soon as I start to doze off and my breathing becomes a little shallow, I feel like it's a bicycle pump straight to my lungs with instantly kills any chance of me falling asleep. I've messed around with the pressures since I'm at 4.2 - 10 and it's better than when it was higher, but It's still giving me the sensation and I can't stand it. Took it off and gave up. What should I do? EPR is at 3 with ramp off.

Somehow the myair app told me I had 6 events per hour even though I didn't sleep with it on.

Hi all!

I started on CPAP a couple months ago and finally got around to checking sleep hq.

Looking at the data … I’m fairly certain this means im experiencing flow limitations but I’m not 100% what this all means and where to go from here. Would love some input on that and anything else you might see relevant .

my sleephq link

Some general info :
-Ahi at diagnosis was 5.6 or something in that ball park. RDI was 10.something (was diagnosed at the push of a dentist after realizing I was clenching, he suspected I had UARS, but the sleep doctor I said didn’t specify anything beyond “mild sleep apnea”)
-Ahi is 0 most nights (the highest my machine has told me is 0.2 I think) . It was immediately zero after starting CPAP.
-I was experiencing VERY low leaks for my first month or two, but then suddenly now it swings wildly for no leaks one day to big leaks the next. I can feel it leaking up towards my eyes and have woken with puffy eyes lately. Does my mask need to be replaced already? I wash it everyday . Or maybe I should just try another type ? This is the only style I’ve tried so far (airfit n20)
-I overall sleep okay with the CPAP, but I have been waking up tired still

Machine is set to auto set for her, min 6 , max 8, epr 1.

Finishing up week 1 with AirSense11 and AirFit N30i.

My numbers are great, but my sleep is terrible because there is a low whistle in my mask every time I breathe in. When I breathe out, the whistle goes away.

I’ve troubleshot the heck out of machine, tub, tubing, and mask (different sizes, too). I’ve tried white noise (worst.night.ever) and earplugs (painful). Any ideas?

'm looking for some advice about the Oura Ring's overnight oxygen readings.

For context, I'm pregnant and have exercise-induced asthma. I also live at about 7,000 feet elevation. During the day, including after activity, I check my oxygen with a fingertip pulse oximeter, and it usually reads 96–98%.

However, my Oura Ring consistently reports my overnight oxygen around 93–94%. When I wake up and check with my pulse oximeter—or even if I check in the middle of the night—it usually reads 95–97%. I then decided to get a finger oximeter to wear at night at my average is usually around 95%, but I have a 1-2 second dip of 90-93%.

I know there's going to be some variation between devices, but I'm curious if anyone else has noticed their Oura Ring reading lower than a pulse oximeter overnight.

And before anyone comes for me 😅, I already reached out to my doctor. I'm just wondering if this is a common Oura experience

Hello all! Please bear with me as it’s one of my first times posting on reddit. 🙂

Long story short…I am in a long distance relationship and my boyfriend’s sleep/snoring/daytime tiredness is beyond concerning to me. I won’t go into his personal health details but I will say I’m confident he has sleep apnea. He has never addressed it or even seems interested in addressing it with a doctor. I feel as if he doesn’t understand the gravity of the situation and thinks it’s no big deal. It’s terrifying from my perspective considering this is the person I want to spend the rest of my life with.

We’ve met up in person/spent nights together on three separate occasions. The first two times we slept in separate bedrooms as I have severe misophonia (a neurological disorder where specific/repetitive sounds trigger extreme emotional or physiological reactions) and snoring causes me extreme anger to the point of physical/emotional outbursts. Our third time of overnight visits occurred in a hotel room where I was unable to escape the snoring. If there would have been a tub in the bathroom I would have happily slept there. I also contemplated sleeping in my vehicle but I know my boyfriend would have been so incredibly angry. I didn’t want to make him upset so I just laid in bed all night long dying inside. I had my head by his feet as to not be next to his head, ear plugs in, my phone on full volume against the ear plug, and pushed a pillow overtop of that. While it helped a bit I could still hear the snoring and it is all I could focus on. I slept maybe an hour throughout the whole night.

Obviously this is not feasible or sustainable so…I’m reaching out for real world experiences, stories, and advice for him to read. I truly don’t think he understands the effects this has on his everyday life and on his future health. It’s so dangerous to not address this and I’m at a loss of what else to say/do to get him to take it seriously.

Please share all sides of your experience/knowlegde….the good and the bad. It’s really my last ditch effort and maybe hearing it from other people, not just myself, may make a difference for him. I love him so very much and need him around for a long long time.

I appreciate all of you in advance.

I have been using a CPAP for a few days and am still waking up every hour and a half despite my wellvue 02 ring not registering any drops.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I’m likely going to need one, my current healthcare provider goes through Adapt and they do rent-to-buy. However, I already hit my OOP max for the year so I’d rather buy it. Anyone know if that’s possible?

After hearing complaints from my wife that I snore like a pig, and my PCP telling me how sleep apnea can cause more issues later on, I finally agreed to do a at home sleep study and got my machine a month later from the VA. Any tips for new user here? Thanks in advance!

I'm newish to my sleep apnea journey and my fear has come true I have my first cold and my nose won't stop running. I had to take my cpap off last night because my nose just kept running and I couldn't sleep and it was driving me nuts. I have nasal pillows. Is there anything I can do besides what I've tried? I've been doing nasal rinses, blowing my nose, taking my allergy meds.

tonight kept waking up gasping for air... not like small, but it was really terrible, heart racing super fast, feels like nothing in my brain and then taking a huge long gasp and feeling all the oxygen return to lungs and my heart hurt from how fast its racing. tried to tell the paramedics not just them but doctors when i sleep, or my neck is fucking with my sleep but everyone always tells me oh must be asthma, anxiety, stress, etc. like okay... im fuckinf scared, i feel like im going to die in my sleep. i went to the hospital, even now it feels bad like i know if i sleep im going to stop breathing. how tf do i get taken seriously. yes i took a sleep study, but i only slept for 90 minutes and it wasnt as bad as it is now. ive been sick for past few days and havent really eaten/drank so i think thats also making this even worse. im so scared but no one takes me seriously 😭 im sorry if this is the wrong place to post but im so fucking scared, when i go to the hospital or doctors they dont listen to me 😭

I've been using my CPAP for a few days. Today I woke up with what look like blisters on the bridge of my nose. I think I had my mask on too tight and I'm nervous to wear it again tonight and make them worse. I'm looking at mask liners on Amazon and wondering if they actually help or if there's anything else I can do to prevent this happening again.

As title says, my clinic sent me only this fgzip file that I cannot open or check what the report says about my sleep apneea.
If there’s anyone here to help me please send me a DM.
Not sure if this breaks any rules , if yes please redirect me to another subreddit. Thanks in advance!

I am hoping for some recommendations that could be helpful with the symptoms of OSA for someone that does not meet the guidelines to get treatment covered. Devices or pillows to purchase online, and other tips or tricks?

More info: I have suspected OSA for years and avoided testing because I hated the idea of a CPAP. Symptoms were bad during pregnancy then I lost a decent amount of weight and they got better. The last 3 months sleep has been absolutely garbage and impacting me significantly. I wake suddenly every hour or two with my heart racing. If I get up to go to the bathroom my legs feel weak. It takes a bit to fall back asleep. My Garmin shows pulse ox dips all through the night. I finally agreed to a sleep study and the results show only mild OSA (AHI 5.7) but my sleep feels so much worse. Insurance won't cover a CPAP and doctor suggested seeing a dentist for an oral device but I was told I'd be looking at at least $1000 for something like that which I can't afford.

TLDR: my sleep is absolutely horrible and everything sucks because of it. My AHI is too low for insurance coverage and I need options that can help I can do on my own.

Hello! My family and partner have observed I have symptoms of sleep apnea. I am fully convinced that this is due to weight since I am on the heavier side. I am excited to begin my journey to fix this. Should things not change with my efforts I will not hesitate to go to a sleep doctor.

I would still like to make sure my brain and body get adequate oxygen at night. I also want to have more restful sleep and be considerate to the people send me. Are there any good or reccomended alternative to CPAP that I should try in the meantime? I'm looking for something thats not too obstructive as I thrash in my sleep. Nose strips are helpful but def need something more drastic