Hello again, lars , anybody who's reading this on Christmas morning Do bear in mind that this forum is based in the US, and the majority of users live in America, and thus are at least five hours behind. :) I'm not (five hours behind). I'm out in Gloucestershire. :D And the first thing I notice – ev...

Hi Lars , If you are coughing and sneezing so much that you choose to give up CPAP treatment for a few days, then the relevant factors – it seems to me – are age, severity, physical condition, and co-morbidites. Ie, how old are you, what's your untreated AHI, are your heart and lungs in a reasonably...

Hi Jennybunny , With you having your machine conk out on a Saturday morning, you've discovered the hard way that the sleep-medicine departments in almost all NHS foundation trust hospitals are open only on weekdays , and there is no 'out of hours' cover for sleep apnea. If your machine had stopped w...

Hi pbrankin , I don't know what 'total AHI' is. Do you mean 'average across the whole night'? You say you had a home sleep study – was this one you paid for, and provided by Eu-pap or by ResMed or Philips Respironics (or some other)? Or was it via an NHS sleep-medicine department? I'm inclined to th...

Hi Deleted user , Well, assuming your handle or pen name isn't a spoof, and that yours is an honest enquiry, I'd need a bit more information from you. First, when you say "Airsense 10", what kind of Airsense 10? Is it the auto-adjusting one? If you are not sure, look on the bottom of the machine, an...

Hi markda23 , You mention hypoglossal nerve stimulation , and raise the question of its availability in the UK. HNS is available, and the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance on it. Here is what NICE says about the process. https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance...

Hello again, edam , If your sleep study of 12 years ago was performed by the NHS, and they began you on treatment, then your AHI would have been 15 or over. Because that is the point at which the NHS begins treatment. That can be a bit rough on those who score less than 15 but enough to significantl...

Hi DMZABO , Beetroot is high in nitrates. And, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4008816/ "Inorganic nitrate is present in numerous foodstuffs and is abundant in green leafy vegetables and beetroot. Following ingestion, nitrate is converted in the body to nitrite and stored and circu...

Hi Edam , I'm posting from the UK, and if I may, some information. I'm guessing that the sleep medicine department (SMD) you attend has standardised on the ResMed F20 – many SMDs have. They get a good price from ResMed UK when they buy in bulk, and it works quite well with most people. But I doubt i...

Hi onward60 , Many brands of 'air freshener' seek to mask a bad smell with a (hopefully) stronger, more intense good smell. But that doesn't always work. The molecules of both substances are still in the air space. A better way to reduce smells is to introduce into the air space droplets which combi...

Hi janknitz , You ask: "What do they do for a patient that is on CPAP and needs an IV bag changed, or other treatment every certain number of hours?" If the patient is on a non-Covid ward, and if the CPAP machine is on – then the doctor or nurse suits up into full PPE – personal protective equipment...

Hi Jennybunny , I have sleep apnea. I live in the UK, in Gloucestershire. And I was in an NHS hospital for 10 days last October – ie, a year ago today. As far as I know, the rule about switching-off-CPAP-an-hour-before breakfast is national policy, coming from NICE (the National Institute for Health...

Hi Steptoe , Does your use of the avatar 'Steptoe' indicate that you live in the UK? (The tv show Steptoe and Son was re-made for the US, where it was called Sanford and Son .) There is a condition which can be found in both adults and children called 'glue ear'. I don't know if this is what you hav...

If you're a purchaser in the UK and being treated within the NHS– which you are – there are two separate issues – well, three if we start with: should I stick to the two main manufacturers or should I consider other brands? Answer to that: as I said above, there are 150 foundation trust hospitals in...

Hello again Randoers7 , You say "typical NHS treatment' – no, it's worse than normal – because of the pandemic. In most UK hospitals, the sleep-medicine department is part of the Lung Function department (formery Chest Medicine before that got split into Cardiology and Lung Function). And many of th...