You have been diagnosed with sleep apnea. For patients, sleep apnea is for life and this is the time to be proactive in your prescribed treatment therapy. This is a critical time as you begin CPAP therapy and the information you will be receiving is important yet may seem overwhelming; your brain may be overload. This is all new to you and so how will you know what questions to ask?
This ebook is for the beginning CPAP user and explains in everyday terms how apnea occurs and how it affects the health, safety, and wellbeing of those who have it. This is not a technical book nor a medical book. It shares lessons from my years of experience helping people overcome their difficulty adapting to CPAP therapy for sleep apnea and tells you all the things I wish I could remember to tell everyone who comes through our lab. It discusses alternative treatments briefly and how to tell if you might benefit from one of them. It explains how CPAP works, why your doctor seems to prefer it and why it is so often the prescribed treatment, why it is sometimes very difficult to tolerate, and what you can do about it. It will give you the information to solve many of your problems with your CPAP and help you talk with your doctor about how to solve the others. But, again, it is for the beginner. If you have been struggling with CPAP for months or years you probably need personal attention from your local professionals.