I find it easier to go up myself in stages. Big changes either way can be uncomfortable. I have done both and a 3 cm increase or decrease is getting close to the noticeable area where it can start to become be uncomfortable. We do get used to it but I see no sense in being uncomfortable when trying to fall asleep. We don't have to pick perfectly in one fell swoop. We can take our time getting things figured out.
You have several options. The 8 to 12 is a good one...8 to 10 is an option..Den's 9 cm (but use apap mode with minimum to equal max to attain the 9) is a good option too. There's going to be pros and cons with just about anything you try.
Heck, 8 cm fixed is also an option.
For the bulk of the night the 5 cm minimum does a pretty good job...it's just when you see the clusters that the machine can't handle the situation. Since you say you pretty much stay on your side all night then I suspect that it is REM stage sleep stubborn events that we are seeing needing more pressure. It fairly common for REM stage sleep to cause the airway to get more floppy and need more pressure to hold it open. Your clusters are occurring in the time frames that we would expect a person to be in REM sleep.
If it were me and I was having the aerophagia issues....I think I would do 8 to 10 and see if I got lucky and didn't have those clusters and have aerphagia stay away.
Den likes using a single pressure because he found that the least little change in pressure in apap mode disturbed his sleep and he just didn't rest as well.
I sleep through 9 to 24 cm every night and often during the night and never know it happens until I see my report and my sleep quality is very good.
I don't know if you are going to be like me or like Den... but you have been sleeping through some really wild changes as it is.
The pros to using a single fixed pressure...eliminates the chance that the pressure changes might disturb sleep at some level.
The cons to using a single fixed pressure..you have to use a higher pressure all night to deal with the stubborn higher pressure needing events.
The pros to using an auto adjusting pressure...enables a person to use a lower pressure for the bulk of the night and the higher pressure for only a small part of the night. Comes in handy with a person has potential aerophagia issues.
The cons to using an auto adjusting pressure...if someone is sensitive to the least little change in pressure it can potentially impact sleep quality. Some people are sensitive and some people aren't.
Wulfman... wrote:My "chicken or egg" comment was sort of from looking at the clusters and wondering if the pressure was trying to address them or if the pressure was causing them.
The pressure is trying to address them and not causing them. This I am pretty sure of. The machine is working its little butt off trying to do a better job but it just can't quite get the job done and the pressure isn't even dropping to the minimum.
We are close enough in our ideas that we are really splitting hairs here. 9 cm or 8 to 10....very minor differences and unless someone was ultra sensitive to variations in pressure it really isn't going to make much of a difference and besides...we just want to get close anyway...see what happens with the clusters and the aerophagia and then re-evaluate as needed.
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