Thank you for all the responses.
Because some people wanted to see it, here's my most recent attempt at minimum of 8 pressure:
Then last night I decided to go back to 7.5 minimum and turn Flex down to 2 rather than the 3 it's been at since I started. Here's report:
I had no comfort difference with lowering Flex - it's comfortable either way - so I'm going to continue to lower it and see what happens.
Chicago Granny :
No need to get frustrated - you have a lot of things going well.
BTW, your equipment profile needs updating.
The source of my frustration is that I don't feel any better after 5 months of total compliance. Actually that's not entirely accurate. I do feel pretty good mentally. However, I feel worse physically. Having a hard time understanding why this is so, and I'd sure love for cpap to be helping me feel some improvement physically. I am still so tired and my family is still laughing at me for falling asleep when we watch TV at night. I'm tired of still wondering when I wake in the morning if I'll have the energy to get through the day. I know I need to be patient and change takes time, but I'd expect some improvement after 5 months.
My equipment is listed at the bottom of my posts and is accurate. Is there something that seems off?
TedVPap:
The problem that many people have is as they are getting adjusted to the alien, they are also changing treatment settings so it is nearly impossible to separate the causation. As you said, you feel better even though your numbers are not better. You credit the improvement to less mask leaks and less awakenings - makes sense to me.
I would want to see to see your sleepyhead data before advising on any pressure changes.
I have tried to be really methodical about this whole thing. For instance, when I make a pressure adjustment I make sure I don't change anything else and I give it several days at that pressure to look for any patterns. I think the reverse of what you said is actually the case: I don't feel better but my numbers are getting better (for the most part). Maybe I didn't explain that well in my original post.