New to CPAP - opinions welcome

[story1267]

How are you feeling now? Any improvement since your earlier posts? Just saw your thread for the first time today. I think a lot of times we don't give ourselves enough credit for all the other stuff going on in our lives that can disrupt sleep. Having a little one with medical problems makes it tough. Hope that also has gotten better.

Your AHI seems to be really good. I think people also don't give enough credence to paying off the sleep debt they have accumulated after years and years of SA.

Hope you are doing well and feeling better.

Thanks for your reply! The little one is now 18 but has continued to remain pretty interesting in the years since the early medical drama....

I certainly have other things going on that disrupt sleep - depression, fibro, sinus oddities. So I'm looking into any and all approaches to improve my sleep as well as being patient in making up for many years of sleep debt. I feel better than pre-treatment but I'm still fatigued despite treatment, good sleep habits (good-er TBH )

My numbers are definitely better on the current settings of 7-14.

I started at 4-18 with an average AHI of 3.59 over the first two months of therapy.

Then 6-14 which improved my average to 1.45 or so between late November and mid-January.

I see things on my charts that I'm still trying to figure out...the length of events, the particular waveforms, etc. Trying to understand what's happening with the events that I'm having in hopes of improving them - I realize I may reach the limit of what can be done with the therapy but I'm committed to it.

I've gotten a lot of really helpful info on the forum and I'm glad it's here.

[story1267]

So this happened the other night. I've recently switched back to the DreamWear mask and tightened it up and my leaks are next to nothing, yay!

DH mentioned he heard my machine "trying really hard to do something" at around 3:15. This is the SH info for that night. I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the pressure was jumping around like that with no events??

Any ideas? My goal is to reduce events, and that seems to be going ok, but I also want to keep pressure fluctuations to a minimum in hopes of improving my quality of sleep since I'm still tired despite good AHI and good sleep hygiene.

I'm heading in for a septoplasty at the end of the month - 97% obstruction of the right side plus a bone spur on the septum pressing on the inferior turbinate which could be contributing to multi-day headaches.

Saw a rheumatologist yesterday in hopes of approaching my presumed fibromyalgia in a way that will hopefully also improve the quality of my sleep. He started me on meloxicam (NSAID) while we await the results of blood work and xrays.

If you've read this far thanks for listening. I'm journaling my journey here. Maybe it'll help someone else as much as other journeys here have helped me.

[Wulfman...]

So this happened the other night. I've recently switched back to the DreamWear mask and tightened it up and my leaks are next to nothing, yay!

DH mentioned he heard my machine "trying really hard to do something" at around 3:15. This is the SH info for that night. I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the pressure was jumping around like that with no events??

Any ideas? My goal is to reduce events, and that seems to be going ok, but I also want to keep pressure fluctuations to a minimum in hopes of improving my quality of sleep since I'm still tired despite good AHI and good sleep hygiene.

I'm heading in for a septoplasty at the end of the month - 97% obstruction of the right side plus a bone spur on the septum pressing on the inferior turbinate which could be contributing to multi-day headaches.

Saw a rheumatologist yesterday in hopes of approaching my presumed fibromyalgia in a way that will hopefully also improve the quality of my sleep. He started me on meloxicam (NSAID) while we await the results of blood work and xrays.

If you've read this far thanks for listening. I'm journaling my journey here. Maybe it'll help someone else as much as other journeys here have helped me.

Part of it is sort of chopped off, but from what I can see, the Flow Limitations were driving the pressure increases.
And, Flow Limitations and Snores or primarily the only two things that will cause an APAP (in a range of pressures) to increase pressures.

Hopefully, the nasal surgery will help that out in the future.


Den

.

[story1267]

Part of it is sort of chopped off, but from what I can see, the Flow Limitations were driving the pressure increases.
And, Flow Limitations and Snores or primarily the only two things that will cause an APAP (in a range of pressures) to increase pressures.

Hopefully, the nasal surgery will help that out in the future.


Den



I see what you mean with the Flow Limitations. They've previously looked more "spiky" and I didn't really consider them on their own - I was looking more at the leaks. But now that I've got a good mask I can continue to fine tune the pressure settings....maybe cut down on the flow limitations with a higher pressure / narrower range.

Thank you!

[palerider]

So this happened the other night. I've recently switched back to the DreamWear mask and tightened it up and my leaks are next to nothing, yay!

DH mentioned he heard my machine "trying really hard to do something" at around 3:15. This is the SH info for that night. I'm at a bit of a loss to explain why the pressure was jumping around like that with no events??

snores and flow limitations will cause the machine to increase pressure *before* you have events.

[zoocrewphoto]

Is it possible that you rolled onto your back? That tends to make people worse. If you started having flow limitations from the position, then the machine would increase pressure to prevent events (and succeeded). My pressure will spike when I go onto my back, then go back down when I roll over. Not many events associated with the spikes since they were successful in preventing my events.

[story1267]

Is it possible that you rolled onto your back? That tends to make people worse. If you started having flow limitations from the position, then the machine would increase pressure to prevent events (and succeeded). My pressure will spike when I go onto my back, then go back down when I roll over. Not many events associated with the spikes since they were successful in preventing my events.

Yes, this is also part of the report from DH. I take these reports from him with great interest because he generally sleeps like a rock so if I'm doing something interesting enough for him to wake up....it's good info.

He did mention that I was on my back. And, yes, Palerider, I see where the pressure increase due to the flow limits would prevent events. This tells me I might be getting somewhere. I had another low AHI night last night and I'll look at the SH later on. I think I'll start to slowly increase the pressure from 9 and see what unfolds.

[ChicagoGranny]

I think I'll start to slowly increase the pressure from 9

You started with a pressure of 6.0 and wisely increased it to 9.0. Your AHI is very low, and your FLs are minimal. Who is telling you that the pressure needs to be increased further?

Do you have any excess sleepiness during the day?

[story1267]

I think I'll start to slowly increase the pressure from 9

You started with a pressure of 6.0 and wisely increased it to 9.0. Your AHI is very low, and your FLs are minimal. Who is telling you that the pressure needs to be increased further?

Do you have any excess sleepiness during the day?

Nobody told me to increase my pressure beyond 7 which is the last increase from my sleep doc. I explained to him that I was still tired despite good numbers and he told me to increase my sleep quantity - which I did - which had no effect on my overall tiredness. When I saw him recently and reminded him that I'm still tired - he told me that my AHI is under 2 and I'm getting an adequate number of sleep hours....therefore...I MUST be sleeping! Ugh.

I feel that I'm sensitive to small changes in pressure, my sleep has been fragmented as long as I can remember. I'm definitely *better* in that I'm no longer falling asleep at the wheel but I'm not rested.

So I'm willing to experiment to find settings that get me the best pressure with the fewest events - and I will try straight CPAP to see if that makes a noticeable difference. I want a few more days on my current pressure to collect that data [presuming I remember to unlock my card when I put it back in the machine - drat and dagnabbit], and then hold steady.

I also recognize that there are other factors that can and do contribute to tiredness which is why I'm pursuing evaluation by the rheumatologist.

[ChicagoGranny]

I also recognize that there are other factors that can and do contribute to tiredness which is why I'm pursuing evaluation by the rheumatologist.

Everyone who has any sleep problems including fatigue, should go over this checklist:

- Practice good sleep hygiene (Google it and read several sources)
- Eat a good diet
- Have a regular, moderate exercise program
- Try to avoid daytime naps.
- Practice total abstinence of caffeine including sources like chocolate (sigh)
- Review all medicines, vitamins and supplements you are taking to make sure none are interfering with sleep
- Use the bedroom for sleeping (and sex) only, and make sure the bedroom and bed are comfortable.
- Optimize emotional stress in your life
- Use CPAP software, such as the free SleepyHead, to make sure your therapy is optimized
- If you still don't feel or sleep well, make sure you have regular medical checkups to confirm there are no other medical problems.

CG

Good luck.