Newbie Seeking Path Forward

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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Hammer
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Hammer » Tue Aug 01, 2017 1:19 pm

WearyOne wrote:
Hammer wrote: After shoulder surgery, I put on about 12 lbs and started the diet the last week of June and have been religiously keeping carbs below 25 per day.

DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY DATA ON CARB CUTTING CAUSING INSOMNIA??
No data, but a bit of semi-related experience. Due to being prediabetic, I have cut my carbs low, but not that low. Mine are between 65 and 80. I already have sleeping issues and this didn't worsen them. (Although this, and lowering calorie intake, was a tremendous help in losing 40 pounds and lowering my A1C!) I know some folks who keep their daily carb count under 50 and have not mentioned any sleeping issues. Hope this helps some.
Thanks! Still looking for that magic bullet that allows me to get some rest and be a productive member of society again.

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Hammer
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Hammer » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:21 pm

Last night was a tough one. Felt a lot of air blowing out of my mouth for the first time in a while.

Image

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Pugsy » Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:34 pm

The fixed pressure at 8 simply couldn't do the job. Usual suspects are REM and supine sleeping and since your ugliness was worse later then REM comes to the top of the list because that's when we tend to have more REM. Needed more pressure for whatever reason at that time. This is where the auto would be nice. You could get by with less until whatever is going on happens and you need more pressure.

If you were mouth breathing it sure wasn't very much or for very long because the leak graphs aren't showing it but the fact you did it enough to disturb sleep is enough to want to try to reduce it as much as you can.

I don't remember your prior history and I know RobySue is helping you so I will let her continue. I just wanted to offer an explanation as to why it was a bit ugly. If this is a rarity for you then I would just shrug my shoulders and move on but if you start seeing this sort of ugly often then a pressure increase might be in order. We can all have "off" or "bad" nights from time to time without changing a thing. It just happens. I had one night before last but I left things alone and things were much, much improved last night.

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Hammer
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Hammer » Wed Aug 02, 2017 9:12 am

Pugsy wrote:The fixed pressure at 8 simply couldn't do the job. Usual suspects are REM and supine sleeping and since your ugliness was worse later then REM comes to the top of the list because that's when we tend to have more REM. Needed more pressure for whatever reason at that time. This is where the auto would be nice. You could get by with less until whatever is going on happens and you need more pressure.

If you were mouth breathing it sure wasn't very much or for very long because the leak graphs aren't showing it but the fact you did it enough to disturb sleep is enough to want to try to reduce it as much as you can.

I don't remember your prior history and I know RobySue is helping you so I will let her continue. I just wanted to offer an explanation as to why it was a bit ugly. If this is a rarity for you then I would just shrug my shoulders and move on but if you start seeing this sort of ugly often then a pressure increase might be in order. We can all have "off" or "bad" nights from time to time without changing a thing. It just happens. I had one night before last but I left things alone and things were much, much improved last night.
Thanks I looked at the OA, CA & H and noticed they started to increase around 4:00 AM so I looked at the day before and saw the same thing. I thought well what's going on at that time each day that's causing that activity. To your point, that was just 2 days and the last 90 days are totally different. Sigh, thought I was on to something. Back to the drawing board.

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Hammer
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Hammer » Tue Aug 08, 2017 3:39 pm

Met with my doctor yesterday and discussed some of the challenges I have been having. He was against me going back to Ambien every night and instead wants me to to try a new mask that covers my mouth to see if that will help. I argued against it, but remembered seeing others here liked the Amara mask so I asked about it. He said that mask was gimmicky, but if that's the only one I would try he would be fine with it. Picked it up at the DME this afternoon and will give it a go tonight. We also discussed the "what if this is doesn't work scenario." He said try it for the next 3 months and if things don't improve he would send me a for an inpatient sleep study to see if there are other factors causing the early morning awakenings. We even discussed me stopping CPAP therapy for good and while he was not in favor of it he said if you're getting no benefit from it then he really didn't see a need to continue.

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Hammer
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Hammer » Wed Aug 09, 2017 12:13 pm

Last night was my first night with the Amara mask and it was a disaster. First was the noise, it sounds like I'm in a wind tunnel and made it very difficult to sleep. Next was the force of the air, which seems like twice my normal pressure again making it difficult to tolerate. I'll keep trying, but even Ambien last night could get me to sleep.

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Pugsy
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Re: Newbie Seeking Path Forward

Post by Pugsy » Wed Aug 09, 2017 12:24 pm

Going from a nasal pillow mask to a full face mask can be a challenge in the best of circumstances.
Part of the reason I resisted for so long and still prefer to accept some minor mouth leakage over a full face mask.
The cure is simply worse than the disease IMHO and in my case for me...my opinion matters a lot.

I was able to successfully manage the Amara View but it took a lot of work getting it to seal properly that first time and even subsequent nights took some fine tuning. Once I got it done though it wasn't so troublesome.
I did spend a lot of time fiddling with it long before I ever was planning to go to sleep with it though. Trying to work out the kinks without being under the gun to "get to sleep".

Also make sure that you got the correct size cushion. There's a mask guide available to insure correct size...print it off and measure.
No amount of fiddling is going to fix incorrect size.

Don't spend all night fighting it and getting no sleep. You can always try again the next night. Try wearing it during the day if you can.
Finally...sometimes the cure is worse than the disease for some people. Evaluate what you are trying to fix with a FFM and decide if it is really that bad in the first place.
We gotta get the sleep first before any of the other stuff ever starts to matter.

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If you want to try the Eclipse mask and want a special promo code to get a little off the price...send me a private message.