More questions:

Hi ladies and gents,

My sleeping is improved dramatically. I rarely if ever have to take a modafinil anymore, which I'm super happy about.

Unfortunately, I still have some residual tiredness throughout the day. Not debilitating sleepiness like I was experiencing.

Is this normal? will I always have the mild sleepiness? I've been using my cpap for over a year. Pressure is 10.
Edit: I get bad gas because of the cpap pressure at 10. I have tried lower pressures but I end up being extremely tired. With a pressure of 10 I wake up many times with pressure in my throat/esophagus area and belly. I will have to burp and fart for awhile before I can fall back to sleep.


I am still sleep on back and my soon to be wife tells me that I snore still. Is this normal with cpap? I know I should sleep on sides, but I wake up with back aches when i sleep on my sides.

I have been using my fitbit to keep track of my sleep as well. What my fitbit is telling me is that while I have my cpap on for 7 to 7.5 hours, I am only sleeping for around 6 because of restlessness and being awake. I still wake up several times a night

araris wrote:Unfortunately, I still have some residual tiredness throughout the day. Not debilitating sleepiness like I was experiencing.

Is this normal? will I always have the mild sleepiness? I've been using my cpap for over a year. Pressure is 10.

Yes...it's possible to still have some residual daytime sleepiness even with the most optimal sleep as in hours of sleep and optimal sleep architecture and optimal cpap therapy. Not everything can be fixed with the cpap machine....it's not always that simple.

Look at hours of sleep (how many hours are you averaging)...are those hours fragmented very much and look at your therapy itself to see what's happening.
If you are still snoring very much at all it usually means the airway is still trying to collapse even if the AHI is quite low.
Therapy may not be quite optimal and maybe a little more pressure is needed to better prevent the airway collapse that the snores are warning us about. It all depends on just how much snoring is going on.

Thanks Pugsy.

Maybe I'll have to boost up my pressure. I just hate it because of the gas that I already have. I have gained about 30-40 pounds since starting cpap. I just didn;t have the energy to work out. I probably need to up the pressure. I am working out again and eating very clean. Hopefully I can get the weight off and lower my pressure.

If you are having aerophagia (gas) pains with more pressure then you may be trading a small problem (snores) for a bigger problem and the gas may cause more sleep problems (and daytime problems) and you may have to compromise and let a few snores slide by.

What settings are you currently using now?
I saw your aches and pains thread...you know that frequent awakenings from aches and pains will kill sleep architecture and greatly affect how we feel during the day. I have that problem myself.
Just how many hours of sleep are you averaging and how many wake ups during the night due to aches and pains?

Pugsy wrote:If you are having aerophagia (gas) pains with more pressure then you may be trading a small problem (snores) for a bigger problem and the gas may cause more sleep problems (and daytime problems) and you may have to compromise and let a few snores slide by.

What settings are you currently using now?
I saw your aches and pains thread...you know that frequent awakenings from aches and pains will kill sleep architecture and greatly affect how we feel during the day. I have that problem myself.
Just how many hours of sleep are you averaging and how many wake ups during the night due to aches and pains?

I use the cpap around 7 on average a night. I just started using my fitibt as well and it is saying that I am actually only getting about 6 hours. My pressure is 10. I do not use the humidifer as of a month ago. I think I sleep better without it.

6 hours of sleep really isn't enough sleep even if it wasn't fragmented for whatever reason.
If the aerophagia is that bad...I wouldn't try killing the snores unless the snores were showing as a massive problem if your AHI is otherwise acceptable.

You might benefit from a bilevel machine.

Pugsy wrote:6 hours of sleep really isn't enough sleep even if it wasn't fragmented for whatever reason.
If the aerophagia is that bad...I wouldn't try killing the snores unless the snores were showing as a massive problem if your AHI is otherwise acceptable.

You might benefit from a bilevel machine.

I have tried to get a bilevel and the insurance keeps saying, "no."


My AHI is typically under two since I went with my prescribed pressure of 10. My insurance agreed about two months ago to give me an apap. However, after a month of having a really low AHI I went back to a straight cpap because I literally wake up everytime the pressure adjusts.

araris wrote: I have tried to get a bilevel and the insurance keeps saying, "no."

Any chance you could swing buying something like the PR S1 BiPap Pro on your own if it was a gently used low hour machine?
Since you don't do well with apap then you probably wouldn't need the Auto model because your body likes fixed pressures anyway.
Bilevel can be a great advantage to people who are having aerophagia issues.
Will it be a 100% fix for your problem...don't know but it might help.

I'd be willing to buy a used one for sure, but would be a little scared about it. I'm looking on craigslist now.

I would buy one brand new and just charge it if I knew it would 100% fix my issue.

I have several

PM sent

There's a youtube video on aerophagia in the useful links in my signature line below. Might or might not help, but it's easy to try.

Bilevel would help the aerophagia...for sure.... but I can't guarantee it will help the sleep quality because sometimes crappy sleep is related to other stuff that xpap can't fix.

Are you using a memory foam bed, or what?