Noob, Titrated last night, lots of Qs

Hiya all!

Thank google for helping me find you guys - I was sure you were around somewhere!

Soooo...My tl:dr - 37yr female, BMI around 36+ (in case that matters? I have no idea how this stuff works!) history of a possible TIA/stroke, titrated last night in a sleep lab w/nasal mask, and I *think* I got mouth leaking, whats a newbie to do when she looks for a full-time mask later?

Longer version:
This all started a year+ ago. I have had a DVT in my leg. I have a blood clotting genetic thing (Factor V Leiden) that makes me prone to clots). I am on a TON of meds. I am prone to migraines. First diagnosed with just sleep disorder NOS, and put on 02 2L/min because all I was having were central apneas/hypopneas, and not too many, but enough to get me O2. In October, I may have had a TIA/stroke, and then I really got bad sleep, bad morning headaches, etc. So another sleep study. Mostly same result, stuck w/the O2. However, this past winter, I kept getting *worse*, needing a nap everyday instead of every couple. I was also not always compliant with the O2 during the day as the initial beep on concentrators are kinda LOUD - I use it all night, but not always for naps. One day, my husband walked in on one of my naps and found me blue . Back to the sleep lab I went. This was in January. This time, they found a few centrals, but also some obstructive hypopneas and apneas as well - mostly because I finally hit a good stretch of REM! Instead of counting my AHI for the whole night (which I think they said was only 5.5) they used the AHI during REM as my diagnosis (is that normal?) which is 38.5 (ouch!). I didn't snore much, per the report (husband never reports hearing snoring, he just sleeps with one hand on my chest and freaks when I stop breathing, shakes me awake, rinse, repeat - we're both exhausted!).

So! Last night was my FOURTH sleep lab night! I finally got to try a CPAP! I felt more comfy in a nasal mask than full face, mostly because I'm at least used to something being on that part of my face all night. I kept it on all night, and was told that was a major step in the right direction, at least. But at some point, towards morning, I don't know if they had turned up the pressure, or what, but suddenly I was getting air in my mouth. Like, it was pushing my cheeks out, like a puffer fish! It'd wake me up, I'd take a couple of breaths through my mouth, and go back to sleep. But I think it happened in my sleep, too, because I woke with a dry mouth. Is that "mouth leaks"? How do you stop them?

Also, the nasal mask kinda pressed on the bridge of my nose towards morning. I heard there are "nasal pillows" that just sit in the nostrils, can you give more info, where to find good pics, etc?

I do feel a bit more "awake" today than I have in awhile - that's a good sign, right? Things get better from here?

TIA soo much!!

Welcome to the forum.
When you have time please register and then later when you get your equipment you can add it to your profile like I have mine.
See the equipment in my profile...I am currently using one of those nasal pillow masks you were asking about. It's one of the newest nasal pillow masks. I have used some sort of nasal pillow mask for coming on 6 years now.

The REM thing for the diagnosis...that's similar to what I had happen to me. My non REM AHI was about 12 per hour but in REM sleep it was 53 per hour. It's fairly common though and not unusual. For a lot of people their OSA is worse in REM stage sleep.

The cheeks inflating like a puffer fish....we call that chipmunk cheeks and it is also common at first because the tongue isn't blocking the back of the mouth and thus air sneaks into the mouth from the airway and lips are closed so the cheeks inflate.
Once the tongue learns to block that back door the chipmunk cheeks rarely present a problem for most cpap users. It does sometimes take a bit of time for the tongue to learn to do its job.

There are all sorts of nasal pillow masks out there and some are better than others and some people prefer one model over another and that's okay because mask preference for any mask is highly individualized. One man's trash is another man's treasure. What I might love you might hate and what I might hate you might love. It's just the way it is with masks.

You might want to read this
https://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/what- ... me-part-i/
and this
https://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/

If your primary diagnosis is Obstructive Sleep Apnea then you likely will get the usual cpap/apap machine but if those centrals ended up being much of a factor then you might be in line for a different type of machine. Will cross that bridge if we need to and we will explain in more detail if that turns out to be the case.

If you want to look at the various nasal pillow masks you can take a stroll through what cpap.com carries (they sponsor this forum)
https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks/nasal-p ... p-mask.php

You have got a pretty steep learning curve ahead of you but just take your time and read and read and read some more and eventually things will come together for you.

Registered!

Thanks for your reply - sounds like I do have a lot of learning to do, but that's ok. One small step at a time, I think, and I'll get it all eventually.

I've been busy browsing forums and youtube and google, etc. this morning (better than freaking out, right?)..and realized that many of you are camping with your CPAP, etc! Oh happy day! I will cross that bridge later, but just knowing I don't have give that up, and that machines are FAA rated for air travel...ahhhh...feeling more at ease already.

And, knowing the slow turn around time from Sleep Lab to report in Dr hands, I probably have around 2ish weeks to learn about mask types before I even visit talk w/DME - and if I'm learning right, almost all (or all?) masks work with all machines?

Yes, pretty much all masks work with all machines now.
Back when I first started therapy there were some limitations on masks with the high end machines but that isn't the case now.
Same thing with hoses...even if the diameter of the hose is different the couplings to attach to the mask and/or the humidifier are all universal.