Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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TheBigTenor
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Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by TheBigTenor » Wed May 09, 2018 11:08 am

I'm posting some new screen-shots hoping to find some answers. I'm just over a month into using my ResMed AirSense 10. ~ My sleep test determined I was 5-15.

I FIRST used the mask, but couldn't get used to it. I got a little sick and stuffed up so I quit using my machine for 16 days. I then picked up the pillows to use and they are much more comfortable to wear. Now let me state when I first got the machine the settings were uncomfortable for me. I felt like the pressure was much too high, so I made some adjustments. which worked good with the pillows for a couple days, but now, I don't think it's high enough.(I didn't make these changes on my own, I had others in this forum give me feedback from my SleepyHead report). Well, I'm a week into using the pillows and I'm not getting the sleep I need and I'm waking up a couple of times a night. The other night I woke up with the pillows around my neck, I was face down in my bed and my heart was pounding. I've never had any chest pain and I had a stress test with the dye 2 years ago. I get up and my stomach feels super tight. It fees like a can't take a deep breath and my diaphragm is locked up. I always try to swallow some ginger ale quick or some carbonated so I can burp, which helps. I don't think it's GERD. It's muscular thing, not an affect type of feeling. This is extremely unsettling in the middle of the night and I want it to stop.

Let me tell you about me first. I'm 51, 6'2" and 340lbs. (lost 20 pounds since Jan.) and I'm built like a football lineman. I do not snore. I do not have high blood pressure or cholesterol. Well I have high BP but I take meds. I take 3 meds for my high BP each morning. So now I have low blood pressure. It typically runs 95-105/55-70. I have a monitor I use and I firmly believe that my low blood pressure and my slow breathing are causing my issues in my sleep. I wake up and my heart might only be beating 82-85 BPM but they are pounding beats. I wear a Fitbit to bed and It looks like I wake up mostly coming out of deep sleep. So I'm thinking I'm in deep sleep and the pressure isn't higher enough to keep delivering oxygen, so I wake up and it's a shock to my body? When I wake up I feel like I'm hung-over, I check my BP and it's slightly under normal at that point. But that's after I get up, go the bathroom and I'm 3 minutes in a mild anxiety freak-out at 2:30am!!

I'm thinking about simply resetting the machine back to my original 5.0-15.0 now that I'm using the pillows? It's currently set to 4.0 and 11.00 I believe? One thing I didn't like when I started, when I woke up at 3am using the mask, the air was blasting into my face and it was hard to put it back on and relax. It's set to AutoRamp but I swear it was at 10.0 when I tried putting it back on, I need to to be softer so i can fall back asleep.

I not getting the full benefit and I'm getting into a vicious cycle of being scared to go to sleep for fear of waking up and feeling like crap and not getting a good nights sleep.Although I have had a couple of "ok" night on the latest settings and pillows. But no sleep period has been longer than 6 hours. I know I gave you a lot of information, but it can't be that difficult to get this dialed in and working. I'm now turning into a hypochondriac and looking at ASV, Hypotension, Aerophagia, etc, looking for clues as to why I'm waking up in a panic and with a heavy heartbeat at times.

Thanks for any input or advice. I'm all ears.
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Julie
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by Julie » Wed May 09, 2018 11:09 am

You have other threads here... with more of your history and comments/advice from members... why not cut and paste this post into the older one so we can keep track of it all?

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TheBigTenor
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by TheBigTenor » Wed May 09, 2018 11:12 am

Here is a little more information as well as my sleep data from my FitBit.
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chunkyfrog
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by chunkyfrog » Wed May 09, 2018 11:17 am

Cpap pressure is actually far less than that needed to blow up a balloon.
The weird thing is that many newbies get the impression of "too much" pressure.
It usually only takes a short time before you are used to it--keep trying.
When a dog gets to go for a ride, where is his favorite position?
Head out the window, of course!
Fido gets waaaaay more airflow than the leakiest full face mask;
yet he is so DOG-gone happy!
Embrace your inner canine, and go with the flow. :mrgreen:

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Pugsy
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by Pugsy » Wed May 09, 2018 11:59 am

Here's a list of the past other thread(s).
search.php?author_id=86319&sr=posts

and as for today's duplicate threads...I combined them.

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LSAT
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by LSAT » Wed May 09, 2018 12:12 pm

TheBigTenor wrote:
Wed May 09, 2018 11:08 am




I'm thinking about simply resetting the machine back to my original 5.0-15.0 now that I'm using the pillows? It's currently set to 4.0 and 11.00 I believe? One thing I didn't like when I started, when I woke up at 3am using the mask, the air was blasting into my face and it was hard to put it back on and relax. It's set to AutoRamp but I swear it was at 10.0 when I tried putting it back on, I need to to be softer so i can fall back asleep.

I not getting the full benefit and I'm getting into a vicious cycle of being scared to go to sleep for fear of waking up and feeling like crap and not getting a good nights sleep.Although I have had a couple of "ok" night on the latest settings and pillows. But no sleep period has been longer than 6 hours. I know I gave you a lot of information, but it can't be that difficult to get this dialed in and working. I'm now turning into a hypochondriac and looking at ASV, Hypotension, Aerophagia, etc, looking for clues as to why I'm waking up in a panic and with a heavy heartbeat at times.

Thanks for any input or advice. I'm all ears.
The highest pressure recorded on the data you provided was 5.74...I can't see how ramp or EPR does you any good. Whether you setting is 4/11 or 5/15 is not going to make any difference. Maybe you should be at a fixed pressure of 5 with no EPR and no ramp.

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TheBigTenor
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by TheBigTenor » Mon May 21, 2018 4:39 pm

I might add I wore the pillows after dinner just for a few minutes, hence you see the gap in use. I'm really wondering if there's something odd near the 2:30 am time that caused me to wake.

thanks
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Okie bipap
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Re: Struggling with finding the right pressure and broken sleep

Post by Okie bipap » Mon May 21, 2018 5:53 pm

Your AHI numbers look pretty good. The thing I noticed is you only wear your mask a little over 5 hours a night. Are you sleeping more than that? If so, you should use your machine any time you sleep. I remember when five hours a night seemed like a long time to sleep. At that time I was doing my regular military job, working part time to make ends make while raising three girls, and going to college at night. Five hours of sleep was a good night.

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