Still Snoring

Although my AHI was 4.4 and the Acoustical Vibration (Snoring) index was 1.6 with my new Activa without the chip strap with my 420S, my wife complained that I woke her up snoring. I will try the chipstrap tonight but it kept me up the first night so I hope that I can get use it. If this doesn't work, my sleep doctor will want me to try a full face mask before he prescribes an Autopap. Do you folks believe that a full face mask would do any good for my snoring problem? I think that I should jump to the Autopap and see if it does anything but I will need to convince the sleep doctor. My titration pressure is 6.

bigheadr, I've been on APAP since January. Pre-APAP, it was not unusual for Sweetie (my wife) to spend most of every night in the living room sleeping in the recliner due to my snoring. Since the first night I got on my APAP, using my UltraMirage Full Face mask, she has enjoyed each and every night sleeping soundly next to me! No more snores from me AT ALL! That right there was worth allllll the time, effort and expense of getting my OSA under control. It was an instant "cure" to my snoring. The fact that I soon was feeling tons better, stopped falling asleep at work, regained my mental sharpness was just icing on the cake (NOT! LOL) I just switched over 2 nights ago to a nasal interface from PB named the DreamFit. The snoring has not resumed with it. BTW, I've been using an APAP (PB 420e) since day 1.

Best of luck.

This therapy WORKS!!!

When I went to my sleep study the tech told me he could prevent my apnea at 8cm BUT 8.5 prevented me from snoring. A higher pressure might work.

Anonymous wrote:When I went to my sleep study the tech told me he could prevent my apnea at 8cm BUT 8.5 prevented me from snoring. A higher pressure might work.

That was me.

bigheadr wrote:Although my AHI was 4.4 and the Acoustical Vibration (Snoring) index was 1.6 with my new Activa without the chip strap with my 420S, my wife complained that I woke her up snoring. I will try the chipstrap tonight but it kept me up the first night so I hope that I can get use it. If this doesn't work, my sleep doctor will want me to try a full face mask before he prescribes an Autopap. Do you folks believe that a full face mask would do any good for my snoring problem? I think that I should jump to the Autopap and see if it does anything but I will need to convince the sleep doctor. My titration pressure is 6.

I don't know how long you have been using your PAP. But, for your info, I was on a PAP for a year and a half. Had LOUD snoring before. Anyway, my new sleep doc wanted me off my PAP for two days, then new base line sleep test. Without my PAP my snores were soft, not at all like before. So, if it is a new thing, time may quieten the snores.

Well, I tried my new Activa with the chipstrap again and I had very high Hypopneas (16.6/hr) but low Apneas (1.7/hr) and low Acoustical Vib (.4/hr). Seems like the chipstrap makes me restless since it is uncomfortable. Maybe I will need that full face mask. Maybe I can talk the sleep doctor into giving me a prescription for the APAP along with the full face mask. I have heard good things about the F&P full face mask. I have been on my 420S for over 1 1/2 months now. Since this is going to be the third face mask in less than 2 months, I doubt if the insurance will pay for it.

I had massive snoring prior to xPAP. I started with a CPAP and Comfort Gel Mask with a pressure of 10 and was told that my snoring wasn't a bother anymore. I currently use the Activa and the Swift and I the snoring still was ok. I recently switched to an APAP and my recent data shows I have acoustical vibrations of 8.3, 1.6, then 5.4 on the last three days. Not sure how this compares to previously since I have no data, but I'll see over time if I'm waking anyone up!

I experimented with my APAP in CPAP mode for several nights to see if my AHI would be any better, it waasn't, but I did notice myself snoring several times WITH MY MOUTH CLOSED. So you mouth doesn't have to be open to snore.

I agree, your pressure probably isn't high enough, and without another Sleep Study you aren't going to know how high to reset your pressure. The Doc switching you to an APAP would be a lot cheaper, not to mention that it will adjust (or you can adjust it) to what you require with changes in your weight and your condition, No one should need the same pressure all night, every night. If I wasn't on APAP I might be dead since the medication I'm on causes extreme relaxation of oral tissues. Right now I'm going up fairly regularly to 12-13 which is 3-4 points higher than my titrated pressure, and I'm 15 pounds lighter now than then.

I've been tempted to run my apap in cpap mode at my old cpap pressure for a few days to get some data collected. Unfortunately or fortunately, I just don't want to feel crummy for a few days so I think I am gonna skip it!

MaskedMan wrote:I've been tempted to run my apap in cpap mode at my old cpap pressure for a few days to get some data collected. Unfortunately or fortunately, I just don't want to feel crummy for a few days so I think I am gonna skip it!

Similarly I've thought of turning my machine as low as it will go (or as low as I can set it and not feel like I'm suffocating) to see what happens.

But sometimes it just isn't worth it. In this case I think I'm better off not knowing exactly instead of experimenting on myself.

After reading about the F&P 431 on this message board, I better try the Ultra Mirage FF. I hope that a Full Face Mask will cut down on my snoring noise. We will see.

Which leads me to this question. What is an acceptable snore index? I recently switched from my straight 10 cms to auto 6.5-10 and have had some unusual results; one of which, my zero snore rate is now very high. Last night was a 2.5. It starts right away and lasts through the night. My flow limitation is drastically down to almost non-existent, but my AHI has gone up a bit.

Do I worry about snores and a higher AHI or do I not let these things bother me? What is right or better healthwise? The only reason I even ask is, it's easier to sleep on the auto 6.5-10 and my leak rate is really low now, but the snores are what's really concerning me, plus the higher AHI.

Sleepless on LI wrote:Which leads me to this question. What is an acceptable snore index?

Whatever your spouse can handle.

I view snores as being much less serious than apneas or even hypopneas. Yes, they may arouse me, but I should still be maintaining a good O2 level.

Personally I don't think a snore index of 2.5 is anything to be worked up about. It doesn't mean you are fully snoring, just that you made a noise (or possibly an external noise) that the machine interpreted as the start of a snore. It might have cut off within seconds.

It doesn't mean you are fully snoring, just that you made a noise (or possibly an external noise) that the machine interpreted as the start of a snore. It might have cut off within seconds.

I must be a bit whacked tonight. "An external noise"? To what, dear sir, could you be referring? I don't want to tell you what first popped into my head. I can't even say, being the lady that I am .

Someone said I am overanalyzing my data and I think they're right. This may be one of the reasons they don't want lay people to use it. I am going to continue to keep my machine on these settings for at least another four nights. I thinkat that point, I will be better able to accurately assess how I've done with it set that way.

I found some old printouts of MyEncore Daily Reports that I used to print when I first got my auto machine. I noticed that with the auto set at 9.5-15, instead of the 6.5-10, I had fluctuations in my AHI's, snore readouts and flow limitations, just like it's doing now, and some days were actually under 1. So I will keep going for a few more nights and then look back.

Also, today I found myself a bit stuffy, maybe due to fall coming? So I am going to try a bit of the old Flonase tonight and see if that helps at all. Don't use it every night if I don't have to, but a few times a month I find the need for it.

So, WAF, how have you been doing? Still feeling well and getting the most out of your therapy? I don't know what happened, but it feels like all the continuity of what I'd been doing seemed to start to not do as much anymore, so I'm experimenting. May be going back to the old ways soon, but it can't hurt to try something out every now and then. Hey, I'm in it for the long hall, so variety is going to have to spice things up every now and then. Let me know how you're doing when you have a moment. Thinking of you.

Sleepless on LI wrote:I must be a bit whacked tonight. "An external noise"? To what, dear sir, could you be referring? I don't want to tell you what first popped into my head. I can't even say, being the lady that I am .

From what I've read, it could even be the dog clearing its throat!

So, WAF, how have you been doing? Still feeling well and getting the most out of your therapy? I don't know what happened, but it feels like all the continuity of what I'd been doing seemed to start to not do as much anymore, so I'm experimenting. May be going back to the old ways soon, but it can't hurt to try something out every now and then. Hey, I'm in it for the long hall, so variety is going to have to spice things up every now and then. Let me know how you're doing when you have a moment. Thinking of you.

Except for the fact that I don't seem to be able to learn to go to bed early enough, I'm feeling great! My mental focus and creativity are way up. I'm getting more work done at the office in any one day now than I was in a week. And in the evenings I have more physical energy, so I'm getting more done around the house too!

My remaining problem is learning a new schedule. For over 20 years I was getting up no earlier than 7am and preferably later. Now I have to get up at 5:30am to get my son out the door to catch his bus to highschool.

In order for me to get 8 hours sleep I have to be asleep by 9:30pm, which means winding down by 9pm. I just can't get used to that! But I'll keep trying.