It's been a frustrating nine months of trying more than two dozen different masks and not finding anything that really works well (I have a long narrow nose and most cushion air holes don't line up with my nostrils. I'm on the Dreamwear pillows with a chin strap and maybe four out of five nights my leak is below 24 L/min. AHI tends to be under 3.0 most nights. My machine is set to a constant 14 cmH20 (this pressure doesn't bother me, tbh). Problem is, I still feel awful, as if nothing has improved, except that I have to sleep with all sorts of uncomfortable stuff on my head. I saw a new sleep doctor a week ago and she (like everyone else before her) didn't seem to care that I wasn't feeling any better, nor was she remotely interested (also like everyone else before her) in looking at any data besides the AHI. Using Oscar, my breathing is an irregular cycle of decreased breathing followed by a few big breaths. Every once in a while I do that long enough to register as a hypopnea on the Resmed Airsense 10, but more often it doesn't.
One thing: I did find one full face cushion that got both my AHI's and leak down very low, but I had to tighten it very tight. After four months of waking up every morning like I had just run a marathon I realized I was probably forcing my jaw back and restricting my airway. That morning feeling went away after I switched to nasal cushions. Now I feel merely exhausted
The question really is: how the heck do I start sleeping better? What am I missing?