First Full Week - Encouraging!

Howdy all. You might remember me from my post a few weeks ago asking when to throw in the towel. Well I decided last week that I would just suck it up and keep on the mask, hell or high water, for a full week and see what happens.

I just pulled my report from my first full week of compliance. Pretty amazing, I think.

Averaging about 6 hours in the mask/night. Avg AHI is 1.0. Average time in large leak is 1 min 30 seconds.

Some details:

Average CA - 0.0
Average OA - .5
Average HI - .5
Average RERA - .3
Avg Night % in Large Leak - .5%


I am at a constant pressure of 12 which is reduced from my original 15. I worked w/ my doc to see about whether reducing the pressure would help w/ aerophagia, leaks, and overall comfort and he was ok with it. He said that 10-11 had actually stopped my hypopneas in my study, but I never hit REM so they were worried. Looks like it was the right choice.

I can't say I feel a whole lot better yet, but I feel really positive about the numbers so far. At this point, I'll take whatever I can get!!! I am working on getting the average up to around 7 hours but w/ two little ones it is kind of tough. Sleep is still pretty fragmented but it will come. I know it!

Anything jump out to you vet hoseheads?

Hi,

This looks really good. The OA events tend to cause the most damage, so having less than 1 is fantastic. HI events are often hard to get rid of, so having them under 1 is outstanding.

themonk wrote:I am at a constant pressure of 12 which is reduced from my original 15. I worked w/ my doc to see about whether reducing the pressure would help w/ aerophagia, leaks, and overall comfort and he was ok with it. He said that 10-11 had actually stopped my hypopneas in my study, but I never hit REM so they were worried. Looks like it was the right choice.

Did the aerophagia clear up? Or is it still causing issues? With these kinds of numbers of a constant 12, I suspect that you might be able to run in auto mode between something like 9 and 13, and the machine would probably spend a lot of time under 12. Since it is on auto, it, in theory, would be able to raise the pressure up to address events as they pop up. Just an idea for further tweaking.

themonk wrote:I can't say I feel a whole lot better yet, but I feel really positive about the numbers so far.

Think of it this way...it took a while to get to this point, so it might take a while to get back to normal. Your body needs to learn how to sleep again, it needs to get caught up on sleep, and it needs some time to repair some of the accumulated damage.

The one tidbit that might be good to follow up on is the lack of REM in the sleep study. It isn't uncommon for your sleep to be messed up in a study when they are tweaking pressures. However, it isn't healthy long term to go without REM. It would be interesting to know if this problem is resolved at your current treatment levels. For example, are you dreaming?

It could be that your sleep structure is messed up due to the breathing issues. In that case, it might already be better (and you are getting to REM), or it might come back with a little time. The other possibility is that you also have a sleep structure issue, and the lack of REM is a separate issue. In either case, it would be good to know for sure. Ask your doctor if he is concerned. They could do a follow-up study after you get dialed in. You could also use a Zeo machine at home. However, if you are again dreaming, then you know you are hitting REM.

-john-

It could be that your sleep structure is messed up due to the breathing issues. In that case, it might already be better (and you are getting to REM), or it might come back with a little time

John, that is a good question. The doc seemed to think it was related to the hypopneas and RERAs and wasn't concerned. I did specifically ask him about it. I have been a very bad sleeper most of my life (38 yrs old now) so I am hopeful that over time my body will relax and things will straighten out. I wasn't diagnosed w/ any other sleep issues other than moderate hypopneas and a few RERA's so I am keeping my fingers crossed! I have noticed dreams in the last couple of days so I guess that is a good sign. I figure I am back to baseline now and will see improvement over time. My first week on PAP was the absolute worst week of my life. My sleep is still not very good but not any worse than before PAP. I was very concerned about my mental health and was just about at the end of my rope. So getting through a full week with not horrible sleep is progress!

Did the aerophagia clear up? Or is it still causing issues?

It is better but not gone. Seems to be hit or miss, last night being very bad. I am going to ask about lowering my pressure or creating a range and see if the doc is ok w/ it. Hopefully w/ as well as my treatment is going he will be cool with it.

Good work, I'm glad you decided to bite the bullet.