djam's therapy thread

[Pugsy]

Can't say enough good things about the DreamPort. It's really making a difference for me. I've been using it for over 4 months now. For me, the "getting used to it" period was one night. Felt weird not having any straps. By all means give it a try. I'm sleeping like a baby.

It's totally silent when everything is connected right, and palrider's filter diffuser is used.

I had been using some sort of nasal pillow mask with some sort of headgear for over 9 years when I tried the DreamPort. Does feel a bit weird initially but weird in a good way for me. I adjusted easily and quickly....first night for me.

The other day I had a rather light bulb moment....I realized that I simply don't have wake ups during the night due to mask issues....no leaks waking me up and no headgear sliding up the back of my head that needs to be pulled down and best of all...no dents on my cheeks.
I am a happy camper in terms of the mask....now if the other stuff causing my wake ups was so easily fixed I would be in hog heaven.
At least one potential culprit for wake ups is no longer messing with my sleep and for that I am thankful.

[djams]

Can't say enough good things about the DreamPort. It's really making a difference for me. I've been using it for over 4 months now. For me, the "getting used to it" period was one night. Felt weird not having any straps. By all means give it a try. I'm sleeping like a baby.

It's totally silent when everything is connected right, and palrider's filter diffuser is used.

I had been using some sort of nasal pillow mask with some sort of headgear for over 9 years when I tried the DreamPort. Does feel a bit weird initially but weird in a good way for me. I adjusted easily and quickly....first night for me.

The other day I had a rather light bulb moment....I realized that I simply don't have wake ups during the night due to mask issues....no leaks waking me up and no headgear sliding up the back of my head that needs to be pulled down and best of all...no dents on my cheeks.
I am a happy camper in terms of the mask....now if the other stuff causing my wake ups was so easily fixed I would be in hog heaven.
At least one potential culprit for wake ups is no longer messing with my sleep and for that I am thankful.

I couldn't agree more about the impact of no wakeups from leaks. It's huge.

I figure a visual is always helpful for those reading - here's a comparison from my data.

I couldn't really find a typical example of a leak line from when I was wearing a pillow mask. So here's my worst night - just to show what I was capable of doing. By no means did this happen every night. This is what happened when both my mouth tape and the mask were leaking. (01/22/18):

Bad Night Pillows.png (20.15 KiB) Viewed 10952 times

This is a VERY typical night for the DreamPort. Last night. You could name a date over the past 4 weeks, and it would look very similar to this. If it doesn't look like this, it means my mouth tape failed because I was too lazy to trim my beard. This makes a big difference in my sleep quality.

Typical Night DreamPort.png (14.7 KiB) Viewed 10951 times

[bjhunt01]

Yep... Zonker, check out aerophagia on this forum. That's the mini belches you talk about.

For me, it happens at any pressure over 12 cm H20. So I keep my max pressure there. For the S9, I also put my EPR at 3 so that it would further alleviate aerophagia. Have you got your EPR dialed in for your needs?

viewtopic/t52082/AHI-Sweet-Spot-and-Ast ... hitis.html

oh! i'm sorry, i didn't explain myself very well, good sir. (apologies if you aren't a sir!)

i've been through aerophagia. it held back my first three years of therapy. i couldn't tolerate a min of around 9. too much pain! the gas itself wasn't the problem. just that tightly bloated belly.

epr did NOT work for me. it was almost as though it was doing the opposite of what it's meant to do. it made it harder for me to breathe out. so i just settled down to having an ahi in the 2-3 range and thought i'd count myself lucky.

then, a few months ago, a user here posted to another user asking if they had tried "soft" mode. turns out, the poster has the same machine as me. i checked my settings, found "soft" and applied it. my goodness! what a difference it made. and i mean AT ONCE! no "getting used" to anything.

it was exactly what i needed. i'm now rocking a minimum pressure of 11.4 with the result of ahi of around 1. i'm so very happy about that. the only regret i have is that i don't remember who that user was who posted about "soft" mode.

anyway, those little bubbles i experience are few and far between and don't strike me as aerophagia. perhaps by it's very definition it is. but it's not enough to bother me in any way.

thanks for the advice, though!

we now return you to djam's therapy thread, already in progress....

Zonker: I am reading this thread as I'm struggling with the bubbles too and tape that keeps coming loose as I bubble for awhile. What is the "soft" mode and how do I find it? Thanks. Barbara

[Dog Slobber]

Zonker: I am reading this thread as I'm struggling with the bubbles too and tape that keeps coming loose as I bubble for awhile. What is the "soft" mode and how do I find it? Thanks. Barbara

Soft mode is a gentler increase in pressure.

The option is not available in APAP for Her mode.
To access:

• Go to Clinician mode
• Select APAP mode, instead of APAP for Her
• Find Response Setting
• Choose Soft instead of Standard

[zonker]

Zonker: I am reading this thread as I'm struggling with the bubbles too and tape that keeps coming loose as I bubble for awhile. What is the "soft" mode and how do I find it? Thanks. Barbara

it is as fair dogslobber has said.

good luck!!

[bjhunt01]

Zonker: I am reading this thread as I'm struggling with the bubbles too and tape that keeps coming loose as I bubble for awhile. What is the "soft" mode and how do I find it? Thanks. Barbara

Soft mode is a gentler increase in pressure.

The option is not available in APAP for Her mode.
To access:

• Go to Clinician mode
• Select APAP mode, instead of APAP for Her
• Find Response Setting
• Choose Soft instead of Standard

Thank you! I'll try it tonight. PS: Love your new look!!!

[djams]

PS: Love your new look!!!

This is what happens when Mrs. Dog Slobber sends him to clean the bathroom.

I like it too!

[djams]

An update, because I have some time this morning.

I feel like my treatment is officially optimized. I don't think anything shows this better than the 105 days with no changes below. Pretty big deal for me. I included all the changes that fit in the view, so you can see what it was like previously. My SleepyHead obsession disappeared over this time too, which is nice. Used to look at it every morning before work, now I download when I have an obstructive event. Otherwise, there's really nothing to look at. No need to make any changes because I'm sleeping and feeling great.

Stats.png (153.41 KiB) Viewed 10754 times

The only thing left that I'd sure like to figure out, is finding something that will allow me to stop taping my mouth. Here's a screenshot of my last attempt. I saw a post where someone mentioned "mouth muffler", so I went and got one. Well, a pack of 3. Really nothing more than a thick cloth face mask. Found I could fold it in half and it fit perfectly. Snug, but not too tight. Went to bed optimistic.

Foiled again! You can see the results below. The leaks from mouth breathing are bad enough, but look at that snoring! Yikes. When my wife got up I said "That experiment didn't work out last night". Her response- "No sh*t." All this leak activity didn't wake me up (I can see large arousals in the flow). But boy I was tired the next day. Believe I've grown accustomed to the non-existent leaks lines I get from the Bleep.

I've got "The Eliminator" cheap knock-off if the Dr Dakota - I suppose should get that out and give it an honest try. Had it for months and haven't even tried to sleep with it yet. I put it on and used the machine early evening. Didn't care for it at all. Aside from the mouth tape, I'm totally unencumbered with the Bleep. My initial impression was that I'd rather tape than wear the collar. Collar seemed hot,sweaty and once I adjusted it the strap in a manner that seemed like it would prevent jaw drop, strangling.

It's interesting that I made it 3 hours at beginning of the night having no no leaks with the mouth muffle. My SleepTracker always shows that the beginning of the night is when I load up on deep sleep. Maybe related to this.

In the end, mouth taping is kind of like having to use the machine. Rather not, but I sure sleep and feel better when I do.

NoTape.png (148.62 KiB) Viewed 10754 times