oh please say i did this right

[Camaro1969ss]

Well not to bad with chin straps but like down the side of my nose both sides it’s still gets red it maybe cause it’s to tight or something. And lol no no trying to drive to a ex gf she crazy. It seems like I find all the crazy ones or all the cheaters you know

[Miss Emerita]

Camaro, did you try a mask liner for the red marks? There's a good chance it would help!

You sent me a PM to ask what EPR means. I'll answer it here in case the answer helps someone else. EPR stands for Expiratory Pressure Relief. That means that the machine drops your pressure a little down when you exhale. You can set it to 1, 2, or 3, with 3 offering the largest drop.

You have EPR turned on, but only for your ramp time. Your numbers are good enough that I don't think it'd hurt to experiment by turning on EPR full-time at the 1 or 2 level. You might want to bump your minimum pressure up a little at the same time.

But if you're feeling pretty good during the day, there's not a lot of reason to mess with this if you don't want to. But if you try it, I'll be curious how it goes.

[Camaro1969ss]

Ok no it all good so you think I should turn my thing you where talking about down or up cause right now I think I am at 3 so what should I do?

[Miss Emerita]

You are at 3 for ramp only.

Go into the clinical menu, same as you did to change the pressure. Turn the knob to scroll down until you see Comfort. Under there, look for "EPR Type" and push the button to select it. It will then show you two choices: Ramp Only, and Full Time. You will see that your current setting is dRamp Only. Turn the knob so you are on Full Time, and push the knob in to select it.

You will be returned to the main Clinical menu, where you will go down one line to "EPR Level." Turn the knob and you will see 1, 2, and 3. When it is on 2, push the knob in.

Go back up to the top to exit the Clinical menu.

You could raise your minimum pressure again by one to compensate for the EPR, but I would suggest you leave it where it is for a night, and let's see how it goes.

[Camaro1969ss]

Ok sounds good thank you

[Camaro1969ss]

ok peeps I sure hope you guys can help me out I been really tired lately again here are my last 3 night and looks like Wed was bad for the AHI 519 is this why I been so tired or whats going on is everthing set right ???

[Camaro1969ss]

heres from thur night too

[Dog Slobber]

I see you've moved the EPR from just Ramp to Full-time.

If you like EPR, then consider moving it from 2 to 3.

You might want to try another minimum pressure bump, but I'm not sure how valuable that will be. As you've been increasing your minimum, there hasn't been much improvement in AHI.

All the graphs show breaks in the night, you're still not sleeping well. For some it takes a long time to sleep well with CPAP. I've just passed my 2-year anniversary on CPAP and I still wake up.

In summary, I would:

• Increase EPR from 2 to 3.
• Increase minimum pressure from 13 to 14
• Keep and eye on AHI, we might see a decrease, if not, there is no point in keeping it there.
• Just keep on getting used to sleeping with it.
• Explore improving your sleep maintenance. Google Sleep Maintenance and Sleep Hygiene, for help on sleeping through the night.

[Camaro1969ss]

Ok I put my min to 14.0 last night and all last week I had my epr level set at 2 so why am I not sleeping very good this sucks

[Camaro1969ss]

And I go to bed ever night Monday-Thursday at 8:30 9 the latest but Friday nights I stay up till like 1030 cause I don’t work on the weekends so what am I doing wrong I know I got to get up lots of time cause it seem like there is to much pressure and my cheeks blow up and I shut the Machine of and turn it back on cause the pressure goes back down where my cheeks don’t blow like I got nuts in them

[Dog Slobber]

Ok I put my min to 14.0 last night and all last week I had my epr level set at 2 so why am I not sleeping very good this sucks

Because these machines aren't miracle sleep devices.

You don't just set a couple dials and you're off to dream land. The machine stents your air passages so they don't close. And it's doing that. But getting used to it and sleeping through the night with it on can be a learned process for some.

You've been using your machine for two months, as I said, "For some it takes a long time to sleep well with CPAP. I've just passed my 2-year anniversary on CPAP and I still wake up."

[Camaro1969ss]

I been using it over a year and 1/2 now

[Dog Slobber]

This is the first time you mentioned you can't tolerate increased pressure.

Given, we haven't seen much AHI by increasing the minimum pressure, then continuing won't help. In fact, you may want to consider decreasing the pressure.

Increasing your EPR to 3, should help with you with pressure tolerance.

I think you need to concentrate more on your sleep maintenance insomnia.

[Pugsy]

If more pressure is causing sleep problems like the inflated cheeks or whatever....back off on the pressure until you decide for sure if more pressure is even needed.
I sent you the link to learn how to figure out awake flagged events vs asleep flagged events.

More pressure sometimes causes more problems than it fixes. Make sure you even need more pressure before going down that road.
I am not so sure that more minimum is your answer here.

You are going to have to do some learning and figuring out stuff on your own. We can't magically just look at a software report and know why you aren't sleeping so great. There's a whole lot of other stuff that can mess with sleep quality besides airway issues.

People often expect the cpap or some tweaking to fix all bad sleep and it simply can't. CPAP only fixes bad sleep that is airway related.
There's a lot of bad sleep out there that is caused by a mile long list of culprits.

Google "sleep maintenance insomnia" and start reading.

[Miss Emerita]

To summarize:

* Set your minimum pressure back to 13.

* Change your EPR to 3.

Think about the other kinds of things you can do to improve your sleep. Here's a list of guidelines that do actually help:

• Keep a consistent sleep schedule. Get up at the same time every day, even on weekends or during vacations.
• Set a bedtime that is early enough for you to get at least 7 hours of sleep.
• Don’t go to bed unless you are sleepy.
• If you don’t fall asleep after 20 minutes, get out of bed.
• Establish a relaxing bedtime routine.
• Use your bed only for sleep and sex.
• Make your bedroom quiet and relaxing. Keep the room at a comfortable, cool temperature.
• Limit exposure to bright light in the evenings.
• Turn off electronic devices at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Don’t eat a large meal before bedtime. If you are hungry at night, eat a light, healthy snack.
• Exercise regularly and maintain a healthy diet.
• Avoid consuming caffeine in the late afternoon or evening.
• Avoid consuming alcohol before bedtime.
• Reduce your fluid intake before bedtime.