Going backwards. I don't understand.

[Mk1West]

Sorry for making a new thread.

My AHI hadn't been getting better. I was continuing to have events so I kept raising my minimum up to try and get rid of them and it seemed like it might have been working, but then this night happened.
14 events in 30 minutes. 4 and a half minutes of not breathing in that 30 minutes. I need help.
My main question is why does it seem like the CPAP is doing nothing? Even at 20 Cm I was still getting obstructive apneas.
My longest one for 43 seconds was while the pressure was at 18.5 Cm. I had set up a video camera to monitor what I was doing while I was having these apneas and I was on my back during all of this.
I've been trying hard to stay on my side, but regardless, shouldn't the CPAP be trying to stop this. If not, what's the point?
I will also mention that before I looked at the night's chart, my chest had been slightly hurting since morning and I was getting some small sharp pains in my chest randomly throughout the day that I was trying to blow off.
Is it ok to be at 20 cm for that long of a period?
Please help.

[Pugsy]

It did try to prevent these events but it can't go higher than 20 cm and you simply need more at this time for some reason or other.
It increased the pressure from around 15 to 20 in about 4 minutes...so it tried to prevent further collapse but it just couldn't go high enough to stop the collapse.

Might be supine related...might be REM stage sleep related...might be a combination of both.

[Julie]

Please see a doctor re the chest pain - you never know what might be going on and Cpap could be a secondary (and just reactive) concern.

[Miss Emerita]

It's possible that the increased effort needed to exhale against higher pressures caused your muscles to feel some strain. Some people are at 20 much of the night, so don't worry that the higher pressure is doing you an injury.

To follow up on Pugsy's comment: do you often see clusters of events? Or was this unusual?

[Mk1West]

Thanks for the replies.
I have a doctor's appointment next week so I'll definitely bring this all up to him, thank you. I put the minimum back down to 8 to try to get some relief from the chest pain and my chest has felt better throughout the day.
I believe Miss Emerita is most likely correct in that my muscles were just strained from a rough night.
I do usually see my events in clusters. I've been reviewing the footage from the camera that I put up last week and 75% of my events are when I roll to my back.
I had a really good night last night and I'm attributing it to getting a new CPAP pillow that was really comfortable and made me want to sleep on my side. But both clusters were from me being on my back.
What are people doing to stay off their backs?

[clownbell]

One low-tech solution I have read about -- sew a pocked into the back of your nightwear and put a tennis ball into it.

Hope this works for you.