I think I'm onto Something Here

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:29 pm

steveksmith wrote:Maybe the reader and software will give me an indication of what I'm doing wrong. All I know is I'm frustrated right now.

Hang in there Steve. I've been at this for a little over six weeks right now and have come to learn a lot of things that don't work for me.

Software has really helped though. I just can't really imagine what it would be like without the software. I probably never would have realized that tightening the straps were making AHI worse. Heck, even with the software it took a full week to come to that realization.

Having an objective assessment of the therapy is just so incredibly important. People who think we should blindly accept a physician's judgement without question are smokin' something that ain't right.

Regards,
Bill

steveksmith · Post by **steveksmith** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:48 pm

Thanks for the support. I have read a ton of posts on here and it has been great to read all the info others have gathered, but more importantly just to feel like there are others like you. It's hard to talk to family or co-workers because they aren't in the same situation and can't really understand what it's like. I feel silly sometimes or feel like my wife thinks the tired thing isn't for real because she always has so much energy.

I agree with you Hawkeye, I'm convinced you have to take your traetment into your own hands. I don't think the primary care doctors have the proper training in this and I feel like the sleep study docytors that you never see are so far removed from the patient that the results and diagnoses gets lost in translation....especially when it gets faxed over to the supplier of the equipment. By the time you see the 3rd party guys and try to get the proper equipment and setup you need who knows if your getting what your supposed to.....and if yoyu are a newbie to it you don't have the proper info to know any better.....you just have this weird feeling of being puzzled by the whole process.

ozij · Post by **ozij** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:12 am

steveksmith wrote:Well, I've ordered a reader so I can see how my treatment is going. I have been on the CPAP for two weeks and the first mask did not fit me right. The 2nd is a Swift and I don't have a problem with it, but my problem is that I feel more tired now than I did before using the machine. It seems others feel great after a few nights and I don't. I'm thinking maybe I need the mouthpiece to keep my chin forward or something. Maybe the reader and software will give me an indication of what I'm doing wrong. All I know is I'm frustrated right now.

Don't feel so discouraged, Steve. Many of us didn't feel so good in the beginning, you're far from being the only one in that. Finding the right pressure and the right mask, getting used to sleeping with all that parafernalia - those take a while for some of us.

Do you know that the drop out rate from this therapy - for people who have no support - is 50%?

Browse the forum - it has great tips for how to make various masks more comfotable, for hose handling, and what not.

Read read read, and ask.

O.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 7:09 am

Last night was the first night with a nasal mask. I finally settled down with the Ultra Mirage after I couldn't get used to the Swift Nasal Pillows. I slept well and objective measures of last night's sleep were positive.

AHI was a mere 11.5, with half of that being hypopneas (usually I have very few hypopneas), while variable breathing was up near 50%. All very positive, as there's only been one night out of the last six weeks when I've had fewer apneas and slept well.

If I happen upon a promising mouth guard today I'll probably try that tonight, otherwise I may just settle in with the way things are for a few days.

Regards,
Bill

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 11:39 am

NightHawkeye wrote:AHI was a mere 11.5

I see from your equipment picture you are using a bipap auto. Have you ever been able to get your AHI under 5?

tmarshl · Post by **tmarshl** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 1:09 pm

steveksmith wrote:I think I have the same issue. When I read this post, I thought "that's me". I can lay there and actually feel like I'm closing the air off to my throat and then push my lower jaw out as far as I can and it seems like everything just opens up and there's no way I couldn't close off the air.

I'm thinking about a dental device. Any suggestions. What's the success rate?

I tried the dental device a year ago, prior to CPAP. It was pretty uncomfortable to wear, but it did help somewhat by keeping my lower jaw forward. Many times, I would wake up in the middle of the night and take the device out.

Then, my lower jaw won the tug of war and the device came apart in my mouth, the tiny parts getting lodged between my cheek and gums. Thankfully I didn't swallow them.

Overall, I would say the device was a failure for me, but YMMV.

NightHawkeye · Post by **NightHawkeye** » Sat Feb 11, 2006 7:34 pm

Anonymous wrote:I see from your equipment picture you are using a bipap auto. Have you ever been able to get your AHI under 5?

Nope. The lowest I ever got with the Auto-BiPAP was around 9, but that was on a night when my sleep was very disturbed. (My apneas occur during REM, so disturbed sleep equals low REM equals low AHI.)

I did get a little better AHI of 6 one night with the Remstar APAP, which I think means that pressure increases were reducing apnea, but had problems with longer (and more disturbing) desaturations when I let the pressure go up even moderately higher. Also, the machine started indicating non-responsive apneas when the pressure went up. As a result, I simply decided to keep the pressure at 4 cm, where I got noticeable relief, until I could sort out the other variables involved.

Probably more than you wanted to know, huh? (Sorry about that.)

Regards,
Bill

Mask

Additional Comments: Pressure Titration 11

I think I'm onto Something Here

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