HELP ! need encouragement support group mouth leaks

[newprov]

Dear Friends
I wanted to reach out to this forum to ask for HELP! I have been trying to do this on my own and now I realize that I need support and encouragement as I am very sad about my sleep apnea.My wife does not understand how terrible I have been feeling. I feel hopeless.

I wanted to introduce myself to the group. I am a 43 year old man living in NJ/NYC metro area.. I was diagnosed 14 years ago with moderate sleep apnea. I have been struggling with depression, mood swings, exhaustion. I have been using my Cpap for about a year and half. It has been working on and off It has been helpful and I have finally gotten to the obsession phase. I really need some to tell me that things will get better with CPAP.

I am starting to mouth breath and have been taping.
My question is how do I know that I am leaking through my mouth?

I have started withthe Sleephead program and SD card it says my leak rate last night was less than an average of 22 l/ml but I had two spikes of 48 l/ml and 35 l/ml?
What does it mean? Also does anyone know how to copy and print sections of the Sleepyhead program so I can post?
Is anyone able to help me? If there is a good doctor in the midtown area of NYC woould be helpful. Or a good respiratory therapist that can help me ?

One thing is that I am getting really depressed about all the work it takes for a good nights sleep.

[Pugsy]

If you are consistently seeing leak line go above 24 L/min for long periods of time you are having substantial leaks which will of course impact the effectiveness of your therapy. Are you seeing them with mouth taped? If so...leak is bad from somewhere else if the tape is staying in place.

To post images of your SH reports....take a screen shot and host it to some place like Photobucket.
Copy/paste the IMG address (not url bracket address but the IMG bracket) into your forum post.
The code will show up...preview to see image.


Here is how I do it
Open the image to full size so it is easily read.
I use Vista snipping tool to create a screen shot and crop the image at the same time.
Prt/scr key will also take a screen shot if using XP. If laptop is used sometimes the Fn key has to be pushed at the same time as the prt/scr key
I think windows 7 Home Premium has the snipping tool, Basic may not.
Once the screen shot is created save it in jpg format.
Upload the image to a host site. I use Photobucket it is free, there are others.
Once the image is uploaded then copy the ENTIRE IMG address. Be sure to include the opening and closing IMG in brackets. Paste that copied address into a post here.
Use the preview button. If you can't see the image try again because if you can't see it we can't.