Newbie Post - Glad to Find This Site

[antimess]

I've suspected I've had sleep apnea for quite some time (10+ yrs). I brought it up to my primary doctor a few times and he said yeah maybe you have a touch of sleep apnea and because he didn't seemed concerned I wasn't - mistake. I had/have classic symptoms, I woke up gasping a handful of times over several years so severe I didn't think I was going to get my breath back again - very scary. I finally decided to take things into my own hands and got myself into a sleep clinic at a major hospital near me. The first at home test show no apnea but low oxygen while I slept (87). That prompted a second in-clinic test, that one showed my oxygen was fine as I slept, but that I had moderate sleep apnea (17 events an hour). I am 43 and overweight for what it's worth. I just received a RedMed Autosense 10 last week with a full face mask. It's set to a pressure of 5-17. Last night was my fifth night on it, I am committed to making this machine work for me but I do have a few questions.

1) My nose bridge is taking a beating. When I was trained on the machine, the sleep clinic suggested Remzzz as I usually have a beard, albeit well groomed (it's currently trimmed to stubble). They gave me a single sampler of Remzzz which I had in last night. However I kept getting "Climate Air Fault, Replace Tubing" errors and the machine cycling up the pressure. I took the Remzzz out and it out and didn't get any more errors. I didn't feel like I had any leaks and even did the machine leak test at one point. All the messing around with the machine and looking in the manual in the middle of the night left me unable to fall back asleep. Has anyone tried the Remzzz, do they help? Any suggestions on making them work or improving my nose bridge?

2) Secondly, during the in-clinic study they detected PVCs in my heart. I can't explain it, but for whatever reason I was very worked up for the in-clinic sleep test. I could feel my heart fluttering while I was there, a first for me. Prior to being told about the PVCs I didn't experience any issues other than feeling like my heart beated heavy sometimes as I fell asleep on a mid-day nap. Since I got the machine I've been experiencing heart fluttering each night as a fall sleep, which can make it difficult to fall asleep. I have a follow-up with the sleep doctor in 30 days and he also has me scheduled to see a cardiologist later in the winter. Sleep doctor said the PVCs are typically benign but they would like me see the cardiologist as precaution for the purpose of getting a baseline on me in case I run into problems further down the road. Seperately from the sleep test, I had an EKG and blood work done in the last 30 days and the doctor said everything look disgustingly normal, so I don't feel like there is any major concern here. No sensation of heart fluttering while I am awake. I am leaning towards that it's just anxiety, since prior to the start of all this 45 days ago I never experienced these symptoms. Any similar experiences?

[Sleeprider]

The discomfort of your full face mask is normal. If you are not a mouth breather, you will want to shift to a nasal pillow mask as soon as possible. Much lighter, less obtrusive, they can greatly increase comfort unless you are unable to train yourself to close off your oral airway with your tongue on the roof of you mouth.

Running the machine nearly wide-open suggests you did not get a titration done. You will want to take a look at your sleep data from the machine, and narrow the pressure range to the effective minimum and maximum that gives you both effective treatment and comfort. That wide range makes it tough for the machine to respond to apnea events, and may leave you feeling a little suffocated.

I'm not touching the cardio issues...no knowledge or expertise in that area. Good luck and welcome to the forums.