Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
sleepcrapnea
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:54 pm

Re: Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

Post by sleepcrapnea » Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:21 pm

weiss27md wrote:
Thu Oct 07, 2021 6:57 am
You need to get an in lab sleep study or a PES sleep study that is more for UARS. You sound like you have most of the same issues I have. I have chronic fatigue yet sleep studies and all labs come up negative.
Yeah I want to get an in lab sleep study. It seems this is closely guarded where I am and not very accessible, especially with covid etc. I might have to battle to get to it.

_________________
Machine: F&P SleepStyle™ Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Eson™ 2 Nasal CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Humidifer - dont know what to select - it is built into the F&P machine

sleepcrapnea
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:54 pm

Re: Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

Post by sleepcrapnea » Wed Oct 13, 2021 12:22 pm

Miss Emerita wrote:
Thu Oct 07, 2021 11:13 pm
[orry I missed this post last month. Did you ever try a strap? Some people like the Knightsbridge Dual strap, which pulls the jaw up but not back. Another idea might be a soft cervical collar.

It seems possible the mouth breathing is now merely habitual and will stop once you break the habit. I wonder whether you could speed that up by making sure you are breathing through your nose during the day.
I havent tried the chin strap but I was reading in a couple of places that can make sleep breathing worse.

During the daytime I am almost always breathing through the nose. However, when I go for runs I am almost entirely mouth breathing. That could be a fitness issue rather than a nose issue. I have toyed with the idea of taping my mouth shut at night but I wasnt able to do it in the end.

_________________
Machine: F&P SleepStyle™ Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Eson™ 2 Nasal CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Humidifer - dont know what to select - it is built into the F&P machine

sleepcrapnea
Posts: 89
Joined: Tue Jul 14, 2020 10:54 pm

Re: Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

Post by sleepcrapnea » Mon Oct 25, 2021 11:57 pm

Ok I went back to the ENT who did my sinus surgery.

He said the nose is looking great. But, I raised with him my continuing sleep issues. I also pointed out the at-home sleep studies I had done which showed 3 to 4 HPI per hour.

He said that I dont have sleep apnea. He has recommended that I try taping my mouth at night

He said he doesnt have an easy solution for me.

I asked about an in-lab sleep study. And he looked at me a bit strange as though I am a hypochondriac. And he said he was not open to it but didnt explain why. Was a bit strange.

I will try the mouth taping thing. My impression is that it is the mouth breathing drying out my mouth and throat that causes me to wake up rather than a lack of oxygen. When I record my breathing I also notice that the louder side of the breathing is when I breathe out rather than when I breathe in.

He might rejected the in-lab sleep study outright because I am on the public system. I am on public because I had sinus issues from a very young age so my insurance would have possibly challenged it.

However, now that its not seeming to just be a nose issue, then its no pre-existing. I might try and go through a private approach to see if I can get an in-lab sleep study done.

In the meantime I will try mouth taping. Gives me anxiety to even think about it TBH.

_________________
Machine: F&P SleepStyle™ Auto CPAP Machine
Mask: Eson™ 2 Nasal CPAP Mask with Headgear
Additional Comments: Humidifer - dont know what to select - it is built into the F&P machine

User avatar
Miss Emerita
Posts: 3416
Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2018 8:07 pm

Re: Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

Post by Miss Emerita » Tue Oct 26, 2021 12:02 pm

If you do want to try taping, I'd suggest you invest in a box of Somnifix strips. They are on the pricey side, but they are very gentle on the skin and easy to dislodge if you suddenly need to open your mouth. (Sacrifice one strip and check that for yourself.) If they work for you, you can either stick with them or try cheaper tape alternatives. People would be happy to help you with suggestions on that.

The two main health issues to consider using tape are suddenly vomiting during the night and inhaling vomitus, which would be bad, and having the power go out and not waking up to remove the tape so you can breathe normally.

For the first, the ease of opening your mouth should be reassuring. You should also not use tape if you're feeling queasy.

For the second, you can plug a circuit alarm into an outlet on the same circuit as your machine. I use one that is made by Reliance Corp. It has gone off a few times when we lost power during the night. It sounds like an insistent alarm clock rather than a fire alarm.
Oscar software is available at https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/

User avatar
booksfan
Posts: 460
Joined: Fri Feb 09, 2018 7:20 pm
Location: Triangle area, NC

Re: Whats causing my sleep maintenance insomnia?

Post by booksfan » Tue Oct 26, 2021 1:55 pm

To follow up on Miss E's post, if you are obsessive and read the literature that comes with every mask, they all warn that you should NOT use the mask if you are nauseated or vomiting. For good reason, as she pointed out! The only times I have not used my CPAP since I got it are when I have either had a stomach bug or after surgery (anesthesia does a number on me!).

_________________
Machine: AirSense 11 Autoset
Mask: Bleep DreamPort CPAP Mask Solution
Additional Comments: AirMini for travel, with Eclipse/Halos. OSCAR software.
Mask: Bleep Eclipse/Halos
Machine: ResMed AirSense 11 AutoSet