Just looking for a 2nd opinion...

[Billmanweh]

I've been having some real trouble sleeping lately, and I wasn't sure if it was related to my sleep apnea or not. So I pulled my card tonight to look at the numbers. I don't see anything here that seems like an issue. I just thought I would post them here for a second opinion. Do you see anything here that needs to be addressed?

Thanks!

[Billmanweh]

[bdp522]

You seem to be doing quite a bit of snoring. Could you be mouth leaking? Do you tape? The leaks could be from mouth breathing/leaking. Leaks can disrupt sleep even without having an apnea event. You could try to tape your mouth closed for a few nights and see if it helps.

Brenda

[Billmanweh]

I think the first night I posted might be somewhat of an anomaly. My VS number tends to be below 2 on average.

I've never really noticed that I leak or breathe through my mouth. I can bounce it off my girlfriend, but I think if she had noticed me leaking like that she would have mentioned it.

[jweeks]

Hi,

Given the leaks, I am not sure that you can trust any of the rest of the data. I also noticed that you maxed out on the first night. You may have to set the upper limit a bit higher. But fix the leaking first so you can get better data.

-john-

[Pugsy]

I don't think the overall leak is that bad. Few spikes but not lengthy. Is it possible that the puffs of air from a leak are waking you up? What did you mean when you say you have "trouble sleeping"? Going to sleep, staying asleep???

[Billmanweh]

I don't think the overall leak is that bad. Few spikes but not lengthy. Is it possible that the puffs of air from a leak are waking you up? What did you mean when you say you have "trouble sleeping"? Going to sleep, staying asleep???

Well, I'm not sure exactly. I have some trouble going to sleep, but that's nothing new. The problem lately is that I will go to sleep, and within the first hour or so, I'll wake up having hallucinations. Sort of like I'm dreaming, but awake too. And it's been happening almost every night, so I decided to pull my card and look over my numbers. But I don't see anything that looks like a CPAP related issue.

But I could probably do something to get the leaks under control. I know someone has posted a link to a page that shows some options for adding a strap to the Headrest mask. I think I'll try that this weekend. I might also see about getting some Ambien or something that would help me get to sleep quicker.

But mostly I just wanted to post my latest numbers and see if anything jumped out as a problem to anyone...

[twasbrillig]

Just FYI - the situation where you awaken from sleep and hallucinate is called hypnopompic hallucination (as opposed to the situation where you hallucinate as you are falling asleep, which is called hypnogogic hallucination) The recent SLEEP 2009 professional conference released a statement noting that parasomnias such as hypnopompic hallucinations are much more common among those with sleep-breathing disorders. I read some research somewhere (wish I could find it easily) that demonstrated people were more likely to be on their backs when this happens. Also, some different researchers demonstrated that hypnopompic hallucinations frequently happen during REM sleep. Nobody is checking whether it's caused by OSA during REM sleep, but it makes sense to me. I had the same problem. One hour into a normal night's sleep is probably a time of REM sleep for many sleepers.

I don't know how this might apply to you. Because, while you may not having any events that your machine is measuring during that time period, it seems likely that your sleep is still somehow disturbed. If I were you, I would try to find out about mouth leaks or whatever else is happening. I just wonder if mouth leaks might cause you to have events that are not measurable by your machine? Just an idea, but no one at this site has explained how mouth leaks might show up in the record you get from a data-capable machine.

I would do this prior to taking sleep meds. Sleep meds may just prevent you from discovering a real cause.