introduction, and a history of apap->bipap->central apneas?

[dogsarelife]

Thanks for the response PR. So I guess most people are like you and go at things alone. I think I feel a little uneasy taking from this forum and not being able to contribute a lot yet, but hopefully I will get to a place where I'm sleeping better and can then give back. and I'm ordering things from cpap.com as well to support cpaptalk.com, just feel more comfortable when I can pay someone to get customized support. I did message freecpapadvice.com's Jason -I think lankylefty - about doing a sleepyhead session because I was having intense brain fog and couldn't understand anything, and then luckily that cleared up a little such that I didn't need his help to make sense of things.

Can anyone give general feedback on putting my efforts into these areas? Are these a good use of my time, or should I focus somewhere else?

1) nose breathing. when I am able to focus on pressing my tongue on the roof of my mouth as hard as I can, I noticed that it starts to become easier to do this at night as well, and results in better sleep. Pretty intrigued by a post Pugsy linked to by Perrybucksdad (I think that was the username) on how he switched from being a mouth breather to a nose breather. And then from some posts from JayAitschee (sp?) it seems like Resmed machines are possibly better at detecting issues via nasal breathing versus mouth breathing.

2) possibly try the P10 nasal pillows? would be interested if this lets me lower my pressure versus the nasal or full face mask, and avoid aerophagia, and maybe switch back to my airsense 10 eventually to only get higher pressure for REM events when I need it as opposed to the bipap that has higher pressure all night (but is much more comfortable).

Alternatively - scour craiglist, ebay, cpaptalk, etc for an auto bilevel pap? Look for an autoset for her?

3) getting a zeo or some other sort of device that tells me the time I spend in each stage of sleep? Just feels like I'm not spending enough in stage 4 sleep or REM sleep. Is there anyone else who didn't get any stage 4 sleep during their sleep study like me?

4) look into sleep medications? If I take Nyquil during a cold, I tend to sleep and be completely out and wake up probably but not remember much, if anything. Have looked at all the insomnia tips (I bought sound sleep, sound mind over 10 year ago) and still, for some reason I often wake up after 5-6 hours (typical I guess, in that a normal sleep hypnogram shows we all wake up at least once or twice a night after an REM period is over) and can't get back to sleep. sometimes it's after a hypopnea, sometimes after a cluster of 3 OAs in a row, but almost always in REM and I just seem to be sort of sensitive to this. Are there any medications that anyone knows would help this kind of issue? (thinking xyrem, but I know that's some powerful stuff)

Thanks if anyone can offer any feedback. I'm not relying completely on you all by the way! I have a GP and of course my sleep doctor, just looking for different points of view and experiences before I decide where to concentrate my efforts.

[palerider]

Thanks for the response PR. So I guess most people are like you and go at things alone.

I'd say that the complete DIYers like me are fairly rare, Most people walk into the system and get chewed up by it, then 50% fail... some find their way here or another good self help forum (freecpapadvice.com/forum, or apneaboard.com) and learn to succeed.

I think I just feel sort of bad taking from this forum and not being able to contribute a lot yet,

*please* don't think that. I (and others) would MUCH prefer you just absorb information and not try to 'give back' until you've actually gotten a good, firm understanding of whatever... otherwise, people just spend more time correcting things.

There's not much more annoying for me than the 'know it all newbie" who just got their machine, read a manual and thinks they can answer every question...(usually wrongly).

just feel more comfortable when I can pay someone to get customized treatment I guess.

Well, QUIT IT! The people that are here, helping, are people that want to help. Just bask in the glow

[zonker]

[quote=palerider post_id=1288403 time=1549663655 user_id=45763

While I, like pugsy, have bad nights and poor sleep at times, it's not because of sleep apnea, my year average ahi is 0.19.
[/quote]

well, i'll be! this is the first time, that i recall, that you have publicly stated your ahi. i have often been curious about your ahi along with the other veterans of the forum. it just seemed to me that this was just one of those things that one just didn't ask!

vedddy unseemly, dontcha know.

[zonker]

Thanks for the response PR. So I guess most people are like you and go at things alone. I think I feel a little uneasy taking from this forum and not being able to contribute a lot yet, but hopefully I will get to a place where I'm sleeping better and can then give back.

you are EXACTLY where i was last year! and what i decided to do, in order to pay back the forum, was to "pay forward". after 3.5 years of this, i realized i wasn't going to be one of the experts here. sleepyhead software is just too much for my brain to wrap around. you see, it involves math and that was always my downfall.

so i decided to be the welcome wagon, instead. when newbies come here, i take it upon myself to welcome them AND point out the new users thread. i remember what it was like when i first came here, nervous as all get out. so i want to do my part in calming that new person down.

as you say, someday you too will find a way to give back.

[palerider]

so i decided to be the welcome wagon, instead. when newbies come here, i take it upon myself to welcome them AND point out the new users thread.

Sometimes, he even has cookies.

[zonker]

so i decided to be the welcome wagon, instead. when newbies come here, i take it upon myself to welcome them AND point out the new users thread.

Sometimes, he even has cookies.

no cookies for YOU!!

(i'm the cookie nazi)

[palerider]

so i decided to be the welcome wagon, instead. when newbies come here, i take it upon myself to welcome them AND point out the new users thread.

Sometimes, he even has cookies.

no cookies for YOU!!

(i'm the cookie nazi)

I know, I know, never any cookies for me. *sniff*

[dogsarelife]

thanks PR and Zonker for assuring me that people here are helping / contributing because they want to be. Also you all definitely give each other some hard knocks as well as some cookies . It's nice to see some lightheartedness in what could very easily be a depressing place/ illness? easy to forget that.

anyway, thanks for the warm welcome, and I decree everyone can have some cookies, as an entirely new and fumbling member.

[palerider]

thanks PR and Zonker for assuring me that people here are helping / contributing because they want to be.

I'm sure not getting PAID for it!!!!

(though, honestly, when someone tells me they're sleeping way better, and feeling way better, and I helped them to feel better... I do get a warm fuzzy feeling... or was that indigestion... not sure?

[Pugsy]

Just in case I haven't said it often enough so that people understand....

I really do appreciate everyone here no matter what they do. Even the people I don't agree with and trust me...there are many of those and many times I bite my fingers bloody so that I don't give them an earful that isn't very polite.

Zonker feels best welcoming people and pointing them to the basics....Saves me or the others from having to do that and it needs to be done and I don't always get a chance to welcome people properly. Did you all know that I once did introduce myself on another board some years ago and was totally ignored by everyone. No one said one thing to me...not even a "hi newbie...welcome to the forum" "kiss my butt"....nothing. And before any of you go wondering where that was...it wasn't under the Pugsy name and it's over and done with and I have moved on. I know first hand what it feels like to be ignored. It hurts.

It takes all sorts of personalities to make up a family...and that's essentially what we are here....one big family.
Like any family out there we do sometimes have our disagreements and sometimes it can get a bit ugly but at the end of the day we are still one big family. Reminds me a lot of my sister and our relationship...while I might try to physically beat the crap out of her (last time I actually did that I was 16 and she was 15 and she actually took a chunk out of my thigh during the fight (bit me and took a chunk of meat out)...never mind that I was banging her head on the floor when she did that )...just let someone from the outside come and try to do the same and I would stand up for her to the death. No one gets to beat the crap out of my sister but me.

We gotta have some fun here....there's a lot of truth to that old adage about all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
We gotta smile sometimes...especially here lately. You all have no idea the headache I have been having lately with all this latest upheaval. I have stress in my personal life and I come here and have even more stress to deal with...I get grouchy just like everyone else...big surprise there. I am having some extra bad personal stuff going on in my personal life....it's really stretching my mental outlook on things to the absolute max. Unfortunately it creates a short fuse situation for me here. My normally patient personality...has gone right out the window. There simply isn't anything left in that area right now.

We each have our own individual personalities here...some we like, some we love and some we probably hate with a passion. That's the way big families are.
Some are goofy and fun loving and some are strictly business and swing a big 2 X 4 with no room for any nonsense.

I need fun and smiles to help take the pressure and stress off. Others maybe not so much. If you don't need it or like it...hey..just skim over it and let it be. It hurts no one to just let it slide if you don't agree with something..

I see people make fun of Zonker for his way of doing things and it really hurts me when I see it. He has just as much of a right to be himself as the guys swinging the 2 X 4s and they want to be all business.

So to all you newbies here who want to participate in this family but you barely understand the basics of your own therapy or not...you can still be an important part of this family. Even if all you say is "Hi...from one newbie to another...welcome to the forum"...trust me...it means a lot to everyone.

[palerider]

I see people make fun of Zonker for his way of doing things and it really hurts me when I see it. He has just as much of a right to be himself as the guys swinging the 2 X 4s and they want to be all business.

I've come to be fond of zonker, as the dear slightly crazy uncle... and while I may rib him about his autobondage thing at night... I'm pretty sure he knows I mean it affectionately.... Right zonker?

besides... it *works* and that's the most important part.

(though I am still miffed about the cookies).

[Pugsy]

(though I am still miffed about the cookies).

I ate your cookies tonight. You loved them.
I have a stress headache and I need a chocolate fix to try to help me get rid of the stress headache.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies....you loved them. I ate two of them in your honor. Still hot...fresh out of the oven.
Doesn't get any better than that.

Sorry...

[zonker]

thanks PR and Zonker for assuring me that people here are helping / contributing because they want to be.

I'm sure not getting PAID for it!!!!

(though, honestly, when someone tells me they're sleeping way better, and feeling way better, and I helped them to feel better... I do get a warm fuzzy feeling... or was that indigestion... not sure?

hmmm, the "warm and fuzzy feeling" is directly the opposite of what your sig says!

[zonker]

dogsarelife, i'm happy to know that you are taking my clowning around so nicely.

to pugsy and palerider, i just don't know what to say. really appreciate what you both have said.

now, lets get back to helping dogsarelife, eh?

[palerider]

thanks PR and Zonker for assuring me that people here are helping / contributing because they want to be.

I'm sure not getting PAID for it!!!!

(though, honestly, when someone tells me they're sleeping way better, and feeling way better, and I helped them to feel better... I do get a warm fuzzy feeling... or was that indigestion... not sure?

hmmm, the "warm and fuzzy feeling" is directly the opposite of what your sig says!

Hey, I said I wasn't sure if it was indigestion...

Here's something warm and fuzzy!