OlRedHair’s Therapy Record Thread

[OlRedHair]

Short nights where we don't get as much sleep as the body needs....we are going to feel like crap but it's not from the sleep apnea stuff.
It's from not enough sleep. Duh....amazing how some people still can't get that through their heads.
You have that part figured out.

The sleep will come with time and experience as long as other stuff doesn't mess with it.
You are so far ahead of where I was at this stage of things. Doing extremely well IMHO and I wouldn't change anything.
Just work on getting those extra hours whenever you can and it will come.
Yes, you are going to have nights where you don't get as much sleep as the body needs. Stuff happens.
You shrug your shoulders and know that you might see a nap in your future if you can and move on.

I think you are doing super great.

Thank you so so much! I am absolutely delighted. I had been feeling so tired over this past year and was very concerned. I’m relieved that this regimen is significantly improving my symptoms. And I’m making a concerted effort to get to bed early every night. I have even declined some evening events that I wasn’t particularly interested in.

The more I read about sleep the more important I am finding it. I have osteoporosis and I’ve learned that bone remodeling takes place while sleeping. Also there is Alzheimer’s in my family, and I have read that brain cleansing occurs during sleep. Probably lots of other critical repair mechanisms also take place while we sleep. The CPAP has prompted me to learn and change some of my bad habits.


Nora in Florida
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[OlRedHair]

What causes me to have a stomach full of gas and a lot of burping? This is happened to me three times. I didn’t do anything to change my settings.

Thanks so much!


Nora in Florida
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[OlRedHair]

Also one more question. On both Friday night and Sunday night, I know I was in bed for seven hours. But the machine only read six hours the following morning.

Any idea what could have caused that? Both nights I did get up to go to the bathroom. When I get up to go to the bathroom, I have decided to just leave everything on. It is simpler. Disconnecting my hose is difficult with my arthritis. And turning off and on the machine causes that bright light to come on. So I just leave everything on while I get up and put the mask back on with the air blowing.

Thank you!


Nora in Florida
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[Pugsy]

What causes me to have a stomach full of gas and a lot of burping? This is happened to me three times. I didn’t do anything to change my settings.

It's aerophagia and it just happens sometimes and doesn't happen at other times.
Might be related to sleeping position or might be related to the pressure the machine went to during the night.
wiki/index.php/Aerophagia
If it becomes too annoying there are some things that can be done to lessen the problem. Adding more exhale relief would be the first option if available.

Also one more question. On both Friday night and Sunday night, I know I was in bed for seven hours. But the machine only read six hours the following morning.

Any idea what could have caused that? Both nights I did get up to go to the bathroom. When I get up to go to the bathroom, I have decided to just leave everything on. It is simpler. Disconnecting my hose is difficult with my arthritis. And turning off and on the machine causes that bright light to come on. So I just leave everything on while I get up and put the mask back on with the air blowing.

Thank you!


Nora in Florida
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No idea why except that for some reason the machine didn't think you were attached for a period of time.
This is where it would be nice to actually see the detailed data but we can't in your situation.

[OlRedHair]

Thankfully the aerophagia has only happened a couple of times. I checked the settings and is the Flex the exhale pressure? Mine is set to three, and that is the highest the machine goes.

I’ll see how it is over the next week. If it continues I will try calling the tech at the VA who set me up. In the meantime, I’ll try some of the things in that great article you linked me to.

Thank you so much!


Nora in Florida
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[Pugsy]

Flex is indeed the exhale relief and 3 is as much as you can get with this machine. There are other machines where you can get more relief though so if it becomes too annoying it is possible to get another type of machine.

Sometimes it is pressure related so when you maybe sleep on your back more then maybe the pressure goes up more and might account for intermittent symptoms. Hard to stay off your back all the time though and sometimes it's sleeping position related like maybe worse on one side or other. So damned if you do and damned if you don't kind of thing.

[OlRedHair]

Flex is indeed the exhale relief and 3 is as much as you can get with this machine. There are other machines where you can get more relief though so if it becomes too annoying it is possible to get another type of machine.

Sometimes it is pressure related so when you maybe sleep on your back more then maybe the pressure goes up more and might account for intermittent symptoms. Hard to stay off your back all the time though and sometimes it's sleeping position related like maybe worse on one side or other. So damned if you do and damned if you don't kind of thing.

Exactly! I’m just trying to find a good compromise. Actually I don’t sleep much on my back. I am a stomach sleeper and occasionally side sleeper. Hopefully it will turn out to be just an occasional thing.

If it persists, I really like the technician at the VA. It takes a long time to get into see her. But she is very good. And she uses CPAP herself, so she understands what we are going through.


Nora in Florida
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[OlRedHair]

I have been having a problem the last two weeks. At first I had thought I had a cold, but then this persisted. I have never before had allergies.My nose gets plugged up at night, more so in the right nostril. It also gets very dry. So I increased the heat of the tube and the humidity to the maximum. I was still getting plugged up. So I have started using a couple of squirts of Afrin at bedtime. That is taking care of the problem pretty well. But I am worried about long-term use of Afrin.

Do you have any suggestions as to why my nose is getting plugged up every night? Since it is winter, it is colder and dryer, so is it a good idea to increase the tube heat and humidity to the maximum? Any idea why this is happening, and what I can do to prevent it? I’m concerned about long-term use of the decongestant Afrin.


Nora in Florida
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[zonker]

Do you have any suggestions as to why my nose is getting plugged up every night? Since it is winter, it is colder and dryer, so is it a good idea to increase the tube heat and humidity to the maximum?


Nora in Florida
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i'll let others speak about afrin. i have no experience with it. i use flonase instead. it's non habit forming.

any who, by all means, play with the humidity. this is something that is very personal to each of us. what i consider too much, you may consider too little,

i had to go through this with my recent move from arizona back to washington state. as i'm sure you know, that's quite a change in ambient humidity! took me the longest time to get my rig adjusted to more of the wet stuff. finally just turned off the humidity all together and kept bumping the temp up until i was sleeping comfortably.

wish i had a specific recommendation, but i don't.

good luck!

oh! how's that handsome golden doing?

[OlRedHair]

Do you have any suggestions as to why my nose is getting plugged up every night? Since it is winter, it is colder and dryer, so is it a good idea to increase the tube heat and humidity to the maximum?


Nora in Florida
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i'll let others speak about afrin. i have no experience with it. i use flonase instead. it's non habit forming.

any who, by all means, play with the humidity. this is something that is very personal to each of us. what i consider too much, you may consider too little,

i had to go through this with my recent move from arizona back to washington state. as i'm sure you know, that's quite a change in ambient humidity! took me the longest time to get my rig adjusted to more of the wet stuff. finally just turned off the humidity all together and kept bumping the temp up until i was sleeping comfortably.

wish i had a specific recommendation, but i don't.

good luck!

oh! how's that handsome golden doing?

Thanks so much! I’ll keep playing with it. I think I’ll start by decreasing the humidity from the max that I have. The tubing just stays wet all the time too and I was concerned about that. Also I can try some Flonase. I don’t want to get hooked on Afrin.

Handsome Eli is doing just fine thank you. And how is Stewball?


Nora in Florida
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[zonker]

Thanks so much! I’ll keep playing with it. I think I’ll start by decreasing the humidity from the max that I have. The tubing just stays wet all the time too and I was concerned about that. Also I can try some Flonase. I don’t want to get hooked on Afrin.

Handsome Eli is doing just fine thank you. And how is Stewball?


Nora in Florida
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yup, that's the way to go. whatever works for you, works for you. how is your therapy going otherwise?

stew is doing great. we had put him on a diet a year and a half ago in preparation for surgery. and a whole set of getting him out and letting him run. the pounds came off in good time. we got him down to 73 lbs. and just two days ago, he was in to a new vet, where we discovered he's now 69 lbs!

at this rate, he'll prolly disappear all together by saint patrick's day.

[OlRedHair]

Thanks so much! I’ll keep playing with it. I think I’ll start by decreasing the humidity from the max that I have. The tubing just stays wet all the time too and I was concerned about that. Also I can try some Flonase. I don’t want to get hooked on Afrin.

Handsome Eli is doing just fine thank you. And how is Stewball?


Nora in Florida
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yup, that's the way to go. whatever works for you, works for you. how is your therapy going otherwise?

stew is doing great. we had put him on a diet a year and a half ago in preparation for surgery. and a whole set of getting him out and letting him run. the pounds came off in good time. we got him down to 73 lbs. and just two days ago, he was in to a new vet, where we discovered he's now 69 lbs!

at this rate, he'll prolly disappear all together by saint patrick's day.

Good for you! I remember with my first golden Molly, when I rescued her, she was grossly obese. It took a year but she finally got down to the vets recommended weight of 60 and stayed that way for all of her 17 years.

Other than the dry nostrils, my therapy is going well. One of the greatest things of CPAP for me has been more sleep. When I first started I found I was only in bed for 5 1/2 hours a night. No wonder I was so sleepy and napping a lot. Now I go to bed an hour and a half earlier and I’m feeling so much better. My AHI's are usually under four. And my mask fit 99 or 100% and my periodic breathing zero. Once in a while I have a night with high AHI. Last night it was 7.5 for some reason. I had a bunch of horrible nightmares. I’m sure the two are connected.


Nora in Florida
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[zonker]

Other than the dry nostrils, my therapy is going well. One of the greatest things of CPAP for me has been more sleep. When I first started I found I was only in bed for 5 1/2 hours a night. No wonder I was so sleepy and napping a lot. Now I go to bed an hour and a half earlier and I’m feeling so much better. My AHI's are usually under four. And my mask fit 99 or 100% and my periodic breathing zero. Once in a while I have a night with high AHI. Last night it was 7.5 for some reason. I had a bunch of horrible nightmares. I’m sure the two are connected.


Nora in Florida
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well, you know...if you want to get that ahi lowered, all you have to do is put up some charts and ask for help.

[OlRedHair]

Other than the dry nostrils, my therapy is going well. One of the greatest things of CPAP for me has been more sleep. When I first started I found I was only in bed for 5 1/2 hours a night. No wonder I was so sleepy and napping a lot. Now I go to bed an hour and a half earlier and I’m feeling so much better. My AHI's are usually under four. And my mask fit 99 or 100% and my periodic breathing zero. Once in a while I have a night with high AHI. Last night it was 7.5 for some reason. I had a bunch of horrible nightmares. I’m sure the two are connected.


Nora in Florida
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well, you know...if you want to get that ahi lowered, all you have to do is put up some charts and ask for help.

Sure, I’m glad to. Remember I have the machine that doesn’t do the software that most of you guys use. But I’ll post what I do have.

AHI was a little high again last night. And again I had horrible nightmares. But I did not use any Afrin and was fine. Maybe I just had an extended bout of allergies.


Nora in Florida
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[OlRedHair]

Other than the dry nostrils, my therapy is going well. One of the greatest things of CPAP for me has been more sleep. When I first started I found I was only in bed for 5 1/2 hours a night. No wonder I was so sleepy and napping a lot. Now I go to bed an hour and a half earlier and I’m feeling so much better. My AHI's are usually under four. And my mask fit 99 or 100% and my periodic breathing zero. Once in a while I have a night with high AHI. Last night it was 7.5 for some reason. I had a bunch of horrible nightmares. I’m sure the two are connected.


Nora in Florida
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well, you know...if you want to get that ahi lowered, all you have to do is put up some charts and ask for help.

Sure, I’m glad to. Remember I have the machine that doesn’t do the software that most of you guys use. But I’ll post what I do have.

AHI was a little high again last night. And again I had horrible nightmares. But I did not use any Afrin and was fine. Maybe I just had an extended bout of allergies.

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I decreased the humidity to three last night, and kept the heat at three. So both humidity and heat are now set at 3.



Nora in Florida
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