What's wrong with me?

[palerider]

Increasing pressure to 6 and turning off ramp was a good idea. What is your EPR set at? I would recommend setting it at 3 if it is not already at that setting. EPR will help you breath out more comfortably.

You don't get the full effect of EPR 3 until your pressure is *at least* 7.

[Pugsy]

I thought the cpap was supposed to help?

Well....
1....we don't know for sure that sleep apnea is responsible for your unwanted symptoms. It might be and it might not be.
2....you have a known problem for sure though...obstructive sleep apnea and that problem needs addressing.
3....you were started out on the machine with the bare minimum settings and here's the news flash...often people need a lot more pressure and the machine simply can't respond fast enough to prevent the apneas from happening if the starting pressures are too low.
Happens all the time. They don't get any reduction in unwanted symptoms (whatever they might have) until the starting minimum pressure is enough to prevent the airway from collapsing.

So...it wouldn't be impossible that if (big IF) your unwanted symptoms are indeed related to sleep apnea that your pressures used are simply too low to do a good job holding the airway open. CPAP can't help if the pressure settings aren't able to prevent the airway from collapsing.

You need to use available software to see exactly what the machine is doing during the time your are asleep and if the apnea events are still happening or not. We already know that you have sleep apnea but what we don't know is if the pressures being used are remotely even doing anything in terms of preventing any apneas.

See the top thread in the Announcements section....Newbies please read.
In it I explain the software an provide links for where to get it and how to use it.

We need to see what the machine is doing and seeing first....see if you are still having apnea events or not.
Gotta start somewhere....it wouldn't be impossible that you have pressure needs in the teens and the machine simply can't get there quickly enough to prevent the apnea events.

It wouldn't be impossible that your unwanted symptoms are totally unrelated to sleep apnea.....but you need to fix the sleep apnea anyway so use available software and lets see what's going on and then explore your potential alternatives based on what the machine's data shows.

Without detailed data we are just making wild ass guesses and they help no one. If you have a machine that will auto adjust it most likely has detailed data unless it's one of ResMed cheap ass AirStart machines instead of the better AirSense machines.

I am not going to get into the benzo or not discussion....that's between you and your doctor and until I see some data from a machine it is really irrelevant.
You had a sleep study...it confirmed moderate sleep apnea...next step is to attempt to optimize your therapy and without data we have absolutely no clue if your apnea events are even remotely being reduced in number.
Attempt to fix the known problem first...then see what might be left over after you know for sure that sleep apnea events aren't happening nearly as much as they were happening without cpap.

CPAP will fix sleep apnea issues but often it takes a little tweaking of the settings to get the job done.

[andrenym00]

Went to doc today and he thinks I should get a full face mask. Thinks i might be breathing through my mouth. Doesn't think i should change any of the settings yet. I might see a neurologist to make sure nothing else is wrong with me. Waking up and feeling as if your brain is shutting off is kind of scary. Not sure what caused this. Last time it happened was six months ago when I had too much to drink. Had an episode of sleep paralysis that night and when i woke up I had same thing happen to me with the overwhelming feeling of me falling asleep. I also felt my tongue go numb briefly and my left arm lost feeling briefly as well. Can these be mini strokes? I wasn't dizzy though or had the main symptoms of mini stroke.

[Janknitz]

Your anxiety MIGHT be caused by the sleep apnea. When your body is struggling to breathe, it cranks out stress hormones to try to get you to wake up and BREATHE. So you may find that once your apnea is well treated, the other symptoms might have better control. Then you can re-evaluate the meds.

In addition to sleep apnea I was having severe gastroesophageal reflux. When the reflux occurred the stomach acid shot into my airway and I'd wake up drowning, unable to catch my breath even though I was wide awake. Absolutely terrifying and I thought I might die for sure. CPAP greatly helps the reflux. Reflux and apnea often go hand in hand (the struggle to breathe creates a vacuum effect in your airway which pulls the stomach acids up into it). Not saying you have GERD, but that's something else you may want to consider that could cause those symptoms.

It's complex, and I agree that starting with getting the sleep apnea controlled is the best strategy.

[andrenym00]

Your anxiety MIGHT be caused by the sleep apnea. When your body is struggling to breathe, it cranks out stress hormones to try to get you to wake up and BREATHE. So you may find that once your apnea is well treated, the other symptoms might have better control. Then you can re-evaluate the meds.

In addition to sleep apnea I was having severe gastroesophageal reflux. When the reflux occurred the stomach acid shot into my airway and I'd wake up drowning, unable to catch my breath even though I was wide awake. Absolutely terrifying and I thought I might die for sure. CPAP greatly helps the reflux. Reflux and apnea often go hand in hand (the struggle to breathe creates a vacuum effect in your airway which pulls the stomach acids up into it). Not saying you have GERD, but that's something else you may want to consider that could cause those symptoms.

It's complex, and I agree that starting with getting the sleep apnea controlled is the best strategy.

Yes I have acid reflux. Taking meds. Changed my diet totally in last week.

[Geer1]

Went to doc today and he thinks I should get a full face mask. Thinks i might be breathing through my mouth. Doesn't think i should change any of the settings yet. I might see a neurologist to make sure nothing else is wrong with me. Waking up and feeling as if your brain is shutting off is kind of scary. Not sure what caused this. Last time it happened was six months ago when I had too much to drink. Had an episode of sleep paralysis that night and when i woke up I had same thing happen to me with the overwhelming feeling of me falling asleep. I also felt my tongue go numb briefly and my left arm lost feeling briefly as well. Can these be mini strokes? I wasn't dizzy though or had the main symptoms of mini stroke.

Most of your worries seem to be sleep related, I believe you should focus on treating your known sleep disorder. If there are other symptoms creating problems then for sure ask your doctor to look into them but don't get too caught up on worrying about things you can't control especially when there are things that you can control and currently improve on.

What made your doctor think you were breathing through your mouth? Did he look at your data? Have you woke up with air leaking out of your mouth? Do you wake up with a very dry mouth (when using PAP)?

Assuming your PAP machine is a Resmed Autoset you have a lot of available data to help you understand how effective your treatment is and it can also be helpful in determining if leaks are present (which could possibly indicate mouth breathing). My previous post about OSCAR will help you access this data and if you share it there are knowledgeable people on here that can give advice if there is anything obviously wrong and can also help determine if a full face mask is the best path forward (there are other ways to deal with mouth breathing that some people prefer over a full face mask).

[Julie]

I would definitely see the neurologist... tell them what happened that time with your tongue, etc... probably nothing much, maybe a one-off, but he should want to rule out anything like MS - not trying to worry you, but you do need to finally solve what's what and not keep guessing. And as I think was said, you could have OSA on top of whatever else might be happening, if there is anything else.

[D.H.]

You said that you had the "resnick auto sense CPAP." The nearest match is the "ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet," so I assume that you have that.

One suggestion is to get in in lab titration study to find your ideal setting. Another is to start using OSCAR to see whether and when you're having sleep breathing problems.

The last suggestion is to turn the CPAP all the way up to 10. You might need a much higher pressure, especially if you're spending a large portion of the night at higher pressures.

What seems to work for me is one point lower that my 90% pressure.

BTW, if you find the change in pressure upon exhalation anyonying, you can make it lower or turn it off completely. Some patients love it, others can't stand it.

[palerider]

so I ASSume that you have that.

Don't do that.

[sleepye]

It sounds like you are wary of changing settings since your doctor did not think it necessary. It is still very worthwhile to use Oscar to see what is happening with your therapy. Oscar does not make any changes to your settings. You can use data from Oscar (and knowledge from people in this forum) to understand how well your current settings are performing. If the data shows changes in settings would be helpful you can choose whether to make those changes.

[Janknitz]

Yes I have acid reflux. Taking meds. Changed my diet totally in last week.

The combo of dietary change and CPAP may really help!

[andrenym00]

Andre, Geer1's post that includes Oscar information is a really good one, and I hope you'll do as he suggests. That will help the experts help you. Once they can see exactly what is going on, they may be able to help you change your settings to increase your comfort.

The experience of trying to sleep with the mask on your face and the machine generating pressure is for many of us initially unsettling. You might help your body acclimate itself if you use the mask and machine during the day while you read or watch TV -- something you enjoy that can distract you some.

Do I need an SDHC card to use oscar? My machine didn't come with one.

[palerider]

Do I need an SDHC card to use oscar? My machine didn't come with one.

http://cpaptalk.com/wiki/index.php/Cpap ... machine.3F

[andrenym00]

So this is last nights data. Can anyone tell me what this says? I am using a resmed auto sense 10.

[Pugsy]

It tells me you have terrible sleep quality and wake up often....why? Any known reason?

Do you take any medications of any kind? If so, what?