As others have said, flow limitations is what are driving the pressure increases. If aerophagia is not an issue, bumping up the min pressure a bit will help smooth out the pressure curve and that could lead to more restful sleep---if pressure increases are what is bothering you.
You also say you are a mouth breather and you are currently using a full face mask, but there is still some evidence of low level leaks. These leaks are not big enough to effect the efficacy of your therapy, but they may be something that is waking you up. And in that case finding a way to manage the leaks could lead to more restful sleep. Taping with a nasal pillows mask might work better for you than the current full face mask, particularly if you primarily breathe through your nose during the daytime.
You also write:
mjrodman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 06, 2022 3:22 pm
I'm still pretty tired every day. My Whoop tells me I average a wake event every hour. I'm think these events are mostly external (side sore from sleeping on it, or maybe the dog wakes me up). I'd love some advice on how to not be so tired.
If your Whoop tells you
when those wakes are occurring and how long they last, it is worth zooming in on the xPAP data at those times. See if any of the Whoop wakes correspond to any of the following things in the xPAP data:
- Pressure increases
- Start of leaks
- End of leaks
- Peaks in the snore graph
- Peaks in the flow limitation graph
Also double check the timing of the wakes: If there are stretches of multiples of 90 minutes between some of the wakes, then some of the wakes could just be normal post-REM wakes. And in that case, there's not much to do about them except not to obsess or worry about them. The idea is if the wakes occur between full sleep cycles and are short enough for you to not remember, they probably aren't adversely affecting the quality of your sleep. But if you're not managing to get a few full sleep cycles without wakes, that could be part of why you still feel tired every day.
Finally, it's worth reiterating the obvious: There are lots of medical problems that can cause daytime fatigue, and not all of them are related to sleep apnea. When was the last time you had a full physical exam with your primary care doctor? Have you mentioned the ongoing daily fatigue to your primary care doctor? Have the standard blood tests been done? Have your thyroid levels been checked? Has your vitamin D level been checked? Are you taking any medication that has known side affects that could be causing the fatigue or affecting your sleep?
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