APAP: Snores and eye edema

[FeelingBetter]

I am on APAP with setting of 10-18 and currently am wearing a full face mask. I wake every morning with serious under eye edema. I look like I've either been beat up or at the bars on a bender!! In addition, I keep waking myself up snoring, in my mask. The software says I have anywhere between 26-147 snore events a night. Plus I wake up with a sore throat despite snoring with the mask on and the heated humidity. Does anyone else do this? BTW, my AHI last night with all of these snores was 5.3.
Thanks for any input.

[RandyJ]

I am on APAP with setting of 10-18 and currently am wearing a full face mask. I wake every morning with serious under eye edema. I look like I've either been beat up or at the bars on a bender!! In addition, I keep waking myself up snoring, in my mask. The software says I have anywhere between 26-147 snore events a night. Plus I wake up with a sore throat despite snoring with the mask on and the heated humidity. Does anyone else do this? BTW, my AHI last night with all of these snores was 5.3.
Thanks for any input.

I would sometimes get puffy eyes with my full face mask if I had air leaking into my eyes during the night; I'm not sure it is related to snoring, though I certainly did plenty of that with my full face mask as well. Are you aware of any leaking into your eyes? Is your leak rate within acceptable parameters?

I would also get dry mouth & throat from being on my back and snoring; for me, if I stay off my back, I snore less. Could sleeping position be an issue for you?

Does your machine show what your pressure goes up during the night as it responds to the snoring? Do you get up to 18 and stay there? (I am not familiar with your machine.) If you can share some of your data, people here can help you to determine if perhaps your starting pressure of 10 might be a bit too low.

I seem to have recently resolved my snoring issues by switching from full face mask to nasal mask. With the nasal mask I am hardly snoring at all. But that is me, it might not be the right solution for you.

[robysue]

I am on APAP with setting of 10-18 and currently am wearing a full face mask. I wake every morning with serious under eye edema. I look like I've either been beat up or at the bars on a bender!!

How are the leaks? This kind of eye edema tends to indicate air is blowing into the eyes from somewhere. Mask leaks? Exhaust flow from mask bouncing off the bedcovers and back into the eyes? Air blowing into the eyes via the tear ducts?

In addition, I keep waking myself up snoring, in my mask. The software says I have anywhere between 26-147 snore events a night. Plus I wake up with a sore throat despite snoring with the mask on and the heated humidity. Does anyone else do this? BTW, my AHI last night with all of these snores was 5.3.
Thanks for any input.

AHI = 5.3 and lots of snoring ... If this is combo is happening fairly often, a pressure increase might be in order. Some folks are comfortable increasing their own pressure; others are not. If it were me, I'd give the sleep doc's office a call and ask whether a pressure increase is warranted and how much to increase that min pressure setting by.

As for the sore throat with snoring in a FFM while using a heated humidifier: The humidifier is usually designed to keep the nasal passages from drying out, which in turn means the air going down the throat is properly humidified and at the right temperature; hence the throat doesn't get sore. But trying to keep a mouth that's hanging wide open inside a FFM moist may be beyond the humidifier's capabilities. Think of it this way: The FFM allows you to open your mouth without losing pressure---but when you open your mouth, the amount of air moving through it goes up and that means the mouth tends to dry out. And hence the air being blown into the system is losing water vapor in an effort to keep all those mucous membranes in the mouth moist, and that in turn means that there's both more air AND drier air being blown down the throat. And hence the throat gets sore. Now add to the fact that you're snoring a lot. I'm not familiar with your machine, but most APAPs increase the pressure when snoring is detected. And they keep increasing the pressure until either the snoring stops or the max pressure setting is reached. Now we get:

(open mouth) + (snoring) = (open mouth) + (increasing pressure due to snoring) = (open mouth) + (more moving air) = SORER sore throat

What to do? Find a way to keep the mouth closed even though you are using a FFM. Or maybe, increase the min pressure to help kill the snoring, which may in turn lead to less time with your mouth hanging wide open.

[chunkyfrog]

I have been known to sleep with swim goggles--I need to order those eye covers from cpap.com.