First 3 nights

[tazman]

Well so far even though CPAP improves my AHI numbers I still am not sleeping better so far. I know things might improve as I get used to wearing the mask but I thought I would post my screen shots just so more experienced people can look and see if anything stands out where there might be something I could try.

First night pressure was set at 6cm per my subscription. I wore my CMS 50D+ to get a base line if it will help to wear later on.


Second night the little snore right before 12AM woke me up and hearing myself snore which never happens for me made me think to change to APAP mode 6-10cm setting


Third night nothing special to report.


The first two nights I wore the mask fairly loose and could not sleep on my side without hearing air leaking because the hard plastic on the top straps pushing the mask to the side. The third night I tightened up the mask a little and could lay on my side OK and the only mask marks I had was on the side I was sleeping when I woke up in the morning so if the leak data is OK I think I have the mask setup good now. I think I am doing some mouth breathing because last night I woke up with dry mouth even though I was drooling. I guess I should probably try the chin strap to see if that improve the leaks being detected.

[Sircadian]

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on experimenting and what the graphs are telling you.

Like the second graph, the 0.65 daily, looks like leaks are under control in a couple of the images, as you mentioned,

If you like experimenting a bit, I'd try a straight 7cm CPAP, no range or APAP mode, be nice to find a happy place where most are 0.65.
Be interesting to see what Wulfman would suggest ... he also like CPAP.
Well within your power to manage your therapy .... kudos ... Sirc

[tazman]

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on experimenting and what the graphs are telling you.

Like the second graph, the 0.65 daily, looks like leaks are under control in a couple of the images, as you mentioned,

If you like experimenting a bit, I'd try a straight 7cm CPAP, no range or APAP mode, be nice to find a happy place where most are 0.65.
Be interesting to see what Wulfman would suggest ... he also like CPAP.
Well within your power to manage your therapy .... kudos ... Sirc

Thanks for your thoughts and I will try 7cm CPAP to see what it does, I do have the EPR set to 3 if that makes any difference. Unfortunately the more I research about the spontaneously arousals mentioned in my sleep study the less I think sleep apnea is my main problem or at least it is going to be the easy fix of my problems. I know the doctor from the sleep study who I have yet to meet wants to see me according the tech from the sleep study place. They have not called me yet and I did not call them because I have been waiting to see the results from my CPAP therapy so I can more thoroughly pursue other issues if need be.

[robysue]

tazman,

While your leaks are mostly staying below the Resmed RedLine of 24 L/min, you have a lot of middle-level leaking going on. The leaks are technically not large enough to affect the quality of your CPAP therapy in terms of preventing events and the accuracy of your data, but they are large and long enough to affect the overall quality of your sleep.

In other words, you may need to do some work on addressing the leaks, particularly if they're waking you up at night OR if you are waking up in the morning with a dry mouth, a dry nose, chapped lips, and/or dry eyes.

[tazman]

The chin strap definitely did help and putting it over the straps from the mask helps to keep the mask still when sleeping on my side. I know the chin strap fell off at least twice last night so I tightened up a little for tonight but it feels like there is a small spot on the back/top of my head where the strap will stay but once it gets moved it falls off easily. Still felling tired this morning and I did wake frequently last night. I think I will call Apria about changing the mask in for nasal pillows but they only had one nasal pillow mask there I don't remember what model it was but the pillows had another layer over it that sealed over the pillows. I want to see if they will order either the P10 or Swift FX but I doubt they will do it on an exchange. I hope they also allow me to N10 incase the nasal pillows don't work but I doubt it. Here is the screen shot from last night you can see how much better the leak rate is. For the screen shots since I do not snore much is there a better graph to put in it's place for future use?

[Pugsy]

If you aren't snoring much and the graph isn't showing much then there is no need to include it on your screen shot.
Same thing with the pressure graph...since your pressure isn't varying because you are in cpap fixed pressure mode then there is no real need for us to see the pressure graph since it isn't doing anything.
Removing the unneeded graphs and resizing the other graphs will make evaluation a little easier with larger graphs....particularly the leak graph so you can see the leak line better and thus just how close you get to 24 L/min red line area.

[library lady]

If the strap marks on your face are bothering you, you could try strap covers, go here: http://www.padacheek.com.
I use them on the hard plastic straps of my F10, and take them off about once a month to wash them.

[tazman]

The straps from the mask don't really bother me it is the tighter I make it so it does not move the more I feel it on the upper lip area and that area is starting to get irritated. I talked to Apria headquarters about exchanging the mask and someone will call me to schedule another mask fitting but it sounds like they are going to take the N10 away so it might just be better for me to purchase a pillow mask or make due with the N10 for 6 months and go from there. Thanks for all the help I think maybe I need to see if I can get repeated nights like my last one and let all the stress of starting this treatment and dealing with Apria subside and see if I can start felling improvements.

[AMK]

That's how it was for me, that in order to try a new mask from the DME I had to surrender the mask I was using, so then I had no backup if the new mask turned out to be ridiculous. This is in contrast to the good ol' days ten years ago when my dad was diagnosed with OSA and each time he didn't like a mask they would just tell him to keep it because it was going to be thrown out anyway. He ended up with something like 8 masks.

For the upper lip problem a nasal mask with a forehead piece will pull the cushion up, giving relief to that upper lip area. I thought the Mirage FX did that well. Right now I'm using the Pico mask that is that same design with the forehead piece. I find that the cushion does less moving around with that additional support and it's easier for me to sleep on my side. The Pico is a little better for me because the size small cushion is smaller than the Mirage FX for Her cushion. The Pico comes with 3 sizes of cushions if you get the fit pack.

[tazman]

I did get the P10 mask and have been using that but I am still not feeling the benefits yet. I still fall asleep during the day when I am sitting down watching tv so yesterday I tried taking a nap when I got home from work and as I expected it killed my sleep for the night. I don't know what else to try??? I have struggled with feeling hungry for a long time but have been able to keep it somewhat under control but lately I am having a hard time controlling myself and I think some of it is me telling myself my body is using the extra food to repair itself but I told myself this before when I first started lifting weights and then I finally talked myself out of that. So anyway I will post my results from yesterday and if I could have some input if I should nap or just deal with the falling asleep at night while watching tv. Otherwise my nights look like my other one posted above.

[Julie]

Hi - the graph didn't enlarge when I clicked it, so it's hard to read, but it looks like your pressure''s only at 6 - have you tried raising the low end a couple of cms - 6 is barely effective for most.

[tazman]

Sorry I picked the wrong link here is the correct one. The pressure is fine but that is my main problem my OSA is under control but I don't feel any better and sometimes I think I feel worse. It seems to me I have to wait and see if things improve but patience is not one of my strong points. I feel my sleep hygiene is good I don't watch tv or go on the computer in the bedroom at all.

[Krelvin]

Chart is still a little fuzzy, but you are only showing just under 6 hours of sleep. Why do you have such large gaps in your sleep.

[tazman]

Chart is still a little fuzzy, but you are only showing just under 6 hours of sleep. Why do you have such large gaps in your sleep.

You can click on the new image to see the original. Like I said I tried to take a nap because I could feel I was going to just fall asleep watching tv and I just got out of bed when I woke up from the nap. I went to bed at night when I started feeling tired again but since I took the nap earlier it just ruined my sleep for the night. I am unsure what is better falling asleep a little watching tv without the machine and being able to sleep the whole night or taking the nap and then not sleeping as good through the night. I just want to be sure I am doing everything the best I can to hopefully start feeling some positive results.