New User With a Few ???'s

Hi,

New user here. I have a CPAP machine (F&P Icon Premo), and resmed liberty (mouth with nasal pillows).

I've done a lot of searching and reading, but have a few questions that I didn't really find answers for...

Background first. Was in top shape, now am somewhat overweight. Even when teenager and college/after (when in really top shape), would have a terrible time waking up. Wife noticed now that I stop breathing sometimes, so did a study, I do have apneas, so was prescribed with a cpap.

Anyway, questions.

When I did my second study with cpap, they started with nose only, and I felt like I cant get enough oxygen. Now I have the mask mentioned above. I've been trying hard to think about nose breathing to train my body. However I notice that as pressure comes up (8.0 is my prescribed pressure), besides the fact that generally I will mouth breathe, I notice that sometimes when relaxing, my cheeks won't inflate but rather just be ruffled by the flow of air. What gives with that and how do I deal?

The humidifier on the icon is pretty good. However, I still end up with a dry mouth and nose in the AM. This isn't a big deal, winter is coming and it would be the case anyway, but the issue is that my mouth doesn't feel fresh, and brushing doesn't really help get of kid of it. I don't get halitosis from it, but something is off. Should I go higher humidity? Seems to me that lowest comfortable humidity is best.

With the cpap, I sleep through the night - kind of, like 5-6 hours, but then wake for the bathroom. This doesn't happen normally, indicating that I'm somehow sleeping lighter. Is this normal?

I never had an apnea/sleep issue that caused me to be tired during the day. It was always just the difficulty of waking. Now I'm waking with ease, but if left to my own devices, will still sleep 10+ hours as I ever did. I don't think I've ever been sleep deprived per se, because I've always let my body sleep as much as it needs. That said, anyone else have similar experiences that changed over time?

I do have bags under my eyes, will they go away?

I travel often, and many times it is just overnight. My schedule is packed, and cpap severely effects my efficiency. I'm not planning on bringing it always... Will see if I change my mind in time (I'm self-paying all this so have no one to prove anything to). I'm hoping this is only a temporary treatment anyway, so I can loose weight and get off it (unless anatomy is my core issue and dictates otherwise). Given "reduced compliance", any advice on how to best avoid breathing issues due to swapping? I've read that some get addicted to cpap and cannot sleep without. This is undesirable to me, so I want to avoid gettin into such a circumstance. Suggestions?

Finally, because of mouth breathing and feeling like I can't get enough air just going through my nose, of course I'm mask restricted. That said, going to a nose only mask seems desirable to me. Is there hope? I've breathed only through my nose while typing this post!

Thanks!

I'll let the experts answer the questions but did want to mention that the Icon looks like it would be an easy machine to travel with. Good luck with it all. You've come to the right place for help.

uggg, woke up this AM for the first time with a sore in my nose. BLAST!

Ive read a lot on this already this AM, and for now Ill chalk it up to poor maintenance procedures - yesterday AM was the first time I tried not washing everything...

JHZR2 wrote: Finally, because of mouth breathing and feeling like I can't get enough air just going through my nose, of course I'm mask restricted. That said, going to a nose only mask seems desirable to me. Is there hope? I've breathed only through my nose while typing this post!

I'm not huge on knowledge, but since no one else but Elle has tried to help, let me take a stab at this this question. FIrst, it would help if you'd go to your user profile and add your equipment so we can see everything you're using. Choose the 'text' option, not the pictures. Many different machines look the same, so the text makes it easy for those with knowledge to know what you're using.

As for using a nasal mask, if you're a mouth breather, probably going to a nasal is not a good option because you'll lose therapy while you're sleeping. However if you do a search you'll probably find lots and lots of threads with mouth breathers who successfully use nasal pillows while taping their mouth shut, putting their tongue to the top of their mouth, use a chin straps, etc. Perhaps do a search on 'taping' 'chin strap' might get you started.

I've noticed that when I'm awake I can breathe through my nose, but when I am dead asleep I'm a serious mouth breather. I know I'd lose a lot of therapy if I had nasal pillows, so I stay with the full face mask.

Also, is your machine data capable? Can you download your data and see how your AHI's are and your leaks? That too help you understand what's going on at night because how you breathe during the day and how you breathe during the night are two totally different things.

Well, that's the extent of my knowledge, I hope some smarter folks can chime in. Don't give up, keep plugging along.

One of the problems with apnea is that you may not even realize you have it. Being able to sleep 10+ hours doesn't even mean you're getting a good measure of restful, restorative sleep. When your CPAP therapy is working your sleep pattern may indeed change. If I'm going to bed at 10 with the idea that I'll sleep about 10:30 (after the news) then I have to watch what I'm drinking from about 8:30 on. If I'm thirsty, I've found water is the best, but just a little. Iced tea is not good and neither is soda of any kind. That's me. Your mileage may vary.

A sore in the nose doesn't necessarily mean you're guilty of poor housekeeping with your mask. It may mean you've got the mask too tight and it's driving the pillows too far into your nostrils. The hybrid type masks have always been hard for me to get leak free as it seems to be a much more delicate balancing act trying to get it not to leak around the part that covers the mouth while still remaining loose enough to have the nasal pillows working properly. Mask tension is tough because with that strap behind your neck, LOTS of times a small change in the position of your head/neck changes the mask pressure against your face. Some people have VERY good luck with that type mask though, so just another example of how different we all are.

This is new. You may have to experiment with various tensions on the individual headgear straps to get the balance just right. Once you do... piece of cake to get it back after you take it apart to wash it or whatever. The mask is the most difficult part of this to get right. Once you do that, you're on the easy road.

Dry mouth is usually a sign that you're mouth breathing. Another area of balancing. It's difficult to train yourself NOT to breathe through your mouth when you have a mask that allows it. Nealy Impossible to get good therapy if you have only a nasal mask (or nasal pillows) and you continually open your mouth. I've tried a couple of different full face masks, and a hybrid (like your Liberty I think) but I keep going back to nasal pillow masks because I consistently get the best numbers there when I look at my data. I still occasionally open my mouth. My wife calls it "Dragon Breath" and it earns me an elbow jab when I do it. Talk about training!

When I did my second study with cpap, they started with nose only, and I felt like I cant get enough oxygen.

Your pressure requirement is low (8cm.... same as mine). If they started you out with an even LOWER pressure (they have to start somewhere) you may very well have felt as though you were starving for air. If my machine is on 4 or 5 I can't breathe, BUT... surprisingly... if the power goes out for a short time I can sleep through it simply by breathing through the vent of my mask. Again.... we're all different. This is also new to you so a VERY low pressure setting may have made you panic into the "I'm not getting enough air!" mode.

Very normal. You're not doing anything wrong. And I'd bet that a really large percentage of the folks here have experienced that same feeling. I KNOW I have and I've been using CPAP for ..... gotta be getting close to my 20 year mark.

So the long and short of it is.... you're doing fine. Just keep at it and despite the occasional frustration you will find what works for you and you WILL get better QUALITY sleep and probably require far less of it than you think.