Mask options for stomach sleepers?

If it were me I would be talking with the doctor about maybe trying something else or in addition to the Flexeril you take a bedtime for the lumbar stuff.
Looking at your flow rate the really crappy sleep that looks like a lot of arousals is coming late in the night most likely as the Flexeril is wearing off.
I think the lumbar issues are playing a factor...probably not the only factor though.
Usually when people have crappy sleep...there's more than one thing involved.

I have also in in your shoes with the lumbar stuff screwing with sleep quality and having to try to figure out what to do to try to help lessen the negative impact. In fact next week we are trying something new to see if it helps or not with the pain and the sleep quality.
It is very possible that low level back discomfort is causing some sort of intrusion into the sleep architecture so that you don't get the needed cycles in the needed % to get the full benefit of the restorative powers of sleep.

You lumbar spine bothers you enough that you have to sleep on a board and take Flexeril...it wouldn't be impossible for it to be a factor in the crappy sleep.

Another option might be to take a vacation in New Mexico (or wherever it is out West that Dr Krakow is) and make a side trip to see him.
He at least will think outside the box. Now whether his thinking outside the box is a good thing or not...I dunno but he has helped others with poor sleep quality. It's not all about the airway. Wish it were because that is usually fairly easily dealt with unless we run across someone like you with some very specific and special hurdles to cross.

There are somethings called alpha intrusions that are often mentioned in sleep quality issues. People with fibromyalgia will often see them mentioned and I think that the thinking is that low level discomfort is possibly triggering the alpha intrusions which in turn affect the restorative powers of sleep. Something that a real sleep doctor would know about. Someone who does the very special sleep stuff all the time and that's all he does.

Your flow rate shows lots of arousals or partial arousals...the actual breath by breath physiology isn't all that ragged...at least to my layman's eye but it's something that really needs to be evaluated under the microscope by someone who really knows the very minor subtle indications of breath by breath analysis. That's not me. I can fairly easily spot the arousals (of which you have many) which point to crappy sleep in general but I don't have the skills for evaluating the very subtle changes from what is normal or not normal when it comes to breath by breath stuff. So all I can really say for sure is crappy sleep quality with lots of what appears to be arousals. Have no idea what is causing the arousals though...and you may or may not remember the arousals but they are still messing with the sleep architecture in general....meaning you don't get the nice normal progression through each needed sleep stage so that you get the needed % in each stage.

We used to have a forum member here who had those skills because he actually ran a sleep lab but I haven't seen him in a long time.
I was hoping that maybe he would drop by and I could send him what little data I had from you to see what he thinks about the breath by breath stuff but I haven't seen him in a long time. One thing he always said though...you can't fix bad sleep with a cpap machine if the bad sleep isn't caused by OSA or something going on with the airway.
You've got bad sleep...it isn't caused by OSA and we don't know for sure if it's UARS...and there are other potential culprits for bad sleep (the lumbar issues) which can't be ruled out totally.

Did you ever get the full report on from your diagnostic sleep study? If so, was there a mention as to how many respiratory related arousals you might have had vs spontaneous arousals?

I did get the full report - what would they have been listed as? I thought I posted the full results...

I don't remember seeing the full report...doesn't mean you didn't post it but it might have been when you were unregistered and I have no way to search those posts. I just remember your posting that your AHI was very low and clearly didn't make the OSA diagnosis criteria.
For some reason 0.8 AHI sticks in my mind but I could be wrong with that number.

There's usually some mention as to the number of arousals and whether they are respiratory related or spontaneous.
If spontaneous they aren't UARS arousals....what they are we don't know but they aren't related to a respiratory reduction.
UARS patients will typically have a low AHI but high RDI or high RERA Respiratory Event Related Arousal. I don't remember where the cut off is for "high" vs "low" though.

My RERAs were @10 an hour.

Pugsy wrote:

There's no diagnosis of OSA. In lab sleep study came up with AHI less than 1.0 if I remember right.

If he slept face down in the lab, his position could have been treating sleep-disordered breathing. I would like to see results while sleeping on the back.

MaxINTJ wrote:My RERAs were @10 an hour.

Could you sleep on your back (without spine pain or damage) if CPAP was successfully treating your breathing problems?

ChicagoGranny wrote:

Pugsy wrote:

There's no diagnosis of OSA. In lab sleep study came up with AHI less than 1.0 if I remember right.

If he slept face down in the lab, his position could have been treating sleep-disordered breathing. I would like to see results while sleeping on the back.

MaxINTJ wrote:My RERAs were @10 an hour.

Could you sleep on your back (without spine pain or damage) if CPAP was successfully treating your breathing problems?

I was actually on my back for a while in the first study but never entered REM.

For the second study they woke me up and told me I HAD to try and sleep on my back. I was tired as heck (like usual) and managed to fall asleep for a while on my back - I actually entered REM on my back with the CPAP.

Could you sleep on your back (without spine pain or damage) if CPAP was successfully treating your breathing problems?

ChicagoGranny wrote:Could you sleep on your back (without spine pain or damage) if CPAP was successfully treating your breathing problems?

Honestly I don't know. I have never woken up on my back so I know when I'm asleep it is not the preferred position.

It would not hurt my back at all, in fact, when I was in extreme pain from the L4-L5, laying on the floor on my back was the only guaranteed relief.

Not sure how I would teach this old sleeping (poorly) dog any new tricks though...

MaxINTJ wrote:

ChicagoGranny wrote:Could you sleep on your back (without spine pain or damage) if CPAP was successfully treating your breathing problems?

Honestly I don't know. I have never woken up on my back so I know when I'm asleep it is not the preferred position.

It would not hurt my back at all, in fact, when I was in extreme pain from the L4-L5, laying on the floor on my back was the only guaranteed relief.

Not sure how I would teach this old sleeping (poorly) dog any new tricks though...

To get people to stop sleeping on their back, the common solution is to, in some way, attach tennis balls to the back so it would be uncomfortable. This may also work in your case to eliminate stomach sleeping. What about a "fanny pack" with a tennis ball in it worn on your stomach????

MaxINTJ wrote:

palerider wrote:I sleep on my stomach sometimes, I use the P10

Now that will not work. I wore a similar one for my sleep study and the hose was a) always in the way and b) always getting tangled in my arms as I grabbed or hugged pillows or if I tried to put my arm under a pillow for a bit more elevation.

Plus, I paid attention last night, and in my natural position, my nose is less than 1/2" from my "mattress" (3/4" plywood) so any protrusion gets in the way. Even the Dreamwear gets in the way, frequently leaks, and/or blows air back into my eyes in my natural position.

I am worried about starting to use the CPAP again once my neck is cleared up. What if it happens again? What if it gets even worse? I haven't gotten more than 4 hours of crappy sleep in 3 weeks now and am in pain all day so it's a big worry for me.

Some people look for, and find, solutions to problems.

Some people look for problems that prevent success.

One of the benefits of treatment is LESS pain.
Many of us have noticed this.

LSAT wrote: To get people to stop sleeping on their back, the common solution is to, in some way, attach tennis balls to the back so it would be uncomfortable. This may also work in your case to eliminate stomach sleeping. What about a "fanny pack" with a tennis ball in it worn on your stomach????

I don't know. I know for my first sleep study they put straps around me with the buckles in front and I just moved them to get comfortable. I'm sure that would happen during the night.

You are letting anxiety get in the way of your getting ahead. Don't be so afraid to try things even if at first they appear to be 'wrong'. And give things a fair try, don't just throw them on without adjusting, trying (slowly and thoughtfully) diff. positions and microadjustments once hooked up, etc. etc. This is all for YOUR benefit, so give it a decent chance.

palerider wrote: Some people look for, and find, solutions to problems.

Some people look for problems that prevent success.

And sometimes, possible solutions or solutions that have worked in specific cases, do not work in other specific cases.

We're all different and respond differently to environmental changes. While I may not jump on a specific suggestion, I am taking them all into consideration at least.

And yes, I frequently see problems (not looking for them) in many possible solutions.

Julie wrote:You are letting anxiety get in the way of your getting ahead. Don't be so afraid to try things even if at first they appear to be 'wrong'. And give things a fair try, don't just throw them on without adjusting, trying (slowly and thoughtfully) diff. positions and microadjustments once hooked up, etc. etc. This is all for YOUR benefit, so give it a decent chance.

Anxiety is a big YES after this neck issue. 3 solid weeks of constant pain and being unable to sleep is a big worry - especially when the doctor will not prescribe anything that works on the pain because of the supposed opiate crisis.

I have had 2 hernia surgeries and surgical removal of impacted wisdom teeth and have never needed anything more than OTC NSAIDS. That puts the pain my neck is causing in perspective for anyone who thinks I'm whining.

Never needed opiates, but when I do, too bad?