HI everyone!

Jennymcbruce · Post by **Jennymcbruce** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:51 pm

I am a 30 year old woman, have been using my cpap ~ 2 months. I felt miraculously better within three days - what I would describe as normal for the first time in years. I was about to start blood pressure medication, which I now no longer need.

However, it has been two months of using the cpap and I don't feel as good lately. My ahi is pretty low - always < 1, usually less, versus 34 ahi per hour during my overnight sleep test, and I use my machine on average about 7.5 hours a night. Doctor said He wishes all his patients were like me

When I went in for my follow up, doctor and I just looked at the software results from my machine...some nights my leak rate randomly skyrockets despite my not doing anything differently. And some nights despite my ahi being low I still feel like crap.

So here are my questions for the community:

1) should I ask my cpap guy to get a full face mask or some kind of option that covers my mouth? I am convinced I am mouth breathing at times, but the resmed air sense software isn't picking it up necessarily. And if so, the equipment guy has offered to come by my place, but I am thinking better to go to their offices so I can try on a bunch of different masks in person there, right?

He advised against full face mask but I just desperately want to feel better.

2) is it really worth it to get the sleepyhead software? How does it help troubleshoot the kinds of issues I think I have versus the mysleep.air.resmed software that I can access.

3) I don't think I have had sleep apnea a super long time, so is it normal for it to take so long for me to feel better? Especially since I felt miraculously better within three nights of use. That I felt so much better after the first three nights, but then haven't recaptured that, says to my intuition something is off.

Thank you for any insight anyone can provide. Or if you can point me to where there are similar posts that answer these questions.

Nice to meet you all!

USMCVet · Post by **USMCVet** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:36 pm

Welcome! Smarter more versed people will help you shortly I'm sure.

If you felt great almost instantly and now your not and nothing really changed with CPAP then it may not be related to your sleep apnea. If that's the case I would change to full face mask either.

If you want good help here then yes sleepyhead software is the only way to go so people have data go see what is going on.

ChicagoGranny · Post by **ChicagoGranny** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 8:09 pm

Jennymcbruce wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:51 pm
I am convinced I am mouth breathing at times, but the resmed air sense software isn't picking it up necessarily.

Does your mouth get dry at times? A dry mouth is an indication of mouth breathing. No dry mouth might mean your mouth doesn't leak, but your mask does leak at times.

Jennymcbruce wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:51 pm
is it really worth it to get the sleepyhead software?

Absolutely! It's free, you know. MyAir is nearly useless compared to SH.

zonker · Post by **zonker** » Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:20 pm

Jennymcbruce wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:51 pm
I am a 30 year old woman, have been using my cpap ~ 2 months. I felt miraculously better within three days - what I would describe as normal for the first time in years. I was about to start blood pressure medication, which I now no longer need.

However, it has been two months of using the cpap and I don't feel as good lately. My ahi is pretty low - always < 1, usually less, versus 34 ahi per hour during my overnight sleep test, and I use my machine on average about 7.5 hours a night. Doctor said He wishes all his patients were like me

When I went in for my follow up, doctor and I just looked at the software results from my machine...some nights my leak rate randomly skyrockets despite my not doing anything differently. And some nights despite my ahi being low I still feel like crap.

So here are my questions for the community:

1) should I ask my cpap guy to get a full face mask or some kind of option that covers my mouth? I am convinced I am mouth breathing at times, but the resmed air sense software isn't picking it up necessarily. And if so, the equipment guy has offered to come by my place, but I am thinking better to go to their offices so I can try on a bunch of different masks in person there, right?

He advised against full face mask but I just desperately want to feel better.

2) is it really worth it to get the sleepyhead software? How does it help troubleshoot the kinds of issues I think I have versus the mysleep.air.resmed software that I can access.

3) I don't think I have had sleep apnea a super long time, so is it normal for it to take so long for me to feel better? Especially since I felt miraculously better within three nights of use. That I felt so much better after the first three nights, but then haven't recaptured that, says to my intuition something is off.

Thank you for any insight anyone can provide. Or if you can point me to where there are similar posts that answer these questions.

Nice to meet you all!

hi, jenny, welcome to the forum.

question one and two sort of go together. sleepyhead IS worth downloading because it gives a much more detailed report on what is going on with your sleep. it may even point to mouth breathing. **NOTE** i, myself, can't interpret sleepyhead graphs, but many here CAN and will. someone will come along and post links to the software. they will also show you how to post the sleepyhead graphs here, where many can comment upon and show you tips to improve your sleep.

the answer to your third question is that we are each special snowflakes and we all react to cpap in different ways. it's not unusual in the least that you don't "feel better" by now. i've seen people post here that they took to therapy the very first night. but this is by no means the "norm". it took me almost a year to get to feeling better about my sleep. and i had a lot of help from the veterans on this board.

hang in there. you will soon get the help you need here to start fine tuning your therapy!

MrsRinPDX · Post by **MrsRinPDX** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 8:03 am

Jennymcbruce wrote: ↑
Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:51 pm

So here are my questions for the community:

1) should I ask my cpap guy to get a full face mask or some kind of option that covers my mouth? I am convinced I am mouth breathing at times, but the resmed air sense software isn't picking it up necessarily. And if so, the equipment guy has offered to come by my place, but I am thinking better to go to their offices so I can try on a bunch of different masks in person there, right?

He advised against full face mask but I just desperately want to feel better.

Hi Jenny and welcome to the forum,

I've been using a full face mask for the past 90 days and if you are a mouth breather they are certainly a good option. (You could also try a chin strap, taping or cervical collar to keep your mouth closed.)

I don't mind my full face mask so much (fit is key with any mask), but there are lighter, leaner masks out there if you are not a mouth breather. I am a mouth breather and ChicagoGranny is right, you will wake up with a tell tale dry mouth if you are mouth breathing.

As for going by their office, I think that is an excellent idea. You will be able to see and try a variety of masks.

Best of luck in your journey. I'm sure the others here will help you with the other questions.

MrsRinPDX

D.H. · Post by **D.H.** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 11:41 am

Yes, I also lost the euphoric feeling after the second week of use (which was back in 1999). However, I know that I did not go back to feeling as rotten as I do before CPAP. The explanation seemed to be that I had an overage of red blood cells due to sleep apnea. That produced the same effect as living and training at a high altitude. Going on CPAP was like coming down to sea level.

However, the real problem was that I had many years of accumulated sleep debt to pay off. Try sleeping a little longer every night and/or taking an afternoon nap on (no more than two hours on weekends or less time if you can do it every day).

nicholasjh1 · Post by **nicholasjh1** » Fri Feb 16, 2018 12:01 pm

Also, some believe (me obviously) that many get that initial rush because of the apnea and oxygen deprevation portion of sleep apnea.... that the body is struggling every night, and suddenly it doesn't have to. In otherwords your body has been powering up at night and using that power to survive the suffocations. Suddenly it hasn't used that power, as your body adjust having that overt energy difference isn't as much there. Time, exercise and diet will bring the body back to great energy levels again.... You were getting that exercise every night.... and now you aren't. Your body already has the energy to exercise... and now you can do it during the day.

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Additional Comments: Auto PAP; 13.5 cmH2O min - 20 cmH2O max