Rebamom wrote: ↑Mon Apr 02, 2018 3:55 am
1. Pugsy, I did answer your questions, think they just got lost in the little interruption.
2. I added SleepyHead but I am still using the Phillips as well - just to compare. Why would there be a major difference on some things - for example, this morning the Phillips showed mask 100% fit and Sleepyhead says major leaks.
SleepyHead defaults to a ResMed leak number for the red line in the sand and that number doesn't work so great with a Respironics machine and that is why SleepyHead is saying major leaks. We can fix that easily.
Copied from the same speech I have given others in your situation
Disregard that warning from SH. Your leaks are NOT excessive.
Instead the statistic reporting the % of time in large leak is based on a ResMed calculation number and that number won't work for your Respironics machine.
Open SH and go to Preferences and then the CPAP tab. SH Defaults to a red line leak threshold of 24 L/min which is a ResMed leak number...won't work with your machine. Your red line threshold number is more like 70...so change the 24 to 70 or just turn off that statistic by removing the check mark.
Large leaks (if you have any) will show up as flags on the Events graph and are a product of the machine.
Those are correct....the SH statistic is just a product of some calculations and isn't from the machine and in your situation with your type of machine...it's wrong.
Ignore it and base your leak evaluation on the presence of large leak flags on the Events graph...the LL on the events graph...that's large leak.
The computed SH statistic based on red line threshold is where SH is coming up with the large leak warnings.
All the nosy questions I asked was to see if there was something that might be causing wake ups that could be attributed to medications or some other health issue. Frequent wake ups for any reason will mess with sleep quality or the normal sleep cycles and the body needs the normal sleep cycles in their respective normal percentages for the restorative powers of sleep to work their magic.
Now it is normal to awaken after a REM cycle is completed but most of the time we the time awake is so brief we don't remember it.
We have to be awake a little bit to be able to form a memory of the awakening. When someone remembers multiple awakenings is a pretty safe assumption that there are a few more that may not be remembered.
Your meds aren't known to be horribly horrible for causing sleep maintenance insomnia (that's when we wake often or too early during the night) as opposed to sleep onset insomnia which is where we have trouble falling asleep.
You can have sleep onset insomnia in the middle of the night if it takes too long to go back to sleep after waking from sleep maintenance insomnia. Couple of ugly little monsters there that mess with sleep quality and the needed sleep architecture for restorative sleep.
I don't think you are doing anything wrong. I think that you are most likely having the normal adjustment issues that come with this therapy. Perhaps complicated a bit by the pain issues with the bad knees and the bad back. This is something I have personal experience with myself. It's why I often tell people that the best AHI in the world doesn't always mean that we feel on top of the world....I have first hand experience with the pain messing with sleep quality issue and frequent awakenings that often go with it.
Thyroid issues and the meds and getting the dosage right...could be a small factor but I doubt that it's the major factor.
I don't know what to make of the heart racing thing unless it is more related to mental stress worrying about "getting things right".
The mind is a powerful drug and sometimes it is good and sometimes not so good. I had a situation where it wasn't so good for me last night. Not a good night...mind was too awake in the middle of the night and it was in hyper drive. Fortunately that is rare for me.
I don't have a good fix for that.
Do what you have to do to help the back and knees have a minimal impact on your sleep quality. It's likely a war that you won't ever totally win. Some nights you will win the battle and sometimes the discomfort will win the battle.
While it would be really nice if we had perfection every night and felt the good numbers....sometimes we just don't get perfection when there are other issues going on that would maybe mess with our sleep besides sleep apnea.
We just have to do the best we can with what we have.
Finally....hours of sleep...6 hours isn't enough sleep for most people to expect to feel the good numbers especially if those 6 hours are highly fragmented from whatever reason. Now getting more hours....much easier said than done sometimes and again something I have personal experience with. It's a war that I have waged for years. Not from the sleep apnea side of things but from the other stuff that messes with sleep quality side of things.
When I first started cpap therapy I think it took me probably 4 or 5 months to just stop the wake ups from the brain being hyper vigilant and wanting to alert me to the fact that there was an alien stuck on my face. So there is an adjustment time for most people and if you are like me and have other issues that can also mess with sleep quality (like the pain issues) you get a double dose of bad luck
Quit clock watching in the middle of the night....worse thing in the world for a person with either type of insomnia to be doing because it adds mental stress to the mix as it makes the brain go into hyper alert drive.
Humidifier setting....the setting of 3 is middle of the road. I asked because sometimes congestion is related to the humidity setting for some people.
Humidity settings or personal preferences are highly individualize and there is no right or wrong setting....there's only what works for the individual. Some people will have nasal mucosa that like lots of added moisture and some will have nasal mucosa that don't like much added moisture.
Since you seem to report that the congestion is maybe a little better now than pre cpap....might be that the added moisture helps your nasal mucosa. Might be something to play with at some time if you feel that the congestion needs to be improved upon.
I learned a long time ago that my nasal mucosa would be happiest if I snorted water. Anything less than near maximum humidity and my nasal mucosa react by swelling up and causing some pretty nasty allergy like symptoms.
Others find that they do better with minimal to none added moisture. There's nothing wrong with either of us...it's just what our nasal mucosa wants and we have to make the nasal mucosa happy and sometimes it takes a bit of figuring out what the nasal mucosa wants.
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