Thumper68's Treatment Thread

[Thumper68]

Hello all,
This is my first post. I would like to begin by thanking everybody for all of the valuable information that is on this site. I have learned more this week that I ever knew about sleep apnea. This is my 3rd attempt at CPAP. I was diagnosed with OSA in 1994. Tried CPAP with a FFM and could not tolerate it, as I was a stomach sleeper. In 1998 I tried it again with a nasal mask, and was again not able to tolerate it (still a stomach sleeper). I gave up on treating it ( accepted tiredness as my normal) until this summer, when the symptoms came back with a vengeance. I was back to scaring the wife with my obstructive blockages that caused to sit or get up gasping for air. Of course I never quit snoring loud enough to keep everybody in house awake either. I was getting up every 2 hours to use the bathroom. I had a home sleep study with a diagnosis of sever obstructive sleep apnea. My AHI during the sleep study was 54. After a 3 month ordeal of getting the insurance steps in the correct order I got a Phillips Dreammaker APAP with a dreammaker gel pillow. I got this setup on 9/11/18. I have been able to sleep with it all night since getting it! A major victory for me. I feel better, and I only get up once on average for a bathroom trip. I still feel that I wake up to many times, but my AHI has been 2.2 to 5.8. Due to a shoulder injury I no longer sleep on my stomach. I as a side sleeper now, but have a lot of pain in both hips. I also no longer snore much!

Anyway I have attached last nights sleepyhead graphs and the graphs from my best night to date. Would someone be so kind at to look at them and tell me what they see?

Here is last nights

9-18-18

screenshot-20180919-151500.png (101.26 KiB) Viewed 7065 times

Here is my best (based on AHI) to date

9-13-18

screenshot-20180919-151528.png (94.05 KiB) Viewed 7065 times

Thanks in advance!

[palerider]

Bump your min pressure up to 8 or so.

[Pugsy]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that a little more minimum pressure would help clear up those reports even more.
Some parts of the night the minimum gets the job done but there are some times where you need more pressure to better prevent the airway from collapsing. The 2 main culprits when we see this happening are sleeping on your back or REM stage sleep.
The AHI is a little higher than I would like to see and there are more FLs, RERA and snores along with the AHI and all those things added together mean not quite optimal therapy pressures.

I would suggest maybe trying a 7 or 8 cm minimum for a few nights and see how well that cleans things up.
Let's see if we can get you to zero pee breaks during the night. It's possible to do that if it's the sleep apnea causing the nocturia.

Overall though for being so brand new to this therapy....you are doing one heck of a good job.

[zonker]

welcome to the zoo!

you are already in the hands of two of the top people here, so there isn't much to add.

upping the minimum is ideal, of course. and if you want to jump straight to 7, that's fine. but you may also want to do that incrementally. just speaking from my own experience, i have trouble raising pressure too quickly.

to each his own.

and i agree with pugsy-you are adapting really well and that looks like a pretty good sleepyhead chart too.

good luck!

[Thumper68]

Thank you Palerider and Pusgy. I also thought a min. pressure bump would be something to try, but I wanted someone to confirm that. I will go see if I can bump it up for tonight.

I wish I had found this site during my 3 month wait for the dang insurance company! I would have bought a used machine and let you all talk me thru it!

[palerider]

Thank you Palerider and Pusgy. I also thought a min. pressure bump would be something to try, but I wanted someone to confirm that. I will go see if I can bump it up for tonight.

I wish I had found this site during my 3 month wait for the dang insurance company! I would have bought a used machine and let you all talk me thru it!

Read Pugsy's thread up in the announcements.. "pugsy's tips and tricks", it'll get you started on understanding sleepyhead.

[Thumper68]

Okay,
I have worked up to 8.5 min. pressure. I am seeing an improvement in my AHI. I still feel better than before CPAP treatment, but not as good as I would like. I have only been on CPAP for 2 weeks. My questions now are:

1. Do I bump up the min. pressure to 9.0
2. Should in increase the ramp pressure. I am currently using the ramp (and like it). It is set at 4.0 for 45 minutes. It does take me some time to fall asleep.
3. Is 2 weeks of treatment time enough to know where I am at, or will it take some more time.

I have posted last nights sleepyhead charts.

Thanks

[Julie]

A reminder that during those 45 mins of ramp time, you're not as fully treated as you'd be if you went directly to your min. pressure... and it's not an especially high one in any case. I believe most of us stop using the ramp altogether in the first few weeks, if not sooner, of using Cpap and I wonder if you've given that a good try?

[palerider]

1) yes.

[Thumper68]

Julie,
I have not tried it without the ramp yet. I will do that in the future. Perhaps in a week or so.

Palerider,
Up to 9.0 min. pressure tonight.

Thank you both!

[palerider]

Palerider,
Up to 9.0 min. pressure tonight.

Absent other issues, more pressure = lower obstructive events. As long as you're not having issues brought on by the higher pressure... keep at it

[inyourdreams]

Do you find that the dreammaker mask ensures your mouth will stay closed while sleeping?? I have been on CPAP for several years sleeping with the Opus 360 nasal pillow mask, however, of late, i am losing pressure through my mouth. I have tried taping and various chin strap/anti-snoring devices without success. I recently began having heart palpitations and may be the result of my CPAP issues. My DME recommended the Dreammaker and said I would not feel claustrophobic wearing it. Again, does your mouth stay closed while sleeping? Thank you for any info you can provide and I am so very glad you have found a solution to your sleep apnea.

[Thumper68]

Do you find that the dreammaker mask ensures your mouth will stay closed while sleeping?? I have been on CPAP for several years sleeping with the Opus 360 nasal pillow mask, however, of late, i am losing pressure through my mouth. I have tried taping and various chin strap/anti-snoring devices without success. I recently began having heart palpitations and may be the result of my CPAP issues. My DME recommended the Dreammaker and said I would not feel claustrophobic wearing it. Again, does your mouth stay closed while sleeping? Thank you for any info you can provide and I am so very glad you have found a solution to your sleep apnea.

It was a pleasant surprise to me that I am able to keep my mouth closed (most of the time). I am using the dreamwear nasal cushion. I have noticed that the last couple of nights I am occasionally opening my mouth. This started after I had worked my min pressure up to 11. I have backed it off to 10 now. My AHI has been well below 2 with the last 2 nights at .5 and .6! I also noticed that at 11 min I was losing air from my mouth making my lips flap. Scared my wife the second time. She didn't notice the first time, but the second time lasted a little while because I was dreaming that my lips were flapping and didn't realize that the actually were (if that makes sense). I am very happy with the 10 min pressure and plan to stay there a while. I will post some new charts on Monday as I work weekends (3x12).

[Thumper68]

Here are my beat and worst charts since bumping the minimum pressure to 10. I am feeling really good most days and great on some days. I am liking where I am, but still waking up too much during the night. I think that I will stay on this setting for a while, unless someone sees something that I should change. As always Thanks!

My worst night since going to 10 min.

10-13-18.png (94.05 KiB) Viewed 6798 times

[palerider]

Your 'worst' night pictured was at 5 min.