New CPAP User, Long time sufferer...

Why are you trying to sleep on your back?
You do know you can sleep in any position you wish???...Yes, even with a full face mask.
Supine sleeping can make OSA much worse for some people and even cause dramatic changes in pressure needs.

Sorry for the confusion. I'm not 'trying' to sleep on my back. Truthfully I desire to sleep on my side. Unfortunately I naturally find my way to sleeping on my back after I fall asleep. If I wake up I'll always go back to side sleeping, but it only lasts for so long. Since I end up 'back on my back' at some point. After I went back and read my last post, I see that I didn't do a good job communicating that.

The new pillow I mentioned... the reason I bought it was due to my search for a pillow that would allow me to sleep on my side without the pillow shifting my mask in such a way to cause it to leak (which it is doing a good job of so far).

I've also had a problem with our mattress being a bit firm. I have reasonably broad shoulders so when I sleep on my side, if the pillow is not tall enough, I get a lot of shoulder pressure... very uncomfortable.

The 'fluffy' pillows I used before would cause my mask to leak too... which was annoying.

Okay....that I understand.
I try to stay on my side because when I end up on my back it increases my back pain but staying on my side is easier said than done.
I thought you were having trouble sleeping because of trying to sleep in a position you didn't care for.
People new to CPAP will do that...because someone told them they have to be on their back with a full face mask.

So far no one has ever told me that cpap required a specific sleeping position. I have heard people say to sew a tennis ball to the back of the shirt you sleep in to keep you from sleeping on your back... never tried it. I guess it would work, but since I don't sleep in a shirt it would be difficult for me

It kind of sounds like it would cause more harm than good. Couldn't imagine trying to roll over onto your other side, but first having to roll over a tennis ball!

I do have a pillow that I put behind my back to keep me from rolling onto my back... it doesn't really work... at all.

I noticed in the CPAP Statistics screen and the several daily pages that you posted that your best AHI was with EPAP 7, IPAP 20, PS 4-6. Your CA generally increased if either EPAP or min PS increased. Your OA + H also increased, but is less sensitive to higher EPAP. It is likely that your high CA ( and possibly OA and H) is caused by SWJ. The SWJ may be result of a combination of too high EPAP and PS settings interrupting your sleep. You may want to review CA, OA, and H for each setting to see if this observation is correct. If it appears so, you may want to slowly go back towards the settings on 10/22/18 and see if CA and AHI improve.

Icon User wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 17, 2018 12:17 am

The SWJ may be result of a combination of too high EPAP and PS settings interrupting your sleep. You may want to review CA, OA, and H for each setting to see if this observation is correct. If it appears so, you may want to slowly go back towards the settings on 10/22/18 and see if CA and AHI improve.

Or... not.

Here is a new chart, didn't feel like I slept great last night, but the chart seems improved. Most all of the CAs seem to be associated with SWJ... maybe even one of the obstructives. I do remember having a dream last night, so that was a fun surprise.

Weird side story about the dream. I don't remember what was happening, I just remember that it was something really sad. It wasn't about me or anyone I know, but whatever this sad thing was, it had me so worked up that I actually woke up because I couldn't breathe through my nose anymore. Kept me awake a few minutes trying to get to where I could freely breathe again lol. So like I said, was pretty weird.

Other than that - nothing too eventful that I remember.

12/16/2018

When we remember dreaming that's actually a bad sign...means we woke up enough during the dream to formulate a memory of the dream.
Too many wake ups are bad...means our sleep quality is in the toilet.

Last night I had 5 events total for not quite 7 hours of sleep.
1 central
3 obstructives
1 hyponea

Every single one of them was SWJ...and fairly obvious SWJ...not even a "maybe" in the bunch.

When I scrolled through the flow rate graph for the night...I saw at least 18 different potential arousals where the nice sleep pattern of breathing was broken with arousal breathing. I don't remember all of them but I do remember probably 7 or 8 of them.
I know I didn't sleep so great last night. Medication change which didn't let me sleep through my back pain as well as I would like to.
With the medication I sleep through the pain better but it makes me groggy all day which I hate. Damned if I do and damned if I don't.
Was also on my back more which causes me a lot more pain which of course can cause more pain related wake ups.
I really need to go dig out the big buckwheat pillow and use it to keep me on my side....just been lazy and haven't done it.

So today I am less groggy from medication hang over(didn't take the offending med last night) but didn't sleep as well as I did night before last when I took the med but was groggy all day yesterday...so I have to decide which is a worse feeling. I will need to see how the rest of the day goes before I decide but I am leaning towards less hangover effect is still my best option. Feeling a little crappy for part of the day from less than optimal sleep and the arousals is still a better choice for me than more crappy all day from the hang over effect.

I'm tempted to take a Benadryl tonight. Those things knock me out Maybe then at least I might not move around so much.

I wonder if I can get them to give me a full report including charts after I have my sleep study done Something tells me they will say no.

Alright, time for the morning update. Last night included what seemed like much tossing and turning as well. With the increase in pressures I may need to tighten my mask ever so slightly. Probably try that tonight.

Here is the chart from last night. I'm also going to post some examples of the events. I'll post above the examples what I would think each is (real vs. SWJ). If anyone disagrees I would love to hear why in an effort to increase my own ability to interpret the charts.

12/17/2018
Here are the examples...

I would classify the following as SWJ events: 00:40, 2:45

Possibly real events: 4:30, 5:30, 6:15

Undecided on: 1:00, 1:30, 5:10

Extremely short on time and I need more time...but on a whole I agree with you but will look closer later. I just did a quick scan and don't have time to really look close until this evening.
Even agree some are iffy and hard to decide on.

The iffy ones....sometimes it's just hard to know for sure and we don't get nice and black/white clear cut answers.
I see them with my own stuff too. I just sit here and scratch my head about what they really are.

I over slept....bad night...have to get all my chores done and leave the house in 30 minutes to go get my mom and take her to get some stuff done. Will be gone all day. I can't think clearly right now about anything...still trying to mainline my morning coffee to get me kick started.

In general though...I think you are starting to get a handle on real vs asleep. Just accept that sometimes the events won't cooperate and be clear cut one way or the other.

Thanks for the info Pugsy! Hope your day calms down a bit

I appreciate you popping in for a response given the short time you have available.

Another day another chart...

Slept better last night, not great but it was better. Tightened my mask a little, I think I had less air leaks that woke me up. I have began to notice two things, sometimes even with my chinstrap I end up opening my mouth and air escapes, this wakes me up. If not for that, I may not have woken up at all (that I remember) last night. I may try tightening the chin strap just a little bit to see if that helps.

I'm also starting to notice that I wake up with dry skin on my cheek where the mask frame sits... what do you guys do about this normally? Use something like Aquafor before going to bed?

Here's the chart from last night:

Are you using the little frame wrap fleece things on the cheek area?

Wait..... the what now?

As of right now, the silicone frame lays directly against my face, if there is something that makes it better, fill me in! lol

In truth, I don't find the silicone frame against my face to bother me at all, other than the dry skin I'm starting to notice. I figured it was do to an air leak that would happen and dry out my skin at night.