Chris8243 Therapy Thread

[HoseCrusher]

Hang in there. Don't give up.

Here is a discussion from several years ago. I don't know if it will help but it may trigger an idea on how to get through this.

viewtopic/t109229/Vibratory-snore-score ... pyhead.htm

Here is information on how snoring is recorded for your machine. Scroll down to the snoring section.

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph ... oring_Data

[Chris8243]

I can't sleep thru the night, I'm tired. Don't know what's going on. I'm posting 2 screenshots, last night and a summary of the last month. Particularly with the summary, you can see the last 2 weeks have been not good, not many hours and high pressures. Last night it seems the pressure increased but not due to any event?

I've been blaming my issues on the mask. I've been waking up from leaks, that is, air blowing on my cheeks for months. Been using Amara View for over a year. Recently tried Dreamwear, AirFit F30, AirFit F20, now AirTouch F20. None of them are "helping". They're not uncomfortable, I'm just not sleeping.

Could it be my machine? Out of calibration or goofing up? How would a person even know that? I have a DreamStation, that's what I was given. I know people prefer ResMeds but I found the forum after a few months of use and was already committed to paying for the DreamStation and now I own it so am "stuck" with it. I'm not unhappy with my machine, but I'm aware it's not what is recommended here.

My pressures have been going in the high teens. Even had a "20" a couple weeks ago. I know I feel like crap but I don't look at the data on SleepyHead every day so I actually wasn't aware of that particular result. I've had it set to 9-20, raised the min to 10 for 9 days, just dropped it back down to 9 this past Sunday. Part of my waking up is that the pressure seems too high, machine is cranking out the air and it's too much. If I turn the machine off and back on, it goes back to the starting pressure and I can fall back to sleep sometimes. Last night, which has been typical, I took the mask off until I could relax for a few minutes, but fell asleep and never put it back on. I often don't fall back asleep, hence, I am tired. I've also woken recently with the mask next to me, no recollection of taking it off.

I just don't know what to do. Raising the minimum didn't seem to help.

[Chris8243]

So here's something "interesting." I called my sleep doc after I posted this morning, just got a call back to lower the pressures from 5-15. What?!? Didn't talk to the doctor, it was a sleep technician, and he understood my compaints/results, and that is their suggestion. I guess I'll try it, don't know what else to do. My doctor appointment isn't for a month, can't get in sooner, they looked at my data remotely.

[Miss Emerita]

Sounds like the RT listened to you. Your AHI is generally OK, but you aren’t getting adequate rest, what with fragmented sleep, mask problems, and pressure-jump problems. So maybe there’s a good trade-off to be made between lower pressures, with maybe a little uptick in events, and comfort, with better rest. Just guessing, but that might have been the line of thought.

Fo what it’s worth, any pressure under around 6 makes m feel a bit starved for air, so if it were me, I’d want my minimum to be higher than 5. But I don’t have the expertise to advise you, and anyhow 5 might feel comfortable to you.

I hope this is the beginning of a great improvement in your sleep.

[Chris8243]

Well I feel like I slept better. When I woke up, felt pretty good, mask still on. Yay! BUT then I discovered it was only 2:30am and although I tried, I couldn't fall back to sleep. AHI a bit high, 5.3, but I was more relaxed & comfortable when I woke. I still am unsure about lowering my pressure settings, per the doc, but I'll keep it here for now. Thoughts?

[Miss Emerita]

My main thought is that one night does not signify a trend, either for better or for worse. I think you’re right to give these settings some time, and I’m really glad to hear you got a chunk of decent sleep. Ideally, those chunks will get longer and your AHI will come down. I hope you’ll post about your ongoing experience.

[Chris8243]

I bought a camera recommended on another thread, WYZE CAM for $25. Interesting to watch yourself sleeping, lol. The video is saved to my phone, so it's easy to fast forward and see the "action" from the previous night in just a few minutes. Another benefit: you can use it as a regular outdoor video surveillence camera, which I will when I'm done watching myself.

Last night I fell right to sleep. I turned off the CPAP machine and took the mask off after 2 hours. No recollection of doing so, I didn't seem to be having events on Sleepyhead, no idea why I did this. Besides the evidence of my mask lying next to me, I see it on the video, lol. I did not seem to be awake.

At least I finally got some sleep last night, woke up after 7-8 hours. I needed that because I've not been sleeping more than 3-4 hours per day for the past 2 weeks, except for one night I got 5 hours of sleep.

But - why am I struggling so much with this? I pulled up this thread to start asking for help a couple weeks ago. I hadn't really noticed that I started it in January until today. It feels like this has been going on for 6 months - and sure enough it has been. Struggling with the mask, not sleeping, waking up feeling crappy when I do sleep.

[Miss Emerita]

I’ve never taken my mask off without knowing it, but I’ve read posts from people who have had that experience.

Some of them find it helpful to use some tape spanning their mask and face, so that they’ll wake up from the tape pulling off if they try to remove the mask. And some find it helpful to wear mittens or socks on their hands to make it harder to mess with the mask.

I think people don’t use these tricks as long-term solutions. Instead, they’re just trying to keep the mask on for longer while their bodies figure out it’s OK for the mask to be there.

I sure hope things improve for you, and soon.

[Chris8243]

I've taken my mask off before in my sleep. Tape over a strap is an interesting idea! Usually I'm aware when taking it off, because I'm frustrated with air leaks waking me up or pressure too high waking me. At that point I just wanna get some sleep.

[Chris8243]

What is periodic breathing? I've seen it before in my results. My max right now is set to 15, per my sleep doc last week when I called and explained my troubles. Doesn't make sense to me to not leave it open to 20, but one of my complaints was that I was waking because the air blowing at me was too high. Ughhhh. I see last night I got up to 15. Maybe it wasn't high enough causing me to remove the mask? I don't remember it.

I did get up once to use the bathroom, and then took the mask off in my sleep at 4:30 am, per the Sleepyhead chart. No recollection of that. Once again, I was surprised when I woke up without the mask on.

[Miss Emerita]

In one of those PB segments, could you zoom in so the flow rate shows the waxing and waning breathing? That will help the experts assess what is going on.

[Chris8243]

In one of those PB segments, could you zoom in so the flow rate shows the waxing and waning breathing? That will help the experts assess what is going on.

OK!

[palerider]

What is periodic breathing?

PB is just a fairly rhythmic irregular breathing. Sometimes it's an issue, sometimes it's not.

In your example above, it's just a series of hypopneas, and nothing at all to be concerned about, aside from the hypopneas (which need more pressure to alleviate).

The PB flag is just (occasionally) help point out things that might warrant attention, like this example:



That above example was the first indication that someone had severe congestive heart failure.

[Chris8243]

I'm back. Never left, but haven't looked for support/advice in almost a year. Nutshell: been a CPAP-er for 2-1/2 yrs. Always full face mask (or hybrid) because I can't breathe thru my nose sufficiently. Even when I just try & sit quietly, I have to eventually open my mouth to get a good breath of air. Doc thinks it's allergies, don't feel stuffy but inside of my nose is swollen and my ears sometimes hurt. Used Flonase and now onto Singulair. Can't say I noticed a difference, but will let him take a look to see how my nose tissue & ears are doing after a few months. All of that to say a nasal mask isn't an option.

So this past year has been stressful, actually with the current state of the world affairs, not gonna be letting up anytime soon. My stress that I identify was due to traveling almost every month back & forth from WY to NJ. Sick father in NJ, helping him and spending time with him. I always had a comfy guest room at my brother's place, but I would get so exhausted, I'd often fall asleep without the CPAP on. Not on purpose, sometimes I woke to the alarm and the lights were still on. So it seemed like I was only using the CPAP only half the time, but I really didn't care. Well, my father passed away in February, pre-Covid, thank you God, and his death was expected, normal, not painful. He had a good run, 95 yrs, and not sick one day until the last 9 months or so of his life. Even then, couldn't understand why the docs were saying something was wrong with him when he felt fine. But it was super stressful for me watching his decline, having to talk to nurses & docs about all the end of life stuff and finally getting hospice on board.

Sorry for the long post, I hate when people write this much. Sooooo I've been home for 2 months, not going anywhere anytime soon. I can't sleep. When I do fall asleep, I wake up in a couple hours thinking it's morning and I'm ready to get up. Look at the clock, 1:30 am, or whatever. Sometimes fall back to sleep, sometimes not. I know I'm worried about coronavirus, not that I will get it but that someone I love will. Just lost a friend to it yesterday.

Besides that my stupid mask has gotten so uncomfortable, leaky sounding during the night, and I take it off. When I do sleep, AHI under usually 5. Obviously could be better but probably lots of junk in there because of crappy sleep. Last night I felt like my face hurt, on my cheek under my eye, from the stupid mask. Gave up on it after a full hour of really trying to adjust to get comfortable. So no CPAP last night. I used Amara View for over a year until leaking became an issue, have tried Dreamwear, hated that, then have been using mostly Resmed AirTouch F20 until just switching it out the past few nights. I tried AirFit F20, AirFit F30, even went back to try Amara View again - all of this in the last week. Also suffering from depression and anxiety, but that's not new.

Any words of encouragement out there? Ready to give up. When I don't use CPAP at all, mostly I'm fine in the morning, sometimes headache and hangover feeling. Thank you to whoever read this whole thing.

[Chris8243]

Can I edit this to take "Periodic Breathing" out of the title?