Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
lynninnj
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by lynninnj » Fri Sep 02, 2022 4:34 pm

Brad S wrote:
Fri Sep 02, 2022 2:32 pm
lynninnj wrote:
Fri Sep 02, 2022 2:11 pm
Qmart -snickers-
lynninnj wrote:
Fri Sep 02, 2022 2:11 pm
I started here the same day as you and cpap general around the same time.
You beat me here by 2 hours
lynninnj wrote:
Fri Sep 02, 2022 2:11 pm
That said- don’t hate me but it was so good today with 6 arousals all night the I feel like I am on speed without the jitters and heart palpitations.
Good grief! I know I am just a weirdo on the other end of a keyboard but I would never hate you. You are like an old friend, I have never met. Or something like that.
I am so happy for how well you are doing (Even though I am failing miserably) Hahaha. I am very happy for you and I am also very glad you did not have to go through what I am working through.
I really like reading about your success and other peoples too. It gives me hope and a desire to keep mucking along. I am starting to see results. I know the goodness is coming. Turning on auto ramp for me was the game changer.
I say this with all sincerity, I am so happy for you and your 6 arousals :lol: and your jitterless speed too. I hope you feel like that everyday and I hope you keep sharing it and your positivity. It's like Franks Redhot. Put that sh*t on everything!
Thanks.
I don’t care if it’s placebo. It just feels good not to be so tired. You are doing really well and I know you’ll keep at it.

https://shawneesprings.com/product/awesome-sauce/

this it?

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Brad S
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Brad S » Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:32 am

lynninnj wrote:
Fri Sep 02, 2022 4:34 pm
https://shawneesprings.com/product/awesome-sauce/
this it?
If it came from Q Mart, it was more like this...
Image

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WOO HOO!!

Post by Brad S » Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:44 am

I don't know what these charts say, but I FEEL REALLY GOOD this morning!
I don't know if it is going to last, but this is the best I have felt waking up in a really long time.
MyAir score was 98. I was dinged 2 points for mask seal. NBD
I can't wait to go to bed tonight! LOL.
Happy Saturday everyone.
https://sleephq.com/public/74278b1f-364 ... 9645bcab6c

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Pugsy
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Pugsy » Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:59 am

Good job. Crossing my fingers and toes that you have more days like today.

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lynninnj
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Re: WOO HOO!!

Post by lynninnj » Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:03 am

Brad S wrote:
Sat Sep 03, 2022 7:44 am
I don't know what these charts say, but I FEEL REALLY GOOD this morning!
I don't know if it is going to last, but this is the best I have felt waking up in a really long time.
MyAir score was 98. I was dinged 2 points for mask seal. NBD
I can't wait to go to bed tonight! LOL.
Happy Saturday everyone.
https://sleephq.com/public/74278b1f-364 ... 9645bcab6c

Image
TEN awakenings! 4 hours at the end with no events! Under 2 minutes in apnea.

Now we are cooking with gas!

I too wondered about whether the leaks really matter if you are feeling pretty good, even if it goes on all night.

I am curious however if anyone looks-the early/first 2 events look like there was a giant breath out right before them so I wonder if the are really events or some sort of "Brads pattern" kind of thing or what. I usually have a deep breath in I think when I am rolling but this is the opposite?

I know exactly what you mean about not being able to wait to go back to bed. Thats how I felt yesterday and unfortunately instead of a 10/10 I feel more like a 6 out of 10 today. Pretty sure it was something I ate. lol And it def wasn't awesome sauce.

Do you need me to get you some awesome sauce to send out to you? lol

Enjoy the day and I hope the rest of your time moving forward is at least this good.

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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Pugsy » Sat Sep 03, 2022 9:30 am

The first 4 events I vote for arousal related...post arousal probably.
As well as the second grouping of events.
Pretty much a rather prolonged flow rate pattern that points to not being sound asleep between those first 2 groups of events.
Related to the leak???? Maybe.
About 6 minutes before that first flagged CA/central the leak increased sharply and it wouldn't be impossible for the leak itself to have caused all that arousal breathing stuff.

May or may not remember the leak or arousal.

Actually given how fragile things are with Brad....I don't know that I would go start experimenting with better leak control at this stage of the game. The leak went to about 30 L/min for a relatively short period of time and unless he remembers waking up from the leak....I wouldn't go spending a lot of effort trying to fix it because the cure might end up being worse than the disease in terms of how much it messes with sleep quality.

The prettiest and most perfect numbers and graphs don't mean squat if we sleep like crap and end up feeling like crap.

It's one night...we need more nights to really even start to over think or over analyze things. :lol:

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lynninnj
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by lynninnj » Sat Sep 03, 2022 10:16 am

Pugsy said:

It's one night...we need more nights to really even start to over think or over analyze things. :lol:

I say-I agree! But after watching him struggle all this time, it is really good to see he is having them at all and more often. If you looked back to his first few weeks of posting it was like my goodness does this poor guy ever sleep?!?

SO yeah, happy to see him chalking up a few more here and there. :D


Edit: Also, I am convinced that the N30 just plain leaks most of the time but if I had nights like yesterday all the time despite the leaks I would be over the moon!

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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Brad S » Mon Sep 05, 2022 9:02 am

Busy weekend but wanted to drop by and say hello and hope everyone is doing well.
Last nights recording was short. 3:46 and the 2 additional times where I put the mask on and took it off again before I fell asleep, for whatever reason.
Still having trouble with leaks but they do not cause any arousal. Right now, my main focus is to keep the mask on all night and then I will worry about that.
I am feeling a little better today.
Happy Labor Day everyone.

https://sleephq.com/public/dc7621ed-97c ... 1ce147781b


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lynninnj
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by lynninnj » Mon Sep 05, 2022 8:06 pm

Wow Brad- 0.0 minutes in apnea.

I am starting to think that’s the magic factor.

jmho

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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Brad S » Thu Sep 08, 2022 7:02 am

Good morning-
I'm still here, just quiet. I have had a couple of rough nights. My AHI numbers weren't bad, just so much interrupted, broken up sleep. SWJ.
Last night was better. I went back to the cervical collar and the AirFit N30 and slept 5:21 uninterrupted with the last 20 minutes awake trying to figure out why it was so easy to breathe. A lot of leaks last night but none seemed to bother me. I didn't get up at all during the night, woke up a little after 4 and I was done sleeping.
I don't know what the deal is with the masks. Some times I can breathe just fine and others I wake up gasping for air. The Evora mask was working great until 2 nights ago and then I couldn't get enough air. I clean my mask every morning and make sure the vent holes are clear. It has to be something I am doing during the night because sometimes after I wake up unable to get air I am able to relax and breathe again with no changes to the mask,

What I am learning is that rough nights = BRAIN FOG and I have to get out of this funk. I am so tired. I think I am more tired now after 7 weeks of therapy than I was before I started.
I did an overnight oximetry test last Thursday night and I am really curious what the results will show. Hopefully the oxygen numbers will be better, I guess they couldn't be any worse?
I am going to keep on trying until I get this figured out. I miss being active here and reading what everyone is up to but I am having a very hard time focusing at work and that is my priority.
I hope everyone here is doing well. TTYL

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Friday- What a difference a day makes....

Post by Brad S » Fri Sep 09, 2022 8:08 am

Good morning and happy Friday to all of my friends here.
Life and the CPAP journey for me is a game of inches. Small tweaks can sometimes make a huge difference. And, as I am finding, not always repeatable, but I hope to change that.
Last night I adjusted the humidity from 4 to 3 for no other reason than my reservoir was almost empty every morning even with the limited sleep I frequently get. I was not getting moisture in the mask or anything else, just wanted to try. I also took 2 advil before I went to bed. I was feeling a little sore and I started thinking that I did the same thing two weeks ago and I had a good nights sleep. I do not have any idea if the advil helped. All I know is I do not take advil or anything like that unless I absolutely have to.
Did the combination of lowering the humidity and taking a couple of advil help? Who knows but my results are really good last night.
I had two sleeps last night. I am posting them separately just because the numbers were so low.
The one thing I do not understand is that how can one night be so good and another be so bad? As of right now, I am going to try the 2 advil again tonight and see if I can repeat.


https://sleephq.com/public/909ca7be-e16 ... ef5145772b


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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Pugsy » Fri Sep 09, 2022 8:31 am

Brad S wrote:
Fri Sep 09, 2022 8:08 am
The one thing I do not understand is that how can one night be so good and another be so bad?
Because we don't sleep the same each night for any number of reasons and we don't always know why the big difference.
Sleep can be very fragile for many, many people.
I have been on cpap for over 13 years now and I still have nights that are really crappy and I just don't know why.
And like I always have said...if we don't know the why it makes it really hard to fix a problem when we don't know what the problem is.
Then even when we do have a clue about the problem it isn't so easy to fix.

Night before last was a crappy night...got a little over 4 hours of sleep and pretty much felt like death warmed over yesterday.
And that was with a sleeping pill.
Last night got a little over 7 hours with same sleeping pill...go figure. Same pain, same stress but other than strictly adhering to the no nap thing despite feeling like death warmed over I didn't change anything.
I already know that stress (my mom isn't doing well) and pain are complicating factors for me but sometimes what I do works and sometimes it doesn't and even knowing all this doesn't mean I can put a finger on a sure fire solution.

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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Brad S » Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:42 am

Pugsy wrote:
Fri Sep 09, 2022 8:31 am
Because we don't sleep the same each night for any number of reasons and we don't always know why the big difference.
Then even when we do have a clue about the problem it isn't so easy to fix.
but sometimes what I do works and sometimes it doesn't and even knowing all this doesn't mean I can put a finger on a sure fire solution.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply. Makes all of this as clear as mud! LOL. JK of course.
It is so weird to me, before CPAP I went to bed and I slept. There was no dialing this, adjusting that. Although my sleep quality was crap, I slept (with the all too frequent non-breathing freak out) Now, I am hesitant to go to bed. I am very sleepy sitting on the couch watching tv with my wife, but bedtime comes and we go to bed and I am wide awake. I still don't usually have any trouble falling asleep but now I have this odd hesitancy and routine. Fill mine and my wifes water reservoirs, go to the bathroom, blow my nose, comb my beard, stick a nose hair trimmer up my schnoz to make sure I don't have the random tickle hairs in my mask, sit on the bed and wonder why I am not sleepy etc. etc. etc. DUH!
I am sure like most people, I consider myself to be a rational, clear thinking humanoid. In my daily life, I expect that when I do a specific action, I will get a certain and predictable reaction in return. Based on my current sleep and good/bad nights that this is not the case at all. I want so badly to be able to repeat my nightly habits and expect the same, repeatable sleep results in return.
Before therapy, I do understand that there were factors that impacted my sleep and I understand these things, but overall, the sleep was consistent and it was good- despite the damage that was happening to my body.
In my daily life, I know if I smash my finger between two bricks, it is going to hurt. Although not advisable, it is undeniably 100% repeatable. As I am starting to figure out and understand (thank you very much) CPAP therapy is not that way at all.
What is behind door #1 tonight will definitely, positively, absolutely, maybe... not be behind door #1 tomorrow night. Roll the dice. Take your chances. It is the wonderful whacky world of how will you sleep tonight roulette.
In what bizarro world does this make any sense?
I may be slow and impatient with all of this, the variables just don't make it any easier.

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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by Pugsy » Fri Sep 09, 2022 10:02 am

Brad S wrote:
Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:42 am
bedtime comes and we go to bed and I am wide awake.
Brad S wrote:
Fri Sep 09, 2022 9:42 am
variables just don't make it any easier.
Your brain/mind is screwing with you. I have always said that the brain/mind is a very powerful tool and sometimes it is your best friend but sometimes it sure isn't doing a person any favors and ends up being its own worst enemy. It isn't easy to shut up either. The fact that you had some initial problems (at least your mind thought it was a problem) with breathing with cpap sure didn't help to retrain the brain.
The brain had already decided it was going to keep the human awake so it wouldn't have the breathing problems while on cpap. So now your brain doesn't want to let you risk going to sleep despite the fact that you need the sleep and what it was originally fearful of isn't a real problem.

The idea behind the CBT therapy is sort of to retrain the brain so that it becomes your best friend and no longer your worst enemy.

When you get a chance read RobySue's blog
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... er_19.html
Now granted she had a long history of insomnia problems before cpap therapy....she's got some good stuff here and she actually went through the CBT stuff and finally her doctors decided to add sleep medication to her routine on a prn basis.

I would like to see you get a chance to try a sleep aid short term but I can't prescribe drugs...so what I would like to see doesn't matter. I have always felt that there was a time and place for just about any drug out there.

Good luck in retraining the brain...even for me that's a work in progress at times. Sometimes I win the battle and sometimes the brain wins.

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lynninnj
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Re: Newb needs help. Exhaling issues

Post by lynninnj » Fri Sep 09, 2022 7:46 pm

Lookityou Brad with your zero portion of the night! Totally jealous and a good night overall.

After dinner I set up the coffee maker and the cpap. Water, hose, all of it. Then I chill for tv. Maybe get that done first so you don’t have to wake up so to speak to get it ready.

Maybe trim those shnoz hairs early too. lol
I don’t think you will have an 11:00 shadow lol

Hopefully you had a fabulous day.

I too am chasing the sleep high so to speak.

Good luck and hth

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