My Therapy Thread

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.
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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Mon Dec 19, 2022 8:12 pm

LSAT wrote:
Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:57 pm
Waste of computer space!
huh?

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zonker
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by zonker » Mon Dec 19, 2022 8:52 pm

jlsmithseven wrote:
Mon Dec 19, 2022 6:25 pm

Does this sound good Dog Slobber? Since everything seems to be pretty good just run these settings for a month or so, so we can collect some data?
Here are my setting changes and some stats as well..
while i'm not dog slobber, i'll be happy to chime in until he gets here. :lol:

you won't have to wait "a month or so". leave everything alone for one week, then let's see some charts.

we see by your statistics page that sir slobber was correct; too much of a rush to change things. but leaving things alone for a week should be sufficient.

another minor housekeeping point- try to form your daily charts like this-

Image

your daily charts have too much information, making it harder to see.

good luck!
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but that's enough about them.
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Dog Slobber
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by Dog Slobber » Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:14 am

Good.

And yes, as Zonker said those charts are tough to read.

All we rrally are is the daily screen and at a resolution where we can read everything.

Your settings are pretty good, as far as treating your apnea. Let's leave things alone for week or so. This way we cn get a good baseline, and what I expect will happen you'll have some good nights and maybe some poor ones. But that's OK, that will re-enforce that the biggest variable isn't necessarily the machine, but the meatbag (palerider quote) at the end of the hose.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:28 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:14 am
Good.

And yes, as Zonker said those charts are tough to read.

All we rrally are is the daily screen and at a resolution where we can read everything.

Your settings are pretty good, as far as treating your apnea. Let's leave things alone for week or so. This way we cn get a good baseline, and what I expect will happen you'll have some good nights and maybe some poor ones. But that's OK, that will re-enforce that the biggest variable isn't necessarily the machine, but the meatbag (palerider quote) at the end of the hose.
Thanks again for calling me out, I think I needed that. Anyways , I had a good night last night with these settings again so I do think they are working very well compared to anything I’ve tried. I did wake up halfway through the night with some condensation in hose so turned humidity down 2 levels and that helped. Will keep it there unless I need to change, but woke up not too dehydrated. Still better than using auto climate control, it’s never enough. I will get back to this thread next week to show some charts. Appreciate it happy holidays.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Fri Dec 23, 2022 7:29 pm

Just a quick update for this thread. I’ve been using the same exact settings since Monday …and this entire week (with the exception of maybe 1 night) I didn’t get good rest. That was mainly due to my food choices before bed I think. Anyways I will post charts sometime next week but thank you Dog Slobber for making light of my struggles to avoid changing settings. Only thing I changed was I dropped humidity down one night because of rainout.

On that note. My humidity is at lvl 5 with 84 degree tube temp. At level 6 I get rain out. I do wake up with a sore throat and headache sometimes but once I drink water I’m ok. Is my therapy going to be worse if I’m dehydrated during it or doesn’t that matter? I feel it’s still working fine, but I’d like to fix this issue if anyone has suggestions. Is it just the dry winter air causing it? Our humidity in our room isn’t bad…

lynninnj
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by lynninnj » Sat Dec 24, 2022 9:20 am

I run a humidifier in the room as well.

Helps with humidity levels holistically and I don’t get rainout unless the tube gets very exposed to ambient air. We keep it cool in there and I run the hose along the pillow. Needless to say it was a COLD night last night but thankfully we are lucky to have a warm comfortable home.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Sun Dec 25, 2022 5:42 am

Night 01-
Image

Night 02-
Image

Night 03-
Image

Night 04-
Image

So as you can see all of the nights are very similar. Almost every day this week I woke up feeling more than good so I am very happy with these settings and my Dreamport mask. I did receive the Eclipse Halo mask last night and it was an epic fail (I made a new post about that; sorry Dog). I really hope they don't stop making Dreamports because they work amazing. I might stock up on them though. Anyways, Dog Slobber and RobySue1 I finally left my settings alone for a week and it's been fantastic. The only battle I'm dealing with now is humidity levels and the new Halos. If you have any recommendations on those it would be great. Thank you Happy
Holidays.

Edit: Only reason there is 4 nights is because I forgot to put my SD Card back in a few nights I was on vacation this weekend. But slept very good.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Mon Dec 26, 2022 4:34 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:14 am
Good.

And yes, as Zonker said those charts are tough to read.

All we rrally are is the daily screen and at a resolution where we can read everything.

Your settings are pretty good, as far as treating your apnea. Let's leave things alone for week or so. This way we cn get a good baseline, and what I expect will happen you'll have some good nights and maybe some poor ones. But that's OK, that will re-enforce that the biggest variable isn't necessarily the machine, but the meatbag (palerider quote) at the end of the hose.
I am starting to get a little aerophagia with these settings now. Should I decrease the max a few at a time until it subsides? I almost feel looking at my charts that the pressure of 8 will more than suffice, but I could be wrong. It seems to go up to 8.6 then drop right away when no apneas are detected..

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Dog Slobber
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by Dog Slobber » Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:17 am

I can't tell what you maximum is from the charts, they're too out of focus.

I would drop the maximum pressure by 0.2.

Then leave it there for a while. We *might* see your AHI go up a bit, especially if your pressure hits the max and wants to go higher.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:40 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:17 am
I can't tell what you maximum is from the charts, they're too out of focus.

I would drop the maximum pressure by 0.2.

Then leave it there for a while. We *might* see your AHI go up a bit, especially if your pressure hits the max and wants to go higher.
8.6 is my max. shows up on my end. will lower it by .2

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Wed Dec 28, 2022 8:42 am

Seems that aerophagia was only one night. Might have been due to something I ate earlier that evening. Anyways with these settings variations between level 8, my sleep has been as good as it’s ever been. Thank you Dog Slobber for the feedback and RobySue1 for the settings initially.

The only frustrating thing I’m dealing with now is my mouth being very dry in the morning. Tube temp at 84 and humidity level at 5 don’t understand it. Tried taping mouth last night it helped a little but I don’t get leaks so not sure why taping helps.

I’m definitely keeping these settings moving forward. Trying to figure out the Bleep Eclipse right now and humidity issues. I got a hose cover to see if it helps, so I will post back once I use that.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Sat Dec 31, 2022 7:34 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Mon Dec 26, 2022 7:17 am
I can't tell what you maximum is from the charts, they're too out of focus.

I would drop the maximum pressure by 0.2.

Then leave it there for a while. We *might* see your AHI go up a bit, especially if your pressure hits the max and wants to go higher.
So my pressures being at 7 Ramp Starting, 8-8.6 APAP have been working great. 9/10 days though, I wake up with a headache/mouth dryness. I got a hose cover coming in the mail and I've just put my machine on the floor. I have Tube Temp at 84 and Humidity at 5. As soon as I put humidity on 6 I get rainout. So I'm trying to up the humidity as I make these changes to hose and AirSense 11 position on the floor.

I have narrowed my dryness down to leaking of my mouth I guess. It could also be the dreamports leaking too much when they are in an awkward position. When I take a glass of water I wake up and feel great and rested so my pressure settings are ideal I think. I constantly get an AHI under 1.0 but if I leak somewhere it's between 1-3. I know AHI doesn't matter but it definitely has a relation to how I feel 6/7 times I look at it.

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Dog Slobber
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by Dog Slobber » Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:39 am

A leak can definitely cause dry mouth.

Some people have had success with xylimelts.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Sat Dec 31, 2022 10:52 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:39 am
A leak can definitely cause dry mouth.

Some people have had success with xylimelts.
I've tried them in the past, but never with this mask. I think my dreamports are actually causing the leak since it's so close to my upper lip area it probably gets a little cold from condensation or something there. Wasn't there a cozy or something I could get for the Bleep? I just don't want to block the exhaust holes.

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jlsmithseven
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Re: jlsmithseven Therapy Thread

Post by jlsmithseven » Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:08 am

Dog Slobber wrote:
Sat Dec 31, 2022 8:39 am
A leak can definitely cause dry mouth.

Some people have had success with xylimelts.
Thank you for this suggestion. The xylimelts have been helping me a LOT with my dry mouth in the morning, they work great. I wanted to give a little update on my therapy. So the settings Robysue suggested a little while back were working fantastic for a week, then it just stopped working that good. Then I tried messing with EPR and found myself in the same situation that Dog Slobber called me out on once again. I just can't help it. Anyways, I think the stress that all of this is causing me is definitely affecting my therapy more than I realize so it's not my machines fault.

I try reverting to Robysue's settings and it just doesn't work anymore. There is always something new. I've never had to deal with leaks when I use the dreamports but now all of a sudden every mask I try to use leaks. So I've been trying to battle that and getting good therapy settings, it's just so frustrating that most nights I end up causing more harm than good.

So I guess my update here is to inform everyone that I did lose 10-15 pounds since the new year. I am trying to eat better. Generally this means lowering the pressure settings, but I found I need just as much pressure I believe. It's only like a 5% overall weight loss.

Also, I don't know what to try next. I am sick and tired of trying new masks, new pressure settings, new things that might help me sleep. I thought losing weight would help me sleep better but it seems it might be worse now. It's just all so very frustrating!