Last Night Was First Night

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 27, 2024 3:19 pm

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Sat Jul 27, 2024 2:59 pm

I've heard you don't get therapy during ramp time? Anyone know if that's true?

Well....pressure during ramp isn't totally without therapy value (depending on ramp and your pressure needs) but during ramp the machine will NOT record or respond to any apnea events that might happen. So the absence of any flagged events during any ramp time doesn't necessarily mean nothing happened. So you might get "some" therapy value at the lower ramp pressures but it isn't going to be much if your ramp is low and you need pressures that are considerably higher.

Gotcha. I may end up not using it. Not sure if I'll notice much difference.

Last night, I tried nasal pillows with mouth tape for the first time. Huge thanks to Pugsy for hooking it up on the mask!

https://sleephq.com/public/6d3cc7af-1cd ... f490aa2c92

It was WAAAY more comfortable. One issue I ran into is that I would wake up pushing air out of my mouth through the tape. It's hard to explain. The tape never came off, I was just forcing air through a small space between my lips. It doesn't seem to have show up as any kind of leak. Maybe I just need to keep training myself to breathe through my nose. Should I be concerned about this?

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 30, 2024 6:44 am

Should I be concerned about this?

If it wakes you up....remember anything that causes sleep disruptions is unwanted.
Sometimes we do have to make some compromises though.....like which sleep disruption the the lesser of 2 evils.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 30, 2024 7:01 am

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 30, 2024 6:44 am

Should I be concerned about this?

If it wakes you up....remember anything that causes sleep disruptions is unwanted.
Sometimes we do have to make some compromises though.....like which sleep disruption the the lesser of 2 evils.

Oh, this is definitely the lesser evil of the full face mask leak.

Looking at my chart last night, I'm seeing that 10.18cm is my 95%. I have been planning on upping the minimum to 10 tonight. Is that still a good plan?

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Tue Jul 30, 2024 10:54 am

Looking at my chart last night, I'm seeing that 10.18cm is my 95%. I have been planning on upping the minimum to 10 tonight. Is that still a good plan?

As the queen of experiments.....sounds like a plan.

I upped to 10cm last night but my flow limit went up a bit. I did sleep from about 9:30-4:30 but then on and off till 6:30. I'm considering paying that LankyLefty guy to do an analysis since my doctor isn't available for over a month but it's expensive. I don't know. I'm just ready to feel rested again. Some days I regret starting this.

https://sleephq.com/public/e37b4116-ccc ... 4d257c5f07

I have a new problem, hooray! For the past week, I switched from the Evora full face mask to the P10 nasal pillows with mouth tape. I've also switched to a fixed pressure of 10.4cm. Both of these changes have made things much comfortable but I've still been very tired and out of it during the day. But I think I have figured out at least one reason.

There have been several times I have woken up because as I fall asleep, my tongue relaxes, air rushes into my mouth, pushes against the tape and starts leaking. Last night was kind of a mess because this happened a few times and I tried to switch back to my FFM but couldn't sleep so I went back to the pillows and tape.

Does anyone know of a solution to this? A chin strap and cervical collar won't help because my mouth can still open with those. Maybe there's something I can put behind my lips and still tape to block the air? If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I am just so frustrated that I have finally seemed to figure out what works and it has created a new problem.

Here are last night's charts for reference:

https://sleephq.com/public/fb25d944-baa ... 4c41184435

We "not so lovingly" call it chipmunk cheeks. Been discussed ad nauseam here on the forum with lots of ideas on what has worked for someone or what hasn't worked.

I know you probably won't believe this but I can talk, blow raspberries, yawn or whatever with my mouth open but no air exits the mouth because I can block the back door so that no air pressure even enters the mouth at all so no chance of chipmunk cheeks. It's a reflex action similar to when you blow up a balloon no air tries to exit through the nose.
I can't explain what I do though. It's a reflex.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 03, 2024 9:58 am

I know you probably won't believe this but I can talk, blow raspberries, yawn or whatever with my mouth open but no air exits the mouth because I can block the back door so that no air pressure even enters the mouth at all so no chance of chipmunk cheeks. It's a reflex action similar to when you blow up a balloon no air tries to exit through the nose.
I can't explain what I do though. It's a reflex.

Can you pass this power onto me?

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 03, 2024 10:02 am

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 03, 2024 9:58 am

I know you probably won't believe this but I can talk, blow raspberries, yawn or whatever with my mouth open but no air exits the mouth because I can block the back door so that no air pressure even enters the mouth at all so no chance of chipmunk cheeks. It's a reflex action similar to when you blow up a balloon no air tries to exit through the nose.
I can't explain what I do though. It's a reflex.

Can you pass this power onto me?

You know that new truck I mentioned? Man, if I could share the power for even maybe 10 bucks a pop I would have that new truck real quickly.

I never get chipmunk cheeks and in fact I have to make a direct concerted effort to allow the air to enter my mouth.

I am not the only one who can do this little trick but no one (that I have seen) can explain it either.

That's why they are called "reflex actions"....we simply have no control that we can knowingly direct.

Pugsy wrote: ↑

Sat Aug 03, 2024 10:18 am

You know that new truck I mentioned? Man, if I could share the power for even maybe 10 bucks a pop I would have that new truck real quickly.

I never get chipmunk cheeks and in fact I have to make a direct concerted effort to allow the air to enter my mouth.

I am not the only one who can do this little trick but no one (that I have seen) can explain it either.

That's why they are called "reflex actions"....we simply have no control that we can knowingly direct.

Haha that would, indeed be pretty lucrative!

Although, I will say you mentioning the term "chipmunk cheeks" has already been helpful. I was able to find a lot on it. I think I am going to try a stronger tape(I have facial hair) and maybe the Vcom thing.

Nevermind. Just did some digging on the Vcom and was not impressed with what I've found. I'll just try the stronger tape for now.

I'm still thinking about the V-Com. Does anyone think I could benefit from that?

Iancdub88 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 04, 2024 8:36 am

I'm still thinking about the V-Com. Does anyone think I could benefit from that?

So....exactly what is it that you wish the V-Com to aid with?

I, personally, am not a big fan of it but then I am not a fan of a lot of things that other people use or do or whatever. So that doesn't really mean much.

It's a "tool" and one of many "tools" that people use. Expensive tool though.
I am all for trying stuff but it usually has to be cheap stuff.

The people who tried the V-Com and had some success with tell you "it works" "greatest thing since sliced bread".
The people who tried the V-Com and it didn't help will tell you "it doesn't work, don't waste your money".

And guess what....you are going to have to try it yourself if you want to see which way you lean with it. What I say or someone else says doesn't really matter much. You have to do your own evaluations.

I have not tried the V-Com. No interest in it. No desire and no problems that I would want it to fix and way more expensive than my usual experiments. Back when I was brand new to cpap....I admit to trying anything and everything as long as it was cheap.