My story in short:
- Increasingly poor sleep for the past two years
- I can’t drive a car for more than one hour in the afternoon without having to take sleep breaks
- Bad mood, constantly tired, irritable, depressive tendencies
- Morning headaches, I never feel rested
- I don’t snore; without APAP my mouth is usually closed
- Very severe bruxism for many years
- Constantly hungry
- I finally had a sleep lab appointment scheduled for early January, but it was canceled shortly beforehand due to too many emergency patients (COVID and influenza)
- My primary care doctor and my dentist suspect: no sleep apnea, but possible UARS
- Because my level of suffering is very high and I can’t wait for months longer, I decided to buy and try the following on my own and at my own expense:
- ResMed AirSense 11 AutoSet + HumidAir 11 + ClimateLineAir 11 + ResMed AirFit P30i nasal pillow mask + Viatom O2Ring S
Experiences without APAP, using only the O2 ring:
- Few oxygen drops, never below 92%
- Low baseline heart rate around 40 bpm
- Frequent heart rate spikes above 55 bpm, more than 500 times per night
- Heart rate spikes above 65 bpm: more than 40 times per night
Experiences with APAP during the first 3 nights:
- AHI always < 1
- Baseline heart rate slightly higher than without APAP, around 50 bpm
- With pressure min = 6 and EPR level 3, I can sleep
- With pressure min = 7 or with EPR turned off, my cheeks often puff up
- At pressure min = 8, my mouth inevitably opens after a short time, air rushes out, and I wake up
- Even mouth tape could not prevent this (it was not fully sealed tape, but one with a slit in the middle)
My questions:
- Do you see any indications of UARS in the OSCAR charts?
- What do you think about the detailed views / shape of my flow rate curve? Does it look healthy?
- How should I proceed?
A) Simply continue for several nights with the current setup (APAP mode, pressure min = 6 and EPR level 3, nasal pillow mask, no mouth tape)?
B) Try tape that completely seals the mouth and test pressure min = 8 (but I assume my cheeks would still puff up)?
C) Buy a chin strap and test pressure min = 8 (but I assume my cheeks would still puff up)?
D) Switch to a full face mask? (Which model would you recommend?)
E) Return the ResMed AirSense 11 AutoSet and switch to a bilevel AirCurve instead (which one)?
F) Stop pursuing the UARS direction altogether – this is not UARS in my case?
G) Any other ideas?
