Side sleeping....try it...you might like it.

I'm a new CPAP user and generally a side sleeper. When I lie on my back the apnea control is "out the window" primarily because of mouth leaks. I wear a petite nose mask which seems to be the best fit for me. When I lie on my side, the pressure on the side of my face causes the nose mask to leak. BUT, my scores run from .7 to 2.1, generally averaging 1.4. I think there will be a slight trade-off for me. I cannot wear the nasal pillows.

My significant other (SO) had a 0.0 score this morning; he uses the nasal pillows which works so nicely for him. Any ideas on the small nasal mask that covers my nose only and how to prevent leaks? My SO and I are working on it but the more brainpower on the project the better.

FlyGirl,

Welcome to the forum.

Den

Anybody ever try the temperpedic matress? The commericals make it look wonderful, but I wonder for us side sleepers, would are arms still go to sleep as much? Just wondering!

Jeff

I don't have a Temperpedic...decided to give a memory foam topper try as a much less expensive alternative. Idea actually came from my daughter who purchased one in the hope of decreasing the tossing and turning of her husband during the night. She said their 3 inch memory foam topper virtually eliminated the issue and he said his rest was noticeably improved.

That testimonial prompted me to purchase a 3 inch memory foam topper two weeks ago to adress CPAP thereapy issues...not to help the side sleeping but the reverse...to help back sleeping. I am a natural side sleeper who requires a FF mask. Invariably I wake up several times a night as I break the seal while forcing my face into the pillow. I figured if I could get the titration right for back sleeping, and stay there, it would go a long way toward improving therapy. Problem was, I'd go to sleep on my back and wake up on my side with a leaking mask (Quattro by the way...the least prone to this leaking of any FF mask I've found). I was hoping that the memory foam would improve the back sleeping comfort factor enough to allow more sleeping in that position.

It has!! I now frequently wake up to find myself on my back. It hasn't eliminated side sleeping totally but I now find at least equal chances that I'll be on my side without leaks...can only attribute this to less movement while sleeping. No matter the position, comfort can be maintained longer in it as the mattress (topper) conforms to the body's contour. I have no doubt that side sleepers would find the memory foam of equal benefit.

I would highly recommend those who are restless sleepers or have problems with pressure points give a memory foam topper a try. Besides my daughter and myself I know of two others who are totally sold on them...not one who's regretted the purchase.

A topper can be had for much less than the $1000 plus price of a full memory foam...I purchased mine (queen sized) for less than $150 from a local Sam's Club.

Being pregnant myself at the moment, I am pretty much confined to side sleeping at this point and I have long known that it improves my numbers and requires less pressure. It is a challenge for me because aerophagia is a BIG problem on my side. Curiously, my right side is impossible. As soon as I turn on that side I feel the sensation of air hitting my stomach wall and any time spent on that side at all leads to just terrible discomfort.

My left side is better and I have recently discovered that the angle at which my head hits the pillow makes all the difference in whether I wake with aerophagia or not. I only noticed this about a week ago. If my nose is at a 90 degree angle, from my neck, then I can feel the air in my stomach, but somewhere around 45 to 60 degrees of tilt down (my chin nearly to my chest) the air doesn't get by. Some quirk of my anatomy, I suppose and I hope it holds up over time.

So I am only allowed two positions now, which is pretty annoying to me. On my left side or partially propped up against something, somewhere between side and back. I have been rolling up my half of the comforter to prop myselp up on each night, since I don't need it to keep warm. Pregnancy metabolism takes care of keeping me warm.

I have a backpack I could use. It seems like it would work really well, but I feel so confined right now I hate to add one more thing.

Jen

You might try one of those extra long bed pillows or a regular pillow between your knees. My chiropractor says to use a pillow that keeps the neck level with the spine. I use a Tempurpedic pillow that not only scrunches up to fill in the gap between my shoulder and my head, but also can be pushed in to stay put making a space for the mask. I didn't find the memory foam found in most stores works as well as Tempurpedic.

It took a few months for me to get the hand of sleeping on my side instead of my stomach or back,

[quote="socknitster"]Being pregnant myself at the moment, I am pretty much confined to side sleeping at this point and I have long known that it improves my numbers and requires less pressure. It is a challenge for me because aerophagia is a BIG problem on my side. Curiously, my right side is impossible. As soon as I turn on that side I feel the sensation of air hitting my stomach wall and any time spent on that side at all leads to just terrible discomfort.

My left side is better and I have recently discovered that the angle at which my head hits the pillow makes all the difference in whether I wake with aerophagia or not. I only noticed this about a week ago. If my nose is at a 90 degree angle, from my neck, then I can feel the air in my stomach, but somewhere around 45 to 60 degrees of tilt down (my chin nearly to my chest) the air doesn't get by. Some quirk of my anatomy, I suppose and I hope it holds up over time.

So I am only allowed two positions now, which is pretty annoying to me. On my left side or partially propped up against something, somewhere between side and back. I have been rolling up my half of the comforter to prop myselp up on each night, since I don't need it to keep warm. Pregnancy metabolism takes care of keeping me warm.

I have a backpack I could use. It seems like it would work really well, but I feel so confined right now I hate to add one more thing.

Jen

I have one. I tried it a few weeks ago and didn't like it. I'm thinking of giving it another try now. I had a cold at the time, so sleep was pretty miserable period. They get such great reviews online, I have really been hoping it would help.

Jen

rooster wrote:

CompuTech007 wrote:..... I deffinately have issues if I have ice cream or cerial with milk within 3-4 hours of bedtime. It's the milk I think in my case. So much for a glass of milk to calm you before bed.........

If you haven't already considered it, you might want to look into this connection:

Dairy products aggravate GERD and GERD interferes with sleep and increases AHI.

Thanks Rooster, I'll look into this been wondering about GERD anyway.

socknitster wrote:I have one. I tried it a few weeks ago and didn't like it. I'm thinking of giving it another try now. I had a cold at the time, so sleep was pretty miserable period. They get such great reviews online, I have really been hoping it would help.

Jen

I'm so sorry you have a cold! That's awful with XPAP. I haven't had one yet and have stayed away from those with colds in an attempt to not experience it! So far so good. If I get a cold, it doesn't take the average time to get over, I have breathing problems for sometimes months and have to go on full asthma drugs including inhaled steroids. While I understand the need for life to go on, if everyone with a cold world wide would stay home until all symptoms were gone, would we cure the common cold? : )

Anonymous wrote:

socknitster wrote:I have one. I tried it a few weeks ago and didn't like it. I'm thinking of giving it another try now. I had a cold at the time, so sleep was pretty miserable period. They get such great reviews online, I have really been hoping it would help.

Jen

I'm so sorry you have a cold! That's awful with XPAP. I haven't had one yet and have stayed away from those with colds in an attempt to not experience it! So far so good. If I get a cold, it doesn't take the average time to get over, I have breathing problems for sometimes months and have to go on full asthma drugs including inhaled steroids. While I understand the need for life to go on, if everyone with a cold world wide would stay home until all symptoms were gone, would we cure the common cold? : )

This is me (gasp) Sheesh, I really don't like Internet Explorer. I'm going back to FireFox now! IE keeps signing me out!

Anonymous wrote:

socknitster wrote:I have one. I tried it a few weeks ago and didn't like it. I'm thinking of giving it another try now. I had a cold at the time, so sleep was pretty miserable period. They get such great reviews online, I have really been hoping it would help.

Jen

I'm so sorry you have a cold! That's awful with XPAP. I haven't had one yet and have stayed away from those with colds in an attempt to not experience it! So far so good. If I get a cold, it doesn't take the average time to get over, I have breathing problems for sometimes months and have to go on full asthma drugs including inhaled steroids. While I understand the need for life to go on, if everyone with a cold world wide would stay home until all symptoms were gone, would we cure the common cold? : )

Gasp,

Wow, it sounds like colds are rough for you! My experience with colds and xpap was easier than I suspected it would be. I don't get colds very often, but pregnancy suppresses your immune system and I have a preschooler. Not a good combo. I got 3 colds in 6 weeks.

I kicked each one relatively fast, but then another one came on less than a week later. I swear by my neti pot now. I used the neti pot sometimes several times a day when each cold was at its peak and it rinses away all the accumulated goo as well as brings down inflammation. Many times when one side of my nose was completely clogged, it opened it right up so I could breath thru both sides again. It has the advantage of cleaning out the sinus as well to prevent sinus infections, something I used to spend months at a time fighting. At any rate it significantly shortened the duration of each cold, I am certain of it. I only had a day or two of feeling really bad with each cold.

I always hear people saying they need a full face mask when they have a cold, but I didn't go that route. I continued to use the swift II. Sometimes one side of my nose was plugged but I still got therapy from the other side. My numbers were good and I felt as rested as a person with a cold will. There were a couple of times I tried sleeping without the machine for an hour or two and boy did I know the difference. There is a very particular pain that I remember from my first pregnancy (I was still undiagnosed then) that came back after only an hour or two of sleep without xpap. Even with one side of the nose clogged I didn't get that pain otherwise. And having the humidifier on max was extremely helpful.

So, while it was a pain to get all those colds, it wasn't as miserable as it could have been, thinking about life before neti pot and xpap.

Maybe that will help you when the inevitable happens, crossing my fingers that it never does!

jen

socknitster wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

socknitster wrote:I have one. I tried it a few weeks ago and didn't like it. I'm thinking of giving it another try now. I had a cold at the time, so sleep was pretty miserable period. They get such great reviews online, I have really been hoping it would help.

Jen

I'm so sorry you have a cold! That's awful with XPAP. I haven't had one yet and have stayed away from those with colds in an attempt to not experience it! So far so good. If I get a cold, it doesn't take the average time to get over, I have breathing problems for sometimes months and have to go on full asthma drugs including inhaled steroids. While I understand the need for life to go on, if everyone with a cold world wide would stay home until all symptoms were gone, would we cure the common cold? : )

Gasp,

Wow, it sounds like colds are rough for you! My experience with colds and xpap was easier than I suspected it would be. I don't get colds very often, but pregnancy suppresses your immune system and I have a preschooler. Not a good combo. I got 3 colds in 6 weeks.

I kicked each one relatively fast, but then another one came on less than a week later. I swear by my neti pot now. I used the neti pot sometimes several times a day when each cold was at its peak and it rinses away all the accumulated goo as well as brings down inflammation. Many times when one side of my nose was completely clogged, it opened it right up so I could breath thru both sides again. It has the advantage of cleaning out the sinus as well to prevent sinus infections, something I used to spend months at a time fighting. At any rate it significantly shortened the duration of each cold, I am certain of it. I only had a day or two of feeling really bad with each cold.

I always hear people saying they need a full face mask when they have a cold, but I didn't go that route. I continued to use the swift II. Sometimes one side of my nose was plugged but I still got therapy from the other side. My numbers were good and I felt as rested as a person with a cold will. There were a couple of times I tried sleeping without the machine for an hour or two and boy did I know the difference. There is a very particular pain that I remember from my first pregnancy (I was still undiagnosed then) that came back after only an hour or two of sleep without xpap. Even with one side of the nose clogged I didn't get that pain otherwise. And having the humidifier on max was extremely helpful.

So, while it was a pain to get all those colds, it wasn't as miserable as it could have been, thinking about life before neti pot and xpap.

Maybe that will help you when the inevitable happens, crossing my fingers that it never does!

jen

I sleep mostly on my side with the random few minutes here and there on my back. I toss from side to side during the night so I have to have a long hose and a good swivel!
I do appear to have more gas build up if I sleep on my back for longer periods.

Gasp,

It was 3 colds in 6 weeks. Don't want anyone to think I am super human. I thought less than two weeks for each cold was kind of a personal record even though it left me completely drained. Luckily the cycle seems to be over now. I hope to be cold free for a good long while now!

Jen

socknitster wrote:Gasp,

It was 3 colds in 6 weeks. Don't want anyone to think I am super human. I thought less than two weeks for each cold was kind of a personal record even though it left me completely drained. Luckily the cycle seems to be over now. I hope to be cold free for a good long while now!

Jen

Yeah! Personal record - LOL Glad the cycle is over!!!