still not sleeping

I'm into my treatment now for four weeks. I'm using the opus 360 and am confortable with it. I'm only on a pressure of 5 and taping my mouth shut. I feel like I could sleep but I am still waking up about every hour. I'm noticing more dreams and they are pleasant not like before(nightmares and crazy dreams) I was undiagnosed for 15 years and I hoping my body will give up eventually and let me sleep longer.Has anyone else taken this long to get any quality sleep? I also think it has reduced my blood pressure some. Do I need to contact my sleep center. The one I went to has had no contact with me since I prescribing my equipment.

With me I found that the pressure I started at was just that- a starting pressure. It had to go up a couple times before it was just right. Usually when the snoring goes away completely, then you're there. Also, *it's different with everybody, but just my experience* I didn't need to start taping my mouth until after my pressure went up over 10cm. Below that I found it wasn't really enough to worry about my mouth blowing open with the nose mask.

Hi Mary, welcome to the forum. Do you mind my asking who (MD, sleep MD, whoever?) prescribed your setting at 5? That number is so low most of us would be starved for air on it, and while it might work as the 'low' number of an auto machine set up (vs straight Cpap), I would hope the high number would be closer to at least 7 or 8, if not more. Did you get a copy of your results (not just the summary, but the full report)? You have a right to it by law and if you are able to post some of the basic numbers here, it would help to know what's what. It can take a long time to feel improvement, everyone's different, but without a little more info, it's kind of hard to know what's happening. Also, your machine seems to be a very 'bare bones' one that probably doesn't give you much feedback, never mind being an auto (that can be set to run just as a Cpap), or one that can give you data, via a 'smart card' which you can use with your computer to track a lot of information every day.

The sleep center told me that I have mild sleep apnea. The tech told me she didn't need to raise the pressure during my study. Ent Dr. scoped my troat and said I have a large tongue and slightly laarge tonsils long uvula and epiglotis that closes when I sleep. I think thats all the info I have. I found out my setting was 5 when I picked up my equipment. As far as I know it stays at 5. Thank you for your interest and help.

Hi Mary,

I was diagnosed with mild sleep apnea also. I was titrated at a pressure of 7, but quickly found that was not high enough. When sleeping at home, where I relaxed more deeply, my number of apneas were higher at a pressure of 7 then they were during my sleep study with no CPAP at all.

Fortunately my doctor allowed me to have a machine that shows the number of apneas and hypopneas that I have each night, so I was able to tell. I slowly increased the pressure on my machine, and it currently runs close to 10 every night, and the number of events is usually lower than 3 per hour, with apneas at almost zero. I find I need the number of events VERY low to sleep well.

It is possible something similar is happening for you. Since you don't have a machine that records that type of data, you have a couple of options. If your insurance is renting the machine, you may still be able to return it and get a fully data capable machine. That way you can check whether the pressure is properly treating your apnea. Everything from the bottom of the line CPAP to a fully data capable auto CPAP are covered under the same insurance codes, so this should be possible to do, if you act soon.

If that is impossible, you could ask to rent an auto CPAP for a month, to see how much pressure is needed at home, and then reset your machine.

Look through the info under the yellow lightbulb at the top of the page called "Our Wisdom." There is lots to learn there.

Hi and welcome again. I just want to ditto the suggestion to get a copy of your report, both the diagnostic and the titration studies. There have been so many stories related here that it makes my hair stand on end, of people being prescribed a pressure after 15 minutes of sleep, others never reaching REM or sleeping supine (which is often when apnea is worst), and even just plain mistakes.

When you have your reports, some things to look for are if or how long you slept supine during REM, and just how much information they had to base their decision of a pressure of 5 on. Exactly how long were you at a pressure of 5 while supine AND in REM?

The severity of the apnea does not necessarily correlate to the level of pressure needed. When mine was mild, I needed a pressure over twice what yours is.

You may be waking due to your brain simply not adjusting yet to prolonged sleeping after years of being awakend by apneas. Or you could be waking due to still having events if your pressure isn't adequate. Unfortunately, your machine cannot identify that for you. Was there any mention of limb movements in your reports? They can disrupt sleep also.

Yes, I think you should report you are still not sleeping. Maybe you could request a loaner of a data capable autopap for a couple weeks to determine if your pressure indeed is adequate.

But get those reports. They may give you info that leads you to your logical next step. Best wishes.

Kathy

P.S. As I was posting I see that someone else has made some same suggestions. I'll leave mine in, just cosigning theirs.

Thanks for all your help. It gives me a place to start. I have found you have to be proactive in your treatment. It felt like to me that they just give you a machine and let you alone. Hoping to get some great sleep soon.