Wondering if anyone can relate to my situation..

Upper Airway Resistance Syndrome was one of things I came across during the months I've been searching and learning about sleep apnea. One thing that really hit home with me was an airway test on some website. It said to close one nostril and try to breathe through the other one. There was visible collapsing of that nostril. And further, I am among those who can breathe through my nose significantly better when I am wearing a nasal strip.

When I go to my titration PSG, do you think I should wear nasal strips? I don't think the technician will really know what to say if I ask him/her about UARS, but I suppose I can talk to my Pulmonary doctor about at the follow-up appointment.

If CPAP can help the issue, I'm more than willing to try, but the breathing through my nose issue has been on my mind ever since the first sleep study, as it occurred to me that the only tubes involving breathing were stuck up my nose. How can that measure events if I end up breathing through my mouth later on when I fall asleep? And on top of the fact that the Apria guy already had a nasal mask on my bill when I arrived to pick up my equipment. Nobody has considered checking my nose, or whether I'd qualify for one of those dental devices. Instantly, it went from "I think I have sleep apnea" to "Here's what a CPAP does, if you do have apnea" to "Time for CPAP. Here's your nasal mask."

Last night was a failure. After three nights of losing a lot of sleep because of getting used to the autoPAP, I was very overtired, frustrated, and a little emotional. I couldn't get comfortable with either mask (full face and nasal), and the air pressure was never right, either too much or not enough (especially on the nasal one). I don't really think it's a mask issue. I think it's a breathing pattern problem related to stress. But long story short, I took the mask off at 2:30 a.m. after no sleep, and went to bed at 3 and slept until 12:45 p.m., and woke up groggy.