Poll re: Sleeping Supine

[quote="BleepingBeauty But here I am, more than 2.5 years later, using an ASV machine with IPAP pressures from 10-20cms, sleeping exclusively on my back, and not only is my AHI consistently 2.0, but I also feel good. Go figure. [/quote]

Gotta love that ASV. My sleep doctor said I needed a pressure of 19 when I started this, and I average 14 on the ASV with maybe 2 apneas a week. I sleep on my back because of shoulder pain, too.

Bev

I mostly sleep on my back due to shoulder and neck pain, but once or twice a night I can spend an hour on a side.

I go to sleep on my side on a wedge pillow with additional pillows, and a body pillow! (It's quite the set-up) I can't sleep as well on my stomach with the wedge as I used to without it, but I try at times and occasionally I kick the wedge out of the way to be able to get on my stomach without arching my back. I do at times wind up on my back in the middle of the night, but the wedge doesn't move so I'm always on the wedge. So I need to check more than 1 option!

I rigged up a modified webcam (a cheap one with the IR filter removed) and an IR LED "light" (heat?) source (from eBay) so I can record my sleep even in total darkness. I have the software (Yawcam --freeware) set up to record a timestamped photo every 10 seconds. So I well know that I sleep on both sides as well as supine and prone during the night. I have tried matching the photos with my ResScan graphs with confusing results. I tend to have a cluster of events right when I change positions. And while I do have a higher AHI supine, I can have some good periods while supine, too.

Complicating matters is that since raising my minimum pressure to 17 (still trying to get that AHI down), I have started having leak problems, some of which is due to mouth leaks. I'll have more confidence in my data if and when I can get those leaks under control.

I don't think I've ever slept on my back. Even the pictures of me sleeping as a baby are on my side or my stomach. I got out of the stomach habit while I was pregnant and I don't think I've returned to it.

jdm2857 wrote:I rigged up a modified webcam (a cheap one with the IR filter removed) and an IR LED "light" (heat?) source (from eBay) so I can record my sleep even in total darkness. I have the software (Yawcam --freeware) set up to record a timestamped photo every 10 seconds....

You know this forum is all about helping our "fellow" apneacs, right?

So post those pictures here, and we'll give you our input.

Well before I went on CPAP, my wife had trained me to sleep on my side--I got punched whenever I rolled onto my back and my snores were louder.

I voted that I'm all over the place...but I TRY to sleep on my sides....it's just that eventually my hips or my shoulders are going to require that I flop back over on my back. And at times my nose gets stuffy and I have to resort to back sleeping....oh well!

tattooyu wrote:...wish I could select more than one. I prefer my back but now exclusively sleep on my side(s). I also use a wedge pillow.

Me too, me too...well, propped up on layers of pilllows Currently sleeping on my back due to shoulder injury...increased numbers and tiredness.

i think i spend 99% of my time on my sides - long before i knew what sleep apnea was i knew i had difficulty on my back - what i now believe were apnea episodes. some recent problems led to another sleep study - before we did it we reviewed my past studies - never reached REM in supine - were concerned that i might be going supine and that was causing the abrupt awakening i was experiencing. discussed it with the tech at the sleep center so we had a plan. the next morning she greeted me with "good morning to she who will not sleep supine no matter what we try", so i guess i do not sleep supine very much. for the record - the sleep issue appears to have been a wrong sized mask = but we shall see.

I usually fall asleep on my right side. Sometimes, if I do not fall asleep quickly, I will flip onto my left side. I always awake on my back. I was surprised to see that my sleep study indicated that I also spend a small part of the night on my stomach, even though the sleep tech told me not to sleep on my stomach and I consciously tried not to do so. Since starting CPAP last week, I have tried to fall asleep on my back because that avoids leaks, but it does not feel natural yet.