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elena88 wrote: .. I did tape my mouth last night the first part of night, with NO slit, and my mouth got so dry, I
took it off.. I have a weird theory about that, I will post that later..

yes, I would like to hear your theory. I have noticed that with my FFM (the one that doesn't give me chipmunk cheeks), I have a lot less dry mouth than with the nasal mask and tape. My personal theory..? I don't have one!

echo wrote:

elena88 wrote: .. I did tape my mouth last night the first part of night, with NO slit, and my mouth got so dry, I
took it off.. I have a weird theory about that, I will post that later..

yes, I would like to hear your theory. I have noticed that with my FFM (the one that doesn't give me chipmunk cheeks), I have a lot less dry mouth than with the nasal mask and tape. My personal theory..? I don't have one!

my theory is on the.. REALLY STUPID QUESTION??? thread

Obviously, I was lacking confidence in it

Well, there is that saying.. ONE NIGHT DOES NOT A TREND MAKE...

I taped my mouth, but had to take it off.. got dry mouth, and when I dont swallow, I notice that makes it so much worse.


I did not sleep well last night, however I had a shooting start obstructive apnea number! So, hey thats good..

Anyway, it appears I can have leaks up the wazoo, and still have a great obstructive number, I only had ONE for ten seconds..(next to the unknown) not even enough to mention.... The centrals are all normal, so it looks like I am doing great as far as the numbers go..

But as you see, all the letters are where I woke up.. and the spikes are me adjusting the nose pillows..

I dont know what my total sleep time was, but it sucked.. and I wish I felt like I did the day after the power outage.. I was like a bird singing
in the morning.. (after the heart stuff passes of course)

I slept a lot more the night before, felt like crap the next day, slept a little bit last night, felt like crap.. didnt use the machine that one night,
felt like a million bucks.. the cpap/apap is just DISTURBNG ME.... but, its helping my heart not to go haywire, so I stick with it..
thanks for all your help and support.

I'm really starting to think that all this leaking is just causing tons of arousals for you, and you're just not hitting all the sleep stages. Thus the extreme fatigue.

Time to try another mask? Have you tried the Activa yet? It's not a pillow system but it probably won't cause all these leak problems. You're a big girl now, I betcha you could handle a nasal mask . There are also other nasal pillow systems out there that maybe might be more stable on your face.

echo wrote:I'm really starting to think that all this leaking is just causing tons of arousals for you, and you're just not hitting all the sleep stages. Thus the extreme fatigue.

Time to try another mask? Have you tried the Activa yet? It's not a pillow system but it probably won't cause all these leak problems. You're a big girl now, I betcha you could handle a nasal mask . There are also other nasal pillow systems out there that maybe might be more stable on your face.

Hi there echo, hows it going for you?

I was paying bills and found my old sleep study.. where I slept for sixty six minutes stages one and two sleep, and it said I had 86 arousals..
so I have them without the machine, mask or no mask... and when I sleep without the machine, I know I must be having arousals, but still feel
much better the next day.. I dont think its the arousals.. geez, that term! did they have to call it THAT?

IM a big girl now! I will try a nasal mask (yuk) hey, I even had the fitlife for awhile, that one is over the top!
I will try to find an activa.. maybe that will do it.. cuz the last five months have totally sucked, Im just a slug, where I used to be a jackrabbit.

I see the sleep doc on monday, maybe i can sneak into the dme room, and try on some masks.. they never let me try on more than one when I got nailed.
Just gave me the opus, the machine, bye bye!

I'm doing GREAT, thanks . I love my new ffm in the right size!

Ok, well I have a NEW theory then. You are an alien from a strange planet where they live off of air containing mostly CO2 rather than O2, so in fact your apneas HELP you rather than wrecking your sleep. Okeee I am out of theories for you girrrrrl you are too complicated

echo wrote:I'm doing GREAT, thanks . I love my new ffm in the right size!

Ok, well I have a NEW theory then. You are an alien from a strange planet where they live off of air containing mostly CO2 rather than O2, so in fact your apneas HELP you rather than wrecking your sleep. Okeee I am out of theories for you girrrrrl you are too complicated

You know, you may be on to something, as my husband has said I was from another planet for a very long time..

Well, shallow breathers do love thier Co2

I do have to tell you, I had a pool as a small child, and I never learned to swim above the water..

I could hold my breath for SUCH a long time.. I spent years in that pool underwater...

I think you figured it out echo, thanks! I feel better already!

P.s. Im so happy you are in love with your new mask, bully for you girl!

Oh, all the s niners are going to be posting their graphs, the forum will be awash in little pink and violet spikes!

Glad we got that all sorted out What's next?

I must say though, I am VERY impressed by your attitude and determination! I know you just want to shoot that thing to the moon (using your alien laser slingshot technology) but yet you just keep plugging away at it! Good for you! At least you know it's helping SOMEthing even if ain't your energy levels it's helping!

Glad we got that all sorted out What's next?

thank goodness! I KNEW there was an explanation.. just needed someone to think outside the box, er uh, the solar system!

I would love to shoot this thing to the moon, no wait, where is the nearest black hole?

did you know those suckers MOVE? yes, they move!

All I need is to sling it near the event horizon.. oh that would be a perfect name for a new apap.. THE EVENT HORIZON.. MODEL 101..

Everyone would want one if they thought up some cooler names!

okay, off to do stuff.. thanks you all, and you know who you are!

elena

Elena,
My husband is at 9cm and told me at the end of his first week his chest felt like he'd done push-ups all night. The bright side is after the first week he quickly got used to the pressure. Two months later he turned off the ramp feature as he felt he wasn't getting enough air until it reached 9cm.
Hang in there and Many, Many Congrats!!!!
Cindy

Cindy58 wrote:Elena,
My husband is at 9cm and told me at the end of his first week his chest felt like he'd done push-ups all night. The bright side is after the first week he quickly got used to the pressure. Two months later he turned off the ramp feature as he felt he wasn't getting enough air until it reached 9cm.
Hang in there and Many, Many Congrats!!!!
Cindy

Hi cindy,
I felt like some gremlins were blowing up beach balls inside me the last couple nights, I didnt know my chest could get that close to the ceiling!
Im glad your husband got used to the the pressure quicky, and what a brave man, he turned off the ramp too!
You married Hercules! good for you!

hanging in there, thanks!

elena

Well, I logged a big eight hours last night (still feel like crap) had a pretty good leak line too.
A -is where I woke up, B, I had a dream! so must have gone thru all my sleep stages!
C -is where my pressure never bounced up to the max, thats pretty cool..

And yes, I am a wimp. I went back to apap (sorry Echo, Den is probably giggling about that!)

Anyway, I slept a long time, i didnt wake up a lot, no mouth tape, my ahi is great, leaks werent that bad..
and I still feel like a herd of hamsters got into my lungs and beat the hell out of them with little woooden
hammers.. It feels like it takes me ALL DAY to recover from this feeling..
Im really not a wimp in other areas, so this just bugs me.. I will talk to the sleep doctor monday and take
all my pretty graphs (thanks Dreamon!) and have a talk about "quality of life" and I will be sure to tell
her I am from another planet
this is my last graph for awhile..
smooches!
elena

Elena, that is a very sensible APAP pressure range you used last night, in my opinion, and your results numbers were excellent. Too bad the numbers aren't translating into good quality sleep yet, but I'm hoping that will happen for you.

I just wanted to point out that the pressure averages do take your EPR level into account. Your leak rate was much better last night!

You also had good results numbers the first night you used CPAP at 12 with EPR of 3, despite having a very high leak number that night. Results are going to vary from night to night, especially since you don't have the leak problem totally figured out yet, so just watch trends over time. Maybe someday in the future you can try CPAP at 11 (maybe with lower EPR too?) and see how that goes. For now, just work on keeping leaks under control and hopefully you'll be getting better quality sleep soon.

I hope that you have a good visit with your doctor next week!

P.S. I just sent you an email with an attachment, so be sure to look for that.

I'm a 'noob' to cpap but I will say this. I've been trying for a couple of months to get good sleep on the machine and I have two very good machines (S9 Auto and "M series BiPap Auto") and I found that the real problem for me was the mask with leaks and discomfort. I think it's so very important to find a mask that fits well, does not leak and is comfortable. I found and love the ResMed Soft Gel as it's incredibly comfortable and does not leak like my other masks. As far as I know, higher pressures on a pillow will cause more leaks. Maybe see if you can try/buy a nasal mask and go from there.

I believe the leaks are the very first and most important thing to fix before looking at or trying to change settings otherwise.

Good luck!

Hi Elena, just wondering if you've tried a full-face mask. I use the Mirage Quattro and get 0 leaks. It took awhile to get used to it though. I tried other types, taping, etc. Just couldn't make them work. I would have thought the full-face mask would make me feel claustrophobic, but it doesn't. Just the opposite. And you can cough!
Mimi