New guy with short intro and questions

Hi Everyone,

A short introduction of myself.... 43yo married male, fairly overweight, small business owner. I have been suffering with several issues over the past 4 - 5 years and the worse have developed into fatigue, concentration levels and memory issues. But never thought much about sleep apnea being an issue. Sure I snored a little and my wife thought I would stop snoring for a while but never thought much past that.

Well for the last 4 weeks I have seen a drastic change to the point where it was putting my business at risk. So at a recent visit with my endocrinologist she had suggested that I may need a sleep study.

I went in for a sleep study last week. I got all wired up around 10:00 pm and fell asleep around 10:40. Well at 1:00 am I was woke by the tech and told I had significant OSA. It seems that I had 47 events within an hour and my blood oxygen levels dropped to 67%. So this was bittersweet news for me as it a least led me in a direction that may clear up some of these issues.

The tech brought in a mask and hooked me up to the cpap and for the first part of the hour I was trying to get used to it. He started me out at a low pressure and it felt as if I really had to work at getting air but it seemed to get better. I fell asleep somewhere around an hour after being put on the machine after which I was stable in rem sleep on my back and side and had great oxygen levels. I ended up around 10 for a pressure setting. I must say that even only having a little over 3 hours on the machine I did feel better.

Well I pestered the sleep lab enough to get me a machine on Monday and from my sig you can see I went with the S9 Elite.

I received the machine Monday and sleep wonderfully that night. I woke once when I rolled over and the mask started to leak. Other than that it was a good nights sleep with a great day Tuesday. AHI 1.1 Climate setting 76

Now Tuesday night was completely different. I woke several times and was overall just didn't sleep very well. It felt like mask was sliding around on my face. By early morning my skin felt like it was chapped or wind burnt. My Wednesday was not very productive. My AHI 3.9 Climate setting 78

So....Last night I thought I would get smart and increase the humidity level to 5.5 and the temp to 78. That wasn't the right thing to do. Within 10 minutes I was troubles with the chapped feeling...my wife fixed that by putting something like Vaseline on the area which helped. But I was awake by 2:30 ripping my mask off because of congestion. I fell back to sleep for about 30 min and then woke and put the mask back on with no luck on falling back to sleep because I couldn't breath well. Didn't check AHI yet.

We keep our bedroom about 67-68 degrees.

I am thinking about going back with auto climate settings and try a lower temperature...or does anyone have suggestions? My DME thinks that the chapped sensation may be from my mask moving around.

Anyway....not real happy with this apparent lifelong sentence...but....if it makes me feel better than lets get it on.

Looking forward to joining the community.

Thanks, Steve

Its all about getting adjusted to something different. I have been on cpap for 10 years and will not go to bed without it but didnt feel that way the first 6 months

MiPilot wrote: Now Tuesday night was completely different. I woke several times and was overall just didn't sleep very well. It felt like mask was sliding around on my face. By early morning my skin felt like it was chapped or wind burnt. My Wednesday was not very productive. My AHI 3.9 Climate setting 78

The chapping could definitely be due to getting use to the air blowing on it all night long. [Do you LIKE sleeping directly under a fan in the summer time? If you don't, then that could be part of why your skin feels the way it does.]

The chapping could also be due to the mask sliding around on your face.

Or it could be a combination of the two things.

You might well want to turn both the humidifier and the temperature setting on the Climateline hose down. Higher does not automatically mean more comfortable. If you had the settings on automatic on that first good night, go back to that for a night or two and see if that helps.

And your signature indicates you are using a nasal mask. If you are not a mouth breather you might want to try a nasal pillows mask. Yes, the idea of something sticking directly on/slightly in your nostrils every night may seem bizarre. But since the air blows directly into your nose, it can cause fewer problems with chapped skin---particularly if the chapped skin is on the top of the nose. So see if your DME might let you try on a Swift FX, or a Swift LT, or an Opus 360 or some other nasal pillows mask. It may be what you're looking for.

MiPilot wrote: My DME thinks that the chapped sensation may be from my mask moving around.

Rubbing action (against the skin) with each breath ALL nite long will irritate your skin. I recently had condensation inside my nasal pillows which I knew what there but did nothing about. Well the next day the nostril with the water moving with each breath was raw and irritated and felt just like a cold in just that side. So it prob collected some bacteria also. And lets me know even water can "rub" the skin.

Welcome to the forum, Steve.

You got yourself a very good CPAP machine when you chose the ResMed S9 Elite.

Can take awhile to get all the pieces in place (mainly mask issues) for making CPAP therapy work comfortably.

Another thing to consider in addition to the good suggestions that have already been made...
If you don't have something rigged to hold the main air hose up and out of your way, the air hose might be tugging on the mask, displacing the nasal pillows some, if you turn over much.
LINKS to Hose hangers and methods of managing the air hose
viewtopic.php?t=10640

Ok.....

Here is last nights results:

1. I shaved and washed my face well.
2. I washed the mask completely.
3. Lowered the temperature to 70.
4. Put on and adjusted mask.

and

5th I slept like a dream for 11:45

It seems that being a guy for all of these years and not washing my face before I went to bed had me paying a price.

It also appears that I use to much heat and humidity.

I do have my hose hanging but not quite how I like it..... The link looks great thanks. (maybe that sounds a little inappropriate )

I feel great today !!!!

Thanks everyone,

Steve

MiPilot wrote:I do have my hose hanging but not quite how I like it..... The link looks great thanks. (maybe that sounds a little inappropriate )

Takes a lot more than that to be "inappropriate" here!
A sense of humor helps here, though, and you've certainly got that.

MiPilot wrote:I feel great today !!!!

Good!

Welcome and good luck Steve!

Regarding your business, mine was at risk as well, being self employed and not being productive. I was letting my clients down by not returning calls and emails out of lack of energy and fear of shame for giving and breaking more promises, besides not getting their work done. I just kept saying I'll feel better tomorrow and I'll work twice as hard after a good night's sleep. Not. Six weeks on APAP and I'm up and running again. Now I'm playing catch-up big time. After feeling better and things becoming more clear to me, I decided I had to tell the clients who I have been neglecting the most that I was having OSA which caught up with me and hit me hard the past 3 months but now that I am diagnosed and being treated I am getting back on track. The clients really appreciated me letting them know. Two of my clients hired me a few years ago after their previous vendor succumbed to alcoholism and exhibited the same treatment that I was giving them now. Yikes! They cut me a break for which I am grateful. One client is now considering going for a sleep study now that I brought it to their attention. Another client is considering getting into the mask design and manufacturing business since I had pitched CPAP as a business opportunity with growth potential. I wish you great success with your business. All my best to you.