Nasal mask & nasal pillows vs full face mask. Asphyxiation?

Bright Choice wrote:I changed to Swift LT after the Gold interview. Using it with only chinstrap now and leaks are close to zero. No longer using the mouthguard. It induced aerophagia, but I think that the short time I used it, it helped me "learn" how to place my tongue to avoid mouth leaks.

So no more puffs of air escaping the lips? And no more aerophagia? That's great! Which chin strap are you using? I am not totally happy with mine.

What happened with your home sleep study?

SleepingUgly wrote:UARS and OSA have to do with SLEEP disordered breathing. There are no implications when you are awake.

By definition, yes, but just because you aren't asleep doesn't necessarily mean you can breathe well. From my own experience, I don't believe that being awake solves all the the problems of a chronically obstructed schnoz.

SleepingUgly wrote: So no more puffs of air escaping the lips? And no more aerophagia? That's great! Which chin strap are you using? I am not totally happy with mine.

SU - No, no more puffs of air - leak rate is really low. I don't know how I did it, but I think wearing that mouthpiece for a few nights taught me how to hold my tongue. No, no more aerophagia (cross my fingers on that). I blame the aerophagia on a "drooling" night with the mouthpiece and I just swallowed too much.

For chin strap I am still really pleased with my homemade 2" self-adhering Ace bandage. I use about 24" and loop it twice around my head. It nice and snug and adherent and it creates a nice cradle to hold the apex of my chin. I safety pin the two ends together at the top of my head as it is not sticky enough to hold itself together. Don't wear it with the pin on the side as you will feel it during the night. I wear it under the LT. Then in the morning I just slip the ace loop off without unwinding it. Voila, the loop is ready to slip on the next night. I just make a new one once it gets to be too stretched out. The "stickyness" of it keeps it snug and it does not budge an inch. (I have really short hair).

SleepingUgly wrote: What happened with your home sleep study?

I did two nights - just this past Wed and Thurs.
The first night I did at my home elevation (6200 ft). Miserable night. Had to take Lunesta in order to sleep (I have a big problem with sleep initiation). First part of the night I was able to sleep on my back and I was aware of a lot of “snorting” myself awake. Then the RLS/PLMD moved in full force. On cpap and with Requip RLS has been essentially gone (almost anyway). I am even thinking of trying to go off of Requip, but I want to get other things squared away first.

In addition to the home sleep study machine, I did wear my own oximeter. I had 23 minutes of spo2 desats <88% with a low of 72. It has been running 0-2 minutes on average with cpap.

I spend some time at elevation of 9000 ft so doc wanted a second study done there. Used Lunesta also but just did not sleep well. Spo2 desats <88% was 96 minutes with a low of 72! Hmm... if this is uars, I should not be desaturating, right? No obstructive or hypopnic events on daily reports - just "centrals". ..

Pre cpap I tried O2 by itself at home and I did not feel any better at all.

No report from doc yet. This is primarily to see if I can get Medicare approval.

Next step – off to “vpap camp” in Albuquerque the first week in May. The purpose of this is to get a "second opinion" and to try to figure out what is really going on and get proper therapy.

Thanks for asking!

Bright Choice wrote:

Otter wrote:I ...
or simply that PAP only treats UARS about 8 hours a day?

Now I never took that into consideration. What are the implications of uars during the daytime?

It is not called UARS (yet) but many people have serious problems from UARS while awake as well as while asleep.

Watch a couple of these videos and you will see patients who experience dramatic health improvements from wearing Oral Systemic Balance removable oral appliances to allow them to breathe normally while awake - https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... lance&aq=f .

There are CPAP patients who achieve excellent CPAP therapy and sleep well yet they still have symptoms of fatigue. Some of these people are not breathing well the rest of the day as Otter implied.

Here is also a good blog from OSB that also includes the videos - http://www.centerforsoundsleep.com/blog ... c-balance/

Now to worry about the other 16 hours in a day?

roster wrote: Now to worry about the other 16 hours in a day?

Roster - oh my, a lot of things ring true for me here. I watched a portion of the videos. You're right - I thought all I had to deal with was my sleeping hours. I am aware that I breathe shallowly / stop breathing during the day but I think I really have chosen to ignore that - too many things to think of at one time. Thanks for the info!! Have you or others had any experience with this?

After the devastation of being diagnosed with sever sleep apnea I began with a full face mask. After a couple weeks of intense frustration related to claustrophobia I switched to a nasal pillow. At that point I remember thinking I might be able to live with this. And I did. If you've tried a full mask and are ready to give up, don't! Try a nasal pillow. I prefer the Swift FX. My waking hours are now worth living and I no longer FEAR sleep.