Need UARS help! What's your xpap?

Sireneh wrote:Wish I could help but I'm a newbie, too, also treating UARS. What are your settings now? My 90% pressures are between 11 and 13, and I start out at 6.5. Think I'll bump that up to 7.0.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on this thread as it might help me, too. Good luck!

Bright Choice wrote:Hi SU -
I just posted this to one of madalot's threads but I was thinking of you as well - particularly the videos from Dr. Krakow in the link below - perhaps you have seen them. I thought about you when I watched them in terms of having trouble with nasal pillows. It occurred to me that perhaps the nasal sores are from post nasal drip. It's a problem for me and my nose gets sore even without the mask on. Dr. K talks about the difficulty with xpap compliance until one gets the nose under control. As you are probably aware, LPR can cause or aggravate post nasal drip. I know you have been working on the "nose" issue. Here's what I said to madalot - take it for what it's worth.

Maddie -
I am way too new at this to give any advice but I think I'm like you - I don't like to leave a stone unturned in my quest for an answer. I have been thinking of you often and please bear with me if you have already touched base with what I am going to comment on, or if it doesn't relate to you. I just like thinking "outside of the box".

I too have had frequent awakenings and have (like you) been very diligently digging for information here on cpaptalk. I don't have an issue with AHI since obstructives, hypopneas are really not present. So, my focus has been on working with "UARS" and flow limitations , which I guess everyone has to one degree or another.

So, me being the noob that I am, I just decided to "go for it" with info gleaned here. #1 thing that I did was recognize that I probably have laryngopharangeal reflux (LPR) - or silent reflux. I was totally unaware of this syndrome until I learned more here. I have / had many of the classic symptoms. So, I started myself on Prilosec (I wouldn't advise self prescribing for anyone else - please check with your doctor). But, my awakenings have gone from 2-4 per night to 0-1 in the past week. I have been on the Prilosec for about 3 weeks. One night I slept 9 hours straight without awakening once - I was shocked! (I also put a wedge for elevation under my mattress.)

The other eye opener was a series of Nasal Breathing videos on the internet by Dr. Krakow. I just watched them today and it was tremendously informative. It supported the recent conversation on a thread relating to an inverview with Dr. Parks and Dr. Gold on nasal breathing. What they are promoting is that one can't really have successful xpap therapy without first addressing the nasal breathing issue. Here's the link http://sleeptreatment.com/allergy-video-series It also providea an interesting approach to insomnia for anyone who needs to address that issue.

This may have nothing at all that relates to you but I just wanted to post this.

Blessings!

SleepingUgly wrote: Bright Choice, when you say you're dealing with UARS, do you mean residual UARS with CPAP therapy? I just am not convinced that you have UARS without CPAP (could just be semantics).

SleepingUgly wrote: And I am not sure what to make of all the centrals you're having. I'm afraid to tell you to increase your pressure to eliminate your FLs because I'm afraid you'll have more centrals (and I don't know if they are "true" centrals or just your machine is marking centrals due to arousals...although interestingly, I don't have nearly as many centrals on my data, despite awakenings...). I also have no idea what the altitudes you live at could be doing. Did you ever post results of your sleep study at home? I've gotten behind (and confused) lately!