Newbie: First it was great, after a week getting worse ;(

Felt really good on days 3,4 and 5 on cpap - had that jetlagged, but extremely relaxed feeling, now on week 2, I feel like sh** after last night....i slept 8 hrs with AHI that is near zero, my sinuses feel like they are going to explode. Not sure if this is a sleep issue or a sinus issue anymore. If i turn the humidity to 3, my nose and inside of my lungs seem to burn...then crank it up a little bit my sinusses feel full.

Do the following (from infosmart) show that I dont' have any apnea?

Total Sensawake: 9
Sensawake/hr: 1
Total Hypoapnea:0
HI:0
Total Apnea:1
AHI:0.1
Total Flow Limitation:1
Flow Limitation/hr:0

Your report does show that at least the OSA was well controlled last night.

Now you nose and sinus problems...that will sure make a person miserable.
Too little humidity and our nasal mucosa will scream bloody murder but if you give them too much humidity they will also rebel. Each person is different in what their body needs to be comfortable. Unsure what you meant about your sinuses...I gather increasing the humidifier setting allowed more comfort in the nasal mucosa and lungs but caused a problem with sinuses? Full? as in pressure or congestion?

I think the PR System One has a humidity control that monitors the background humidity in the room where you're sleeping. I also find that it's difficult for me to get the right humidity setting with other machines, but when I use the PR, it always seems to give just the right amount. So maybe a different machine might help.

Pugsy, Correct....Full = pressure in the sinuses. Strange thing is while the OSA per report is normal, I am waking up fully a lot more than I used to after about 3 hours of sleep. So feel worse than pre-cpap.

Pugsy wrote:Your report does show that at least the OSA was well controlled last night.

Now you nose and sinus problems...that will sure make a person miserable.
Too little humidity and our nasal mucosa will scream bloody murder but if you give them too much humidity they will also rebel. Each person is different in what their body needs to be comfortable. Unsure what you meant about your sinuses...I gather increasing the humidifier setting allowed more comfort in the nasal mucosa and lungs but caused a problem with sinuses? Full? as in pressure or congestion?

sleepyhead981 wrote:Strange thing is while the OSA per report is normal, I am waking up fully a lot more than I used to after about 3 hours of sleep. So feel worse than pre-cpap.

We need to try to isolate the cause for the frequent awakenings. They don't necessarily have to be related to apnea events. Your report shows that the OSA is well controlled at least on paper.
There are any number of things that can cause us to wake up often and mess with our sleep cycles. Since you say that you wake up more now than pre cpap then we will assume that you didn't have prior problems with sleep maintenance insomnia but you may have some problems with it now.
Do you just wake up and have no particular reason? Do you lay awake for awhile tossing and turning? Do you think it maybe related to mask comfort, fit or leaks? Pressure? Anything related to the therapy itself? Or just the alien sitting on your face?
Any other health issues? Pain? Do you take any meds that might mess with sleep cycles?

We know that the humidity is a factor....gotta find a decent humidity level for you.
I happen to need a lot of added moisture or my sinuses will have horrible "pressure" and even make my teeth hurt. Feels just like a full blown sinus infection. I found this out when I forgot to fill the water tank a couple of time..Man did I ever have a miserable few days till my sinuses and nasal mucosa forgave me.
Other people have same symptoms with too much moisture. So there isn't a single "this will fix you" suggestion that works on everyone.

Do you play around with the nasal rinses and/or neti pot thing? If not, you might try using something like Simple Saline spray especially at bedtime to get extra hydration into the nasal mucosa. I have been a big chicken and I never have had the guts to do the neti pot thing but a lot of members here swear that it really helps them with congestion and pressure.

You will just need to experiment with the humidifier settings and/or the nasal spray or rinse thing to see what seems to help you the best.

Also we need to try to figure out what is causing you to wake up often.
One of our forum members has had some really tough times with cpap causing sleep problems.
Here is a link to Robysue's blog about it.
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... er_19.html It may help to know that you aren't alone and there are things that can be done to help. Not quick fixes but things that can be done to limit the problem.

It sucks when the therapy to prevent the sleep apnea events actually causes more sleep disturbance than the events by themselves did.

Thanks for your thoughtful post, Pugsy! I'll try to calm down a bit, turn on my brain, and observe why I am waking up frequently In general, only other issue is asthma/allergy. Do take nasonex for allergy and advair for asthma. when I wake up, i seem to go back to sleep...but after the first 3 hours, feel like i wake up almost every 45 mins....although the chart from infosmart shows i had no apnea.

Thanks for the blog as well - very interesting and informative. I do spray simple saline - let me do more of that and see if that is the issue.

Thanks again.

Pugsy wrote:

sleepyhead981 wrote:Strange thing is while the OSA per report is normal, I am waking up fully a lot more than I used to after about 3 hours of sleep. So feel worse than pre-cpap.

We need to try to isolate the cause for the frequent awakenings. They don't necessarily have to be related to apnea events. Your report shows that the OSA is well controlled at least on paper.
There are any number of things that can cause us to wake up often and mess with our sleep cycles. Since you say that you wake up more now than pre cpap then we will assume that you didn't have prior problems with sleep maintenance insomnia but you may have some problems with it now.
Do you just wake up and have no particular reason? Do you lay awake for awhile tossing and turning? Do you think it maybe related to mask comfort, fit or leaks? Pressure? Anything related to the therapy itself? Or just the alien sitting on your face?
Any other health issues? Pain? Do you take any meds that might mess with sleep cycles?

We know that the humidity is a factor....gotta find a decent humidity level for you.
I happen to need a lot of added moisture or my sinuses will have horrible "pressure" and even make my teeth hurt. Feels just like a full blown sinus infection. I found this out when I forgot to fill the water tank a couple of time..Man did I ever have a miserable few days till my sinuses and nasal mucosa forgave me.
Other people have same symptoms with too much moisture. So there isn't a single "this will fix you" suggestion that works on everyone.

Do you play around with the nasal rinses and/or neti pot thing? If not, you might try using something like Simple Saline spray especially at bedtime to get extra hydration into the nasal mucosa. I have been a big chicken and I never have had the guts to do the neti pot thing but a lot of members here swear that it really helps them with congestion and pressure.

You will just need to experiment with the humidifier settings and/or the nasal spray or rinse thing to see what seems to help you the best.

Also we need to try to figure out what is causing you to wake up often.
One of our forum members has had some really tough times with cpap causing sleep problems.
Here is a link to Robysue's blog about it.
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... er_19.html It may help to know that you aren't alone and there are things that can be done to help. Not quick fixes but things that can be done to limit the problem.

It sucks when the therapy to prevent the sleep apnea events actually causes more sleep disturbance than the events by themselves did.

Suggestion: My ENT nurse told me to take Musinex but only the one with just the Guaifensin. It works great for me (I have severe allergies, get 2 shots every Wed. and I have allergy related asthma.) Since the shots started (about 5 months ago), I can tell the difference and right now I no longer take any allergy meds,just the Mucus Plus. (and it's not expensive). I told a friend about it and she doubted me but called yesterday saying, "oh my gosh, it worked!" So, just a thought.

sleepyhead981 wrote:Thanks for your thoughtful post, Pugsy! I'll try to calm down a bit, turn on my brain, and observe why I am waking up frequently In general, only other issue is asthma/allergy. Do take nasonex for allergy and advair for asthma. when I wake up, i seem to go back to sleep...but after the first 3 hours, feel like i wake up almost every 45 mins....although the chart from infosmart shows i had no apnea.

Thanks for the blog as well - very interesting and informative. I do spray simple saline - let me do more of that and see if that is the issue.

Thanks again.

Pugsy wrote:

sleepyhead981 wrote:Strange thing is while the OSA per report is normal, I am waking up fully a lot more than I used to after about 3 hours of sleep. So feel worse than pre-cpap.

We need to try to isolate the cause for the frequent awakenings. They don't necessarily have to be related to apnea events. Your report shows that the OSA is well controlled at least on paper.
There are any number of things that can cause us to wake up often and mess with our sleep cycles. Since you say that you wake up more now than pre cpap then we will assume that you didn't have prior problems with sleep maintenance insomnia but you may have some problems with it now.
Do you just wake up and have no particular reason? Do you lay awake for awhile tossing and turning? Do you think it maybe related to mask comfort, fit or leaks? Pressure? Anything related to the therapy itself? Or just the alien sitting on your face?
Any other health issues? Pain? Do you take any meds that might mess with sleep cycles?

We know that the humidity is a factor....gotta find a decent humidity level for you.
I happen to need a lot of added moisture or my sinuses will have horrible "pressure" and even make my teeth hurt. Feels just like a full blown sinus infection. I found this out when I forgot to fill the water tank a couple of time..Man did I ever have a miserable few days till my sinuses and nasal mucosa forgave me.
Other people have same symptoms with too much moisture. So there isn't a single "this will fix you" suggestion that works on everyone.

Do you play around with the nasal rinses and/or neti pot thing? If not, you might try using something like Simple Saline spray especially at bedtime to get extra hydration into the nasal mucosa. I have been a big chicken and I never have had the guts to do the neti pot thing but a lot of members here swear that it really helps them with congestion and pressure.

You will just need to experiment with the humidifier settings and/or the nasal spray or rinse thing to see what seems to help you the best.

Also we need to try to figure out what is causing you to wake up often.
One of our forum members has had some really tough times with cpap causing sleep problems.
Here is a link to Robysue's blog about it.
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... er_19.html It may help to know that you aren't alone and there are things that can be done to help. Not quick fixes but things that can be done to limit the problem.

It sucks when the therapy to prevent the sleep apnea events actually causes more sleep disturbance than the events by themselves did.

Cool, Thanks, Macewa! will try this tomorrow..

macewa wrote:Suggestion: My ENT nurse told me to take Musinex but only the one with just the Guaifensin. It works great for me (I have severe allergies, get 2 shots every Wed. and I have allergy related asthma.) Since the shots started (about 5 months ago), I can tell the difference and right now I no longer take any allergy meds,just the Mucus Plus. (and it's not expensive). I told a friend about it and she doubted me but called yesterday saying, "oh my gosh, it worked!" So, just a thought.

sleepyhead981 wrote:Thanks for your thoughtful post, Pugsy! I'll try to calm down a bit, turn on my brain, and observe why I am waking up frequently In general, only other issue is asthma/allergy. Do take nasonex for allergy and advair for asthma. when I wake up, i seem to go back to sleep...but after the first 3 hours, feel like i wake up almost every 45 mins....although the chart from infosmart shows i had no apnea.

Thanks for the blog as well - very interesting and informative. I do spray simple saline - let me do more of that and see if that is the issue.

Thanks again.

Pugsy wrote:

sleepyhead981 wrote:Strange thing is while the OSA per report is normal, I am waking up fully a lot more than I used to after about 3 hours of sleep. So feel worse than pre-cpap.

We need to try to isolate the cause for the frequent awakenings. They don't necessarily have to be related to apnea events. Your report shows that the OSA is well controlled at least on paper.
There are any number of things that can cause us to wake up often and mess with our sleep cycles. Since you say that you wake up more now than pre cpap then we will assume that you didn't have prior problems with sleep maintenance insomnia but you may have some problems with it now.
Do you just wake up and have no particular reason? Do you lay awake for awhile tossing and turning? Do you think it maybe related to mask comfort, fit or leaks? Pressure? Anything related to the therapy itself? Or just the alien sitting on your face?
Any other health issues? Pain? Do you take any meds that might mess with sleep cycles?

We know that the humidity is a factor....gotta find a decent humidity level for you.
I happen to need a lot of added moisture or my sinuses will have horrible "pressure" and even make my teeth hurt. Feels just like a full blown sinus infection. I found this out when I forgot to fill the water tank a couple of time..Man did I ever have a miserable few days till my sinuses and nasal mucosa forgave me.
Other people have same symptoms with too much moisture. So there isn't a single "this will fix you" suggestion that works on everyone.

Do you play around with the nasal rinses and/or neti pot thing? If not, you might try using something like Simple Saline spray especially at bedtime to get extra hydration into the nasal mucosa. I have been a big chicken and I never have had the guts to do the neti pot thing but a lot of members here swear that it really helps them with congestion and pressure.

You will just need to experiment with the humidifier settings and/or the nasal spray or rinse thing to see what seems to help you the best.

Also we need to try to figure out what is causing you to wake up often.
One of our forum members has had some really tough times with cpap causing sleep problems.
Here is a link to Robysue's blog about it.
http://adventures-in-hosehead-land.blog ... er_19.html It may help to know that you aren't alone and there are things that can be done to help. Not quick fixes but things that can be done to limit the problem.

It sucks when the therapy to prevent the sleep apnea events actually causes more sleep disturbance than the events by themselves did.

i was in the same boat, my doctor told me to get rid of the humidifier, hook up into machine direct. made a world of differance for me!!!

sachinm1 wrote:i was in the same boat, my doctor told me to get rid of the humidifier, hook up into machine direct. made a world of differance for me!!!

Everyone is different. I absolutely have to have a humidifier and cranked up to the max.
If my humidifier quit...I would be in a world of hurt because no way could I stand what would happen to my nasal mucosa and sinuses without the added moisture.
I simply couldn't/wouldn't use the machine. This is why I have a backup.

sleepyhead981 wrote:Thanks for your thoughtful post, Pugsy! I'll try to calm down a bit, turn on my brain, and observe why I am waking up frequently In general, only other issue is asthma/allergy. Do take nasonex for allergy and advair for asthma. when I wake up, i seem to go back to sleep...but after the first 3 hours, feel like i wake up almost every 45 mins....although the chart from infosmart shows i had no apnea.

Watch when you take those meds. I find they disturb my sleep. I can't use the over the counter antihistamine as a sleep med, Yes it gets me sleepy but I wake up constantly. If I use Nasonex before bed I sleep very badly.