More ups and downs

4 months into CPAP. The therapy is going great, averaging 8 hours a night ((hanks to help from you all!!). First week I felt awesome, next three weeks were really terrible, then starting feeling better until, two weeks ago, I was great: coffee intake cut in half, enjoying my evenings, etc. About 10 days ago I started feeling crappy and have been mildly tired and yawning, more coffee, etc. I'm not sick or anything, and all my data looks great. I suspect this is all part of the normal healing process, since I've heard it can take years, but thoughts (and encouragement) would be appreciated. Is this normal?

Are you using a tracking program? What is it saying?

I do use sleepyhead; basically, it says everything looks great. I'm averaging 8 hours a night, AHI of about 1.0. I have had maybe two "worse" nights where the AHI gets up to 4 or 5, but still nothing like my pre-CPAP days (Last night was the worst night in weeks, and still had an AHI of 2.7). I generally have basically no leaks, with a night here and there where I have some short periods (30 minutes) with some leaking, but nothing that seems outside of what the machine can compensate for. I have very low pressure (5), which I upped to 6 a few days ago to help with feeling a little more airy. In the beginning I had trouble where I would take my mask off in the middle of the night, but that hasn't happened in months. So, basically, I can see on sleepyhead about 8 hours of nice breathing patterns every night for months. I did switch from Pilairo nasal pillows to Eson nasal mask last week because of nasal discomfort, but my downcycle started before that; I have a little more leaking on the mask and, oddly, a fair bit more recorded vibratory snoring, but my nose doesn't hurt all day. I also switched to a heated hose two days ago, which I am loving.

What part of the country are you in--could this be weather or season related? We have had a number of cloudy days in my area of late, and I notice that I feel tired and a bit run down on those days. When the sun pops back out, I feel better. I'm very susceptible to this, and I know others are too, to varying degrees. Just something to think about!

Possibly seasonal; I am in Maryland, and this did correlate with the time change. But it's been a few weeks now...

Have you ever tried a FF mask?

No, I never tried a full face mask; I was told most people are nose breathers, and unless I saw weirdness on my data suggested I was mouth breathing, I shouldn't worry about it. Might this help? Is there a way to know whether I should try it?

Because air is being delivered at a slightly higher (and more regulated) rate when on cpap, it can cause your mouth to open slightly when asleep, allowing air that should help keep your throat open to go out your mouth. Being a nose breather won't necessarily prevent that and I think a trial of e.g. taping for a week would let you see if things improve. If they do, you could try out the various types of FF masks. I had no trouble at all adapting to one, as do many others,,, not a big deal at all. My mask is just an extension of a standard nasal one (also covering my mouth) and my AHI just never goes above 2. Nothing to lose by trying!