Just had my first follow-up, please help

Pugsy wrote:Yes, if the DME guy mentioned "machine will breathe for you" then that's the ASV model. I suspect that you likely need it. While I would love to blame all that ugly on leaks and the machine not being able to record things properly...my gut tells me that chances of it being only leaks are slim.

Yes, you could use the bathtub for checking for leaks in the hose. Might need 2 people It's hard enough for me to stretch out the 6 ft hose.
When done just do a final rinse with really hot water if you wish. That's all that is really needed. It's not like you will be soaking the hose in the bathtub anyway.
I was thinking of a post where someone described the actual cleaning of the hose. Fill sink with water, add soap, run hose through the water in sink to clean hose. Rinse, and done. So, I was thinking that if I were to check for leaks, I could clean the thing at the same time. That's why I was asking if I had to sanitize the tub first. If I were to just check for leaks, yes, I could enlist the help of my roommate, hold one end to the spout, he holds the other end, voila. If I try to clean it at the same time, I was thinking fill tub with water, add soap, fully submerge hose, pull it out with water in entire hose, check for leaks, rinse thoroughly, etc.
With that scenario in mind, would it matter if I scrubbed the tub first?

Did you ever have a sleep study where they used the mask and machine to find optimal pressure or did they send you home with the APAP to let the machine find the pressure?
I had a take-home sleep study done in June. Went in August to pick up the ResMed S9 APAP. They already had the settings set, and sent me home. Thye did nothing specific. I had a sleep study done when I was in the Air Force in 2002, but they conveniently lost those records, so not sure what that would've said.

Did your initial sleep study (diagnostic study without machine) mention any centrals? Do you have a copy of that report by chance? Was it done in a sleep lab or did they do a home study?
Not sure what it showed. The only info I was given was my AHI (49.6). I can try to get a copy of it, but the VA acts like TSA when it comes to our own records. I'll probably have to submit a FOIA request just to get it. And, I'm not even trying to be funny here, although it is kind of laughable.

If they do decide to get you that ASV machine...they really should do an in lab titration with it to find the right pressures. It isn't nearly as simple as the apap machine is.
He did mention something about a titration, but am unsure if that would be done with the ASV. When I was in his office, he listed so many possible scenarios that I don't really know what will happen after getting the ASV. It all kind of just ran together on my end. I have to go to Amarillo, TX for all of this, which is 2 hours away. Ge did say that if I had to have a titration, or any other sleep study for that matter, that they'd send me to a private clinic here in Lubbock, so that's good news.

digitalepiphany wrote:BTW, do you have a link to anything that will show me what taping is? I've heard of it, but don't really know what it entails.

Pugsy wrote:There's a video for fitting the pillows.
http://www.cpaplibrary.com/nasal-pillows.html
Make sure you don't have it upside down. It's definitely not upside down.If you feel it leaking around the nostril while awake something isn't right. Either wrong sizeI'm using the large right now. I tried the medium for 2 nights when I first got it, but it leaked way too much. , not tight enough or maybe upside down...unless you have long slotted nostril opening I haven't looked at my nostrils lately, or ever for that matter.as opposed to more of an ovoid shape.
I have seen on guy with nostrils so long and slotted even the large sizes of the nasal pillows didn't fill the void.
The Pilairo nasal pillow might work for people with long slotted nares...at least a little better than the other pillows.

kaiasgram wrote:

digitalepiphany wrote:BTW, do you have a link to anything that will show me what taping is? I've heard of it, but don't really know what it entails.

There are many discussions about taping here on the forum. Here are two of them:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=91445&p=842497&hili ... re#p842497

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94186&p=870289&hili ... ng#p870289

hueyville wrote:Except for leaks my graphs with +100 AHI per night swing was normal. ~1 month into ASV with a well fit mask and se eral sleep studies have my average at 13 now. Doc for most part throws oit half the data or more we seem to obsese over, look at mh hypopneas and said all is well. He did prescribe a sleeping wedge which is on the way and said worse thing we can do is obsese about our sleep as it can mess us up as much as anything. While he says a knowedgable patient that works with him is great, if we are looking at our data everyday, reading about apnea daily then we might try and carry our worries to bed. Now mh orders are to wait on the wedge, check my data once a week, sleep and see him in six weeks. I believe it is sound advise.

digitalepiphany wrote:

kaiasgram wrote:

digitalepiphany wrote:BTW, do you have a link to anything that will show me what taping is? I've heard of it, but don't really know what it entails.

There are many discussions about taping here on the forum. Here are two of them:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=91445&p=842497&hili ... re#p842497

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=94186&p=870289&hili ... ng#p870289

Thanks for the links. I'm reading them now.