Okay. Will keep the headache on the back burner. Normally headaches that are due to the oxygen levels dropping associated with sleep apnea events will dissipate within an hour or two after awakening when the O2 and CO2O imbalance clears up without taking anything.SleepPlease wrote:The headache will not go away if I don't take Exedrin, which usually knocks it out for the day. If no Excedrin, headache will stay with me and progressively get worse all day. This is the same headache I've had every morning for as long as I can remember. My neck actually feels fine. I'll upload a detailed report from the machine tomorrow morning.
It's possible that your headaches are unrelated to sleep apnea. The reason I asked about the neck...I have personal experience with neck headaches...arthritis and all that. Neck issues often cause headaches.
Lots of reasons for headaches...even not enough sleep in general totally unrelated to sleep apnea.
Once we see some reports...maybe the therapy is not optimal yet...maybe headache unrelated to sleep apnea...maybe lots of things.
Let's fix what we can now that we know needs fixing and see what happens and then see what is left that is still problematic.
I still get some killer "neck" headaches sometimes that last all day and are pretty ugly.
I don't get the morning killer headaches that would fade in an hour or so after I got up.
Pain wise..they felt about the same though...so hard to tell for sure which was the culprit until I could verify optimal therapy..more on that later if we need to go down that road.
So much to learn and understand and try to limit "what iffing" until it is really needed so that I don't overwhelm you.
The Wisp mask is a nice mask...I don't/won't recommend changing it at this time if you are happy with it in general unless we see evidence of a problem with big massive leaks or you decide you hate it for some reason.
Adjusting to this therapy is difficult enough without tossing in multiple mask trials into the mix.
So unless something in broken...I don't go trying to fix it until it is proven it needs fixing.
You may want to experiment with masks and that's fine...but do it because you want to when you want to and right now we don't know for sure that you even need to.
If you were using one of the nasal masks that have a rigid plastic shell...I probably would have suggested the Wisp or the ResMed Nano (similar cushion) because the plastic shell can be more problematic for side sleeping.
Mouth opening...it all depends on how much for how long and how often it might disturb your sleep...before I jump on the full face mask band wagon unless you just want to and you already said you tried one for 3 nights and didn't do well.
I see no sense in getting on that band wagon unless there is a proven need and other options have failed.
Full face masks are NOT the bandaid that fixes everything and they are NOT without their own issues.
My job isn't to tell you what mask to use...my job is to try to help you with whatever mask you choose to use for whatever reason you might have and I really don't care what that reason might be. "Want" or "don't want" is a good enough reason for me. Now if it becomes apparent there are significant problems with mouth opening that is seriously impacting therapy...I will be the first to tell you what your options are but for now I prefer not adding a new mask into the adjustment mix unless it is absolutely necessary. You have enough on your plate right now as it is.
One or two mouth openings that are brief, even if huge, doesn't put the entire night's therapy in the toilet and it isn't the end of the world. I speak from experience here and I have proof to back me up that not all mouth opening means massive mouth breathing and certainly doesn't mean it is going on all night.
