AHI 67/hour? High?

[2tired2sleep]

Thanks Lucky and OpalRose - I appreciate the support. I ended up with the AirSense 10 auto-set (CPAP). The first night I has 5.5 hours on but last night only 1.5 hours. I still feel an obstruction, either tongue, uvula or soft palate? And with the nasal mask (what the doc recommended based upon sleep study), it creates some anxiety. I've been a mouth breather for so long that I feel like when I get drowsy, I forget to breath through my nose and with the chin strap on, I'm fairly screwed! My GP confirmed that my left nostril is pretty swollen and blocked so I effectively have one nostril tied behind my back! (Great visual I know!) So...I have one nostril, an enormous tongue, a uvula that I sometimes actually swallow (it bleeds because of it), and maybe weak soft tissue? I have an ENT referral but the sleep Doc seemed uninterested in any of those things and just wanted to fit me with the CPAP? Thanks for listening...frustrated! :-)

[Lucky]

Thanks Lucky and OpalRose - I appreciate the support. I ended up with the AirSense 10 auto-set (CPAP). The first night I has 5.5 hours on but last night only 1.5 hours. I still feel an obstruction, either tongue, uvula or soft palate? And with the nasal mask (what the doc recommended based upon sleep study), it creates some anxiety. I've been a mouth breather for so long that I feel like when I get drowsy, I forget to breath through my nose and with the chin strap on, I'm fairly screwed! My GP confirmed that my left nostril is pretty swollen and blocked so I effectively have one nostril tied behind my back! (Great visual I know!) So...I have one nostril, an enormous tongue, a uvula that I sometimes actually swallow (it bleeds because of it), and maybe weak soft tissue? I have an ENT referral but the sleep Doc seemed uninterested in any of those things and just wanted to fit me with the CPAP? Thanks for listening...frustrated! :-)

Great to hear you got an AutoSet. This will turn out to be a much better machine for you and will easily adapt to your needs.

Regarding the nasal mask, this was what I feared for you. My personal opinion - and I emphasize that I am not a doc - is that a nasal mask is definitely the wrong way to go at this point given your issues. It sounds like mouth breathing is your coping mechanism and that you do that for safety reasons - i.e. you need to breathe! Most of us who use nasal masks or pillows have a full face mask as backup for those times when we have colds or other congestion problems. There have been a few times that I just felt that I could not breathe through my nostrils and I wupped out the full face mask in the middle of the night for comfort. I had a terrible cold a few weeks ago and being able to open up my mouth and breathe freely was a God send.

I would get hold of a good full face mask asap and give it a try. ResMed makes some good ones as well as Philips. There are reviews and discussions regarding various models on this Board. My Fisher Paykel Simplex full face tends to keep me awake as the seal flexes with the auto pressure relief rhythm. I need to find one that works better for me, but if I ramp this one up slowly I can usually get to sleep and then I don't notice it.

Sorry for the trouble you are having, but hang in there because getting a good night's sleep will radically change your life.

Blessings and don't give up on the therapy. We all have a lot of hurdles to overcome in the beginning. When you get the right combination of equipment you will know it.

[2tired2sleep]

Thanks Luck! Tried a full face last night, kept it on for 5 hours and events were cut down significantly. As you probably know though, "keeping it on" does not equate to "sleep". Even with the CPAP I'm unable to sleep on my back without issues. Therefore, I tend to sleep on my stomach which caused my mask seal to break many times so I wrestled with that. That being said...I DREAMED FOR THE FIRST TIME in what seems like forever! I'm interpreting that as progress! ENT appointment next month on the 8th, hopefully get some perspective and corrections on my nose, soft palate and tongue issues! Did I mention...I HAD A DREAM! Press'in on!

[quiescence at last]

I personally take the dream as a good sign that sleep mechanisms are operative. Normally, if that is the case, you will go through possibly weeks of what is called REM rebound, where dreams will be abundant. Then they will slow back down to an equilibrium.

QAL