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Just wondering if anyone can take a look at these results if they look ok? I initially started with a fixed 7.0 at the start, then a few months ago set it to auto 7.0 - 10.0.
Past couple of weeks, although my nose is clear.... I have felt like I was not able to breathe in as much in the early morning hours (I unconsciously remove it), although prior to falling asleep it feels just fine.
It will be better if you post a daily chart as described in the links below for organizing and posting data. Your AHI has increased significantly in the last session a compared to previous months but it's impossible to tell why without detailed daily data.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
I don't have a theory about why you feel it's hard to breathe in during the latter part of the night. The three things I notice are leaks, central apneas, and short session times. Here are a couple of thoughts.
About leaks, do you think they are coming from the nasal interface or through your mouth? Or are you uncertain?
About centrals. They may just reflect periods of "sleep-wake junk" -- irregular breathing while you are awake or half awake. But one experiment you could try is to reduce your EPR to 2. I'd leave the max and min where they are.
If the short session times are mostly due to removing your mask unknowingly, you could try wearing socks on your hands or putting tape across the straps so the tug will wake you up before the mask comes off. But sometimes mask removal reflects discomfort, so in addition, if you can, try experimenting with some other masks.
(04-18-2021, 12:04 PM)Dormeo Wrote: I don't have a theory about why you feel it's hard to breathe in during the latter part of the night. The three things I notice are leaks, central apneas, and short session times. Here are a couple of thoughts.
About leaks, do you think they are coming from the nasal interface or through your mouth? Or are you uncertain?
About centrals. They may just reflect periods of "sleep-wake junk" -- irregular breathing while you are awake or half awake. But one experiment you could try is to reduce your EPR to 2. I'd leave the max and min where they are.
If the short session times are mostly due to removing your mask unknowingly, you could try wearing socks on your hands or putting tape across the straps so the tug will wake you up before the mask comes off. But sometimes mask removal reflects discomfort, so in addition, if you can, try experimenting with some other masks.
Hi Dormeo,
thank you for your reply and tips, I see you are from CA.. (I used to live in the Bay Area, Mountain View way back in the 70s :-) .
Cant tell so far where the leaks are coming from, possibly from the nasal pillow.
I will reduce the EPR to 2 and keep the max and min, winter is coming up here in the Southern hemisphere so the socks on the hands will work well....
as with the masks, after reading some reviews, I will experiment on the Airfit P10, they seem to be very popular...if that does not work, may experiment with a full face mask later on.
Based on the pattern and consistency of your leaks I would imagine they are mouth leaks with perhaps a bit of mask leak mixed in.
I think your centrals are post arousal and a bunch of them coincide with increased leak rates which is what makes me think these are mouth leaks. Air rushing through your mouth wakes you up, you shut mouth and leaks decrease.
I prefer a full face mask, I found it impossible to control mouth leaks without one. Resmed F20 is my preferred choice. You could try mouth taping if you want to try and confirm they are mouth leaks.
As Geer1 suggests, mouth taping is a good experiment. You might want to invest in a box of Somnifix strips. Gentle on the skin but hold well. Be sure to purse your lips some before you put the strip on.
(1) If you suddenly need to vomit in the night, the tape could lead to your aspirating some vomitus, which would be bad. However, you can sacrifice one strip to see for yourself how well you can pull you mouth open in an emergency using only your jaw muscles.
(2) If there is a power failure and your machine goes off while you're sleeping, you won't be able to do the natural thing and open your mouth to breathe. As for that, out of an abundance of caution, I've put a circuit alarm in a plug on the same circuit as my machine. It will wake me up immediately if I lose power to the machine.
I personally wouldn't tape my mouth every night like some people do, a full face mask (FFM) is a much better solution imo. I just tried taping a couple nights to confirm my leaks were mouth leaks then bought FFM.
In your original post you commented on congestion in morning. Do you get that without CPAP as well or only when using CPAP?
