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Hi all. I’m on 2 weeks of consistent therapy. My sleep study showed minor apnea, but lots of RERA interruptions causing bad sleep architecture and lack of REM.
I’ve been at basically full auto with 5-10 pressure. Last night I bumped my minimum up to 7 and turned humidity up to 6 because I’ve been having dry mouth. Looks like a lot of leaks I wasn’t aware of, despite ResMed saying “great seal”. AHI is quite low, but still not feeling a lot of benefit from therapy. Any insight into what’s working and what’s not?
My sleep doctor told me he doesn't look at the data during the first month except to make basic adjustments. He evaluates the therapy after three months. So 2 weeks might be too soon to judge whether the therapy is working for you. Am I reading this right--you slept 10 hours with a good AHI? That would be Christmas and my birthday. When I get spikes in leak rates along with OA or other events, it's usually because I rolled onto my back. If I'm lucky, I roll onto my side again and everything goes quiet. Otherwise, I wake up and that's pretty much it for sleeping. Hopefully, some of the people who know OSCAR much better can shed more light on your data.
Thanks, maybe I’m just not being patient enough. It’s just the data looks so good, I don’t understand why I’m not having the restorative sleep I was anticipating.
It can just take time to start feeling the benefits, so patience should be your watchword. It's great that you're sleeping through the night with the mask and machine, but the new sensations may still be preventing you from getting all the deep and REM sleep you need to feel rested. With time, your brain will get acclimated.
Your leaks are by no means horrible, but I wonder whether they interfere a little with restful sleep. Do you breathe through your mouth during the day? If not, have you considered trying a nasal pillow mask?
In your place, I think I'd raise my minimum to 8 and increase EPR to 3. This will give you the same help you're currently getting with obstructive events, but it might also reduce your flow limitations. The FLs may or may not make a difference to the quality of your sleep, so an experiment might be worthwhile.
