[CPAP] Mouth Farts and Exhale Block

[KsKisser]

This is my first post so thanks in advance for your reply's

My name is John and I have been using sleep therapy since the early 2000's. My current machine is the Resmed Air Curve 10s bi pap machine. I use MyAir and my current score is 55. There is a lot to unpack here so bear with me. 

So as I gained weight I started having difficulties sleeping more than 4-5 hours at a stretch. I am disabled and have been off work for about four years now. I developed a blockage on the exhale that frequently wakes me up. I have mouth leaks that dries up my mouth so I started using tape but that isn't helping me sleep for long and I wake up almost in a panic attack. I use the Resmed Comfort Gel and lately I have been getting zits or aggrivated hairs under my nose that get very painful when trying to sleep. I tried to make the move to the F&P Vitera but when switching from nasal to full face on my machine I developed issues with the machine shutting off and it pushed so much air through the mask it leaked. My medicare wont pay for much and I cannot afford to keep trying new masks so I am kind of stuck here. Usually I wake up after about four to five hours, get up and have coffee and have some computer time then try to go back to bed and sleep another three hours or so. I watch tv and fall asleep in my chair but my snoring keeps me in a wakened fog for about an hour or so then I watch tv for a few hours more and go to bed. Rinse, lather and repeat. 

This is affecting me health wise and it feels like I am sleepwalking through my days so any advice would be helpful

Thanks
John

[SeePak]

Welcome John.

Getting good sleep is hard even when all the stars align, no leaks etc. etc. etc.

However, sleep hygiene really is important.

Having coffee in the middle of the night is just not gonna do it for you!
And watching TV, same thing.

These are tough habits to break for sure.

It is a matter of getting the information and sticking to it.

Will take time to turn the ship around.

I used the full face phillips dreamware, and with light tensioning of the straps i got very modest leaks and good sleep.

Breathing exercises before bed, 15 min. worth will clear your mind and help get you to focus on yourself and your breathing and prepare for sleep.

No carbohydrates before bed, maybe a few hours before.

There is a lot to go thru.

If you are willing, you can learn much more on the WIKI site here on the APnea Board.

Good Luck!

[Sleeprider]

John, MyAir software is a very simple software that gives basic information that is nearly useless in optimizing therapy.  Please download OSCAR so we can really drill down and solve some problems for you.  Once you have the software on a laptop, computer or Mac, then you can take a look at the tutorials on how to organize charts and post images and files, linked in my signature below.  

A blockage in exhale can be caused by several things, but "palatal prolapse" is one cause and is briefly discussed in our optimizing therapy wiki https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...l_Prolapse and there are many threads on the site where members describe their symptoms and solutions.  Use this search-string to find those palatal prolapse site:apneaboard.com   Palatal prolapse shows up in Oscar charts and I'm certain we can help, but the first step needs to be identify the problem and try some solutions.  In Oscar, we can zoom into the respiratory flow rate chart and see how exhale is cut-off by a floppy anterior vellum on the soft palate.  It looks a lot like this image below posted by one of your members. Note low  AHI, but very disrupted exhale.  We can see the same things in your charts, but, gotta have the charts.