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It's been a rough CPAP journey for me. When I started my AHI was as low as .2 but I was still feeling crappy. I posted here and changed settings as provided : https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread...feel-great
Since then I've changed masks as the Phillips has left a bruise on my noise. I'm using the P10 now and I've never seen my AHI below 1 again and I still don't feel great. In fact, I'm pretty sure I feel worse. This weekend was hard for me, I was just sleepy all the time. I don't know what else to do at this point. Only thing I'm leaning too is that I'm breathing through my mouth when sleeping and should get some mouth tape like this
This weekend I had some large leaks as you can see here:
But even the nights where I didn't have large leaks (attached nov 12 & 13 I still don't feel rested)
At this point I feel like I'm just wasting time with CPAP. The only night I felt a noticeable difference was the very first night I used it. I woke up feeling like a brand new person with an extra pep in my step. (Not sure if this was a placebo effect). But since then, I've never felt like that again.
Yesterday, 02:48 PM (This post was last modified: Yesterday, 02:57 PM by super7pilot. Edited 2 times in total.)
RE: Can't get my AHI under 1 anymore
How long have you been on your machine? My sleep dr. in a call last week said that even with low AHI numbers. It can take time to do two things.
1, just getting used to breathing under pressure.
2, over coming years of sleep deprivation takes time.
I'll let the others that are more versed in such things verify. But it looks like you are bumping up against your max pressure setting. Again, my sleep Dr. said that if 13 works. Set the APAP max higher so that IF you have a bad night, The machine can dial in more pressure as needed. You need a safety buffer. My therapeutic pressure is about 11.5-12. But I set max pressure at 15.
My sleep Dr. also said not to chase absolute zero AHI as you will get frustrated. If you do get to zero. Great. EVERYONE will have some sort of apnea(s) in their lifetime. It's only when they get to a clinically high number do they need to be treated because of the health issues. A few (5 or less per hour) aren't going to be detrimental. If you had an in lab sleep study and the result was an AHI of 5. They would likely say go home. Your fine.
(Yesterday, 02:48 PM)super7pilot Wrote: How long have you been on your machine? My sleep dr. in a call last week said that even with low AHI numbers. It can take time to do two things.
1, just getting used to breathing under pressure.
2, over coming years of sleep deprivation takes time.
I'll let the others that are more versed in such things verify. But it looks like you are bumping up against your max pressure setting. Again, my sleep Dr. said that if 13 works. Set the APAP max higher so that IF you have a bad night, The machine can dial in more pressure as needed. You need a safety buffer. My therapeutic pressure is about 11.5-12. But I set max pressure at 15.
My sleep Dr. also said not to chase absolute zero AHI as you will get frustrated. If you do get to zero. Great. EVERYONE will have some sort of apnea(s) in their lifetime. It's only when they get to a clinically high number do they need to be treated because of the health issues. A few (5 or less per hour) aren't going to be detrimental. If you had an in lab sleep study and the result was an AHI of 5. They would likely say go home. Your fine.
Thanks! I've been using it for just over a month. I too noticed I was hitting the upper range, so I recently raised the upper limit to 15 as seen in Nov 16th and 18th images.
(Yesterday, 01:36 PM). This weekend was hard for me, I was just sleepy all the time. I don\t know what else to do at this point. Only thing I'm leaning too is that I'm breathing through my mouth when sleeping and should get some mouth tape like thisttsoldier Wrote: This weekend was hard for me, I was just sleepy all the time. I don't know what else to do at this point. Only thing I'm leaning too is that I'm breathing through my mouth when sleeping and should get some mouth tape like this
After browsing this forum , it seems the Cover Roll is the better tape to get so I ordered that.
Yesterday, 03:53 PM (This post was last modified: Yesterday, 04:04 PM by super7pilot. Edited 1 time in total.)
RE: Can't get my AHI under 1 anymore
I like the nasal pillows. Just not the P10 model. So I switched to the P30i that has the hose at the top. It stays on. But is slightly noisier.
One issue I have is that my nose is deviated on the right side and it goes closed at random times. The air will reroute to the left side. But the increase in velocity (venturi effect) can wake me from the rush of wind going from a breeze to a hurricane and the noise that comes with it.
My numbers when I first started about a month ago were unsettling. Lots of central apneas. It was scary and I had never felt so tired in my life. But as I learned about some fine tuning from this forum. I was able to reduce those numbers significantly. Still felt really bad. But that has been getting better.
Look at these two charts and be confused. OA's, Hypopneas and RERA's were all .14 per hour. But those Centrals were at 4.35. Still a number under the clinical 5AHI or less on the Oct 21st chart.
Now look at the chart from last night. The pressure & EPR numbers on my Resmed 11 aren't all that different. The best I can come up with is that my body (brain) is learning how to breath properly with the pressurized air. The centrals were treatment emergent apnea.
As for mouth taping. My sleep Dr. was VERY unhappy when I told her I taped. She said that if you threw up or a burped with vomit. The end result might not be good.
So I have tried (with success) using a wide hair band (cheap and long lasting) that I put on after my chin strap. It puts enough pressure to prevent my lips from flapping and the chin strap of course keeps my chin in place. If the urgent need arose. the hair band is easy to move off my mouth. It's comfortable and easy to put on. I also don't need to be clean shaven. I'm retired and loath having to shave every day.
