CorruptAlligator - CPAP Problems

[CorruptAlligator]

It's probably the screen resolution and scale. It's a 4k monitor, but I have it scaled up to enlarge the text.

[CorruptAlligator]

Nothing lasts forever it seems.  My AHI went up despite the cervical collar.  It slowly went up to now at 3.53?  Any ideas as to why and what I should do?

[John70]

It not bad, AHI's under five is good. 

What type of pillow are you using? The type of pillow you are using can make a difference. There are recommendation here on the AB.

John

[CorruptAlligator]

Which ones are the good ones?

[John70]

Here are the recommended pillows / http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ar#Pillows 

If you have a pillow that is soft it may work. I tested the pillows I had stored with 10/lb hand weight. (average head weight 10-11 lbs.) The one that flatten the most is the Beautyrest black I purchased from Costco that I am currently using. It replaced the neck pillow I was using it may a huge difference. 

John

[SarcasticDave94]

Just a question to help: is it the numbers you're concerned with or has the benefits of therapy gone bad? In other words do you still feel you're benefiting from therapy or has it gotten less treated feeling with higher numbers? The numbers by themselves aren't bad. I myself when using the ASV could feel better with an AHI of 3 than 0.

[CorruptAlligator]

I don't notice anything different in the therapy besides the numbers. I want to see if I can improve the numbers. Thanks for thr pillow link John.

[CorruptAlligator]

I got low CA numbers last night without a collar, but with a cervical pillow I bought online.  Not sure if it's the pillow, and need to isolate to see if the pillow is making a difference.  I didn't get much sleep last night, which is an issue despite my CA numbers down.  Within the duration, I know I was fully asleep, so it wasn't a night where I was partially awake the whole time when I was in the mode of sleeping.  So, the low CA numbers seem legit compared to those low AHI numbers I get when I hardly slept.  In this case, I was fully asleep, but the duration of sleep was unfortunately shorter than usual.  

Way back when I got the low AHI value and wore a collar that night, I also happen to be using the cervical pillow.  So, it may just be the pillow, and the cervical collar isn't helping with positional apnea (Or I do not have postiional apnea and collar is making position worse.).  I'd have to get more data to see, but based on last night Oscar data, looks like cervical collar isn't guaranteed to work, may cause opposite effect.  

It could be that my cervical collars I bought isn't the right size, and larger than the correct fit (What I have can't be smaller). May explore reducing size later down the road.  

So, I hope this provides data that cervical collar isn't always the fix for us all.

[CorruptAlligator]

@John

Search Google with this phrase and you will find my cervical pillow. "Contour Memory Foam Pillow, Yarkor Orthopedic Pillows"

If you search for 'cervical pillow' on amazon, you will find many. I suggest looking around before deciding. There might be a better preferred one for you. Also, it seems the basic structure of what constitutes as a cervical pillow is, the middle portion of the pillow concaved for the back of the head to fit so that that neck spine is aligned without any bending. So, I would assume that's is the most important criteria of a cervical pillow, and it has the added benefit for side sleepers if the area around this concave is lifted so that you can sleep in the lifted area with the full face mask not being forced aside due to the shallow-ness of the pillow. That is the real purpose of a CPAP pillow. So, these cervical pillows hits 2 birds with one stone.

One distinguishing characteristic of the avg cervical pillow seems to be that there is a portion that the back of the neck lands that has a declination. That makes it distinctive compared to a typical memory foam pillow with a linear hump throughout the whole width of the pillow. I mean distinctive in terms of practical value.

[CorruptAlligator]

Good news guys. I've been wearing my collar, and my AHI is consistently low around 1 now.

What seeming to be doing it for me is avg pillow from Target that happens to be a avg profile, but firm. The key I think is not being too high of a profile that bends the head. That combined with the cervical collar.

The other day, my central was only at .2 !

So, fancy pillow is not needed, but an avg typical pillow from Target that keep the head aligned for the cervical collar.

I don't know what the issue was before, but the main difference I can recall is the temperature. I blast the air-con very low now, and it's making these changes. Before, I started off the night at 79 degree (only 30% humidity here) and changes to 69 early morning. Now, I just blast the air-con to 68 degrees and I'm getting low numbers for AHI.

I know temperature effects sleep quality, but what's the correlation with the kinds of AHI that increases? Could central go up due to uncomfortable temperature?

I think the real issue for me is that my nose get stuffy when I lay down. Anybody have such issues? Why does that happen when we lay down? I think the low humidity is the culprit. I'm thinking the most benefit I get from the CPAP is the humidifier so my nose don't go stuffy.