[Pressure] 3 months on CPAP, results have been mixed

[threeeyedsloth]

I set my minimum to 8, and turned off EPR. Last night I also started using a Fisher & Paykel Solo Nasal Mask

4 obstructive events, 25 Clear airway events, and 3 Hypopnea events (less familiar with those events). I partially taped my mouth shut, At 4:30 I woke up with dry mouth, so air must have been escaping out my mouth at some points, I got up to rinse my mouth and went back to sleep without the cpap.



sidenote: You guys are saints for taking the time out of your day to help people with this stuff, seriously.

[staceyburke]

Your charts look better, less pressure increase - more restful nights.  The centrals are really nothing we can help with your pap machine.  Your sleep study did not tell as much as I had hoped.  It did not show how many centrals you had so it is hard to know is these are completely treatment emergent.  But we will assume they are because there was no check mark on centrals.  That means that it will take a while for your body to get use to the therapy.  As your body does the centrals should lessen.  That takes several weeks.  If you are feeling ok, I would leave the settings alone for a while and focus on how you feel. That is of course the whole reason to be on pap therapy, is to feel better.

[threeeyedsloth]

I forgot to put the SD card back in my CPAP this time, I'll get some more data soon.
The last few nights have been Events Per Hour of about ~2.2, the myair app doesn't give me more information about what those events were.
This morning I did feel more rested than usual, will have to continue to see if it was a fluke, but I will definitely keep my minimum at 8 for now.

With this new setting I have horrible dry mouth. I used to think that dry mouth was caused by my mouth opening and air flowing out, but even with my mouth taped I'm still waking up dry. I guess having the cpap at 8 all night is causing it. I think there is a setting I can turn on that doesn't go straight to minimum when I put the mask on, and I'm wondering if that will curb the dry mouth somewhat.

[macaronno336]

what is your humidity set too?

[threeeyedsloth]

climate and tube temp are both on AUTO

[staceyburke]

I too have dry mouth. I keep water by the bed with a straw. I wake 2 to 3 times a night and take a sip then go back to sleep.  Humidifier never helped but a quick sip does.

[threeeyedsloth]

higher AHI of 4.05, and looks like I had some bad leaks. The dry mouth really sucks, I kept water by my bed but I need to be better about sipping it

[Deborah K.]

To avoid dry mouth, you can use Xylimelts. They are little mildly flavored discs that you stick to a tooth's edge and extend onto the gum. They stay in place all night and help a lot to reduce dry mouth. We buy them from Amazon in bottles, but you can also buy them in stores, usually only in small boxes.

[Phaleronic]

higher AHI of 4.05, and looks like I had some bad leaks. The dry mouth really sucks, I kept water by my bed but I need to be better about sipping it

Hello threeeyedsloth, you're still having CA events and you're maxed out at @ 10cm 99.5 percent of the time, let's set the mode to cpap @ 1EPR fulltime with pressure @ 9.6cm, the reduction in epap pressure while on cpap is more natural than using it in apap mode which should help your dry mouth too. [url=https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/User-threeeyedsloth][/url]

[AshSF]

One way to find out If you have CAs due to CO2 washout OR due to true Central Sleep Apnea, I would go to CPAP mode of 9.6cm as @phaleronic suggested, but put EPR = 0. And evaluate for 5 nights at least. If central events diminish, then the CAs were probably due to CO2 washout. Else, it's true CSA. And then you can proceed accordingly.

One more thing to remember is that when you toss and turn in bed while asleep, the body does not breathe from the time of movement begin till movement end. That period may be more than 10 seconds and can be recorded as CA. I would not worry about CAs if these events are typically less than 1 an hour.