RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
I would qualify WW's statement to say that reducing EPR (if you are using it) might reduce your CA level, and it should reduce you Obstructive Apneas, as well.
The reasons for this it that Central (or Clear Airway) Apneas seem to be be worse with greater variations in air pressure, and the obstructives are reduced with a greater base pressure. The greater the EPR, the more variation, and the lower the base (or exhalation) pressure,
In a nutshell... there's more... but enough for now.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
Your DME most likely is only looking at compliance data - meaning time used. I doubt they are looking at anything else. They have tons of patients to track. Unless you are a squeaky wheel, they'll just glance at hours, note it, and move to the next patient. Perhaps they notice the changes if the software they use flags it. But I doubt they really care. They want their money.
PaulaO
Take a deep breath and count to zen.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 06:33 PM)pholynyk Wrote: I would qualify WW's statement to say that reducing EPR (if you are using it) might reduce your CA level, and it should reduce you Obstructive Apneas, as well.
The reasons for this it that Central (or Clear Airway) Apneas seem to be be worse with greater variations in air pressure, and the obstructives are reduced with a greater base pressure. The greater the EPR, the more variation, and the lower the base (or exhalation) pressure,
In a nutshell... there's more... but enough for now.
On the EPR—that's "Pressure Relief" correct?—I can only have it off or on. It's set to ON. You're suggesting I should set it to OFF?
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 06:40 PM)PaulaO2 Wrote: Your DME most likely is only looking at compliance data - meaning time used. I doubt they are looking at anything else. They have tons of patients to track. Unless you are a squeaky wheel, they'll just glance at hours, note it, and move to the next patient. Perhaps they notice the changes if the software they use flags it. But I doubt they really care. They want their money.
I am a squeaky wheel insofar as I caught them selling me a used machine. But they're probably also lazy and would prefer to get rid of me by not paying a whole lot of attention.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
Yes EPR is pressure relief. You'll have to change the settings from the clinic's menu or you can just shut it off. It depends how much you want to change it.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 07:12 PM)Walla Walla Wrote: Yes EPR is pressure relief. You'll have to change the settings from the clinic's menu or you can just shut it off. It depends how much you want to change it.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 05:13 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote: My original diagnosis was 18 AHI; I can't imagine that was a realistic number, judging from the figures on my machine.
Why's that? Why do you think that your high leak rate can be ignored? If you don't get your leaks under control nothing else matters, and none of the other numbers mean anything.
Sleepster
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-09-2017, 08:26 PM)Sleepster Wrote: (10-09-2017, 05:13 PM)HalfAsleep Wrote: My original diagnosis was 18 AHI; I can't imagine that was a realistic number, judging from the figures on my machine.
Why's that? Why do you think that your high leak rate can be ignored? If you don't get your leaks under control nothing else matters, and none of the other numbers mean anything.
I guess I didn't make myself understood. I'm not at all ignoring the leak numbers. In fact, I'm working my butt off! This is my priority right now, almost ahead of anything else. I'm particularly concerned about non-mask leaks, since I generally know how to correct mask leaks.
Mouth leakage is a major work in progress.
I don't really have a clue yet how leakage numbers relate to AHI numbers, except logically if there's leaking, there's gotta be "events", since during leak-times I'm not getting robust treatment.
My diagnosis AHI number has always seemed unrealistically low. There was some discussion about whether the in-house sleep study had been invalidated because I had to sleep on two different beds in two different rooms. I got hooked up twice. Not a split study. I qualified for a do-over, but since I made the cut for treatment, it seemed kinda pointless.
I hope that's clearer now.
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
HalfAsleep,
I would like to share some of my experiences.
I found out early on that I needed a chinstrap to control mouth breathing, even with a FFM. Adding a chinstrap got my leaks below large leak levels but not as low as I thought they should be for my treatment to be fully effective. I was still having a lot of mouth leaks.
Another member posted about using a lady's stretchy headband over their lips to control lip leaks. I bought a package of the head bands that are 2.5 inches wide and found that by wearing them over my lips with the headband positioned around the back of my neck under my ears, under the chinstrap, they significantly reduced my mouth leaks. I had to use a different one each night because I had to apply lanolin to my lips before putting the headband on due to irritation. After using the headband/ chinstrap combo a few months I learned how to control mouth leaks without the headbands. I still have to use the chinstrap, however.
I also started using a soft cervical collar to control clusters off OA events I was having. I'm an active sleeper and move around a lot. The collar eliminated the positional events entirely. I found it also had a positive effect on my leaks, when worn in conjunction with a chinstrap. The collar does nothing for overall max leak rates, but it lowers the 95% rates significantly.
Hang in there. Your perseverance will pay off.
Mitch
10-10-2017, 06:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-10-2017, 06:52 AM by HalfAsleep.)
RE: Does your brain learn not to mouth breathe?
(10-10-2017, 05:37 AM)pupcamper Wrote: HalfAsleep,
I would like to share some of my experiences.
I found out early on that I needed a chinstrap to control mouth breathing, even with a FFM. Adding a chinstrap got my leaks below large leak levels but not as low as I thought they should be for my treatment to be fully effective. I was still having a lot of mouth leaks.
Another member posted about using a lady's stretchy headband over their lips to control lip leaks. I bought a package of the head bands that are 2.5 inches wide and found that by wearing them over my lips with the headband positioned around the back of my neck under my ears, under the chinstrap, they significantly reduced my mouth leaks. I had to use a different one each night because I had to apply lanolin to my lips before putting the headband on due to irritation. After using the headband/ chinstrap combo a few months I learned how to control mouth leaks without the headbands. I still have to use the chinstrap, however.
I also started using a soft cervical collar to control clusters off OA events I was having. I'm an active sleeper and move around a lot. The collar eliminated the positional events entirely. I found it also had a positive effect on my leaks, when worn in conjunction with a chinstrap. The collar does nothing for overall max leak rates, but it lowers the 95% rates significantly.
Hang in there. Your perseverance will pay off.
Mitch
Thanks so much, pupcamper, for your encouragement.
Whadda ya know, I got the cervical collar to work perfectly last night. My jaws were practcally glued in place this morning. After I thought of the collar as nudging the jaw hinge so it wouldn’t open rather than a shelf to rest my chin on, I was able to find a good working position.
I used a different bed pillow to lie on and I slept flatter. Buuuttttt, two steps forward, one step back, my mask leaked like a water main....
|
