How can I lower my AHI?

[jstro84]

@Stacey - Yes I can see how that could happen, a lot of times something marked as VS2 by the machine is not accompanied by any abnormal breathing patterns on the flow rate chart. But sometimes it is. I will keep that in mind and adjust accordingly.

Had a not-so-great night again last night. Hopefully this is a temporary trend. I don't really understand why my FL was so high last night - can anyone help explain?

[gainerfull]

Have you found a cervical collar yet? Looks positional to me

[jstro84]

Yes but I didn't wear it until the 3rd session from 9-12, which had a significantly lower AHI than overall. Well there's my problem.... Go figure 

[jstro84]

Does this still look positional to you guys? 

I know I have a mouth breathing problem and I am working on it - 2" tape should be arriving tomorrow.

[gainerfull]

Yes, positional apnea is typically close together.

[jstro84]

I'm kind of baffled by this flow rate pattern I see frequently in my data and was hoping someone could help me interpret it. 

Frequently there is a large peak and crash (maybe a snore or a position change) followed by severe flow limitation that looks like a flat line. My mouth is taped so it can't be mouth breathing. Am I holding my breath? I thought that if I were holding my breath or having an event that there would be a more obvious sign of recovery breathing afterwards. 

I am finding it hard to adjust to mouth taping because of drooling. I've used waterproof medical tape, gentle KT tape and BSN Cover Roll and it always wakes me up in the middle of the night because it's wet. I might give up on taping at least for now. 

Any advice appreciated! 

[Crimson Nape]

It is a deep sigh. Try mimicking the waveform using your breathing.

- Red

[Deborah K.]

Even on your first chart, you do not show enough leaks to worry about.  Looking at the left panel, right under Periodic Breathing you will see Large Leak.  You score 0.00.  That means your leaks are not interfering with your therapy.  You don't need mouth tape at all.

[staceyburke]

There is something that DID work for me. It took several weeks to master it but you can practice all day to “grain” your tongue. the "tongue suck" method - try to keep the tongue on the back roof of the mouth and suck to make a tight seal.  With practice it is will to be sustainable all night

[jstro84]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

I've decided that mouth tape is too much trouble for what it's worth (for now) since it was waking me up when inevitably the tape would get wet and detach in the middle of the night. I've been sleeping without it for the past few nights and I can't say I've seen a ton of difference, so that's great. 

My AHI has been consistently under 5 for about a week and a half! So thank you all for getting me to this point. 

There are still some positional OAs and Hs that I'm working on resolving but I've found that sleeping with my giant Oddish stuffed animal tucked under my chin helps a lot 

I know variable breathing as picked up by the PR machine isn't super well defined but I consistently get around 50% VB which seems high to me. Is that something I can/should work towards reducing? 

And if there's any other insights you can glean from looking at my charts please share! 

PS - Stacey, I'll try that. Thanks for the tip.