I Think Im Doing This All Wrong

[DudleyDoRight]

   
Its a been a week of trying to make this all work  have tried a few different masks  Monday switched to the Dreamwear full face.  Found I needed to go medium wide ( wife says that makes sense to her ).

Still have lots of leaks.  I find that half way through the night the mask slips from below my mouth to in my mouth.  With a large leak.  Those Dreamwear masks seem very loud with holes in the elbow on the top of the head and vent holes in front. any thoughts on that?

I have a chin strap ordered just waiting until it come in.

Thought Id post last nights chart  getting better but still far from good.  These nights are exhausting.

Zack

[Dormeo]

I hope the strap will help. I also wonder whether you're game to try a nasal pillow mask, maybe with tape to help you keep your mouth closed. You don't have to decide now; maybe the strap will do the trick. But keep it in mind.

[DudleyDoRight]

   
Dormeo
Chin Strap comes in this week.  So will try that when it comes in.

I switched to the Dreamwear Mask  my sizing said use Medium.  I have a big mouth like i said earlier. so I went with Medium Wide.  Still had a bunch of leaks.  Last night I switched it up to the Large!.  Bets chart yet (see attached). Best nights sleep since starting this journey.  I still seem to have higher LL levels its like 11%.  But they are no where as big or a long as before.  

I will say without the extensive leaks constant pressure seems much less.  Woke up and felt that maybe the machine turned off. When I took the mask off it surged.  

So here's my latest any thoughts?  Should I remain at the pressure levels I have?

Zack

[Dormeo]

It's good to hear you're making progress on large leaks and on restful sleep!

Your AHI is too high, but I don't recommend changing your settings right now. Do go back to the link OpalRose gave you concerning positional apnea and read the material there. The easiest steps for you to take: make sure you're using a low, firm pillow, be aware of the position of your head, and try to sleep on your sides if you can. As you'll see in the linked material, people also have great results using a soft cervical collar, but you don't want to put more stuff on your head if you don't have to.

Let us know how the chin strap works and feels.

Some changes to your settings may be worthwhile down the road a little, but your first order of business is leaks and the second is positional issues.

As a side note: please include only the following graphs:

Events
Flow rate
Pressure
Leaks
Flow limitations
Snores.

[DudleyDoRight]

   
Its been awhile since I posted.  We've had some crazy family things and Ive been struggling with Masks.  Spent a ridiculous  amount on them.

I've tried tape. Think I got the wrong stuff.  I have facial hair and it worked,  just likes to take the hair with it.  Is there any "facial hair friendly" version that you know of?  Ive tried a few chin straps two worked. Again troublesome with the beard. Wife likes the beard so I plan on keeping it.

The attached chart is a typical night now.  One of the better leak nights  most nights I still have like 10- 20% leak. They will say major leak but they are really more minor the leak is typically around the corner of my mouth

Any thoughts on this.  I'm still on average 3 to 8 ahi.  Which is far better than 63.  But I see people here all the time talking about how they are less the 1.  Is that most likey from my leaks or my settings?

Thanks
Zack

[Dormeo]

Thanks for the update. I suspect the big issue isn't leaks or settings but position. The reason I say that is that both your OAs and your FLs come in little bunches.

Here's an excellent article on the Wiki for you to read:

https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...onal_Apnea