Lygodia Therapy Thread: Optimizing My Airsense 10

[lygodia]

Good news - the meds did help! Sleep onset was still about as slow as usual (probably around 30 minutes), and I still woke up a fair bit - once at 3 hours/2 cycles, then every sleep cycle after that. However, going back to sleep was just a bit easier. (It's hard to quantify how, exactly, but it definitely was.)

I got around 7 hours of total time in bed last night, and I do feel pretty well-rested. Not amazing, but passable. I actually tried to go back to bed for a few minutes, only to realize I was actually quite awake.

I stopped my CPAP whenever I woke up so I would have an indicator of when I woke up the next day. I see that my pressure was on the higher side when I woke up, usually. I presume that was because I was in REM, which may have required a higher pressure to keep my airway open - is that accurate?

(Anything else of note from these graphs? Also, I will start taking notes when relevant!)
   

[Sleeprider]

Looks like a more relaxing night. Higher pressure may be sleep cycle related or just an increase in flow limitation as you relax. The pressure is in a fairly narrow range, so nothing to worry about there. Cycles of awakening are normal, and it could be the medication just helps avoid stress and makes falling back to sleep easier. The therapy aspect looks very good and it's far more important that your are comfortable and sleeping better. I don't see a need for changes.

[UnicornRider]

Congratulations! 

   Now that you know it is possible, may your nights be fill with blissful sleep. The awaking with higher pressure may be the results of air leaks. I found I was sensitive to leaks, especially those that squirt me in the eye, next would be those face-farting leaks waking me up.. I did not intentionally seek out a zero leak rate, but in striving for continuously uninterrupted sleep, I found as I started adjusting my mask for zero leaks the quality of my sleep was noticeably better.. I also found that my flow limits were suppressed a little more. It might be because I look at my flow rate on a granular level, I use zoomed in views to see how my UARS are being controlled and how my pulse and oximeter are responding to my therapy pressure.I started adjusting my pressure by 0.2 (cmH2O). I can tell when allergy season is starting to kick in, or a cold or flu is starting to grab ahold of me by watching my zoomed in Flow Rate graphs.

I did not realize the value of notes until I started looking back for reports that would be associated with medical treatments, now I record things as seemingly innocent as the type of bedtime tea I enjoyed before bed. Your use of a sleep aid may be important to you at a later date. If it were me I would log it and how my feelings about the nights sleep were.

[lygodia]

I'm back again for some additional advice. The eszopiclone has been helping me stay asleep, but I've been having problems with leaks now, too. Maybe I was waking up as much as I was due to leaks? It's unclear.

Regardless - I am having leak problems, and I'm uncertain of their source, and am therefore uncertain how to resolve them. My mask is well fitted - as loose as it can be while still having a good seal. (I also went up a nasal pillow size, and switched back to the P30i because apparently the Phillips Gel Pillows aren't being made anymore.) I have a CPAP pillow now, to help with side sleeping and avoid any unintentional leaks there.

Other complications: Apparently I am still talking in my sleep (through the CPAP, no less) (I talked in my sleep prior to being diagnosed with OSA as well - I thought CPAP would help, but apparently not). Not a lot, but I don't know if all of these leaks would be sleep talking related or not.

Anyway - here are the last 3 days of charts. Let me know if you need zooms or anything to be resized. Thank you!