Need Help With My Apnea

[paulbreathe]

Hello
New here and in a pickle with my apnea. Hope someone can shed some light on my problem. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea at the start of the year with a score of 48. Just starting to get used to the cpap now . Its a resmed airsense 10 elite with full mask. But i am still having serious beathing problems and waking up every 2-3 hours. having 6-12 events per hour on average which is pretty poor.
My cpap is a resmed airsene 10 and it is set to 10 by my doctor.

I am really struggling to breathe on my side, impossible to sleep on my back. I am just getting severe blockages exhaling, seems to be a soft palate block but i am not sure. my tongue and soft palate seems to just relax and block all exhalation. breathing in is absolutely fine, i just cannot breathe out and i wake up choking. I dont know what to do. The back of my throat seems to just relax when i try to sleep and blocks exhalation, it relaxes during the day when lying down or even when talking to someone on the phone for example. I really want the UPPP throat surgery but heard that Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty is not very succesful for severe sleep apnea. Has anyone here had this procedure for severe apnea and did his help?. I am having to sleep with my head tilted down onto the edge of my bed as side sleeping blocks exhalation, I just cannot breathe out of my nose or mouth. Its very distressing and I feel helpless. Thanks for your time, hope you can help.

[Deborah K.]

Folks here will be better able to help you if you download Oscar, a free service, and post nightly charts.  At the top of every page, in the black portion, there is an OSCAR link.  There you can learn how to use Oscar.

In the meantime you can make your exhale easier if you turn EPR on full time, set at 3.  This should make you more comfortable.

Good luck!  

[HalfAsleep]

No worries. I believe you'll find answers here. Many folks have positional issues while they sleep, including in their jaws and mouths. They often take work, patience, and creativity, and not a medical fix.

However, first things first.

It sounds like you're not sleeping well at all. Misery.

I'm not familiar with your unit. Will it take an SD card? If so, you need to insert one and start recording your nights. You will read your sleep pattern off that card using Oscar (a free software with link in menu).

Then, you need to follow the directions carefully, also on this site, for setting up, taking screen shots, and posting your Oscar charts here. This isn't just about getting input on numerical settings. Sometimes, posters can look at your flow rates and determine if you have positional apnea, they can see if mask leaks are messing with your sleep, etc. Then, those issues can be addressed one by one.

There are a lot of variables in getting this right. So, post Oscars, and let's go from there.

One more thing. Once someone has addressed settings for you, put on your whole get up, fire up the unit, and watch TV or read a book. While you're AWAKE. The purpose of this is to get you and your body used to breathing with the machine. Steady and relaxed. Adjust the temperature and humidifier settings until they feel good (they can make you feel like you're suffocating if they aren't right for you). Master the art of detecting and addressing mask leaks: this is a transferable skill that can be used while you're sleeping. Do this for an hour or so every day.
If you use the get up while you're AWAKE, be sure to indicate that if you post Oscars, so the awake segments don't get factored into your sleep pattern.

[paulbreathe]

Thanks for your help . Unfortunatley the EPR is at maximum which is 3 on my resmed machine and i am still choking. i think its a more severe problem than they are saying to me and i am scared to go to sleep. i will get the oscar sorted out once i have a few proper cpap nights with the resmed machine. thanks

[Deborah K.]

Feel free to post even if you only have one night to post. We probably can help you by seeing just one night.

[paulbreathe]

Thanks for your encouraging words.

Yes,It takes a SD Card so i might be able to convert the data on it. I have only just started using it even though the NHS gave me this 3 months ago. I have had serious trouble with it, suffocating feelings and not really liking it and ripping the thing off in the night. probably what alot of people go through. But now realising its probably the best option at the moment. I think the doctor is sick of me not using it and is considering a mouth guard which will probably not do anything. he said cpap is the best option so i will have to ask him for more time to get used to the machine. But I am at a loss with it all and pretty depressed. thought the cpap would work but i am still choking at night.

[Deborah K.]

Good for you!  Pap use is by far the best treatment for sleep apnea.  Stick with it.  You'll be glad you did.  

[HalfAsleep]

Repeat: Try it during the day while you're awake until you feel at least more comfortable. Getting anxious about the night isn't working for you. Slow and steady wins the race.

Exhaling is the hardest thing to get right, IME, because counterintuitively if you work too hard at it, you might feel like it's not happening. If you spend some time with the unit when you're awake, you will naturally just open your mouth if you're not actually exhaling. In other words, you'll have an automatic fix. This should relieve some anxiety. That's my thought about it!

Then, start using it at night and post your Oscars. I'm betting the settings aren't correct for you.

Yes, ask the doctor for more time. Heck, tell him/her it's an anxiety issue, you're getting coaching, and things are on the way to improvement. But it's taking patience.