No improvement after 5 months, Please HELP
Hello everyone. I’ve been using CPAP since May this year after being diagnosed with sleep apnea ( 25 stops per hour). Unfortunately, despite all my efforts, using the machine every single night since then, I am still feeling very tired and I do not see any improvement. This makes me very frustrated because I am doing my best and was hoping for at least a bit of improvement. I know it can take some time but it has already been almost half a year… I started on fixed pressure 7, after a month was put on 8 and after that on 8.6. I was experimenting with EPR from 1 and 2 and do not really see significant difference. May be a bit less flow limitations on 2 but still some days is 0.4 and some is 0.30 at EPR 2. My doctor is only looking at the AHIs and as these are mostly between 1 and 2 she says all is fine. I managed to get an appointment with ENT doc and I do have enlarged turbinates. She offered turbinates reduction but I am quite scared of Empty Nose Syndrom and do not want to undergo this kind of surgery. I’ve tried corticosteroid nose spray for almost a month without any improvement. I am also not using the humidifier as it does feel awful and stuffy. Although I suspect I may need it soon when it gets colder. The mask I am using mostly is N30i. I have no problems with the mask as I am mostly breathing through my nose. However sometimes I got awake from sound and exhaling through my mouth. That is my biggest problem, I think. As the night progress, my nose gets more and more blocked and may be that is why I am opening my mouth and exhaling. I can not use mouth tape as it makes me panic. I suspect I might have some positional apnea but hard to deal with it when asleep. At the beginning of the night, I am on my side but I often wake up on my back. Tried Soft cervical collar but hard to find a good one as my neck is short and somewhat thick. I am training my tongue to be on the top roof of my mouth but I guess when I get into deep and REM sleep it relaxes and then there is a problem. I was alternating the N30i with the F30i but I am doing much better with the N30i. Since I use CPAP my sleep stages have changed quite a bit. I have now less deep sleep (still within the percentage norm according to my Samsung watch) but what is strange is that is only at the beginning of the nigh and none after that. That was not the case without CPAP. I also have much more and longer REM sleep. I am awaking more times at night than before starting the therapy. I also am awake much earlier, like 5 or 6 o’clock. That wouldn’t be a problem had I felt more energetic but that is not the case. So I do not know what to do anymore. Doctors here are not help at all that’s so frustrating. I can see some snoring most of the nights and my phone record it and all the doc says is – "Is that so bad?!" And also I still have saturation below 90, in the 80s. Duuuuh, of course is bad as it’s not supposed to happen if the therapy is correct. I suspect I may have UARS and was wondering if may be a BiPAp will help me. Or another Resmed the Aircurve 10 or so (I am not so familiar, just based on what I read in this forum). I was wondering what you guys think? I attach some screenshots where irregular breathing can be seen. I know it is in Dutch but the order is the same as in English. The 5th graph is the Flow Limitation. Also the Resmed does not pick all apneas so the AHI is not that correct. In case you think I can profit from another type of machine I will try to convince my doc. It will be quite the fight but I am ready to fight it? Thanks in advance for all the help!
I wanted to attach two more nights so I am doing it here. I suspect this one is positional apnea.
I wanted to attach two more nights so I am doing it here. I suspect this one is positional apnea.
