Advice on pressure and conquering RERAs/CAs
Hi all! First time poster, longtime reader. I’d like to thank everyone here for the info they have shared over the years. The wealth of information has been invaluable since I started my CPAP journey in June of this year.
While I have become more acclimated to therapy in that time, I am still missing that elusive consistent, restful sleep. I have experienced this high quality sleep exactly twice since going on CPAP and it was life changing. I was almost a different person. And I have been chasing that feeling ever since.
My biggest issues appear to be RERAs and CA events. I can get my CAs pretty consistently under 2 when I am in my current 7.6 - 10.2 pressure range (with 3 EPR), but that results in higher RERAs. From what I understand the way to tackle RERAs is higher pressure, but when I crank up the pressure, my CAs spike. Feels a bit like chicken and the egg. My body has gotten much better at handling mouth leaking, which prevented higher pressures earlier on, so it could just be that I am not giving my body enough time to adjust. The combination of RERAs and CA is leading to very fragmented sleep. I wake up at least once in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back asleep. In case it matters, I am taking Trazodone each night as prescribed by my doctor. I take a half dosage before crawling into bed and then a 1/4 dosage in the middle of the night to help me fall back asleep.
The most “successful” pressure ranges in terms of the raw data were 7.0 - 9.4 and 7.6 - 10.2
A recent discovery is that I probably am suffering from positional apnea. I use a weird ergonomic pillow that is raised and has a scoped out middle for my neck and head that helps tackle neck pain. I fall asleep on my back, but my partner frequently finds me sleeping on my side, so I must be a pretty active sleeper. I am going to try a flatter pillow this evening.
Any other ideas or suggestions here would be much appreciated. Here are a handful of Oscar charts that I hope will provide clarity. Thanks in advance!!
While I have become more acclimated to therapy in that time, I am still missing that elusive consistent, restful sleep. I have experienced this high quality sleep exactly twice since going on CPAP and it was life changing. I was almost a different person. And I have been chasing that feeling ever since.
My biggest issues appear to be RERAs and CA events. I can get my CAs pretty consistently under 2 when I am in my current 7.6 - 10.2 pressure range (with 3 EPR), but that results in higher RERAs. From what I understand the way to tackle RERAs is higher pressure, but when I crank up the pressure, my CAs spike. Feels a bit like chicken and the egg. My body has gotten much better at handling mouth leaking, which prevented higher pressures earlier on, so it could just be that I am not giving my body enough time to adjust. The combination of RERAs and CA is leading to very fragmented sleep. I wake up at least once in the middle of the night and have trouble falling back asleep. In case it matters, I am taking Trazodone each night as prescribed by my doctor. I take a half dosage before crawling into bed and then a 1/4 dosage in the middle of the night to help me fall back asleep.
The most “successful” pressure ranges in terms of the raw data were 7.0 - 9.4 and 7.6 - 10.2
A recent discovery is that I probably am suffering from positional apnea. I use a weird ergonomic pillow that is raised and has a scoped out middle for my neck and head that helps tackle neck pain. I fall asleep on my back, but my partner frequently finds me sleeping on my side, so I must be a pretty active sleeper. I am going to try a flatter pillow this evening.
Any other ideas or suggestions here would be much appreciated. Here are a handful of Oscar charts that I hope will provide clarity. Thanks in advance!!
