WHAT CONTROLLED MY APNEA: AHI Steady between 2.5 - 5.3 for a few weeks now
Hi guys, I started my cpap usage about a year ago after being diagnosed with ahi of 28, I been trough bad and good but these last couple of weeks/months it has been averaging a 3.0 and decided to log on to post my road to this point in my treatment and hopefully it will help someone.
1) 1st phase (week 1-2), got my cpap machine and nose mask and i was excited to wake up feeling wonderful!, only to find out that mask was useless since im a mouth breather, i tried using saline rinse to see if it would help and it burned my nose terribly, i had to order another 300-400 mask and wait for it.
2) 2nd phase (week 2-8), got my full face mask ( the one that covers nose and mouth ), and gave it a try, i was also going to the gym and lifting weights, well.. between the pressure from my chest muscles due to the cpap as well as the soreness of my workouts i ended up with anxiety attacks since it felt as i was borderline heart attack, i went to the er 3-4 times, got blood tests, ekg and even wore a heart monitor for a day since due to the anxiety i was having a hard time breathing, turns out I was healthy as a horse..
3) 3rd phase (week 8-20), i started trusting my cpap and letting go of my fears by realizing ive done everything possible to take care of myself, downloaded the sleepyhead software and was studying my sleep daily and noticed during some events my pressure hit the top which was 10 at that time and it would stay up there. eventually called kaiser and the specialist took my sd card to analyze it, and i got a bit higher pressure prescribed , this new pressure triggered my anxiety again during adjustment.
4) 4th phase ( week 20 to date ), one of our relatives moved out, this relatuve caused many arguments which had me going to bed very angry often, since this person moved aling with other changes i made my AHI has been average of 3, which is great!, i am not a doctor but i think something happens to you when you go to bed P*ssed off, either nightmares that affect your sleep or some chemical affecting you at night. but like i said i made two more changes, one of them was buy a $20 wedge pillow from wallmart and from now on i sleep with my head slightly raised, another big change i made was forcing to train myself to breath trough my nose, again im not a doctor but I feel that wen i breath trough my mouth i slowly force my tongue backwards causing that airway to close, however when i breath trough my nose it kinda makes my tongue stick to the upper side of my mouth which helps keeping it in place and not letting it fall back.
Other notes i didnt add was that my general doctor checked my nose and told me i had a deviated septum and reffered me to the specialist. 2 weeks layer and $50 in the hole the specialist said i had no need for surgery after checking my nose, so i bought a weaker nasal rinse and everynight i cover one nostril and breathe trough the other, if stuffy i spray that rinse in to clear it.
I also forgot to add that when i started sleeping goid i was expecting to wake up like full of energy, to my surprise it felt like i was glued to the bed.. i fell in souch a deep sleep for once that i didnt want to get up!, but in the afternoon i was no longer falling asleep everywhere, and those nasty headaches i used to get are gone.
Another trick I used to fight anxiety was setting the fan to blow full speed at me during the night, it helped me control the fear that i was going to suffocate.
Also a HUGEEE part is the humidifier, there is just no way i can uses a cpap without it, it is important to try different settings until you find the one that works for you.
Recently at night my mask may start leaking, whistling or farting, i simply reach to my ramp button, push it and back to sleep, problem solved.
I honestly hope all this blabberish helps someone!
GOOD NIGHT !!
1) 1st phase (week 1-2), got my cpap machine and nose mask and i was excited to wake up feeling wonderful!, only to find out that mask was useless since im a mouth breather, i tried using saline rinse to see if it would help and it burned my nose terribly, i had to order another 300-400 mask and wait for it.
2) 2nd phase (week 2-8), got my full face mask ( the one that covers nose and mouth ), and gave it a try, i was also going to the gym and lifting weights, well.. between the pressure from my chest muscles due to the cpap as well as the soreness of my workouts i ended up with anxiety attacks since it felt as i was borderline heart attack, i went to the er 3-4 times, got blood tests, ekg and even wore a heart monitor for a day since due to the anxiety i was having a hard time breathing, turns out I was healthy as a horse..
3) 3rd phase (week 8-20), i started trusting my cpap and letting go of my fears by realizing ive done everything possible to take care of myself, downloaded the sleepyhead software and was studying my sleep daily and noticed during some events my pressure hit the top which was 10 at that time and it would stay up there. eventually called kaiser and the specialist took my sd card to analyze it, and i got a bit higher pressure prescribed , this new pressure triggered my anxiety again during adjustment.
4) 4th phase ( week 20 to date ), one of our relatives moved out, this relatuve caused many arguments which had me going to bed very angry often, since this person moved aling with other changes i made my AHI has been average of 3, which is great!, i am not a doctor but i think something happens to you when you go to bed P*ssed off, either nightmares that affect your sleep or some chemical affecting you at night. but like i said i made two more changes, one of them was buy a $20 wedge pillow from wallmart and from now on i sleep with my head slightly raised, another big change i made was forcing to train myself to breath trough my nose, again im not a doctor but I feel that wen i breath trough my mouth i slowly force my tongue backwards causing that airway to close, however when i breath trough my nose it kinda makes my tongue stick to the upper side of my mouth which helps keeping it in place and not letting it fall back.
Other notes i didnt add was that my general doctor checked my nose and told me i had a deviated septum and reffered me to the specialist. 2 weeks layer and $50 in the hole the specialist said i had no need for surgery after checking my nose, so i bought a weaker nasal rinse and everynight i cover one nostril and breathe trough the other, if stuffy i spray that rinse in to clear it.
I also forgot to add that when i started sleeping goid i was expecting to wake up like full of energy, to my surprise it felt like i was glued to the bed.. i fell in souch a deep sleep for once that i didnt want to get up!, but in the afternoon i was no longer falling asleep everywhere, and those nasty headaches i used to get are gone.
Another trick I used to fight anxiety was setting the fan to blow full speed at me during the night, it helped me control the fear that i was going to suffocate.
Also a HUGEEE part is the humidifier, there is just no way i can uses a cpap without it, it is important to try different settings until you find the one that works for you.
Recently at night my mask may start leaking, whistling or farting, i simply reach to my ramp button, push it and back to sleep, problem solved.
I honestly hope all this blabberish helps someone!
GOOD NIGHT !!
