fearoffours - Therapy thread

[fearoffours]

Hi! I've been on CPAP for about two weeks, following a diagnosis of Moderate-Severe (30.67 events/hour untreated) Obstructive Sleep Apnoea in the UK.

I'm finally able to keep a mask on all night; consistently for last three nights. I've shaved my normally very long beard down to very short stubble and this seems to be helping with mask fit.
I believe I am sleeping deeper, my wife (a GP, who first noticed the apnoea and told me to get it checked out) is much happier that I breathe normally in sleep (she says the difference with mask on/off is palpable).
I'm still feeling pretty tired and foggy-headed in the mornings, hoping the treatment will soon help that.
I've attached 3 OSCAR screenshots from the last three nights sleep.

I'm using a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSet (I think still on default pressure settings of 4-15). With a ResMed F20 full face mask.

I have a telephone review with a clinician from the sleep clinic in about a fortnight from now. 
I'd be interested on any advice or observations from my charts.

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

You have quite a few flow limitations and your pressure is way too low. You can adjust the settings yourself.

Try the following:

Min pressure 11
Max pressure 15
EPR 3 full-time
No ramp

That should help and be more comfortable.

Let us know how it goes after a few nights.

[fearoffours]

Thanks. I'll give it a shot.

[fearoffours]

So I feel the seal is better. Perhaps I'm sleeping deeper. Still not feeling much better rested in the mornings. I typically wake with very dry mouth - I'm considering taping.

Here's the graphs from last three nights. On the night of the 25th I took a few hours sleep before going and fetching a teenager from station after a late night out, then got back to sleep - hence the 90minute break.

Advice or observations welcome.

Martin

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

Your chart generally look good. The only thing I notice is you have some positional apnoea going on with the clusters of OA events. 

Focus on sleep hygiene. Flatter pillow, proper wind-down to sleep, etc. Here is a good article on it. 

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/sleep-hygiene

Avoid a nice kip if you can. It can impact sleep more than we imagine.

If the clusters of OA and/or H continue, you may need not only a flatter pillow, but a soft cervical collar as well. Look into it and read this wiki page: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...cal_Collar

Glad you feel things are getting better. Crack on!

[fearoffours]

That's really interesting - I use just one very flat pillow already. Looking at timings of those event clusters, I'd expect them to happen while I'm lying on my back.

I tried a rudimentary chin strap out of a headband/buff last night. Might have made a difference.

[fearoffours]

2 Months later...
Overall, feeling much better, use a chin strap every night and have had much better results.
Now feeling rested most of the time (except see below) and can't understand how I used to function. 10 days ago we had a big power cut/outage from midnight til 8am. I felt awful until I was well rested the next day.

Two things I'd like to improve so any advice on therapy welcome: 
1. I'd like to reduce aerophagia - I wake to burp more than I would like
2. Last two nights I have not felt rested, despite seal seeming OK and getting good amounts of rest - anything you notice in charts (last three nights charts included).

[Chuuclysm]

Hey fearoffours, fellow Brit here and noticed you've been setup with the same gear as me and followup appointment timeframe. I'll keep an eye on your thread but wanted to cheer you on. You can do this friendo