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+--- Thread: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread (/Thread-MaggieL-Better-than-a-Sweaty-Zombie-Meat-Sack-Therapy-Thread)
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - MaggieL - 04-04-2024
Last night's report. Got a little more sleep. Also tried to add a Zoomed-in flow rate for a "normal" part of the night. Lost containment a few times because the mask frame shifted when I did - tightened mask, got headache. Going to try a skull cap tonight to see if I can keep the mask frame in place without tightening it too much. Thanks so much for your thoughts and input!
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - UnicornRider - 04-04-2024
That is looking pretty good, I think if you went ahead and increased minimum pressure to 7.4 cmH2O, it would would be comfortable for you to adjust to and will help with some of the events.
Did you find an SCC that fit? I have been through several, unfortunately "The Eliminator" is no longer available. If you read the Amazon review of "The Eliminator" you will read personal testimonials to CPAP improvement that it provided. I am currently using a "Velpeau Enhanced Neck Brace", from Amazon, they have sizing charts and several different models with slight differences. At the bottom of the main ApneaBoard forum you can search the for for threads on Soft Cervical Collar. It looks like you might have some Positional Chin Tuck type apneas that a well fitted SCC would correct.
In reviewing your thread I find I have not given you my acclimation practice lecture. Any chance you have an opportunity to wear the mask under pressure while doing something relaxing and distracting such as watching TV, reading, playing cards, gaming or my favorite computer searches for OSCAR Wiki information or ApneaBoard forum review, do it. It takes several weeks to a couple of months for most people to truly acclimate to the fit and feel of wearing a mask under pressure. Any hours you can accumulate outside of bed will help. Some of your awakenings may be eliminated with acclimation.
Are you using the Notes Tab on the Daily view of your OSCAR Report to record information that at a future date may be pertinent to understanding why changes were made ? It is a good habit to get in to.
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - MaggieL - 04-04-2024
I'll bump up the min pressure to 7.4 for tonight. I did get a cervical collar that I think will work, but I'll add that option in a couple of days. I don't want to change too many factors at once, so I know what works and what doesn't. As for acclimation, I absolutely understand its importance, but I'm still in the habituation process for tinnitus and doing CBT practices - which require I not be masked (lots of breathing and myofascial exercises). I'm trying to put out several fires with a lot of new habits all at once. It's exhausting and I'm going to be moving at a tortoise's pace. It's on the list, though, so thanks for the reminder and explanation.
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - UnicornRider - 04-04-2024
I understand, It is good that you are addressing the other issues as well. Wellness is a whole body balancing act that sometimes requires we step back, take a deep breath and allow other issues to be addressed. Do follow up with Oscar Reports, be sure to let us know how your body is responding to the *PAP therapy.
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - MaggieL - 04-05-2024
Thanks - you're right about the balancing act. The desire to desperately throw every solution at the wall to see what sticks is not conducive to prototyping what works best. Had an okay night last night and was delighted about the long initial stretch of sleep (best yet!). The last couple of nights have made me a little more optimistic about going forward. Thanks so much!
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - UnicornRider - 04-07-2024
The 4th looks much better than previous nights. When you get a chance, right click on the left vertical axis of the Flow Limits graph, run down the fly out to Y-Axis and rescale the max to 50. We are going to be taking a closer look at flow limits here in the near future and that will bring out the targets. If you check the OSCAR Report I posted in post #18 of this thread you will see I keep mine at 30. It helps bring out the lesser Flow Limits.
Post some more OSCAR Reports when you get a chance.
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - MaggieL - 04-08-2024
The last few nights have been a challenge, mostly because some oldie but goody health conditions returned. Sinus congestion as well as recurrent corneal erosion syndrome (RCES) which is exacerbated by dry eyes. We've had some weather shifts here, too, which affected humidity. Tried eye masking, but ended up taping one eye so that it could heal.
Last night was also some experimenting. I think I shifted a lot as well, because I returned to weight training (which I hadn't done for a couple of weeks due to sleep deprivation) and my arms were very sore (makes side sleeping more challenging).
In the first hour or two, I attempted to use a small soft cervical collar and struggled. My neck hurt and when I woke up, it felt like it had pressed up and misaligned my jaw. I took that off. I also removed the wedge that I've slept on for years for reflux. Lifestyle changes have eliminated reflux for the most part and I wondered if it would help with positional apneas. Slept fine without it, although I still had some apneas. Will be trying flatter and smaller pillows to see if I can tackle positional/chin tuck apneas.
At 11:30pm, I was struggling with nasal cushion leaks, so I switched out and tried pillows for the first time which immediately tackled the leaks. Will have to pay attention to skin irritation in nose, but with nasal rinses and flonase, sinuses were under control.
7.4 min pressure seems okay, but I don't think I can go higher. I initially feel a lot of pressure in my ears, which makes the tinnitus worse. It generally resolves early on in the night and may just take some time for my ears to adapt to.
Been having consistent headaches over last few days. Wore 02ring to find that one night 02 had dropped to 82%. Believe it was related to sinus congestion and using a nasal mask. Made note to switch to FFM when having sinus issues. Last night it dropped once to 89%, but so briefly that I'd call it an artifact. No headache present.
Changed scale of flow limit graph per your suggestion.
I know all this is probably too much info - juggling way too many things at once, but I attached the Oscar graph from last night and I am taking notes daily. One thing I am learning is that one must constantly adapt CPAP/masks/positioning to whatever changes are happening with rest of health. I'm sure I'll get more adept, but right now, it seems like a lot!
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - UnicornRider - 04-08-2024
Not too much information. RCES definately affects sleep and sleep quality, I know if I did not get those evening eye drops that provided the extra lubrication, I had a horrible nights sleep. Anything that affects the quality or quantity of sleep plays into our CPAP therapy. Sleep Hygiene is very important. I've installed red lights so that people do not have to turn on lights for that late night bathroom break. Rather than raise pressure I encourage people to eliminate outside sources that can interfere with CPAP therapy or quality of sleep. As we head into allergy season I know from experience that I will have issues with sleep quality, besides my evening routing of saline rinse & Flonase, I take allergy medications and may end up tweaking my therapy pressures.
If you look at the Sleep Hygiene Wiki I suspect you have most of the items covered. https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sleep_hygiene
Do you import your O2 Ring date into OSCAR daily? I have issues with SpO2 drops during the night so I incorporate my Pulse/Oximeter data into my daily analysis of my sleep effectiveness. When I started getting 0.00 AHI OSCAR Reports the only flags in the event graphs was Pulse Change (PC) and SpO2 Drops (SD), so I started chasing those and finding distorted wave shapes in my Flow rate graph when I would zoom in. As a result I was able to reduce some of them by changing pillows, sleep position and tweaking therapy a little.
Your OSCAR Report looks like you still have some positional apnea, so adjusting your pillow thickness/height is a good idea. I would rather see Flow Rate graph in your OSCAR Reports than Tidal Volume. If the forum members need to see additional information we will ask. Usually we can get enough information from the standard layout to know enough to ask for additional information. https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=OSCAR_Chart_Organization
There are special cases that require a different presentation, You're not that special.
Keep doing what you are doing, post back with tomorrows OSCAR.
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - MaggieL - 04-09-2024
Had okay night. Tried some different-heighted pillows - still in the Goldilocks phase with that (nothing is just quite right yet). Had the fantastic experience of getting a runny nose throughout night, which explains a couple of the unmasked breaks during the night. Further reason, as if I needed one, for daily cleaning of mask!
Read through sleep hygiene link you sent. I have covered every single thing on that list - pre-CPAP, since it's the same advice for dealing with tinnitus.
Haven't learned how to import Wellue 02Ring data into Oscar yet or sync the timing, but it's on the list. Dropped to 89% last night for 4 seconds, and had a 3% and 4% drop one time each. Thought it would be worse due to sinus congestion, but not too bad.
Overall, happy with the progress I'm making. Consistently getting close to 6 hours of sleep a night (per my Fitbit) which is a great improvement from the weeks before. Feeling more energy and am more clearheaded. Able to get back into workouts and back to work as a writer.
I know it's an ongoing process and I really appreciate the help you (UnicornRider) and others are giving me in this forum. Thank you!
RE: MaggieL, Better than a Sweaty Zombie Meat Sack Therapy Thread - UnicornRider - 04-09-2024
It sounds as if you are making progress, there is a lot of trial and error in seeking all of the Goldilocks' options with all of the various things that can affect a nights sleep. With allergy season coming upon us I know what those wet runny nose nights are like. Wet sneezes inside a mask, will motivate a cleaning session.
As for syncing the time between the Wellue O2 Ring and your ResMed, read this thread where we discuss various methods of syncing time between the two: https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-Added-an-O2-Pulse-meter-to-my-therapy
Are you PC or Apple computer? We can help get the information into your computer. I download my Checkme O2 Max into wellue's O2 Insight Pro software before importing from that file into OSCAR. I like the presentation O2 Insight Pro has for their report, My PCP likes the O2 Insight Pro report, But the Pulmonologists has convinced her to consider the OSCAR Report. I kept bringing in OSCAR Reports to the Sleep Clinic, finally one day when I pulled out my OSCAR Reports, the nurse turned the computer monitor around to show me she was using OSCAR to review my SD card.
Your Flow Rate looks good (like a freshly mown lawn) from a distance. I would like to see a 3 minute zoom of what I think would be some good breathing patterns at ~0125, it looks like some smooth breathing (freshly mown). Then for contrast I would like to see a three minute zoom around the RERA at ~0005. Then a 10 minute zoomed view around the OA at ~0042.
From now on when you post your new days OSCAR, don't zoom in, the start and end of your night's session can provide some insight into your nights sleep. The Sleep Wake Junk (SWJ) when first falling asleep and waking at the end of the session can, in some cases, provide insight. Once you have learned more about analyzing your own Graphs you will know ahead what is of interest or concern.
Take care and post back.