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APAP helping some, but not much... What next? - zleeby - 11-29-2022
Hi all! I've been using APAP for about a month now, but my sleep quality is only a little better than before. Any tips on improving my therapy would be much appreciated.
I'll attempt to provide all possible relevant info, but if you want to know anything else, please ask! (Also I couldn't hyperlink the images I wanted to post; apparently I must send 4 messages before I can do so.)
Background
PSG: Performed in early October of this year. Here are the results. https://imgur.com/a/ChHm3Ha (so sorry for low quality! all I could get from the clinic was a blurry printout of the report)
Profile: male, rather young, BMI is normal but closer to underweight than overweight.
Allergies: Allergy test was performed in early October. I came back positive for cats & dogs (I don't own any pets) and pollen from several types of grass/trees. Dust and mold were negative. I've taken Zyrtec daily for many years, and I notice only very mild symptoms during the worst of allergy season (but immediately they get far worse if I skip the medicine one day). I think my allergies contribute to my sleep-disordered breathing, but I'm not sure how much...
Other notes: I started Adderall about a year ago. It was prescribed for ADHD symptoms, which I am now thinking might just be a result of my sleep issues. It does help me stay more alert in the daytime. I do wonder if it worsens my sleep, though...?
Current Therapy
Machine: Resvent iBreeze APAP (I was browsing here and saw a blog post suggesting that this machine is far worse at detecting and responding to obstructive events than others on the market...? My sleep clinic had this machine in-stock immediately after I got my PSG results, and I figured it would be comparable in quality to any other APAP. Perhaps not though...)
Mask: Resmed Airsense P10 Nasal Pillows, medium pillow size
Other equipment: About a month into my therapy, I started using Micropore tape to keep my mouth shut in the night. I dealt with very bad mouth leaking up until that point , but now it's fully under control.
Pressure Range: 9.0 min, 15.0 max (changed from 7.0 min 3 days ago)
Humidity Level: 4 out of 8
EPR: 1.0
Recent Data: Here is data from the past 6 nights. https://imgur.com/a/ybTW3fE (This software is called iMatrix, and it is the only software that supports data from the Resvent unfortunately...)
How I'm feeling: I would say that, on a scale from 1 to 10 of how refreshed I feel throughout the day, before starting APAP I was a 2, and now I'm a 4. I'm glad to have felt an improvement, but of course I really want to feel better than just a 4/10 all day...
My thoughts: I find it strange that the machine doesn't raise the pressure above the minimum very often, and when it does, it's not for very long at all. Also, to my (admittedly untrained) eye, there are lots of segments of my flow graph that look a lot like obstructed breathing but don't get registered as an event (examples from last night https://imgur.com/a/JYCwHU1). Should I be concerned about any of this?
Again, any advice on settings to change, new equipment to try, etc. would be incredibly appreciated! I so desperately want to feel better, and if any measures have any chance of working, I'm more than willing to try them.
RE: APAP helping some, but not much... What next? - Psychotech - 11-30-2022
well i see lot of flow limitations increase epr to 2, min pr 8 max pr16, try this setting for 3-5 night post results
RE: APAP helping some, but not much... What next? - PaulaO2 - 12-02-2022
For some, a month is not enough time. Keep at it. Put more space between changes and only do one change at a time, that way you know exactly what works and doesn't work.