AHI is increasing each night

[Sleep2Snore]

Hi MrSleepInHisEyes,  WELCOME! to the forum.

A quick look at your Sleepyhead charts (and it was a quick look) looks as if you have a lot of leaks out of your mouth and this appears to be the problem.
Sleeping on your back will not help much.

Leaks and pressure increases appear to run together.
I hope you chin strap helps.
I am not the best at reading these charts, but I think you have a lot of mouth leaking (air by-passing and going straight out your mouth instead of clearing the obstruction in your throat, then you are getting an obstructive event.
Try sleeping on your side, it does help as I have found out for myself.
Keep a bottle of fresh water by your bedside to freshen your mouth as moisture in your mouth will help with leaks.
If a chin strap does not help, you might benefit from a Full-faced mask or a Hybrid mask.

Wait and see what happens with a chin strap, though these tend to be made of a stretch material and have to be quite tight.
They do have a tendency to slip during the night as well, but see what happens.

Good luck, others will be along to give you better advice on your data.

[Sleeprider]

The easiest way to post charts is with an attachment rather than linking.
You have some pretty good clusters of OA and I think you might get those under control with more pressure, or possibly using a soft cervical collar.  The soft collar is 2-1/2 to 3-inches tall and should be a comfortable fit.  They are inexpensive.  The c-collar can keep your airway aligned and prevent obstruction that occurs when your airway is mis-aligned, such as dropping chin to chest.  More pressure as you can tolerate it will also help.

Your leaks don't look too bad to me.  None exceed large leak threshold, so as long as they do not become disruptive to your sleep, they are mostly short-term, and seemed to be worse at the end of the night.  Again, with pressure 6-9, your median pressure was just 7.0, so I think much of your OA is due to positional issues rather than lack of pressure.

[MrSleepInHisEyes]

I have taken some time to understand the leak rate graph.  I agree, I'm a mouth breather! I do not want to get a ffm and I really like the Dreamwear mask. My chin strap will be here Friday and a soft 3" cervical collar will be here Saturday.  I didn't expect to have to wear all of this when I go to bed but even at my current AHI numbers I have felt better then I have in years. It's an incredible difference. Does mouth breathing eventually go away or at least subside after being on cpap for sometime?

Thanks again and this community is amazing! cervical collar cervical collar

[ajack]

You could also use a micro pore tape over your mouth. They say with the tape it takes up to 3 months to change to nose breathing. You really need to sort out the leaks to see what is happening to adjust properly.
for now I would use min 7 max 15 and see where it lands.

[MrSleepInHisEyes]

Good morning.  My AHI went down a bit.  It was my first night with a chin strap.  I tried to sleep with a soft collar but it was very uncomfortable.  I started off wearing the collar but took it off around 1am. Even with it being as loose as it could go I still couldn't tolerate it. I might try wearing it later at some point but right now I don't see myself using it again.  Instead of a collar what about changing my pillows? I am currently using pillows that are not very good. I've attached my Sleepyhead data. Thanks again and I appreciate the feedback!

[Gideon]

You were at effectively 6.5 cmw for most of the night and still having enough events so I would raise the min to 7 cmw and the max to 10 cmw because you were bumping 9 cmw and you want to leave at least a little room above that.  Your pressures are not running away from you so you could raise the MAX to any value above 10 cmw (even to 20 cmw) until you have trouble with higher pressures. 

Fred

[MrSleepInHisEyes]

Good Morning.  My AHI is trending downward.  It went from 5.52 to 4.65.  The chin strap is definitely helping to eliminate mouth breathing.  Does my pressure need to be raised to 8? OA's are keeping my number high.  Without getting a clavicle collar anything else I can do to help with my OA's? 

Thanks everyone!!!

[Walla Walla]

A bump to 8cm sounds good.

[MrSleepInHisEyes]

Hello.  My numbers seem to be improving a little bit.  I took the mask off during the night for about an hour.  I had to go to the restroom and forgot to put it back on.  Anyways from looking at my graph does it seem like I am still breaking out the mouth? Also, what is causing the the spikes like around 5am?

[Walla Walla]

Sleeprider mentioned it before that you have clusters of events. I'll repeat his advice and say a Soft Cervical Collar will help get ride of those clusters and drop your AHI a lot! They only cost $10 to $15 at your local drug store. Go back and read Sleepriders advice.