I was not just tired all the time but falling asleep on my feet frequently. Waking up with headaches and stiff neck, frequent headaches in the afternoon. Rarely sleeping more than 5 hours a night, usually with a break in the middle. Going to bed at 9pm as I can't stay awake, waking up at 2am and staying awake until 7am when I have to get ready for work...then immediately wanting to go back to sleep again!
I had a home sleep study two weeks ago, with moderate OSA (AHI 21) and O2-sats of 82%. Clinic put me on a ResMed AirMini with P10 and I got on OK with it while waiting for insurance to deny any help, and while I purchased a machine from a reputable secondhand CPAP dealer online. I initially wanted the ResMed A10 but tried it and the DreamStation in the clinic and preferred the DreamStation. So yeah, now I am doing this on my own without the clinic.
With the AirMini, I managed over six hours of sleep the first few nights and while I didn't have any epiphany of joyous energy, I did find myself not falling asleep in meetings at work, and no headache in the mornings. Then I got Bronchitis
I think the machine actually helped me breathe easier at night, but the last week or so I've been quite groggy from feeling ill, and the coughing has made for a lot of disturbed sleep.
I upped the pressure on the AirMini, settling on 6.45 cm/H2O starting pressure as anything less felt like air starvation. No ramp, EPR of 1. The "therapy statistics" in the mobile app have my pressure hovering around 9.5-14 cm/H2O. Not sure if that is a Max or 90% figure.
I didn't use the HumidX discs (didn't want to pay) and I have a room humidifier. It's crazy hot here in Hong Kong and I like to sleep in a cold room with A/C on full blast so I used the humidifier even before CPAP.
I've set my pressure at 6.5cm-20cm/H2O on the DreamStation. Figured I would start with the heated tube and humidifier on the lowest setting, Flex of 2 (seems a little harder to breath out on this machine). Any tips, hints or advice? Should I up the starting pressure?
OK this turned in to an essay. I'm actually quite excited to go to bed tonight!