First Night - Not Sure How to Interpret

[Dormeo]

I hope the Releaf turns out to be right for you. In case it doesn’t, you might want to try the Dr Dakota, mentioned by Bonjour. For me, the Releaf pushes too hard agains the middle and back of my jawbone, causing my upper and lower teeth to jam together uncomfortably. With the Dr. D., I could tinker with the fit until the collar supported just the last inch or two of my chin, with just enough slack to let me keep my teeth apart.  I was using it to control mouth leaks, but I think it would do an equally good job of helping someone avoid chin tucking. 

All of these aspects of apnea therapy are quite idiosyncratic; what works for me may not work for thee. So keep experimenting with collars, masks, padding, pillows, leak control, and the like. Meanwhile, I am sure you are going to see good results by experimenting with your pressures under the guidance of the resident experts.

[DeepBreathing]

I wish there was more I could do to express my gratitude to you all beyond simply extending my sincere appreciation again.

Hi Ryan,

It's great to see that you're already getting into the flow of things here. Here are three ways to express gratitude:

1. Get on top of your apnea and get control of your health - that's our biggest reward.

2. Learn about the process and after a while you'll be able to advise people based on your own experience.

3. Send cash! It costs a small fortune to run a board like this, and there is a huge amount going on behind the scenes which most members never see. All this takes money which is in short supply. So donations of whatever size are always welcome. There is a Donate link at the top of the page.

Just as an FYI, none of us are paid, it's all volunteer work. Income to keep the site running comes from member donations, a tiny amount from Google Ads, and an unknown but likely very large amount from SuperSleeper's own funds.

[MitchS]

Flow Limitations and RERA (you can see them better if you change their color in File/Preferences)........

Thanks for the tip, bonjour. I didn't know event colors could be changed by double clicking on the color of the event in the Event tab in Preferences. Changing the color of RERAs does make them easier to see.

[ryanweb]

I wish there was more I could do to express my gratitude to you all beyond simply extending my sincere appreciation again.

Hi Ryan,

It's great to see that you're already getting into the flow of things here. Here are three ways to express gratitude:

1. Get on top of your apnea and get control of your health - that's our biggest reward.

2. Learn about the process and after a while you'll be able to advise people based on your own experience.

3. Send cash! It costs a small fortune to run a board like this, and there is a huge amount going on behind the scenes which most members never see. All this takes money which is in short supply. So donations of whatever size are always welcome. There is a Donate link at the top of the page.

Just as an FYI, none of us are paid, it's all volunteer work. Income to keep the site running comes from member donations, a tiny amount from Google Ads, and an unknown but likely very large amount from SuperSleeper's own funds.

Thanks for all of the tips. I just made a donation and will work toward your first and second points!

[ryanweb]

Wow, night 2 was rough but I am starting to figure some things out. 

I spent the first hour and a half of trying to fall asleep with the ridiculously uncomfortable cervical collar on. Undeterred, I cycled through three or four different pillows until I took the mask off and rummaged through the house to find a shredded memory foam pilllow that was laying around and finally seemed fairly comfortable. The pillow I always sleep with is a contoured memory foam pillow that cradles your neck. Not a good match in my situation with the collar on. I threw the collar back on and crossed my fingers.

Then began my fight with what I will call new user "mask anxiety." As the pressure rose and starting running at the new minimum pressure of 10, there were a few moments when I briefly felt like I was suffocating because it felt like it was really hard to exhale. Logically, I know this is not true. However, the logical side of my brain decided to take a few short vacations enough times for me to feel very mildly panicked. So, I decided to take some of my sleeping medicine for just one more night to help ease the anxiety and try to get some rest. I even managed to fall asleep until approximately midnight.

I woke up at midnight and this terrible collar was making me all kinds of sore. So, I finally waved the white flag and threw the thing on the ground. Hopefully the Releaf comes today and helps; otherwise, I'm going to take Mitch up on his recommendation and try the Dakota. I really want to figure this out.

I tossed and turned for much of the night and noticed that I was particularly uncomfortable at one point with the pressure at 12.5. I believe that I just need to keep doing this and keep wearing the mask and that I will adjust. It was also a big jump from a minimum pressure of 4 to 10. Even taking advantage of the auto ramp feature, 10 was still hard for me to handle but it got better later in the night/morning. I ended up taking my mask off for a bit but don't remember this. I put it back on afterward but my sleep was pretty poor from then on.

I'm not sure that this Dreamweaver nasal mask is right for me - it gets fairly loud and less comfortable at higher pressures (well, higher for me) but I need to give it more time. I believe it's meant to allow side sleeping but every time I try I feel like I'm just cutting off the air supply to one side and moving the mask to a position that makes it much louder. Not so sure about this thing.

All in all, not quite sure what to make of this all. I've attached last night's graphs. I think I'm just going to focus on getting the collar right, adjusting to the mask and pressure, and trying to stay as patient as possible. I welcome any other recommendations. The numbers look better but it was not a good night for me for total sleep or how I feel.

Thanks again, everyone! Sorry for the novel - it was just not a great night and maybe someone else will read this and realize that their struggle the first week is not unique. Other peoples' stories on here certainly help me.

[MitchS]

Hang in there. It takes time to get everything working together. Things like pillow choice, among others, take on new meaning when you first start cpap therapy. Getting it all to work together takes a lot of experimentation and determination. One thing to remember when using a collar is it doesn't have to be very tight to work. It only needs to be tight enough to support your chin when you try to tuck it.

Take things slowly. It gets easier as you learn more about your equipment and start getting everything dialed in. The first week is usually the hardest. Finding the right mask can be the hardest part of therapy. You might try the ResMed P10 nasal pillow mask, if your present mask doesn't work out. It is one of the lightest, easiest to use masks available.

[ryanweb]

All of these aspects of apnea therapy are quite idiosyncratic; what works for me may not work for thee. So keep experimenting with collars, masks, padding, pillows, leak control, and the like. Meanwhile, I am sure you are going to see good results by experimenting with your pressures under the guidance of the resident experts.

Truer words were never spoken! The variables are crazy, to say the least. Thanks for the encouragement.

[ryanweb]

Night 3

All of my little experiments are making me more comfortable during the night but my numbers tell a different tale. Anyone have any thoughts on what to adjust at this stage? No idea how to deal with the centrals. Currently at 9 min 16 max, Aflex -2. Adjusting to the mask fairly well. Still working on the right soft collar - but wore a releaf for much of the night. Woke up with a terrible headache and do not feel well rested - feels like a really bad night of sleep. Thanks!

[ajack]

I'd ignore the CA for now and focus on the OA/H, if they were high on your sleep study they probably would have been addressed. If they are new user pressure induced, they will probably resolve over the next 12 weeks.
With a dreamstation, I would be working towards min pressure 12 to be closer to the 95% pressure. It's going to take a bit of getting use to, I took 3 months before I full adapted.
I would turn the ramp off, or raise start pressure 1cm a night.

[ryanweb]

I'd ignore the CA for now and focus on the OA/H, if they were high on your sleep study they probably would have been addressed. If they are new user pressure induced, they will probably resolve over the next 12 weeks.
With a dreamstation, I would be working towards min pressure 12 to be closer to the 95% pressure. It's going to take a bit of getting use to, I took 3 months before I full adapted.
I would turn the ramp off, or raise start pressure 1cm a night.

Thanks. I'll bring up minimum pressure to 11, shorten the ramp duration and add 1cm to starting pressure a night to it until I can get rid of it. Since I'm still adjusting, I think I'd prefer the ramp just to keep easing into things a little more. I'll see what that does over the next few nights. I'll keep reminding myself to be patient. Appreciate your help.