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Thanks for the reply Stacey. I do see the OA and CA events clustered together in Oscar (see attached). To answer your question, I sleep on my sides. I have lower back pain so sleeping on my stomach and back aren't an option. My current pillow is medium height. I'm still waiting for the results of my sleep study but I will look into cervical collars in the meantime. Any other suggestions would be appreciated!
Backpain. Try a Tens unit. I found it very effective. The iRelieve brand I found to have excellent battery life and pain relief. Its worth the try.
I've graduated from that and now have an implant. Pain meds and/or muscle relaxants worked but knocked me out for at least half the day.
Gideon - Project Manager and Lead Tester for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
I'm still waiting for the results of my sleep study
I tried using the Caldera Releaf neck collar a few nights and didn't notice a drop in my AHI
I used a webcam to watch myself sleep last night and noticed a few interesting observations:
My preferred sleep position is on my left side, while leaning up against a body pillow. However, in the video, I slept on my back for more than half the night.
I try to avoid sleeping on my back because it causes lower back pain the following day.
I didn't notice a big difference in OA's when I was sleeping on my side vs my back.
I don't see any obvious neck tucking happening.
Attached the report from the last 3 nights.
One thing I wanted to ask is whether a deviated septum could contribute to the OAs. Most nights, only 1 nostril is completely clear.
You are still having problem with positional apnea. I read you are using a neck brace, unfortunately finding the correct brace is as hard as finding the correct mask. The main measurement for sizing a collar is measuring the distance from your chin to you sternum and of course if it can fit around your neck. The good thing is many have found that a cheap collar is the best for them. And when they wear out they can be replaced without much cost. Good luck in finding one that will work for you.
Is it common for sleep doctor's to diagnose positional apnea based on a sleep study? I'm just wondering what I can expect when I get the results and what their recommendations might be.
Hello. Can someone take a look a look at some recent results? I've never had such a consistent AHI this high, ever. Is it still due to tucking my chin?
You're still having positional apneas. Are you still using the collar? For side sleeping, you need to make sure not only that you're not tucking your chin down towards your chest, but also that your pillow isn't pushing your head up towards your shoulder past the neutral position.
Are you using EPR at all?
Paula
"If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started I was desperately wishing to be where I am now."
I haven't found a collar that is comfortable but I'm still looking. Can you elaborate on this "your pillow isn't pushing your head up towards your shoulder past the neutral position." Do you have a picture or diagram of what that would look like? I have been experimenting with different pillows lately.
I'm sorry, yes, I'll try to explain it again. You want to make sure that as you're lying on your left side, for example that your pillow isn't pushing your head up toward your right shoulder. Or your left shoulder if you're lying on your right side. You want your head in as neutral position as possible.
It's possible that your setting of EPR 3 is causing you to have more CA events than you might otherwise. You could try bumping EPR down to 2 to see if your CA events go down without causing your flow limits to go up.
Paula
"If I quit now, I will soon be back to where I started. And when I started I was desperately wishing to be where I am now."
