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New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
#21
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
Haven't played around with the settings yet, but I seem to be getting tension headaches, neck pain, and shoulder stiffness with the For Her head gear. 2-3 nights with it and it only continued to get worse, so I went back to my doctor and got the standard-sized head gear which does seem to fit a bit looser. At the very least, the bottom strap doesn't ride up as much or feel as tight anymore. Pictures for comparison. I'll try this with the XS pillows tonight and see how it goes.

Just in case, I also ordered an overnight pulse oximeter compatible with OSCAR. It's arriving in 3 days and hopefully that'll help me monitor my treatment even better.


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#22
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
I've read on line that some people with long smooth hair will put it in a pony tail and position their lower strap under the pony tail. Just a thought, in case that would be helpful for you.
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#23
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
oh, and by the way, regarding headaches. 12 straight days of constant headaches christmas thru new years, and 3 consults and a cat scan, none sufficient to help, just diagnosed with no fix. my headaches were only on one side, never spread to other side of head. they say it is (was) a viral sinus infection, but no color of discharge. cat scan found non-specific congestion of only the side that hurt. ironically, I was able to sleep at night without pain and felt good in the morning, but within an hour the horrid pain began and lasted all day 12 hours at least. -- it cleared up. I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

I hope you don't have this as bad, and it is something simpler like tight straps.

QAL
Dedicated to QALity sleep.
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#24
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
Good morning. Good news is that the headache (so far) doesn't seem as severe as yesterday. Bad news is that I still have it.

I did try to section off the top half of my hair into a ponytail, place the lower strap under, and then remove the band. I also tried sectioning all of it into a ponytail and placing the lower strap under. I guess my hair is a bit too smooth, because the band just rides up when I do either. It felt a bit better having a bit of hair under and a lot over, so I went with that, but I'm guessing the band is still digging a bit and the extra thickness of the hair underneath doesn't help.

Tonight I'll try putting my hair high up and sleeping like that and see. If there's no improvement, maybe it's not a head gear thing but a sinus headache from having the air being blown so directly into my nose, in which case I'm not quite sure what to do since the N20 didn't work out because I have a very "flat" nose including the nose bridge and that's why it kept leaking at the top. Know of any nasal masks that might be good in that case?
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#25
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
I don't know whether the Bleep mask is available to you in Japan, but it's an innovative mask with no headgear. There are two "portals" that stick to your nose; you then snap the mask onto them. This can be a little fiddly, but I got the hang of it after sacrificing some portals. (They are for one use only.)

Bleep now has a variant that uses magnets to attach the mask to the "halos" that stick to your nose. Many people like these a lot, though I tried them and greatly prefer the original.

You can read user reviews of both versions here: http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-C...sk-Reviews

The P10 is a great mask, and I hope you'll find just the right way to use it. But if all else fails, you might consider the Bleep.
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#26
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
It seems that I might be able to get the Bleep mask through Amazon and it is something I'm considering if it really is the head gear that's the issue.

I'm also wondering if it isn't just a sinus headache. Most of the time it doesn't feel like one, since the headache feels like it comes from the sides of my head rather than behind my eyes or around my nose. But I do have just a bit of dryness in the morning, and maybe a humidifier might help? Or exacerbate the problem. Really hard to tell.
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#27
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
I've also heard of folks using masks with different styles of headgear but I don't have any specifics for the mask you're using. I think you can get headgear only from places like amazon. 
I couldn't make nasal masks work for me. Some of the full-face mask headgears gave me a tension headache from the back of my neck forward. The F&P Vitera mask has been working best for me.  It's an obnoxiously big mask but no leaks and no neck/head pain.
*Brazen
Reluctant cpap user just trying to offer support to others going through the same torture. 
Because, it's the only current solution and breathing is kinda important.

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#28
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
So far I've only tried nasal masks and I think they work for me. It's surprising because I thought I was a mouth breather since I snored so much... turns out that I'm most likely not, I just had to breathe through my mouth because of the apnea!

But figuring out the head gear and form is a bit of a nightmare. N20 mask was great, but my flat nose meant I never got a good seal at the top if I even moved my head a bit. P10, I have to fiddle with the straps and I think it's giving me more aerophagia because of the direct pressure and slowly drying out my nose. I've got a moisturizing nasal spray coming in today, but I might have to ask for a humidifier... and while I'm at it, let my doctor know that I want to try fiddling with my settings just a little (EPR, pressure, and humidity) since he does get all my data remotely.
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#29
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
I second the Vitera mask.  Huge improvement over other full-face masks.  Way more comfortable and better with leak control.
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#30
RE: New to CPAP, wondering how well it's going
Hellooooo. It is approaching bedtime here in Japan.

I'm happy to report that my headache is nowhere as severe as it was yesterday, leading me to believe that switching to a standard-sized headgear for the P10 was a great choice. I plan to sleep with my hair completely up tonight and see if that helps even more.

In my earlier post, I also spoke of feeling a bit parched and how the remaining headache might actually be a sinus headache. Still not quite sure, but I moved up my doctor appointment to after work today and asked for a humidifier. I'll try the first night with the humidifier off but water in it and see if that's enough. If not, I'll crank up the settings bit by bit and see what happens.

As for the aerophagia, I spoke with my doctor and he said that since my AHI is looking good, he wants to try reducing the pressure to 6.2 and see how I go. I asked if I couldn't raise the EPR to 2 and up the pressure by 1 instead to see how it goes, but he wasn't having it and I didn't bring printouts of my flow limitations to him to prove otherwise. Apparently changing any of the settings on my device voids my insurance and I can't afford my own machine at the moment (I'm paying off medical debt after my symptoms forced me to not work for a couple of months, yes, it was that bad), so I agreed for the time being and will see how I do in the next couple of days. My SPO2 monitor is coming in two days which will help me see if reducing the pressure really is the right idea or if it'll have a negative effect on me.

He also said something interesting. Apparently the reason why my device is set to CPAP mode is because it's easier for patients to get used to a fixed pressure first. Once patients are stable, roughly 6 months or so, they switch to APAP and usually have the range be set fairly close to whatever the fixed pressure is. I was given the option to do this since I've been sleeping between 6-8 hours with the CPAP just fine (which shocked my doctor, apparently most people don't take to it like fish in water), but I decided to keep trying the fixed pressure for now. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing.

They also checked my nose respiration? How well air travels through my nose? And apparently it kind of sucks. My doctor said that there was no need for me to use the CPAP for longer than 4 hours a night given this data, which I found a bit strange because it actually feels easier to breathe through my nose now with the CPAP... and I thought you have to use the CPAP when you sleep, regardless of how many hours...

On an unrelated note, my doctor finally gave up using broken English with me in this appointment. He didn't know how to explain aerophagia in English, switched to Japanese, and was shocked when I roughly understood what he said. I have literally only ever replied to him in Japanese using English only for more complicated terminology. Sir, I know I said English is my first language, but I said that in Japanese in our first appointment and have only ever spoken to you in Japanese, if I need English I'll ask you...
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