My frustration is that the pulsing of the air makes me feel like the machine is forcing me to breathe when I don't want to. Just when I start to fall asleep, I relax blissfully, I 'm no longer trying to breathe in tandem with the machine every 2 seconds. And I start to get into that wonderful state where your mind starts to wander ....and then I panic and come out of it because the pulsing is pushing air into me that I'm not wanting to breathe in and I want to exhale - but I need to inhale. Does that make any sense? This goes on for a while until I do finally fall asleep. But I don't feel well rested.
I was originally prescribed a pressure of 12. Feel like I'm suffocating. It makes my stomach hurt like a mofo after a few days of using 12. I can feel the air going down my esophagus. I can hear my stomach gurgling within minutes of putting my mask on. I'm all burpy and farty all the time.
I've tried lowering the pressure alone - not good results. I've tried lowering the pressure along with a mandibular advancement device I got from my dentist - acceptable results. I've tried the max EPR setting. I've tried no EPR. Where I'm most comfortable falling asleep is around a pressure of 6 w/ Max EPR w/ Mandibular Advancement Device. With that latter combo I never get any stomach pain and according to SleepyHead my AHI's are good. But I'm drag ass tired. At or 10 or 11 or 12 it's hard to fall asleep because I'm being forced to breathe artificially fast, but I do wake up better rested, but - and this is serious - my insides of my body HURT.
My life is lived honestly with daily negotiating a trade off between internal body pain or feeling awake. It sucks.
What do I do?
The only alternative I can think of is either to start getting surgeries or go on a starvation diet.