[Symptoms] First night with O2 meter - low of 78

[Peter_C]

Two things seem to be happening. One, I start off sleeping on my side, and the last few nights I've woken on my back in the morning. With the new nasal mask (new replacement, not different) it does not leak, the nasal pillows I tried last night, do not leak -since I changed my hose, and water chamber recently, those are not leaking either (tested, not assumed). Therefor, the second thing that is happening is I must be mouth-breathing. I do not know if others do this or have this issue, but for me, it is an either or - either I breathe through my nose, or I breathe through my mouth - I can't do both. So if I am mouth-breathing (currently), I am not getting any benefits of PAP (at that point in time).

As recently as 4 days ago, I had an AHI of 9 and an AI of 1.2 I just got up from a 2 hour nap; got the following numbers:
Leak 0.0L/s
AHI 1.3
AI 0.6
Did not hook up the Oximeter. The new FFM is due this Thursday, and will use the nose pillows until then - very easy for me to use, will see if cranking up the humidity tonight will help. If back-sleeping and mouth-breathing are connected, I may well go to the T-Shirt with the tennis balls. Mr. Flappy was removed because of how it would lay and choke me when relaxed on my back. So many years on PAP has somehow gotten me into the habit of rolling onto my back sometimes now - used to never do that as I would always choke myself awake.

FYI - no, I do not pull off my mask, and the random rare times I do, my wife awakens and tells me to put it back on

[DocWils]

Well, I am guessing the back sleeping is a major factor here - Mr. Flappy or not, there is a strong tendency for blockage of the airway passage in this position - the tongue could slide back, mucous could plug the throat, just so many things. And it can also encourage your mouth to fall open, which would start a mouth breathing cycle. For tonight, take an elastic bandage and wrap it under your chin to the top of your head to hold the mouth closed and see what happens. If the mouth remains closed and you still have a high AHI on your back, then it is the back position alone, if the AHI lowers, then it is the mouth breathing - of course a FFM would deal with that, and some pillows strategically placed would deal with the positional problems.

Good luck.