First post and need help - Printable Version +- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums) +-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area) +--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum) +--- Thread: First post and need help (/Thread-First-post-and-need-help)

First post and need help - moonman - 05-24-2017 I am new to this Apnea Board. I have had some health issues that give me pain when I sleep. I am 79 yrs old. My sleep study last year had 35 Ahi. I have been on a Cpap since 12/16. I had difficulty with high readings and leaks when I was sleeping on my back. I eventually found a way to side sleep in a fetal position that works but I have leg pain during night and as a consequence roll over several times a night. My Ahi’s now range from 6.0 to 13.0. I have begun to experiment with some pain meds during night to see if that may help with all my night activity when I sleep. My SleepyHead data graphs have stabilized, but my charts seldom work. How do I proceed to get help. Ted       RE: First post and need help - Yoda1989 - 05-24-2017 Hi! Perhaps your doctor could address your leg pain....depending on the cause of it there may be medication that can help and then it will be easier to stay on your side. My events are much higher on my back too. I hope you find a solution soon! RE: First post and need help - personal111 - 05-24-2017 I am not as old but had same problems with legs when sleeping on side for long periods. Get yourself a skinny pillow or a body pillow or something. Put between legs when sleeping on side. Helped me a lot. RE: First post and need help - MitchS - 05-24-2017 I use a body pillow between my legs. It helps a great deal. RE: First post and need help - trish6hundred - 05-24-2017 Hi moonman, WELCOME! to the forum.!]Good luck to you with CPAP therapy, hang in there for more suggestions and answers to your question. RE: First post and need help - Russatrice - 05-25-2017 Hi Moonman, if the issue is to get you more comfortable, besides the body pillow you could also try a hose buddy, it's a device that lifts your hose and lets you roll from side to side with less disturbance by the hose. You can find one if you google hose buddy. I also suggest to talk to your doctor about the pain and finally, if you can post your Sleepyhead charts here, people might be able to help you get your therapy optimized to where your AHI levels come down some more. Best of luck with your therapy, hopefully it will become more comfortable for you soon! RE: First post and need help - Melman - 05-25-2017 You may be able to improve your AHI numbers by using a soft cervical collar which will help kep your airway open when you roll onto your back. The OTC Cervical Collar sold by amazon for around $11 comes in a variety of sizes. I also roll onto my back during the night and the cervical collar helped me. Also the right pillow can help. A buckwheat chaff pillow such as the CPAPfit CPAP Pillow sold at Amazon for $50 permits you to configure the pillow with a hollow for your head and support undder your neck o help keep the airway open. It is also quite comfortable. You mentioned leak issues while on your back. I assume that is a reference to mask leaks. I suggest you look at the mask primer: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Mask_Primer   It has a section on managing leaks. Please post some sleepyhead data and we will be able to provide more guidance on how to lower those AHI numbers. See the links below for instruction on how to organize and post data. You will need three more posts in the forum. Just respond with a thanks to each of those who have resonded to you and you will be there. RE: First post and need help - PaulaO2 - 05-25-2017 You may need to increase the upper pressure to assist for when you are on your back. Or if sleeping on your back is your preferred position due to pain, there are ways to help. Raise your upper body slightly using pillows or whatever. Also put something under your knees. This helps the back as well as keeps you from sliding. The upper body being raised helps against gravity which pulls things down. So when elevated slightly, it isn't pulling it straight down and blocking the airway. I take an body pillow and make a U out of it and place at the head of the bed, with the open part toward the foot of the bed. I put a pillow straight up in the middle of this. That is where I lay. The legs of the U support my arms and the top of the U raises the pillow. If needed, I also put another pillow in the usual direction on top of or under the body pillow to raise even higher. Depending on need, I have various pillows  under my legs or I use a wedge there.