[CPAP] borgw's Treatment Thread - Low AHI but bad quality of sleep

[borgw]

Hello I would like some help on interpreting my Oscar results.

I have been diagnosed with Sleep apnea in December 2021 with an AHI of around 55. I bought a Resmed Airsense 10 APAP machine in February 2022 and have been using it since that time. I was using an FFM mask (Airfit F20) and switched to a P10 in around August 2022. The P10 is super comfortable, very portable and I honestly love it. Only issue is that when sleeping I relax my jaw and it hangs open, so currently I'm mouth taping and the leaks have reduced quite a bit which is a good sign (around 2-5% LL each night - without mouth taping, these were 10-20%). Even with mouth taping using a 2" medical paper tape, my mouth still opens up quite a bit but at least it is somewhat contained.

I have some days where I feel okay and some days where I feel horrible. Recently I have been feeling horribly; brain fog, no motivation to do anything etc... I wake up a lot at night, I think around 3-4 times a night that I remember. On my smart watch, I notice that my hear-rate increases from around 50-55bpm to 65-95bpm, corresponding with the events in the Oscar data. I am doing everything I can in terms of looking after my health like exercising, eating better and having good sleep hygiene. Luckily I lost some weight in the process as well. But honestly, sometimes it sucks that I need to sleep by 9.30pm to wake up at 6AM, knowing that I will probably feel like a zombie most of the day.

I am attaching my Oscar results for the past 3 nights - maybe some of you can give some kind advice. I used to sleep with no EPR and noticed I had tons of flow limitations and then set it to 3 and that reduced them quite a bit.

Thank you

A bit of info about me - 27 years old, 178cm and 136kg.

[SleepyEv]

I'm not qualified to analyze this data but I will just say it looks like you have some crazy high leaks. I also use the P10 with mouth tape but I don't have any large leaks...in fact, my 95% and 99% rates are still right around zero. Using the Brevida which I also love, my 99% leaks are still only around 2 or 3 (as opposed to yours which are in the 20's and 30's). I would think you should definitely try getting those under control even more.

[borgw]

Yes you're totally right, I am working on getting the leaks close to zero as possible. Mouth taping is definitely helping.

I posted here to get some feedback on my settings, maybe someone can offer some insight

[borgw]

Hi all, wanted to give you an update.

I have sort of started from scratch and did 6-20 to get an idea of what the Airsense 10 does in Autoset. I woke up feeling okay but by 9-10AM I was feeling exhausted again. I noticed that with APAP, especially at that large range, I have more leaks.

The following night I tried CPAP with EPR 3 at 8 to see how it goes. It went okay, but I felt a little bit starved for air in the hours after I woke up. I will now try raising it to 9 and see how it goes. EPR for me feels a bit weird because I feel "better" while going to sleep using EPR 0, but the EPR drastically reduces my flow limitations.

[borgw]

Hi all,

Another update

I have had some good days, but mostly bad days. I reduced my pressure and my numbers got much better, my levels of energy have still remained the same. Unfortunately it is affecting my mood, how/what I eat, my goals, exercise etc.. I have scheduled a blood test, hopefully that can shed some light if there are any other issues at play.

What can I do to improve my PAP therapy? Is there something that I am missing?

Thank you!

My EPR is set as 3 in the below screenshot