Lavender dream - first time OSCAR output

[jdougc]

Those leaks are what caused your dry mouth. What do you do to keep it closed when you fall asleep and you lose control?
I use 2x5 in sports tape and a Somiseal device.
Also your flow limits are high.
Try to zoom in around the flow rate  chart and look at your breaths to see if they are flatten or distorted in anyway.

[ejbpesca]

I have only seen Cheyne Stokes events appear once over the years of my OSCAR reports.  I do not know why they appeared.  The definition of them relates them to Central Apneas. (clear airway)  OSCAR reports can make mistakes of misreading an event and/or not flagging an event.  You can look at the breath waveforms where the events occurred to get a better idea of how you were breathing at that moment.  Arrow keys are a good help to manipulate zoomed-in mode.

I get an extremely dry mouth due to mouth breathing at least part of the time while asleep.  It was mouth breathing during sleep study number 2 that landed me with full face masks as opposed to nasal or pillow masks.

I have attempted to keep my mouth closed with 2 types of tape, an oral appliance, 2 chin straps, and 3 types of cervical collars without success although some find success with one or more of those methods.  

If I could remain on my side during sleep that would also solve the mouth-breathing problem.  I have made many efforts to not roll to my back during sleep where it seems all the trouble comes from but have yet to successfully remain on my side.

The humidity setting can give relief to nasal dryness but for me, it is useless for the mouth dryness due to mouth breathing into my full face mask (F40).

[jdougc]

My short term memory is as bad as my spelling.
I added a device to help seal my mouth and breath through my nose.
I use a thin pliable mouth sealing device called SomnoSeal. 
I have used it just this week with great results. 
It slips in between my teeth and my lips. 
I drooled at first with it, but my mouth leaks are great. I use a medium size.
   

[Lavenderdream]

Thanks for sharing that! I don't use anything other than the nasal cushion at the moment.

I had reset my settings to 6-10 to reset since my sleep was not great last week overall, even though my charts looked alright.

Last night I did sleep well and I got some rest. My AHI was higher and the data is more active, but even with all that I felt last night was successful. That could be because I was in bed longer and just the extra weekend sleep. Here is the chart.

[jdougc]

Since you did sleep well and got some rest, the only thing I would change is the minimum pressure to 7 cm. 
Anything lower is too low for an adult.
Don't worry about numbers and charts for a few days and see how you are feeling.
If you feel worse when you wake up then issues can be addressed.
Good luck.

[Lavenderdream]

I’m not sure why switching from 6 to 7 was difficult for me, even though I end up past 7 pretty quickly with the APAP setting.

Also have to remind myself that even with all of the data laid out like this, My Air still giving me a 99. Will keep playing with it and reporting back in on my journey.

---

One thing I need to do a little research on is whether the hypopneas are meaningful or not.

[jdougc]

You could try a 5 minute ramp with a pressure of 6 cm if the starting with 7 cm is a deal breaker.

You can raise the ramp pressure slowly by 0.2 cm as you get used to it.

[SarcasticDave94]

MyAir isn't necessarily based on grading the therapy as much as making you feel good about using the therapy. You know you must score 99 or better next time? That lil leak! (Or whatever else it was) Ah it cost you points. You did this or that and now you only scored 90. Must do better. Sounds like a game instead of actual therapy based on results.

[ejbpesca]

My Air Scores are useless to me.  I get a 75 for some of my best therapy sessions and a 92 for some of my worst.  Points given or subtracted for the mask on/off, hours of use, and mask seal are silly.  My Air is like some mental rewards thing that reminds me of getting gold stars next to your name in 2nd grade.

I find the History part of  My Air useful.  Do you have your machine set to give a more detailed Sleep Report than the default one?  The setting to activate it is found in the Clinical Menu Setting.

Your 4/5/25's OSCAR report is a stark contrast to previous reports.  Consider min. pressure back up to 7 and like jd wrote, you can use the ramp to ease into it.  If my max pressure is being hit by the APAP system then I adjust it up not down.  A good max setting for me is just above where the machine goes unless the max setting is causing such Large Leaks therapy to cease which can happen to me,  therefore I go no higher than 16 cm for max.  If I allow the machine to peak at 20 my mask blows air across my face waking me.

I cannot feel the difference of 1 cm of pressure.  That is so slight that I feel it is something else from PAP therapy in general that may be bothering someone, not the change of 1 cm in pressure but of course, it is a possibility.

What pressure settings did your sleep study list?  For example, my Sleep Study report has 12-20 as what my machine is to be set.  I have changed that to 11-16 for better therapy.  I can get by with 10.6 min. but below that and my AHI will shoot up to 70.00! for over an hour and my AHIs run from 5.00 to 10.00.  I need <2.00 to feel better from APAP therapy.

[Lavenderdream]

Hi everyone,

Things have gone well the past few nights. Last week I had a series of large leaks from mouth opening but that has gone away for the most part. I may have been fighting a cold and some issues with reflux. I elevated my pillow more to help get through those nights.  I was going to switch to a full face mask but still have it in storage. 

Last nights chart had about 5 hours of sleep with no events. Everything after 8:00 am is mostly awake or half-sleep where a lot of reporting issues in my data seem to occur.

I have adapted well to 7 as a minimum and my current goal is to get more hours of sleep and reduce daytime fatigue.