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I have been lurking on this board for over a month now, and after seeing how helpful you all can be, I finally decided to make a profile and get a post up!
Nuts and Bolts:
I am a 32 y/o male. 6 feet tall, 188 lbs, physically fit no known comorbidities relatable to sleep apnea.
In early May 2023 I was diagnosed with mild OSA, comprised of hypopnea (AHI 7). Full test results posted below.
I have been using a ResMed AirSense 10 AutoSense since about mid May 2023 with ~100% compliance.
Problems I am seeking help with:
After starting therapy at APAP min 6 max 16, I have titrated incrementally to a 5.2 CPAP. My reason for doing so is that I was immediately bothered by the presence of CA events. My CA index over the last 30 days is only 0.88 (on sleep test was 0.6), so I wouldn't be justified in saying I have "treatment emergent" CA events, but their duration (occasionally ~20sec) bothered me, and my titration was aimed at mitigation or avoiding "treatment emergent" CA events (I suppose).
Recently, I am experiencing the following phenomena:
While trying to fall asleep with my mask on, and being very close to sleep, I will get the sensation that I am not breathing and will jolt awake (this never happened to me prior to being diagnosed with sleep apnea, it now happens often when I am using the machine, or even if I happen to does off [on rare occasion] on the couch, etc.)
I am not sure if my setting (5.2 CPAP) is giving me the ideal balance between hypopnea, CA, and sleep comfort. For example, I got out of bed 2 hours earlier than I needed to this AM simply because my breathing felt uncomfortable and inadequate, and I was having those terrible sensations when actually falling back asleep.
So, my questions dear ApneaBoard!
Any advice on my settings?
Any advice on eliminating feels of air hunger while trying to fall asleep and that terrible sensation of not breathing right as you are falling asleep?
Any thoughts on my below average tidal volume?
Could these health concerns be relevant to my experiences: anxiety/depression, postural issues (being worked on my a chiropractor), muscular tightness, etc.
Any help would be appreciated! I know my numbers are okay, but I feel like my sleep experience could be A LOT better...
08-26-2023, 02:27 PM (This post was last modified: 08-26-2023, 02:29 PM by Snoozequest.)
Help a newbie! Dry nose, jolting awake, air hunger!
Hi all,
A novice here needing some advice!
I am experiencing:
Feeling like I am unable to breathe through my nasal pillow mask vs. without the mask on through my nose. Air pressure seems to be causing nasal congestion, or perhaps my settings are causing this.
Numerous times while falling asleep I jolt back to full wakefulness just as I am (subjectively) falling asleep, feeling like I am not breathing/have not been breathing enough (this never happened prior to my CPAP use, but now happens if I dose off even without the mask on!).
I will also jolt awake at night, with the sensation of having not been breathing/breathing enough, but this often doesn't correspond to any event marker in Oscar.
I believe I need some help with my settings. Any advice would be MUCH appreciated. My sleep quality has become much worse than my Oscar charts (attached) indicate...
Also posting my original sleep study:
RE: Help a newbie! Dry nose, jolting awake, air hunger!
5.2 min is not enough for most people. I take at least 9 or I'm taking my mask off for air. I would start at min 7 and move it up if you do not feel you are getting enough air. Only side effect that some people get with higher pressures is air in the stomach - should not have any problem with a min of 7 though.
I have been using a CPAP for around 4 months now. Recently, after a run of pretty good sleeps, (symptom 1) I started jolting awake (4-5 times a night). Sometimes this would correspond to an event in Oscar, sometimes not.
I also began to (symptom 2) have the sensation that I wasn't breathing while falling asleep and would be brought back to wakefulness (sometime 10+ times before finally breaking through to sleep!). Oddly enough (symptom 3), this symptom also emerged during non-CPAP dozing off (very distressing)
So (and this is interesting to me...), I decided to stop with my CPAP for a week partly out of frustration, and partly to alleviate a CPAP nose that was getting progressively worse. After a few nights of no CPAP I began sleeping through the night (no jolting awake or only once) AND the sensation of not breathing while falling asleep went away, along with my CPAP nose rapidly improving.
Last night I used my CPAP machine again and ALL of the above symptoms (1,2,3) reemerged like magic.
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09-19-2023, 11:16 AM (This post was last modified: 09-19-2023, 11:18 AM by Snoozequest.)
RE: Snoozequest - Therapy Thread
Hi all,
Thanks to all those who have responded. Returning now with an update and looking for more advice.
At the recommendation of StaceyBurke (thanks!) I upped my base pressure by switching settings from 5.2 CPAP to APAP min 6.0 max 16.0. These were my initial settings from the sleep clinic and returning to these settings has completely resolved the symptom of not being able to breathe that I was initially complaining about.
New Issue
I am having some nights that are very good, but other nights I am getting chunks of CAs that are unlike what I was getting when at 5.2 CPAP. They are clustering and sometimes appearing in 3-4 in very quick succession.
I suspect that these are treatment emergent events as I was not seeing this when I had titrated to CPAP at lower pressure. So my questions are:
Should I wait to see if this disappears on its own? (I have only been back at min 6.0 max 16.0 for 11 days now)
Is there anything that I should begin titrating with my settings? Am I seeing likely C02 washout? Should I play with my EPR setting?
Any help is much appreciated! Want to get this dialled in as I don't like the idea of trading Obstructive Hypopneas (sleep study) for Central Apneas of any meaningful number... Thanks!
More Oscar images for above post.
