Billapnea

Please take your time responding to this. I'm struggling with feeling good, but still feel like it's progress. I determined that Afrin was undermining my sleep. It seemed to be a mixture of just waking me up because it sometimes has a stimulating effect and it wakes me up every couple of hours and it dries me out too much and being dry wakes me up. It's progress because it's mistakes and you learn. Just wish I learned a little faster. Not enough uninterrupted sleep to support enough data to experiment. plus, I'm usually not sleeping enough hours period, and when I do it's divided into afternoon nap and 3am to 9am naps. It's just not stable, plus it needs to be sleep for 9am to 5pm kind of job. The results from sleeping without Afrin are promising and It's lately occurred to me that I need to freshen up the water supply every time I wake up, if there's a possibility of me getting a bunch of hours sleep. I haven't paid enough attention to know hour many hours I have on a container full of water. My guess is 5-6. Wish I had a larger reservoir. Maybe there is a larger one that is compatible with that machine. Doubtful, but I'll check anyway. By the way, It's occurred to me that this paragraph is more about me needing to journal my thoughts out than a effort to derive further help from you. I will need that help eventually, hopefully soon, but it's more about me, kind of clearing my head. Despite the progress, it's still frustrating. Like the carrot is right there, but I can't seem to grab it. Oh...despite the lack of sleep, I have had 39 straight days of sub 5.0 AHI with only an occasions low clear airway apnea reading. The readings are almost always lower than four and there are quiet a few 2 AHI nights and four or five sub 1 AHI. I hear you saying, look for comfort. That's what I'm doing. I'm gonna get there.

Good...Glad it's working for you

I'm all for experimenting with that, but, apparently, this is and unstable time of year for me. Although it has calmed down some. allergies have been just bad enough to clog a nostril here and there. Despite that, I have not gone over 5 AHI in twenty days now. The problem is, it's usually not for more than a couple of hours at a time because if I use Afrin (which I feel I must, at this point) to unclog the one nostril, it tends to make it hard to sleep because it dries me out so much, the irritation wakes me up. I'm hoping for a change in allergy season that will allow me to breath better. I am willing to go along with the fixed pressure, but until I can get some extended sleep sessions, I don't feel like experimenting will bring us much good data right now. I see where you said you'll be gone for two weeks and it's only been 9 days so far. I'll send you some data, hopefully before you come back. Had 9 and a half almost uninterrupted hours last night with a 2.77 AHI. When I wake up, it's always with a clogged or almost closed nostril. If that didn't happen, I think I would have AHI under one. I string 2 hours without so much as a Hypop every once in a while. I feel like anything that's not perfect is me and not this near perfect machine. A better way to bring more moisture from the humidifier when I really need it would be nice. That's a pipe dream, not a request. So the machine is perfect, it's the humidifier that isn't. LOL. Thanks very much for the heads up on your sabbatical from the apnea site. You deserve time away from we cry babies. Oh...speaking of crybabies, I feel so embarrassed I though that guy was ripping me off by selling me a used machine at a new price. You were exactly right about it being information I entered myself. Thank you, I'm glad you remembered that I had done that.

Wow! Good point! I think I may have done that. Thanks! I'll look more closely, but this seems to be more logical than being ripped off for 500 bucks. I'll drop it, if I don't find something concrete.

I believe I've mentioned how I don't trust the guy who runs the medical supply store that I've been getting my cpap supplies from. He sold me a DreamStation for 1400 dollars and told me I was getting a good deal. He never told me he was selling me a used (possibly refurbished) machine. I'm not sure I'm right, but I started using this unit in the middle of September of this year, but there is certain information that goes back to 2010. If I have any recourse, I surely would like to force this guy to give me a proper discount since he was dishonest and since a used unit goes for so much less. Do you know, if I can prove that this is a used unit with the information I'm sending you. If not, can do you have any ideas on how I can find out. This guy keeps looking more and more like a sleeze to me.

I just looked back for the first time in a while. I haven't had much of value to send you because there's something about this change of seasons that's causing my nostrils to clog. I've been lucky to get two consecutive hours. My breathing is so erratic, it's hard to pile up usable data. Last night (hated to do it) I added Afrin to my allergy regimen. I slept for 6 and a half hours, but more telling is that I slept 5 hours in a row (minus a bathroom break). I am only using one squirt and only using it if a nostril clogs up. I used one squirt per notril last night. I had a 2.32 AHI which is the second lowest I've produced. I've had some lower numbers but I don't count a two hour nap. Last thing I want is to be dependent on Afrin. Hopefully whatever is in the Middle Georgia air right now is going to pass soon. If my nose is completely clear, I think i'm about a 2.0 AFI patient, which is obviously great. I'm not positive the Flonase is helping and may drop it. I certainly don't need to be on three different medications if I can help it. Hope YOU are sleeping well.

So right about comfort issue. It makes sense. Gotta figure out some way of getting more time out of it by being more comfortable. 1.99 AHI is not common. 3.4 is more common, but if I can manage to not get a clogged nostril, 1.99 is easier. I think my nostrils are always inflamed and it doesn't take much to close one up. I take Claritin D to clear my airway and because of some bad nights, I've added Flonase. I want to ditch the Claritin D and just stay on the Flonase, but since I just started on the Flonase, I'm not gonna rock the boat just yet. I'm open to any ideas on how to breath better on the machine. I just realized that there's enough room in my mask to use a Breath Right strip and I've been doing that with some success. Change of seasons has created a few congestion probs.

Just a little update: I've had a toothache that kept me all night, was babysitting daughter's two dogs and I'm mildly allergic, have had blockage in right nostril that wakes me up or doesn't allow me to sleep. I think the season change is part of it. True to form at this time of year, I'm getting slightly wheezy. All these things on a consecutive day basis has made data useless. This is not ordinary. I'm not gonna waste your time until I can get back to more normal sleep. It's just been weird. Still, I pretty much stay under 5 AHI when I DO sleep and generally, I have zero CAAs. Plus, I'm tired and don't feel like doing much. Not negative though. Counting my blessings. Anyway, I'll send you some data, when my sleep settles down. Meantime I'm unchanged: 9.0-11.0. No Bi-flex, no PS. Auto Bipap.