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Thank you, BrainsNeedSleep!
Yes, the sleep study folks said that my numbers were low enough they didn't think I'd get put on a machine. My neurologist ordered oxygen for me right away while I waited to get to the sleep lab again. My pressure score was 16 but I was suspicious because the stupid mask leaked all night at the lab and I told them that. It was a nightmare. I got my machine programmed to 16 with a ramp feature but I thought I was going to die. It just didn't feel right. I couldn't sleep at all because I kept swallowing a ton of air and burping after each breath. I was persistent in asking for help and my neuro doc had my machine set to auto-titrate (between 8-16) and sure enough, my number usually sits around 10 on average.
I don't think I want to live without my machine. I slept fine until I had children #4, 5, and 6. About 20 years ago I began waking up a lot at night (with 3 kids under 3 I had to!) but once the kids started sleeping I was still waking. I thought I would get back into a good sleep pattern but never did. A couple years ago I was waking up 12-15 times a night and thought it was normal! I reported this to my primary doc and after asking me if I snored (I don't) he just gave me the normal advice for better sleep habits... which I tried to no avail.
So, after gaining weight... having my BP go up slightly... being exhausted every.single.day... I also began having muscle spasms.. and then occasional headaches. One got so bad I thought I was going to die so ended up in the ER. I kept almost passing out and my MRI showed those white spots in my deep white matter... so off to neurologist I go. I gave him all my symptoms and he carefully listened and said "I'm pretty sure you have sleep apnea." I was floored! He told me every single one of my symptoms pointed toward the apnea. We'd already ruled all other causes out. I encourage everyone to get checked form sleep apnea now. Wow... it can do some serious damage.
I recently began riding my mountain bike 5 days a week and I'm into week 4 now. I am building muscle and hopefully losing some weight. I have a TON of energy during the day compared to what I used to have and I can actually THINK clearly now. It no longer takes me an hour to fall asleep. I am asleep in less than 5 minutes. I no longer have to stay in bed for 10 hours to feel somewhat rested... I'm ready to hit the floor running after 7 hours! My machine is giving me my life back.... and if I can keep my tongue from drying up I'll keep singing too!!
Thanks and check out my reply to Dan up above... it explains the 4 things I've tried for this dry mouth...
Thank you, Dan. When I wrote my post my humidifier was set to 6 (out of 8) and had been for several months. My tube temperature is set to 82 degrees. I like warm air. It feels good. I made 4 changes: I read somewhere and can't remember where to turn my humidity down a notch, which sounded very counterproductive but I tried it for one night. It excessive dryness was definitely not worse and maybe just slight better. Second, I tried suctioning my tongue to the roof of my mouth. Third, I drank a ton of water each day. Fourth, I rinse with the Biotene morning and evening now and use a lozenge during the day at times. Each day my dryness has gotten progressively better and today is not distracting me like crazy. I'm the type of person that would normally try one thing at a time to find the actual solution but I was desperate and so tried everything at once. I "think" the position of my tongue and drinking tons of fluids probably helped the most. Turning down the humidifier is just weird, but I left it at 5. And I'm sure the humidifier works properly as the water is near gone in the morning.... OH, NOW I GET IT.... okay, so before I turned the humidifier down I was noticing that I was almost out of water each morning. I'm wondering if the water tank capacity actually can't hold enough water to moisturize the hose air for several hours in an already dry room? If the tank runs almost out then maybe I was getting humid air with a blast of dry air near the end of my sleep? Probably a good idea to humidify the room itself too. I was doing that over the winter but not this summer. Thanks!!
It is possible that you are now actually sleeping at night and in the morning you may be coming out of a deep sleep rather than a very light aleep. This would be something for your body to adjust to. The fact that you are more alert during the day is a good indicator of just that. I had a very hard time waking up the first couple or few weeks on my machine. I even slept through alarms which never had happened in my life! Give yourself more time! You're doing great! As far as the heat goes... I'm not sure what to say. Good luck!
Thank you!
Hi Everyone ~ I have been on my machine (APAP, I think?) for about 7 months. It was all going well until about 2 months ago when I started getting dry and it has progressively worsened. I'm dry all day now. My tongue and throat and mucous membranes all feel dried up. My ResMed app tells me that I'm not having mask leaks and I always get high scores (95 or more). The biggest problem is that I'm a singer and sing about 5 hours a week. Sometimes my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth! My sleep study scores were 5 episodes per hour during light sleep and 12 during REM sleep. I was really only prescribed the machine because my oxygen drops to 81%. My pressure is set to auto and it usually rests right around 10. I sleep with my mouth closed - I'm sure of it... but maybe I don't? My nose is always stuffy, so maybe not. But I feel SO MUCH BETTER being on the machine except for the dryness. I use a heated line and humidity. When the dryness got irritating I raised the humidity one point. I'm on a full face mask.... and have had no problems until this. I bought the Biotene rinse and tabs and am just trying those out. I'm not sure where to go with this. Any advice?
