Hello! I'm new here. Here is my background:
-I'm in my late 50s, have lived at high altitude (~7,000 ft) for over 30 years.
-I've had two lab sleep studies in 2018, diagnosed with severe complex apnea.
-My AHI during the study while untreated was 43; on APAP and various BiPAPS was in the 60s and 70s. Dr. said I have treatment-induced central apnea.
-I sleep on my back due to chronic pain issues.
-I have been on a DreamStation APAP for two months.
-Started with Amara View mask (mouth breather) and got AHI down to an avg of 20 with pressure range 12-15. Mask sometimes leaked but not enough for the machine to record it as a leak. Silicon a bit uncomfortable.
-Pressure max was increased to 17, avg AHI went down to 18.
-Bought a wedge pillow, 7" tall, 16 degree angle, AHI avg went down to 12.
-Pressure issues caused the tech to decrease max pressure to 16, now not having as much air swallowing.
-Switched to Airtouch F20 mask with memory foam three days ago, small sample size at this point but had two great AHIs (5.5 and 6.6) and one high one (17.5) so far.
The most pressing issue now is that while the new mask had no leaks and is really quite tolerable, I now have an ugly red pressure sore on the bridge of my nose. I will likely need to use the Amara View a few days to let the sore spot settle down.
I loosened the top straps a tiny bit last night and had less strap marks, no increased noise signifying leaks, but I'm wondering if that caused the higher AHI.
Does anyone have a suggestion for something to help take the pressure off the bridge of my nose?
