Just google “SleepyHead app”. Works on Windows or Mac but not on a tablet or phone as far as I know.
Yup. I hate to tell you what I did but I had to take drastic measures. I taped my mouth shut, I insert a boil and bite mouth guard to hold my jaw in place and rigged a mouth strap to my wide chin strap (see profile picture). It really works. I have been doing this for a couple of months and now I can actually nap with the same rig but without the tape. I figure that in a month or two I will get rid of the taping altogether and then work on getting rid of the mouth strap. Small steps.
Good question about the CA worries. Maybe someone with more experience can weigh in here? I have a similar experience and my sleep doc didn’t seem worried even though I can feel absolutely terrible some days. I had an encouraging comment from CharmingSalmonSeaLion who told me that it took 4 yrs of compliant treatment on CPAP to rectify breathing/heart beat issues. Don’t worry about not sleeping through the night. You are still very early days. I used to get up as much as 8 times a night. I’m now down to 3 after 11 months on CPAP. Small steps I guess.
I can’t speak to the weight issue as I have been diagnosed with apneas but atypically am not overweight. I would suggest however that you google “untreated apneas”. Among other things you will find “Left untreated, sleep apnea can have serious and life-shortening consequences: high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, automobile accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel, diabetes, depression, and other ailments.”. I have heart issues that were likely caused by untreated apneas. I strongly encourage you to take the advice of your sleep doc and do everything that you can to eliminate your apneas.
Thanks for the encouragement. I never dared to hope that I would ever resolve my heart issues by resolving my sleep problems. I thought I would end up with an ablation of the AV node and a pacemaker. I hope you’re right. I plan to discuss with my cardiologist.
Hello everyone. I’m thefroggydude (TFD). I posted a short while ago without introducing myself here first. Probably not good form so sorry about that. I’m in my late 60s and in good physical condition even though I cannot exercise due to heart rhythm issues that can be induced through either aerobic or anaerobic exercise. I used to be very active as a long distance runner (including 1 marathon in 2002), skier, sailor, swimmer, etc. I have had several immune system disorders as well as the heart condition previously mentioned. I saw my first sleep Dr June , 2018 and have been on CPAP ever since. After an at home sleep study he diagnosed me as having complex apneas including both obstructives and centrals. I worked with his clinic for 2 months after which he referred me to another clinic that did an overnight study. Long and short of it is that I have been determined in my quest to find solutions to my problems. The AHI of my first study was 19 and the 2nd study was 33. I have been 100% compliant for 11 months. A few months back I discovered how to access the clinical menu on my machine and was introduced to the SleepyTime app. I have been experimenting with different masks and have used 3 different CPAP machines (2 ResMed, 1 Respironics). I have managed to get my AHI down to an acceptable level (between 0.80 and 3.5) but I still have days where I struggle to function due to exhaustion. My apneas (mostly centrals now) can come in swarms and this often leads to a poor outcome next day. I believe that my heart condition and centrals could be related but have not yet been told so by either my cardiologist or my sleep specialist. I have read some posts here and find them very interesting and informative. I read posts by people who have similar issues as mine and it’s nice to know that I am not alone in this quest for good sleep health and a more active lifestyle again.
I don’t know if this thread is still active but I am very interested in this subject. I have been diagnosed with complex apneas including OA and CA. I’ve been on CPAP for 10 months. I found that by using a nasal mask, a boil and bite mouth guard, surgical tape over my mouth, a chin strap and a tight strap over my mouth I was able to reduce the obstructives considerably. My Dr prescribed Pulmicourt in a nasal rinse before bed and I take 1/4 Zopiclone per night. My AHI is down from a max of 33 to between 0.80 to 3.5 at present. I turned on the EPR which almost eliminated the obstructives and hypopnia completely but increased the centrals. I track my results daily with the SleapyHead app. I can get up to 8 centrals per night lasting up to 29 sec but typically around 15 sec. Since the EPR setting (3) has reduced my AHI and obstructives specifically should I not continue with this setting? Should I be more concerned with the increase in centrals or is this an acceptable level? I know that I should be asking my doc these questions but she doesn’t seem to have much time for questions.
