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If someone has had a proper sleep study then the pressure they are prescribed is the minimum required to keep them breathing properly. Lowering the pressure will almost certainly induce some level of obstruction - that's precisely why it's set as it is. It would be very unwise to adjust the pressure without consultation with a sleep physician. It may reduce mouth leak and it may make CPAP more comfortable, but it won't be properly controlling the OSA.
The range of machines and masks you have to choose from depends very much on the facility you go to. I can tell you that all modern CPAP machines are basically the same. They all quiet, roughly the same size (with the possible exception of a Fisher & Paykel being smaller if you use a humidifier) and all have the same range of functions.
The most important thing is to ask lots of questions and make sure that you get all the support you need. Support is often crucial for first time CPAP users, so ask all the questions you want and get the best setup for you.
Which mask do you have currently?
Is the bleeding from inside your nostril? If so, humidification can help with this. If you do not have a humidifier, try one, and if you do hae one, make sure it is correctly adjusted.
Did your old machine look like this legacy series or like this PR series? Newer models have a function called Bi-Flex, which may be causing what you describe. If you take it back where you got it, they should be able to check if it is on and turn it off for you without any trouble. It is not dangerous in any way to turn it off, and may indeed improve your treatment.
You say that you hate "the mask" but there is a huge variety of masks available now. What have you tried? Finding just the right one for you can make the world of difference. It sounds like your symptoms are pretty severe, so it may be well worth your while investigating what can be done to make CPAP more usable for you. You can pick up a new CPAP machine from http://www.secondwindcpap.com/ for as little as $250 USD, less if you're OK with second hand.
Hi I just wanted to make sure that you are aware than strokes are one of the main results of untreated OSA. It may not have been the reason that you had your previous stroke, but it certainly increases the chances of you having another, more severe, one. Also, even mild sleep apnoea can greatly affect your memory. So, in general terms, it would be very wise for someone in your position to persist with CPAP as much as possible, especially given that you are relatively young. CPAP could have a massive and beneficial impact on your quality of life over the next 50 years. Also, it is not unusual for people with mild (or even very mild) OSA to be very symptomatic, but it may well be that case that there are other things causing this in your case as well as OSA. Best of luck.
HeatherWeather, research has well established that a small proportion of people with severe OSA are subjectively asymptomatic, so it's not unusual that you should have a very bad result on your sleep study but not feel tired. It is also no surprise that you do feel tired after having commenced treatment. An AHI as high as yours will (128.1 events/hour) will have been causing massive sleep fragmentation. You are supposed to pass through the different stages of sleep in a particular pattern, but because your sleep is disrupted every 30 seconds when you start breathing again, your sleep pattern will have been broken into tin pieces and you wont have been getting the extended periods of deeper sleep and REM sleep that your brain needs and craves. When you start using CPAP, that impediment to your sleep is suddenly removed and what often happens is that your brain tries to make up for lost time by having way more of the sleep stages it has missed out on than it should normally have in a typical night. This is know as rebounding. This can leave you feeling very tired and groggy for the first few days or weeks and is one of the reasons why we always tell people that improvement is usually a gradual process rather than instantaneous. Let us know how you are getting along in a month or so.
Without knowing the exact make and model of your mask, I'm assuming that your mask has 2 prongs which seal against your nostrils. If you want a similar style, you could look at the Respironics Dreamwear mask. Rather than explaining it, I will suggest that you simply google some pics to get an idea of how it works. There is a version that sit under your nose but without the prongs. It may help.
Good advice. Sleeping in a chair can be very helpful. Also remember that, in general terms, the damage that OSA does is cumulative over the long term (gradually building up over years) and that a few weeks, or even months, waiting shouldn't put your husband at any greater risk.
