Don't have a dr, I have a nurse practitioner who comes to my house. I'm semi-homebound. I'm on medicare but they won't cover cpap stuff for me without a new test. Had an in-home test done but they required 6 hours straight of sleep to qualify for a test and I woke up with chest pains after 2. So basically I'm screwed on that end. I am very overweight and need to lose weight but when I'm so zapped for energy it's very hard.Pugsy wrote: ↑Thu Apr 12, 2018 7:53 pmIt's not feeding the leaks. These machines don't feed leaks and in fact Respironics machine reduce pressure if it senses a large leak (remember it's the machine's large leak territory it uses).
The machine isn't up to the job at this point because obviously 20 cm isn't holding the airway open well enough.
Now why it seems to now not be working well when in the past it did work quite well...that's an unknown at this time.
It's too long of a bad cluster to blame it on REM since most REM cycles don't last for 2 hours.
Something changed...don't know what changed but something changed.
If it can't be sorted out with something simple...like maybe a cervical collar or making absolutely sure no supine sleeping...he's going to for sure need to see his doctor.
I suggested the cervical collar because its cheap and easy and sometimes it works...and it's a lot cheaper than a doctor visit, a new sleep study which I pretty much can guarantee the doctor will want to do and the cost of a new machine.
Will it work? I have no idea but it's worth trying because it's obvious this isn't working.
I suspect he will eventually need to be seeing his doctor but this is one situation where I hope I am wrong. Nothing would make me happier to find out that a $10 cervical collar makes a huge difference.
I thought I did write about using a cervical collar. I searched around for things I could do on the cheap and that was something I've seen mentioned a ton. I also know I am a mouth breather and also noticed waking up with my chin on my chest. The cervical collar did almost completely get rid of my apneas the first night, I believe.
I think this was with the cervical collar and the Liberty Hybrid Nasal Mask. I was having a lot of leak issues with this mask with my congestion and possibly/probably the cervical collar?
This was the next night
What alarmed me here was moving from obstructions to a lot more hypopneas and periodic breathing.
Here's a night with only 1 OA recorded.
Beyond doing the cervical collar and getting new equipment out of pocket, I've also been trying to do a bunch of these exercises. No idea how effective they could be but I figured they couldn't hurt to do.
http://www.sleep-apnea-guide.com/tongue ... apnea.html
P.S. Thanks for all the thoughtful and excellent replies. Surprised to see this is 3 pages but I noticed there was some drama going on. Hope all is good now. I truly appreciate the insight provided here.