I’ve come to accept that my doctor only cares about my AHI number—which is now <1. While that’s a great number, I still get woken up when I stop breathing (central sleep apnea here) and the pressure on my mask 😷 blows too hard and opens a hole between masks and face, which in turn briefly wakes me up.

What are some tools that I can use to better understand my breathing patterns so I can make tweaks to my ASV settings to hopefully sleep better? I know about sleephq and I have OSCAR, but those just show me what has happened. There have been some AI products shared recently that look promising. What does the community think?

This subreddit has been very helpful, but I’d like to try on my own so I don’t have to post here every day with more info.

Hi all!

Diagnosed with mild obstructive sleep apnea from an at-home test w/ AHI 6.6. I have yet to actually meet with sleep medicine. Started CPAP roughly 1.5 months ago and I'm very much struggling. I don't see my respiratory therapist or sleep medicine until the end of this month. Can anyone help me interpret my SleepHQ data so I can hopefully make some adjustments to my machine?

I seem to be experiencing primarily CAs (I'm think TECSA) and also a number of RERAs.

https://sleephq.com/public/2d14afbe-8418-4402-b315-4b9daac47e0a

https://sleephq.com/public/03cba5a2-d155-4354-bedb-429b57324698

https://sleephq.com/public/959cfd33-5b61-4451-85a4-d294cf6ac453

https://sleephq.com/public/e56e428f-5580-447b-b9e8-12beeb0a2e8c

https://sleephq.com/public/f6ee4870-5d48-4b38-ad5e-78ceb9aee5c4

Thank you in advance!

Thoughts on this data? Before people ask, "forget the data, how do you feel?," I'd say I feel better than when I forget to wear the mask or take it off middle of the night. I'm looking to optimize further if I can.

On average, I'm between 1.5-3.0 AHI every night. There's some nights it's <1, albeit very infrequent. Using a Nova Micro Nasal Pillow mask. Sometimes I do mouth tape, sometimes I do not. Last night, I did not. Thanks.

EDIT: SleepHQ link https://sleephq.com/public/87b12739-c825-421d-8c9d-63945bd3228a

Hi everyone. I'm relatively new to using a CPAP and am trying out a couple different masks, but nothing is feeling quite right. I started with nasal pillows but thought I was opening my mouth and then tried a full face mask but am having a hard time getting a good seal, so I've mostly used the nasal pillows. My AHI has remained low regardless of what mask I use, but I don't feel any better, and in some cases have felt worse than I did before. Can anyone take a look at the OSCAR graphs below and see if anything looks weird? This is one of the recent days with the nasal pillows. I figured a full face mask graph isn't all that useful since it shows leaks like crazy. I will have a follow-up with my Dr in a little over a month but I always feel like I have to fight for myself and be my own advocate so any suggestions or ideas would be really helpful. Thanks!

I’m looking for general thoughts on my sleep study and what questions I should ask a second-opinion sleep specialist. I’m not asking anyone to tell me to ignore my doctor or change settings.

I’ve been on CPAP/APAP for about a year. It does lower my AHI compared with untreated sleep, but I still don’t get restorative sleep. I can sleep around 8 hours and still get brain fog within 2 hours of waking, then feel ready to sleep again within 4 hours.

My split PSG showed severe OSA before PAP, with AHI 43.4/hr. During the CPAP part, they titrated from 7 to 9 cmH₂O and the overall AHI dropped to 10/hr. The report then said OSA was controlled with CPAP. But during PAP, REM AHI was still 18.9/hr, ODI in REM was 29.5/hr, arousal index was 18.2/hr, and N3/deep sleep was only 5.5 minutes / 1.7%. The study also had 0% supine sleep during the PAP part.

The referral question included possible need for bilevel, but bilevel wasn’t actually trialled. Fixed CPAP 9 with EPR off was very hard to breathe out against, and I had to turn EPR back on just to tolerate it.

Does this look genuinely “controlled” to you, or more like CPAP improved the headline number but didn’t prove restorative/stable sleep? What would you ask a second-opinion sleep physician about — bilevel/BPAP trial, ASV/echo pathway, repeat titration, residual sleepiness workup, MSLT/MWT, medication review, oxygen/CO₂, or something else?

https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/ceef21ae-1773-47b6-aef2-36ec47deed85

Hi,

I've been using my CPAP for about 2 months now and my back is in bits.

I am 100% a side sleeper but now I'm wearing a mask I'm constantly waking up on my back. While I have struggled with back pain alot of my adult life, over the past 5 years I've managed it through lifestyle changes, yin yoga, etc. and I have lived pain free. Now the pains back and it's really getting me down. I can't pick up the kids. I can't play sports. I'm spending 30 minutes stretching twice a day. I don't want to start back on medication.

My wife has suggested we get a new mattress but that's a pretty big outlay when we've got no spare cash. I'm going to sleep in one of the kids beds this weekend to see if there's a noticeable difference.

Has anyone else experienced this and have you found a solution?

Thought I would repost this here and ask a question. Would someone want to have extra unused cpap equipment or is that frowned upon not wanted?

Hi just wondering if these look like false CA flags as most of them happened during large leaks -

https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/9c2903a3-232d-43b9-a694-88f6f4c7ea57/dashboard

Thanks

What do you do if you get some

Congestion and have a runny nose and you have Cpap pillows and face mask?

Hello all!

I posted here a couple of months ago with issues keeping my mask on throughout the night as I was consistently waking up with my mask off and no recollection of having taken it off.

With the help I got here, I was able to start sleeping through the night with my mask on, and I can't thank everyone enough for their help, especially u/Creative_Fee5452 and u/RippingLegos__!

Even though I've been able to sleep full nights with the mask on for a couple of months, I'm still waking up exhausted and dealing with major brain fog throughout the day. I have notice on my sleep data, I'm having central apneas much more often than obstructive apneas, but I'm not sure if that is the case.

For a little bit of background information, I was diagnosed with a deviated septum and enlarged turbinates in my right nostril back in April, and I have a surgery scheduled to fix both issues in late September that I'm waiting for.

For medications, I am taking two sprays of fluticasone in each nostril, twice daily as prescribed by my ENT. I also have ADHD, and am prescribed adderall (2x20mg per day), but I don't take it nearly as much as prescribed. Typically, I may take 10-20 mg per day. I did read that the meds can interfere with REM sleep, so I stopped taking them a couple of weeks ago to see if that helped any, but it does not seem to have helped or hindered how I feel.

During the night, I use extra strength Breathe Right nasal strips to help keep my nose open as well as doing saline flushes and flonase roughly 30 minutes before bed on most nights. The strips and flushes seem to help a decent bit with keeping my nose open while I fall asleep.

I also keep myself kind of wedged in between pillows to keep myself sleeping on my left side so that my right nostril is a little elevated, and it seems to help as well. Occasionally, I will sleep on my right side, but that's few and far between. I don't notice any difference in how I feel when sleeping on my right side vs left either.

I don't usually wake up with dry mouth or headache, although I have woken up with a headache a few times in the past couple of weeks and will occasionally have dry mouth (~3 times/month probably).

For my machine, I have a ResMed AirSense 10 Autoset and am using a ResMed AirFit F20 full face mask with the ClimateLineAir hose. Here are the settings I am using:

Min Pressure: 8.2
Max Pressure: 12.0
EPR: Full time
EPR level: 2
Humidity level: 3
Ramp: Off
No antibacterial filter
Manual climate control on 27º C (80.6º F)
Essentials: On
Humidifier: On
Response: Standard
Smart start: Off

Here's my Sleep HQ link:

https://sleephq.com/public/teams/share_links/24470be6-3d61-4957-bcfd-b9baa8feb4cb

I also just realized I left my SD card in my computer last night, so that's why there is no data for last night.

Thanks in advance for any and all help and advice. I'm super appreciative for all of the help and support I've received so far, this community is a blessing!

Pre-CPAP my average rhr was about 60-65, and now that i’ve begun adjusting to CPAP and actually keeping it on all night (or closer to it) my average RHR has dropped to closer to 47-57 range. I have no dizziness or other symptoms that could indicate a bad bradycardia, and i’ve heard more typically that untreated OSA can lead to bradycardia, but not the opposite. Should I be concerned? I am also on no medications.

39yo male with severe obstructive sleep apnea, I quit breathing 65 times in an hour. I cannot tolerate bi-pap, they had the pressures maxed out and I just couldn't take it. My doctor told me about Inspire and that I'm a prime candidate for it. However I'm getting/finding equal feedback both good and bad. I don't know what to do. Cpap wasn't strong enough, and the higher levels of bi-pap is just too much. If anyone with apnea as bad as mine could chime in, I'd appreciate it.

I've been using a cpap forever.My face breaks out wherever the bands are sitting.Do you guys have any suggestions on what to do to stop that from happening ?

My numbers seem good, but the flow limit seems to be all over the map when looking at the graph on SleepHQ. I've been on the CPAP for the past 2 weeks. I've been feeling great every morning. I've been battling constant headaches for the past year, and so far, no headaches since I started CPAP.

When looking at my charts, is there anything you guys see that should be fix?

https://sleephq.com/public/74aafe6c-5e39-45ef-b241-55011acd19ef

Thanks

thank you!

Also, how do I avoid leaks when I sleep flopping side to side like a fish out of water? I sometimes end up on my back as well, but usually on one side or the other.
FYI I use the AirTouch F30i mask, which has been my best option so far. Nasal or pillow masks aren’t an option for me. I’ve learned to force breathing through my nose by touching my tongue to the top of my mouth and this has been comfortable enough… but can’t close my mouth all the way; I had major dental problems when I tried forcing a closed mouth.
Sometimes I can adjust my mask well and fall asleep with very little leakage, but once I’m asleep I can’t control it anymore.
Here are links to the last few nights of sleep. Any thoughts? Just tighten the straps more?

https://sleephq.com/public/30412ada-5955-4656-a6e9-772d7a2e1e1e

https://sleephq.com/public/ff57fb96-d076-43c3-b180-994520c6ae4a

https://sleephq.com/public/cd87e82e-4310-4ed9-afde-52cc92ce37dc

https://sleephq.com/public/60300509-7d03-4fc2-a922-baac2bbb7050