How to reduce my events while using my Cpap

Thank you all for your comments. It’s a little disheartening to work with this “CPAP solution” for apnea. As noted by some of your comments and my own experience me thinks the CPAP machine may not be akin to exact science.

Raising the pressure by 1 reduced my events the past 2 days to 2.7 and 2.7 so far so good.

The idea that events correlate with REM sleep may be why mine go up from time to time. There seems to be no correlation between mask seal and events, at least in my case. I have a full face mask, and try to breath through my nose. If I breath through my mouth with the mask on, will that increase my chances of having more events?

Welcome @eckjr, I also have a full face mask and try to breathe through my nose when I'm conscious. I used to focus on the mask seal but like you I still get lower AHI numbers with not so good of a mask seal. I do try to sleep on my sides as much as my aching hips and arms allow. I notice my AHI is a little higher on nights where I've spent more time sleeping on my back which I'm thinking correlates with more mouth breathing. I'm thinking about getting a nasal mask and using a chin strap to see if that helps some. I'm used to my full face mask but if I tighten it too much I get some pain on the bridge of my nose.

I used to have a lot of problems with nasal breathing which was due to a clogged nostril most of the time. About a year ago I was doing a morning/evening nasal rinse which helped keep my nostrils open and made it easier to breath, then six months ago I switched to using a SinusSonic device which has helped me with my breathing and keeps the nostrils open as good as if not better than using a nasal rinse. Plus I like using it a lot better than doing the nasal rinses. Here's some information on the topic:
-- A novel device combining acoustic vibration with oscillating expiratory pressure for the treatment of nasal congestion:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7317541/.

I find that my sleep medicine PA or doctor are very helpful when it comes to questions I've had. Are you able to discuss the question with your doctor?

My father finally has a good seal with his AirTouch F20 face mask, but he had 17 events last night. He sleeps on his back with his head raised. We are wondering if lowering his head will help. I'm not sure if we're going to be able to get him to sleep on his side. I appreciate any advice you have, it is next to impossible to get any assistance from Lincare.

Hi @tsal, Welcome to Connect. Thank you for being an advocate for your father. I've used a CPAP for about 5 years now and always used to be concerned about having a good seal with the mask. I'm not so sure that it has to be a perfect seal anymore as I've had good and bad AHI numbers when my mask had a good seal and when it had a bad seal. I do think a lot of events can be due to sleeping on the back. I'm normally a side sleeper but have had shoulder joint pain issues that make me sleep on my back and my events are usually higher when I have to sleep on my back. It might be due to the pressure settings on your father's CPAP. Here's some information on the topic:

--- CPAP Pressure Settings: https://www.sleepfoundation.org/cpap/cpap-pressure-settings

Is your father able to discuss the pressure settings with his sleep medicine doctor or care team?

Sleeping on your back narrows or closes your throat and causes higher episodes. The healthiest sleep is on your right side.

Thank you for your responses! Previously my father was getting a terrible seal. The air steadily flowing out of his mask when it ramped up was waking my mother.

My father's events went down to 6.8 last night, so I think we may need to allow a little more time. We'll discuss a higher pressure setting if his events go back up.

My spouse also sleeps on his back with his head raised. Would it help to lower his head (or raise it)? This question wasn't answered.

I used to sleep on my side. Ever since having a stroke, however, I sleep flat on my back.

In my case, the flatter the better.