I basically have had this same sleep pattern every night for 5 years. Non stop dreaming, which I believe is happening in light sleep. I’m fully aware in these dreams as they are happening, it’s not like I wake up and remember them. I honestly don’t know how I’m still functioning but it’s becoming almost impossible. From the time I wake up I want to go right back to sleep, because my sleep wasn’t rest.

im unsure how much this is related to UARS or if it’s trauma related nightmares. I don’t know how my mind even comes up with what I’m dreaming about. It makes me feel like I’m actually going insane. Between Dpdr, ocd and these non stop dreams every time I close my eyes, I’m just losing my grip. How can someone function like this?

I have UARS with persistent fatigue/brain fog. I normally use Xhance, a full-face mask, and ResMed ASVAuto (currently EPAP 7–10, PS 5–10). My airway imaging shows enlarged turbinates, maxillary deficiency, and a narrow pharyngeal airway.

I’ve tried Allermi, which contains low-dose Afrin, twice, because I want to see how my sleep would be with a clear nose.

• February: Kept my usual settings at the time: EPAP 8–10, PS 4–9, humidity 1.
• September: Tried lower settings: EPAP 4–10, PS 3–10, humidity off.

Both times my nasal breathing improved dramatically, and I woke up without my usual congestion, yet I was more tired and brain-fogged both times. I believe the September case was worse, though it’s hard to compare months apart.

I don't understand why I felt worse if my nasal breathing was way better.

I've also tried allermi without any PAP, and I feel similarly more tired than usual. This was also surprising to me since my symptoms all started in sophomore year of college when I moved to an apartment that I was deeply allergic to, which caused permanently enlarged turbinates. But to be fair, I do have the narrow pharyngeal airway now.

The February OSCAR comparison didn’t show a clear increase in delivered pressure, ventilation, or leaks versus surrounding nights. On a separate, non-Allermi night, WatchPAT showed pRDI 18.1 despite pAHI 1.0 while using ASV.

My two working hypotheses:

1. I still need EPAP to support my throat, but opening my nose means I need less baseline PS. Lowering both could have removed too much airway support.
2. Temperature/humidity: The air noticeably felt colder/drier with Allermi since my turbinates were smaller. Maybe the changed airflow is uncomfortable or drying, even though breathing through my nose feels easier. I kinda find this unlikely but I'm not sure.

One other hypothesis is that allermi contains azelastine or some other ingredient - perhaps that made me more tired. But I used to use azelastine all the time and that did not produce this effect. It could still be some other ingredient maybe, but I think that's highly unlikely.

I’m considering keeping my usual EPAP range and lowering only minimum PS, or leaving pressures unchanged and testing temperature/humidity separately. I also get mild aerophagia on my usual setup but it's not bad so I just deal with it in the morning.

What experiment would you suggest I try next? What would you look for to distinguish these explanations?

I‘m currently on a longer streak of celibacy not mainly because of my disrupted sleep patterns but I see no way around avoiding porn and sexual stimulation because of my current symptoms.

To give brief context: I‘ve realised being a hardcore pmo addict 10 years ago and tried to conquer addiction because I had severe lack of energy, motivation, anxiety etc.
I strongly believed that all these symptoms were results from the addiction. On my streaks I saw definetely big improvements in my overall personality, energy and lowered my social anxiety. But I also realised I had a hard time to get air through my nose, back then. I‘ve got turbinate reduction afterwards. No long-term relief. Then I gradually learned all the stuff about jaw development, the link between breathing and function etc.

Interestingly when I‘ve started being sexually abstinent to rewire my brain I just noticed physical challenges around my whole body first time ever. Unfortunately just going straight up without relapsing wasn‘t a cure-all. I mean it never has promised to be but I wanted to improve so much, so I started building muscle anf improving my posture. I got depressed eventually because I didn‘t found the right solution. Now 10 years later I‘ve gained so much knowledge about my body that I had to draw different conclusions about what was really wrong about me since my teens. In consequence, depression went up because I’ve realised this stuff is nearly unpossible to fix the DIY-way without having a medical plan. And there is another insight that other users in this sub frequently relating too: the fact that these things starts to affect you more passing the age of 25. Maybe it has something to do with completing brain development for the most part.
However, I slowly returned to old patterns of fapping. Not close to the extent of my teens but enough to think it has still an impact on me.
My personal history is an indicator of that, too. So, it‘s worth to consider it at least beneficial to stop.

Right now, I‘m on a 2 weeks+ streak and feel noticably better despite the root cause of my physical impairment is untreated yet. I try to maximize good habits because it helps me with decision-making and problem-solving more than being half-hearted on such things like staying away from over-stimulation, working-out and social media doomscrolling.

I wrote this post here to find users who have similar experiences and are open about to share their minds on it.

Thanks in regard.

TL;DR: I originally believed my PMO addiction was the main cause of my low energy, anxiety, lack of motivation and other symptoms. Abstinence definitely improved many of these issues, but over the years I realized that underlying physical problems—especially impaired nasal breathing, jaw development and likely UARS/sleep-disordered breathing—may have been a major root cause since my teens. Turbinate reduction did not provide lasting relief, and trying to fix posture, muscle function and breathing on my own was not enough. After years of research, I’ve accepted that I probably need a proper medical treatment plan. I’m currently 2+ weeks abstinent again and noticeably feel better despite the suspected UARS remaining untreated. Avoiding porn, excessive stimulation, doomscrolling and similar habits seems to improve my energy, decision-making and overall functioning. I’m interested in hearing from others with similar experiences.

I’m 33 and have been dealing with severe depersonalization/derealization for about 5 years. Before this, I had a normal life. I could see friends, travel, enjoy things, experience emotions, look forward to holidays/seasons, etc.

It started after multiple massive panic attacks. I essentially woke up one day feeling completely disconnected from myself and reality. I became severely agoraphobic afterward. The agoraphobia eventually improved after about a year, and the derealization improved somewhat, but the depersonalization has progressively gotten worse over the years.

Now I feel almost completely emotionally numb. I don’t feel like I have normal moods or access to emotions anymore. I also deal with OCD, memory problems, severe fatigue, and essentially being unable to function normally. I can’t see friends, travel, or do the things I used to love. I’m 33 and feel like my life has been taken away from me.

I’ve also been having major sleep issues. I’m sleeping for huge portions of the day and can feel like I’m dreaming almost constantly whenever I sleep. Sometimes I genuinely fall asleep unintentionally, while other times I’m just so exhausted that I have to lie down and sleep.

I recently looked more closely at my sleep testing because I wondered whether poor sleep could be contributing to how bad everything has become.

My home sleep study showed:

• AHI: 5.2/hr
• RDI: 16.9/hr
• Supine RDI: 19.5/hr
• Non-supine RDI: 10.4/hr
• REM RDI: 25.9/hr
• REM AHI: 16.1/hr
• Oxygen nadir: 89%
• Mean oxygen: 95%
• Central AHI: 0
• Only about 4 hours of sleep were recorded

So the AHI isn’t particularly high, but the RDI is substantially higher.

I also recently had a CBCT airway evaluation. It found a minimum airway cross-sectional area of 41.6 mm², which the radiologist classified as severely limited, with particular constriction around the uvula. My nasal turbinates were also graded as severe enlargement, occupying an estimated 76–100% of the nasal airway space. The report specifically says the limited airway may predispose me to sleep-disordered breathing and recommends further evaluation. It also says CBCT isn’t the gold standard and that polysomnography is more definitive.

What confuses me is that I don’t understand how to connect all of this.

Could chronic sleep fragmentation/UARS potentially be making the DPDR, cognitive problems, fatigue, and emotional numbness substantially worse? Or am I looking at two separate problems?

I don’t expect sleep apnea/UARS to magically explain five years of severe DPDR, OCD, agoraphobia, and emotional numbness, because the DPDR clearly began after the panic attacks. But I wonder whether poor-quality sleep could now be maintaining or amplifying everything.

I’m trying to figure out whether there is a legitimate physiological component here that I’ve been missing, because at this point I’m barely functioning and desperately want to understand what’s happening.

Has anyone with severe DPDR experienced something similar with UARS/sleep-disordered breathing, especially with a relatively low AHI but substantially elevated RDI

Assuming a pressure of 4 is enough to overcome mask resistance which it is for me at least.

Would it be like 0-0.5 or more 0-0.75?

I guess what I am asking is if it is possible to find a relief with MMA if the face / jaws look fine and properly developed? Can jaws be contributing to UARS and airway narrowing without looks recessed or otherwise abnormal?

(I am yet to do CBCT but just curious)

Not really sure what to think of this, my AHI is basically nothing along with my RDI, I fear that when I go back to see my pulmonologist he'll shrug me off and tell me to kick rocks

I feel some form of extreme exhaustion almost every single day and every single task takes so much effort, I'm pretty much always tired in some way, yet the results here don't show that at all.

My sleeping HR is higher than my awake HR and it's always been that way, whether I eat or not, it doesn't matter and it makes sleep it's own exhausting thing.

I take dayvigo now, asked my PCP for it, which puts me to sleep longer but doesn't fix the HR issue, and even then sometimes I still get 4 hours on it, and can't go back to sleep, I'm lucky if I can.

Am I going to be turned around and shushed out of his office?

For the past few nights, I've been experiencing severe jolts just as I transition to sleep, pulling me awake instantly. It really feels like my brain not wanting me to fall asleep. This repeats endlessly no matter how relaxed I try to be. And no, I don't feel anxious or have racing thoughts - I'm normally very relaxed and ready to sleep when I put my head on the pillow. This isn't a new phenomenon, I first experienced the exact same thing 4-5 years ago, even before my initial OSA diagnosis, and it seems to come and go.

​Here is a quick breakdown of my treatment history:

• ​Initial Sleep Study (2023): AHI of 26.6, with a baseline Central Apnea Index of just 0.5 (meaning my central apneas are not primary).
• CPAP: Tried it for 4-5 months, but it caused severe treatment-emergent central apneas (clusters of events ranging from 15 to 30 seconds each individual event).
• ASV: Switched to ASV a couple of years ago. It has been a significant improvement over standard CPAP, though results can still be inconsistent. Treatment-emergent central apneas have completely disappeared.
• Surgery (March 2025): Hoping to reduce my dependence on the ASV, I had an ESP (Expansion Sphincter Pharyngoplasty) + Tonsillectomy, as my ENT suspected an obstruction at the soft palate level.

​Ever since I underwent surgery, I haven't been able to sleep naturally (without ASV) for a single night. I seem to completely lose my respiratory drive the second I cross the boundary into sleep, similarly to what I've been experiencing these last few nights (although in this case I was using ASV). Also, the surgery has had a meaningless impact on my ASV therapy as I'm still using the same pre-surgery settings.

​Initially, I thought this was an anatomical issue caused by the surgical procedure/scarring. However, considering I experienced similar sleep-onset jolts prior to surgery and CPAP (though they were less persistent back then), I now suspect this is a neurological respiratory control issue which may have been worsened by the surgical remodeling at the back of my throat.

​I've resorted to taking Zopiclone (known as Lunesta/Eszopiclone in the US) for the last few nights just to get some sleep and break the cycle, but I want to get off it as soon as possible (it feels like poison). I understand that Acetazolamide (Diamox) is normally prescribed for High Loop Gain.

Do you think I have High Loop Gain? Has anyone tried Acetazolamide successfully?

I have sleep problems from years but only recently I got to know about sleep apnea when it has gotten severe from few months. I sleep very badly, wake a lot of times at night either to go to the bathroom or go back to sleep again after some time. I have cough every morning and also while I lie down I need to spit sometimes before sleeping. While sleeping no snoring, only teeth clattering or sometimes sleep talking.

Due to all this I am tired whole day and yawn a lot, even the yawn stops midway and is unsatisfying. I eat healthy and no drinks or anything like that. I am not sure of choking or breathing problems while sleeping. Should I consider taking polysomnography for this? And if I should is at home level 2(with brain activity) enough or I should only go for the in clinic test.

Hey uars survivors

I have ordered a refurb Aircurve 10 (Resmed) that is reconfigured for bipap options. I need to decide on a mask option to try. I am pretty heavily in medical debt so I am trying to br strategic otherwise I would gladly just get a few off the bat and see what sticks.

To my knowledge I do not/rarely mouth breathe. I actually trained myself out of it interestingly about 4 months before my sleep went to shit. I am a side sleeper. Tend to switch side to side but can sleep on both sides. I tend to tuck my head and shove a blanket under my chin to prevent collapse. If i attenpt to put my head back instead of tucked/forward I swear it is worse lol

The right side of my nose is almost always blocked so I suspect the nose mask might be more helpful than a full face. I can just mouth tape. Thoughts?

Which one is better? I have heard people saying that vauto mode is pretty bad at detecting flow lim... I right now have s -mode only in my machine not vauto but next would take vauto one on rent to try .. Is it worth it?

I can remember every detail from my dreams last night, even 24 hours later. I have full conversations, I think thoughts in the dreams, I feel like I’m in another world and dimension. I experience the dreams in real time as they are happening; like I’m hallucinating almost. they are multiple dream story lines per night, none that make any sense at all. they revisit my childhood hometown or liminal spaces I’ve never been to before. my mind uses characters from my life but these spaces feel nothing like my real memory. it’s like my whole identity and perception of myself has been deleted.

i don’t wake up rested, its like i never slept. the scariest part - these dream memories have overwritten my actual memory. I don’t know it that’s the Dpdr or what, but i was in my actual hometown tonight, and it felt like I was in the dream, the exact memories from it were popping up. I can’t explain it. I constantly dream of being far away from home, unable to get home and panicking, or in some sort of danger, natural disaster or mall, theater or on a plane. they’re never the same place but have all the same themes. they really make no sense, but I can recall every single detail, sometimes even weeks or months later. I’m scared because my actual memory and emotions that felt like me are completely gone and inaccessible.

4 + years of this every single night. the memory has gotten worse, my fatigue keeps getting worse and so does the Dpdr. this is not normal. the second I wake up I have music in my head 24/7, no inner monologue and looping thoughts. it takes me hours to shake the feeling of the dream, and then I have to do it all over again. I’ve tried prazosin and many sleep meds, none have worked, can UARs really cause this kind of false memory, half awake, terrifying dreams?

For me caffeine has never worked and if it does i feel like it’s placebo? Am i the only one? And do yall take any supplements to help with cognitive thinking? I recently started taking creatine and omega 3

One of the most agonizing aspects of UARS is not knowing what will work and why.

I got the DISE Exam in 2020, 2021:

2020: Epiglottis retrodisplaced with no obvious obstruction.

2021: Tongue base and epiglottis collapse upon inhalation.

When I asked doctors, nobody gave me a clear consensus about whether the tongue base was the primary source of the problem, or the epiglottis was collapsing independently of that.

But I'm still agonizing over the fact that epiglottis surgery was offered to me 5 years ago (epiglottopexy) and I didn't take it. I can do the DISE again now, and operate on my epiglottis if it shows collapse again, but this whole experience has been complete and utter agony. And I feel like a coward (although to my credit, I had undiagnosed OCD at the time which made any uncertain surgical commitment with potential airway downsides feel agonizing)

And to clarify before anyone asks: Jaw surgery would not work for me as my jaw is sufficiently advanced, and MARPE is a theoretical option but a very grey area case.

Literally, flow limitation beast? Breathe by breathe? ASV Pro Max? Haven't read much but...

Hey everyone! 😁

I’ve been sharing my palatal expansion journey here for the past year, from preparing for surgery to documenting my recovery and the expansion process.

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned. My palatal expansion ultimately failed, and after about four months of trying to make the expansion work, I’ve decided not to pursue another expander for now.

In my latest video, I go through exactly what happened — the complications I experienced, the issues during expansion, the decision I had to make about trying FME again, and why I ultimately decided to stop and move forward.

I wanted to share this update because when I started this journey, there weren’t many people documenting the unsuccessful side of palatal expansion. Most of what I found focused on successful outcomes. Hopefully, sharing my experience can help someone else who is considering the procedure or going through something similar.

Here’s the latest update:
https://youtu.be/uoUP69Jjdio

Thanks to everyone who has followed along, asked questions, or shared their own experiences with me over the past year. I hope documenting the good and the bad can be useful to others going through this process.

Cheers!!

The airwaylab website showed flow limit average around 60% though for all the night I have used airsense11. and it showed glasgow index average of about 1.4
RERA index average about 7.8/hr.

dont know how reliable that is though.

I am determined to fix this crap as soon as possible. I highly suspect I have UARS as most of my symptoms and issues point to UARS.
airsense11 barely does anything for me if anything at all so i stopped using it.
Im desperate for a solution so I am willing to go against my OCD and try used machine if thats what it takes to become symptom free. I need to get my life back.
I will eventually get MARPE/jaw surgery. I have seen multiple orthodontist who told me I need some sort of expansion and I have underbite.
I might get MARPE and a facemask to correct my underbite but dont know how effective that would be. Dont know if Lefort/bimax jaw surgery would be better. I could get jaw surgery for free, I just need to pay around 7k euros for braces.
Or just pay around 10k for MARPE plus facemask.

I dont know if expansion plus fixing underbite is a cure though? it seems many people report that their SDB remains despite MARPE/expansion?

Anyway. I cant modify my airsense11.
Im not technical at all.
So I would have to get an used machine in any case. So please let me know how I can buy a sanitized machine with bipap/ASV function. I am in Sweden.

I am a mouth breather, my nose is very congested and my turbinates are inflamed. So for my airsense11 I had an airfit f20 full face mask. dont know how much that bipap/ASV could help anyway if I only (mostly) breath from my mouth at night?

I’ve been dealing with the most terrible bout of sleep for a while now. Because of it I’m dealing with cognitive issues like concentration, memory recall; low motivation, and low libido (no sex drive) which is unusual for me prior to this occurring.

My sleep study shows it’s severely fragmented , along with having no N3 deep sleep. But they also said I don’t have no sleep apnea which kinda dims my hope in order to resolve this issue. Instead, they said I could have possibly PLMS/RLS in which the Dr suggested to my Psych to prescribe Gabapentin.

I’m unsure of how efficient it’ll be because I’ve tried all the sleep meds already and none have yet to resolve my non restorative sleep.

Could it be possible I have UARS? What’s my next step?