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Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies.
Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
dfabro, If it were me I'd set the minimum pressure to 10cm maximum pressure to 20cm and EPR to 3cm. I'd also try using a soft cervical collar which you can pick up at any drug store or online. I'd also invest in low flat pillow made of either wheat husks or shredded foam. These seem to help to keep the head and mask from moving.
Advisory Members serve as an "Advisory Committee" to help shape Apnea Board's rules & policies.
Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
10-05-2018, 11:55 PM (This post was last modified: 10-05-2018, 11:57 PM by mesenteria.)
RE: AHI fluctuating from very low to high
(10-05-2018, 04:16 PM)sheepless Wrote: "Listen to Sleeprider."
I understand brevity mesenteria, even though I'm no good at it, so no offense intended. I find your postings informative and useful so I surely don't mean to pick on you. in fact, in my mind the following is addressed to all of us. please read this as an attempt to be positive and supportive, the spirit in which it is intended.
so I'll risk being a not-so-humble jerk: we all know Sleeprider is "the man" around here and deservedly so, but let's give credit when and where credit is due: "listen to Sleeprider, OpalRose and sheepless", each having given virtually the same response in reverse order.
I would have said this even if I hadn't posted to this thread, although I wouldn't have if I'd been the only other one. I completely understand it's not always possible to remember all who might be credited, or practical to even try, but even "and others" is good to the extent that it acknowledges that even though Sleeprider is head of the class, there's more than one helpful member here.
SarcasticDave had a quip that I don't remember exactly: something to the effect that even the something squirrel gets the nut sometimes. you get the drift.
kick me now for being a jerk and get it over with.
No harm in offering constructive criticism, sheepless, and thanks for your reminder that others might have offered much the same advice prior to Sleeprider's contribution. I went back and read more comprehensively and note that OpalRose also mentioned the use of a cervical collar, as did you. So yes, I agree, where it is right to be justly inclusive, I should do so.
Hello, first I just want to say thank you to everyone for all the advice, it was very helpful and I was able to successfully sleep well tonight using the information I got from here; I only had 0.8 events per hour. Secondly I was asked about my sleep study info and a screenshot of data on a day it was low so I am uploading that here in an effort to get any more additional advice you may want to give me from this info; Also you may notice I'm only sleeping for around 4 hours or less, this is not common it's because I'm on vacation and I am partying until late and for some reason my body is wired to wake up at around 5-6 am like clockwork.
I would also like to say that I change my settings from a minimum of 9 to a maximum of 20 like most suggested and noticed from the machine that my pressure was around 16 for most of the night. I also noticed that on the screenshot i just uploaded for nights it was low it was still at its Max pressure. My sleep study had recommended between 4-11 but it would seem I may need a higher pressure?
I appreciate this so much and I am so glad I found this forum.
PS: In my country we don't have sleep clinics or doctors, so I had to travel for this study and to buy a cpap machine, the nearest country was Mexico, so the study was done in Spanish. I'm sorry if this makes it difficult for you to read the results and may prove to be unhelpful. I do appreciate all the help already.
dfabro,
Even though you are on vacation and partying, the drop in AHI with the pressure change shows an impressive difference.
Your median pressure was around 14, and you may need a little higher minimum pressure in time, but I wouldn’t change anything until you are home from vacation and back to a normal routine.
Remember that sleep studies are one night in time. The recommended minimum pressure of 4 rarely works for most folk. And keep in mind that AHI readings can vary from night to night.
Good luck! Come back after you are done partying and after you have a few days data, go ahead and post another graph.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
If you do not mind, I would like to return to the discussion about 'who to listen to'. If new to a thread or returning after a long lapse like recently, I do read threads from the original post and felt in this case Sheepless had said it all in his first reply and very appropriately.
That said, I do not have any problem with reading posts saying the same thing and feel that it would be helpful for the OP to know that many are of the same view. For myself that is reassuring and affirming.
I concur with others about needing to raise your upper limit, the neck collar and also learning the tongue technique to keep the pressure going down the throat and not out through the mouth.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.