Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
I'm sleeping in Galveston like a baby. At home, at 4750 ft, I have lots of apnea which my asv machine fixes mostly, though I do not sleep like a baby.
What is known of altitude-induced apnea? Are there other remedies besides CPAP/asv? If I duplicate the pressure at Sea level will my apnea disappear?
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
(06-17-2018, 01:26 PM)b.e.wilson Wrote: I'm sleeping in Galveston like a baby. At home, at 4750 ft, I have lots of apnea which my asv machine fixes mostly, though I do not sleep like a baby.
What is known of altitude-induced apnea? Are there other remedies besides CPAP/asv? If I duplicate the pressure at Sea level will my apnea disappear?
I'm confused… do you have different equipment in Galveston? (or, eek! you're not using your PAP at all?)
I've seen several threads of folks struggling with apnea that was exacerbated by high altitudes, so I encourage you to search for and read through them – not for fixes, but for knowledge and inspiration. (And the gurus who have contributed to those threads will be pitching in soon to help you as well.)
If you think about how PAP addresses your apnea, it will be obvious that you will need to re-program your machine when you go to Galveston (if that's a periodic trip you make), and if you go frequently, you might find it easier to have a Galveston machine and a Utah machine.
Hope that helps.
duh! You must have been asking for help with your therapy and it right over my head!
There may be some issues with your current level of therapy that are preventing your getting restful sleep – or it may be that it's just going to take some time for your body to recover from the privation it's suffered before you started therapy. Maybe the most effective approach would be to post SleepyHead charts of your sleep in Utah, and in Galveston. Let the gurus have some data to analyze.
Can you do that?
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
[attachment=6847]
At 4750 ft
[attachment=6846]
At sea level
I'm not after therapy advice, really, but I want to understand why my numbers, particularly my periodic breathing, went down so much here on vacation at sea level. I hope I have the attachments sorted correctly. It's a pretty big difference.
Bruce
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
This is from the Mayo clinic web site. "High-altitude periodic breathing. A Cheyne-Stokes breathing pattern may occur if you're exposed to a very high altitude. The change in oxygen at this altitude is the reason for the alternating rapid breathing (hyperventilation) and underbreathing." Don't know if that's what your looking for.
06-17-2018, 09:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-17-2018, 09:02 PM by Sleeprider.)
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
Wilson let me be the first to congratulate you on being the first person to post a Sleepyhead 1.1.0 chart for a Philips Respironics Dreamstation Auto SV machine on this forum. Your periodic breathing at 4700 feet is not that much. but it would help a lot if the summary statistics in the left column were available.
I think in both high and low elevation you need to increase the minimum EPAP pressure from 5.0 to about 6.5, and your PS range of 2-12 looks pretty good. So EPAP min 6.5, EPAP Max 9.5 PS 2-12. There are minor differences in using CPAP at altitude than sea level, however, the big changes seem to be when you approach 8000 feet MSL.
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
I did a quick calculation: to duplicate sea level at 4750 ft, I'd need 60 inches of pressure. Not gonna happen.
I'm thrilled to be using Sleepyhead. My thanks to all who helped develop and test it.
RE: Altitude-induced Sleep Apnea
(06-17-2018, 09:39 PM)b.e.wilson Wrote: I did a quick calculation: to duplicate sea level at 4750 ft, I'd need 60 inches of pressure. Not gonna happen.
I'm thrilled to be using Sleepyhead. My thanks to all who helped develop and test it.
Oh! Sadly, I a$$umed that you were in the Denver area.
<chuckle> That would, indeed be a challenge! And if that were necessary, would require equipment more like SCUBA than PAP.
Fortunately there are (so I've gathered from reading related threads) adjustments (tweaks?) that enable patients to experience the same level of therapy at a few measly feet above sea level and 4700 feet higher. That's what
Sleeprider is looking toward in asking for the screenshot of the SleepyHead chart rather than a clip of the graphs alone. (Much is derived from the Statistics and Machine Settings when evaluating the graphs.)
If I were qualified to offer advice, I'd suggest spending more time in Galveston.
