Any help interpreting DreamStation data is appreciated!

[tb123]

Mornin' Everyone-

I've attached my Oscar results for the past 3 nights. I've increased both the min pressure and max pressure per suggestions I've gotten here (thank you!) but unfortunately nothing has changed in how I feel when I wake up, I still feel kind of tired (& have woken up with headaches).

I also noticed that last night my "periodic breathing" was one of the higher readings than I've ever gotten in that category, I'm not sure what this means exactly (though I can guess) or what it's attributed to.

Any thoughts or insights or suggestions are really appreciated.

Thank you!

[Dormeo]

Sorry you're still not feeling rested. Here are a couple of thoughts.

First, periodic breathing is just breathing with a pattern of waxing and waning. Occasional and short periods of PB are absolutely nothing to worry about. Just to check, could you zoom in within one of the PB areas until you get a 15-minute segment of your flow rate and then post it?

Second, you seem to have tolerated the increase of the minimum to 7 quite well, so how about increasing to 7.5? Your numbers are very good right now, but even so there may be room for improvement.

Third, I notice that you are still probably not getting enough sleep. I can also see that you have different bed-times on different nights. I know from experience that sticking to one bed-time can be hard, but could you give that a try? Also -- though this sounds kind of hippy-dippy -- if you don't already, could you try getting at least 15 minutes of exposure (including your eyes) to sunlight in the morning? And doing your best to avoid screens with blue light in the evenings? These two measures can help people get their "circadian rhythms" working better. Some basic information here:
https://www.nigms.nih.gov/education/fact...ythms.aspx

[tb123]

Dormeo, thanks again for your thoughts and response.

I definitely get sunlight (in the morning especially) whenever I can! I think that's really helpful. And I've been cutting the blue light exposure down and reading instead. As far as the inconsistent hours of sleep, sometimes I'll wake up an hour before the alarm goes off and take the CPAP off. Maybe I shouldn't do this.

As for the 15 minute increment of PB, I went to my Oscar data and there is the periodic breathing highlighted in green on the left, but there doesn't seem to be a graph called PB (there's Flow Rate, Pressure, Leak Rate, Snore, Tidal Volume, Resp. Rate, Minute Vent., Insp. Time, Exp. Time, AHI, and Time at Pressure).

Help?

[Dormeo]

I would leave the gear on and the machine running if you're staying in bed. That helps to strengthen the association between (sleeping in) bed and CPAP and weaken the temptation to start taking it off for more and more time. I have that temptation, so I know whereof I speak.... I'm curious: after you take the gear off, do you go back to sleep? Or mostly just lie there?

What I had in mind is that you zoom in to a 15-minute interval that you select somewhere within the period marked in green. But what we'll really be looking at is the flow-rate graph. But include all the graphs. To zoom in, place your cursor where you want to zoom in, and repeatedly left-click your mouse until you get the time interval you want. It doesn't have to be exact.

I'm glad to hear about the sunlight and the reading. You're way ahead of the game there.

[tb123]

A-ha! Ok, now that I know what you mean... hopefully this graph helps you to help me <cheesy smile>

Thank you!!

[tb123]

I hope inserting a "cheesy smile" wasn't offensive-- I guess it was my way of saying that getting all of this help without giving anything in return feels a little embarrassing or wrong.

Thank you for all of your responses and insights.

I feel a little less tired today... I included the 15 min interval (above) and last nights stats (on this post) to see if there was anything that stood out.

Again, thanks for all of your help, I didn't mean to be offensive. Sometimes what you're trying to convey online and what you mean are 2 different things!

[Dormeo]

I thought "cheesy smile" was funny! And it is very possible that other people will be helped by reading your thread. I have certainly been helped by reading about other people's experiences and how they solved problems they were encountering.

The periodic breathing is absolutely nothing to be concerned about -- just a little waxing and waning. There's a very specific form of periodic breathing called Cheyne-Stokes breathing that is associated with serious health problems, but this is most certainly not that.

I'm really glad you feel less tired today. There will always be good nights and lousy nights, but I hope you're on a generally improving trend here. Nothing stands out to me from this most recent chart. Do try to get more sleep with the machine on, but aside from that, steady as you go!

Keep us posted, would you, whether with problems or (I hope) updates on improvement.

[tb123]

Thanks Dormeo!

Here are my stats from last night... I won't post anymore stats after today (unless there's an issue), but just in case someone saw something in my data that might be helpful. For example, what do you think of the pressures (6.5 min to 15 max). Is there any reason why I should raise or lower either?

And stupid question: the calendar on the top left has opened up and takes up waaaaaay too much space and I can't figure out how to make it go back to collapsed! Does anyone know how to do that?

Again, many thanks!

[Crimson Nape]

tb123 - See the little arrow (triangle), pointing up, next to the day-of-the-week? Click it and it will roll up the calendar and change to pointing down, meaning show the calendar.

[Fedman]

tb123, I believe you would benefit from an increase in minimum pressure.  You were at 7 cm last week and I see you're back down to 6.5 cm.  Slight increases in min pressure will likely help clear up some of your hypopneas.  I suggest you go back up to 7 cm.  I wouldn't be surprised if you eventually need 7.5 or 8 if you want to get under 1 AHI.