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By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
#11
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
Thanx to all for the great comments...  Apologies for not getting back to this sooner.. We had family in from all points of the country..  Just glad it's over..    I am not a big holiday fan.. If we went from Oct 15th straight thru to Jan 16th, you wouldn't find me complaining..

Anyways..  With all that going on, I really only had time to make one small change to the CPAP.  The EPR setting was already at 3, so I left that..  I changed the MAX PRESSURE from 18 down to 10 and that seemed to help a LOT.. Normally I would get tired of fighting the CPAP so I would take it off for good about 0100-0200 hrs or so.. Last night, with the max pressure at 10, I was able to keep it on all night.. 

I am still pretty restless in my sleep......  Attached is a FitBit sleep analysis from the past few days.. The light blue denotes REM sleep, the blue denotes Light Sleep, the dark blue denotes Deep Sleep and the red denotes awake time.. 

"It's really not that complicated. I've got red in my ledger, I'd like to wipe it out."
-Black Widow, AVENGERS

One pleasant thing I discovered.. I had always thought I had to sleep flat on my back when using the CPAP.. Of all the sleep positions, laying on my back is my least favorite.. I discovered I could lay on my side and it had minimal to none impact on the face mask.  That was a welcome discovery...

I have installed the OSCAR software and can pull up the data from the CPAP...  Should I attach various screenshots?? Or is there a place to upload the data en masse??

 I'll be home all day and plan to devote most of it to addressing this...

Again, thanx for all the advice...


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
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#12
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
(12-26-2019, 04:17 AM)Hydrangea Wrote: Great advice in this thread so far, so I won't echo it.

To become at peace with my mask, I channeled some Star Wars mantras.  "I am one with my mask. And my mask is one with me." It's absurd, but I literally repeated that phrase until I fell asleep... until I felt more at peace about it, which took about a week.

Remind yourself you are not in danger.  Force yourself to look around your room and see 5 peaceful things. Think about the mask & machine, and think of 5 specific ways it is helping you (calming your heart, relaxing your brain, helping your lungs, giving you restful sleep, etc.).  

I started out with a very minimal mask (DreamWear), and that helped me.  I've now gotten to wearing a FFM and not being bothered, but that took time.

I have my wife rub my arm or some other sort of physical contact.. I find that it kinda grounds me in reality and keeps my mind from wandering to places I would prefer not to be...

It's effective, but not much help if it's 0200hrs and she is fast asleep..  Big Grin

(12-24-2019, 04:21 PM)mesenteria Wrote: Hello, fellow firearms user and soldier.  I don't have LEO history, but I was in the Canadian combat arms for 12 years and then switched to military psych (industrial/organizational, not the shrink stuff).


Hoooaaaaaa   Big Grin

(12-24-2019, 04:51 PM)snorybob Wrote: With minimum pressure set at 4 most people are air starved. If you set it at 7cm/h2o with EPR at 3 you'll be exhaling at 4. 

That might help you for now but the best way is to get a sd card, download OSCAR & let the pros guide you in the right direction.

To get go in the setting hold big knob & home button for 3 seconds.


                               sb.

Thanx for the hint.. It allowed me to get into the settings and at least lower the MAX Pressure which helped a LOT..  Big Grin
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#13
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
(12-24-2019, 11:29 PM)Dormeo Wrote: I'm so glad you're getting to use a friend's machine for now.  You should not have been asked to wait!  

Yea, the waiting is brutal... When they told me it was going to be at least a month or more, my heart (with it's brand new coronary arteries Big Grin) just dropped to the floor..

(12-26-2019, 04:54 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: G'day Michale32086. Welcome to Apnea Board.

A lot of people find their claustrophobia is reduced by wearing a less intrusive mask rather than the full face version. However that does require you to keep your mouth closed against the pressure - if the pressure rushes out your mouth it's not doing your airway any good. Some people adapt to this readily, while others (me) much prefer the full face.

Among all the other good advice you've received, I'd suggest you read the excellent mask primer

I'll check into that, thanx..

A lot of this stuff is kinda in a holding pattern til I see what I am going to end up with as far as equipment goes..

On the other hand, there is no such thing as too much information in this issue.. What I learn today will help me make better decisions tomorrow..

Jeeeze, I sound like a fortune cookie...  Laugh-a-lot
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#14
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
The most useful OSCAR data is contained in the Daily page. See here for the best way to organise the chart:
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization
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#15
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
(12-26-2019, 07:58 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: The most useful OSCAR data is contained in the Daily page. See here for the best way to organise the chart:
http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization

Awesome..  Thanx..  Big Grin
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#16
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
OK, let's see if this works.. Big Grin

Seem to be having a bit o trouble..  Keep getting error message that the file (jpg & png) is too large...

Reducing the image to meet space requirements causes the image to be unreadable..
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#17
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
Well, here is a temporary work-around..

http://sjfm.us/pics/Oscar26Dec19.jpg

"Now, I don't know what all that means.. But it sounds pretty bad."
-Tom Cruise, A FEW GOOD MEN

I have a tendency to resort to Movie/TV quotes whenever I find an opening.. Big Grin
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#18
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
What type of computer do you have Michale? Hi resolution screens tend to produce oversize files. If that's the case, try setting a lower screen resolution and/or using a snip tool.
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#19
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
(12-26-2019, 09:28 AM)DeepBreathing Wrote: What type of computer do you have Michale? Hi resolution screens tend to produce oversize files. If that's the case, try setting a lower screen resolution and/or using a snip tool.

Working off a Windows PC, Core i7 using a MAC 27" Monitor @ 2560x1440 res..

Ahhhh  I see my mistake..

I was using PRTSCREEN instead of F12....

DOH!!!

Big Grin

"This... Is much better.."
-Sandra Bullock, SPEED

Big Grin


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#20
RE: By Way Of Introduction... General Rookie Questions
Looking at your chart, a couple of things jump out at once:
  • As you mentioned in your introduction, your sleep is extremely fragmented, so we need to work on comfort and compliance so that you can string a few solid hours together.
  • You have the ramp set to 45 minutes, which is way too long. The idea of the ramp is to increase pressure gradually so that you're not hit with high pressure straight away. But you're already starting at 4.0 which is as low as you can go 6 which is pretty low, and the ramp prevents the machine treating apneas during the whole 45 minutes. Considering the number of sleep sessions you had, that's a lot of time you're not getting any therapy. I suggest you reduce the ramp time to around 10 minutes with a view to weaning off it completely.
  • Because you have EPR set to 3, you can probably afford to increase your minimum pressure to 7.0 or 8.0. The EPR drops the exhale pressure, so you're still only breathing out against 4.0 cm.
  • The machine is trying to get higher than the 10 you have set. Recognising you experienced problems at higher pressures, you will need to increase pressure gradually, maybe 0.5 cm per night until you reach a pressure that's reasonably comfortable but still quashes the apneas. If you do this gradually, your body will become accustomed the the higher pressure and it wont be so much of a problem for you. Having said that, if you're constantly going above 15 or so, then a bilevel machine such as an Aircurve VAuto might be preferable. There will be hoops to jump through to get one of those, so raise it as an issue with your doc at the first opportunity.
  • Leaks are generally under control and the other parameters don't look too bad.

FYI, the pressure is measured in centimetres of water, so although it feels like a lot, you're not really under high pressure. To get a feel for the numbers involved, take a tall glass of water and a plastic drinking straw. Insert the straw 10 cm (~4 inches) into the water and blow some bubbles - that's the maximum pressure your machine is currently delivering.

It's late here so I'm heading for bed. No doubt some other members will chime in with some additional thoughts.
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