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[CPAP] At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
#31
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
srlevine1 

Thanks for your comment .

Ive been wondering about which sleeping position I should try to use , Ive tried to sleep with a mask on lying on my side and also lying on my back. I found that lying on my back feels more comfortable , but I’m not really sure which sleeping position is best while wearing a mask .

For the first time last night I wore a full face mask.


Ben.

.

 
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#32
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Well last night I wore my full face mask for the first time and this is the OSCAR results, Any thoughts or suggestions would be most welcome.


Ben .

.


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#33
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Personally, I would up the top-end pressure to 12 to get a better feel for a good range since it appears that you are spending most of your time in the 9s. Leaks looking much better.
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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#34
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Hi Ben,

Well, things start looking clearer with leaks down dramatically.

As a general rule I believe it is best to let things settle for a couple of days before changing settings, but Srlevine is absolutely right, put max up to 12 to see where it leads. If the algorithm doesn't it, it won't go there.

You have a total of 6 obstructive events. If you look carefully, you will see that there are 4 "clumped together" which have caused your pressure to hit the limit set; then the pressure fell back down again. 

This clustering of events is a tell-tale sign of positional apn(o)ea,  (Brits.)

No amount of machine pressure pressure can deal with this. 

For me the magic bullet to cure this was to never never sleep on my back, as my tongue falls back under gravity on the soft pallet blocking the airways. Others talk of "chin tuck" and soft  collars to deal with this. 

But it's really early days for you and may be just a one-off event, so nothing to worry about. 

Just keep an eye on it now you start having good clean data. Obviously data is only part of the quality of sleep quest.

Just 3 centrals, but early days as usually settles down in time. 

You have had a shortish night,  it here again, should gradually improve. I find that a really light bite to eat in the evening helps, and avoid too much TV or computer work. 

Otherwise a really good start.
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#35
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Ben,
Your doing great!  Your Flow Limitation and leak rate are down. This is a positive.

The clumps of Obstructives around 24:15 is positional apnea.  You probably were on your back and allowing your head to tilt forward.  A too tall of a pillow can cause that or using more than one pillow.  It's not major though and I don't see a problem with Obstructives overall.

One issue would be your hours of use.  I know it's hard when you're trying to adapt to a new mask, especially a Full Face.  I don't use one, so I'll let others advise on that.

If you have to meet compliance, you need to strive for over 4 hours, even if you have to
use it during the day for a nap, or just simply use it while awake to log some hours and get used to the feel of the pressure and mask.

Stay positive.   Smile
OpalRose
Apnea Board Administrator
www.apneaboard.com

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#36
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Many thanks guy’s for you continuing help and assistance , its really appreciated.  Thanks

Another night and my Oscar report ( Night of Dec 27th 2022 ) 

While wearing the full face mask after about one hour last night I began to hear a strange intermittent noise coming from the mask area, the sound was like when you are blowing up a party balloon and you grab the bottom of the balloon and start to let air out and it makes a sort of high pitched cartoon type squeaking noise . When that noise happened I pressed the face mask hard with my hand , and the high pitched squeaking noise stopped , but then soon after the high pitched squeaking noise intermittently returned . ( not happing all the time ) 

I’m not sure whats going on as that high pitched cartoon type squeaking noise only occurred after about an hour of wearing the mask. 

One area I’m wondering about relating to this high pitched cartoon type squeaking noise is , that very evening I increased the Max pressure to 12. 

Being new here I was just wondering at what frequency ( Days / Weeks / Months ) should I post my OSCAR reports .

Any thoughts or advice most welcome .


Thanks – Ben


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#37
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Interesting. I see you changed your max pressure to 12 and approached that limit. I would try moving the pressure up to 14 and see if your machine reaches a titration point. I am sure others will weigh in on the subject. As for the noise... do you have a beard, or is there a small imperfection in the mask cushion? The numbers are looking good.
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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#38
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Hi Ben, 

Yes, figures starting to look good. You're on the right track, no doubt. 

Agree with Steve, you are bumping up sometimes against your limit, 14 seems good and see where it goes. 

I have a couple of presentation points. 

1. Leaks - It may be a good idea to reduce the y-axis range as at the moment is a bit too generous and unnecessary.  It will look a tidier and give space for other graphs if necessary. 

2.  Flow limitations -This graph is a different animal. 

At the moment it looks pretty good as the flow line is so low down. There are a few high peaks that with this scale, look insignificant, but they are not really. 

One peak is at 0.6 and quite a few at over 0.2.  Some of these have caused the pressure to shoot up.

This can cause sleep disruption. 

If you look at the wiki pages, the summary I formation is:-

95% Flow Limitation  

> 0.2    Needs more pressure or pressure support
< 0.15    Marginal
   0.1    Good
< 0.05    Excellent and rarely associated with other therapy problems.

I would suggest you reduce the y axis range to about 0.6 just to highlight the issue.  

Good to read up on this subject of flow limitations. Not easy to deal with. It's something to be aware of. 
I also have these and they don't bother me much, either in comfort or  AHI which is pretty consistant @ around 0.8. 
But we are all different. Mine I think is caused by phlegm sliding down the back of my neck sometimes at night. Been a problem since adolescence. 
Bit annoying, but not the end of the world. 
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#39
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
Well last night ( 28th of December ) I did two things , change the maximum pressure to 14 and the other was to change my full face mask from a medium size to a large size . 

The strange intermittent noise coming from the mask area that happened last night while wearing the medium size face mask completely disappeared while wearing this new large face mask.

The other thing that happened last night was that at some time ( not sure when ) I think I had nodded off , but then I was abruptly awoken with a panic sensation and feeling that some thing was stuck in my throat . I instinctively took off my face mask and had a drink of water. 

Looking back to my past and the symptoms that eventually made me seek medical advice , one of those past symptoms was the exact same symptom that occurred last night ( a panic sensation that some thing was stuck in my throat ).

I was really hoping and praying that using my Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset machine would stop the ( a panic sensation that some thing was stuck in my throat ) symptom . But last night for the first time since using my Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset machine , that original past symptom re occurred.

I’m not looking forward to bedtime tonight as having the ( a panic sensation that some thing was stuck in my throat ) feeling is causing me stress and to become very frustrated.

Any thoughts or suggestions most welcome 



Thanks - Ben.


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#40
RE: At 74 years old - I could do with some help please.
To me, the chart is non-determinative as it is a tad under two hours. Subtract the time falling asleep and waking up; while the numbers are great, they are not representative of an entire night's sleep. As for the choking sensation and panic attack, what was your sleep position if you know? When this once happened to me, I was on my back and the position with my pillow caused an airway collapse -- as speculated by my doctor. Since I became a side-sleeper, the problem appears to be gone, and it's been a number of years.
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius
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