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CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
#11
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-22-2016, 11:27 PM)chill Wrote: I have a lot of sine-wave like repetition in my breathing. Not anywhere near Cheyne-Stokes respiration in terms of the minimums, but a clearly repeated pattern through much of the night. My machine scores zero central apneas. I am wondering about this as my AHI is usually well below 1 and my RDI below 2 and I still feel like I need more sleep when I wake up. I was thinking maybe UARS but this is a new idea.

I reviewed my own graphs and did some searching on periodic breathing, and I'm pretty sure I really don't understand what is being described, but I did have an idea - have you tried measuring your blood oxygen levels at night? If the periodic breathing you're describing is the reason you feel you need more sleep, then maybe pulse-oximetry would help show that there is a problem there.
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#12
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
Yes, I have. My SPO2 sometimes gets down to around 91%. I have not yet tried correlating the results with the periodic/cyclic breathing. I also don't have a lot of faith in how well SleepyHead correlates the oximeter and machine data. That part is not is not quite cooked yet.
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#13
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-22-2016, 06:41 PM)PaulaO2 Wrote: You can post screenshots now via attachments.

If your AHI is that low, then the hypopneas are being treated. That's the H in the AHI numbers.

If you do change the pressure settings, do so slowly and make note of what you did when. Typically, let a change run for about ten days so you get plenty of data. You are looking for trends, not a single night's worth.
Hi Paula, the number of hypopneas is not impressive (and my AHI is low), but somehow they highly correlate with my experienced sleep quality. Maybe they last relatively long (but what's long for a hypopnea?), which causes a significant impact, which is the reason for me still trying to get their numbers down.

I have been taking notes, and oddly enough the flex settings seem to influence my AHI and sleep quality the most.
I will post screenshots soon, first have to get into making good ones.
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#14
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-22-2016, 07:24 PM)richb Wrote: Hi again Snurkel. Neither Sleepyhead nor your machine will mark Periodic Breathing as a hypopnea. Periodic breathing is related to central apnea. On a flow graph it looks like a Sine Wave. During periodic breathing you don't completely stop breathing. I am alerting you to it so that you can look for it as a cause of your feeling like you didn't get enough sleep. This is something that you want to rule out.

Rich
Hi again Rich, thanks for pointing out the PB as a possible cause for my fatigue.
I didn't mean I expected SH to mark PB as hypopneas, it's just that I see some PB now and then, but it rarely gets marked as such by SH, only when it's lasting really long. After reviewing a week of SH data I don't think they play a significant role though, they only happen a few times a night for a short period of time so I think I can rule them out.
Meanwhile I decided to take a Lyme test, since I've got some other health problems apart from chronic fatigue which match with Lyme disease, hopefully one more thing I can rule out.
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#15
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
SleepyHead shows how long each event lasts. And for an event to be marked, it has to last 10 seconds or longer. You can also take a look at the "time spent in apnea" or however it is worded.
PaulaO

Take a deep breath and count to zen.




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#16
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-24-2016, 11:02 AM)PaulaO2 Wrote: SleepyHead shows how long each event lasts. And for an event to be marked, it has to last 10 seconds or longer. You can also take a look at the "time spent in apnea" or however it is worded.
I've seen the 'time spent in apnea' graph and the length of the hyponeas, but don't know what could be considered long. Is a hyponea of 25 seconds long? Or 15 minutes a night spent in apnea? Are there any criteria for that?
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#17
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-25-2016, 05:09 AM)Snurkel Wrote:
(07-24-2016, 11:02 AM)PaulaO2 Wrote: SleepyHead shows how long each event lasts. And for an event to be marked, it has to last 10 seconds or longer. You can also take a look at the "time spent in apnea" or however it is worded.
I've seen the 'time spent in apnea' graph and the length of the hyponeas, but don't know what could be considered long. Is a hyponea of 25 seconds long? Or 15 minutes a night spent in apnea? Are there any criteria for that?

Yes 25 seconds is fairly long. But let's look at a hypothetical. If your average event was 30 seconds and you had a total time in apnea of 15 minutes you would have an AHI of 3.75 if you slept 8 hours. That would be considered treated. If your Apneas lasted only 10 seconds and you were in apnea for 15 minutes you would have an AHI of 11.25 which would be insufficiently treated. What is more important is the level of O2 desaturation caused by the Apneas. The desats can be the source of additional serious health risks and will interrupt your sleep.

Rich

Rich
Apnea Board Member RobySue has posted a Beginners Guide to Sleepyhead Software here:  http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...SleepyHead

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#18
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
(07-25-2016, 08:09 AM)richb Wrote:
(07-25-2016, 05:09 AM)Snurkel Wrote:
(07-24-2016, 11:02 AM)PaulaO2 Wrote: SleepyHead shows how long each event lasts. And for an event to be marked, it has to last 10 seconds or longer. You can also take a look at the "time spent in apnea" or however it is worded.
I've seen the 'time spent in apnea' graph and the length of the hyponeas, but don't know what could be considered long. Is a hyponea of 25 seconds long? Or 15 minutes a night spent in apnea? Are there any criteria for that?

Yes 25 seconds is fairly long. But let's look at a hypothetical. If your average event was 30 seconds and you had a total time in apnea of 15 minutes you would have an AHI of 3.75 if you slept 8 hours. That would be considered treated. If your Apneas lasted only 10 seconds and you were in apnea for 15 minutes you would have an AHI of 11.25 which would be insufficiently treated. What is more important is the level of O2 desaturation caused by the Apneas. The desats can be the source of additional serious health risks and will interrupt your sleep.

Rich

Rich
That was my line of thinking also. In this sense the AHI is just an indicative score.
I'm going to buy an oximeter, to make sure desaturation isn't the cause of my fatigue. I must say though, that last night was extraordinary; no awakenings, and 10 hours straight asleep (it seems like I have some catching up to do....) Just sore joints of laying in the same position that long. I did turn the flex setting to 1 before going to bed, apparently a good decision:-). Didn't even need a nap today, quite exceptional, hopefully I'm on my way...

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#19
RE: CPAP newbie question: Is it useful to visit a neurologist for hypopneas?
Good progress!

Rich
Apnea Board Member RobySue has posted a Beginners Guide to Sleepyhead Software here:  http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...SleepyHead

Download Sleepyhead
Organize your Sleepyhead Charts
Post images


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