Central apneas

[chd3143]

Just curious if anyone has central apneas pop up from time to time. It looks like I have a central event every 5 days or so ... not sure if this is significant enough to take to a specialist or not. Or, if SleepyHead is known for occasionally misreading these?

[retired_guy]

Yes, I suspect most of us do.

It's not a big deal unless you get a whole bunch of them most nights. Your occasional CA might even be a "mis-scored" OA.

But no matter what, it is nothing to be concerned about at this point.

[Tez62]

chd3143, I wouldn't worry about one CA, Sleepyhead sometimes registers things as CA's, like coughing or movement.

[archangle]

We need to know what CPAP machine you have. If it's a system one, what does it say next to the display? Something like REMstar blahblah.

You also list "ResMed humdifier?"

I suggest you get SleepyHead and look at your data. See how long the centrals last.

However, unless they last a really long time, even one or two centrals every hour is no big deal. For that matter, centrals aren't necessarily more harmful than obstructives, they're just harder to eliminate.

Also, the machine often flag things as centrals that aren't "real" apneas in some sense. It's often something like swallowing, rolling over in bed, waking up, etc.

[robysue]

Just curious if anyone has central apneas pop up from time to time. It looks like I have a central event every 5 days or so ... not sure if this is significant enough to take to a specialist or not. Or, if SleepyHead is known for occasionally misreading these?

One CA every 5 days or so is NOT signficant enough to worry about EVEN if it's a real CA.

And SleepyHead doesn't "misread" anything. SleepyHead displays the data that was written by your machine. If the CA is really mis-scored, it is your machine's error, not SleepyHead's.

[Skypilot]

I sometimes draw adeep breath and after breathing out I do not take a breath for a small amount of time - I wonder if that is scored as a CA by the ResMed C9 Autoset?

[robysue]

I sometimes draw adeep breath and after breathing out I do not take a breath for a small amount of time - I wonder if that is scored as a CA by the ResMed C9 Autoset?

If the pause is long enough, it could be scored an an apnea. Depending on what the FOT says about the "patency" of your throat, it might be scored as an OA or it might be scored as a CA.

When I intentionally hold my breath after an exhale for 10+ seconds, my machine typically scores an OA. But others who do that experiment say their machine scores a CA.

[chd3143]

Thanks everyone for your replies!

Archangle, I have a REMstar System One (CFLEX). I wasn't sure how to list the humidifier on my profile since I'm using the humidifier that the machine docks to. Boise is extremely dry, so I use it on the full setting. I also use Sleepy Head, yes.

Anyway, the central apneas seem to be around 5 o 6 seconds. Again, they don't show up very often, so I was more curious than anything else. I still wake up two or three times a night and begin deep breathing while entering into what feels like a sort of panic attack. I never seem to see those arousals associated with any kind of OA. I have a few seconds of really crazy breathing then I wake up usually panicky and uncomfortable for 15 or so minutes. I'm just trying to track down clues while losing weight and changing my diet. More than anything I'm just glad to see the OAs virtually gone now that I'm using consistent therapy. Thanks so much for the input.

[archangle]

Archangle, I have a REMstar System One (CFLEX). I wasn't sure how to list the humidifier on my profile since I'm using the humidifier that the machine docks to.

That still doesn't tell us which model CPAP you have. What does it say next to the display after "REMstar?"

Take the water tank out and turn the blower unit over and look for something like "460 REF" on the label.

[zonk]

more likely, you have prs1 pro
here how you can identify the machine but remove the water tank before flipping the machine upside down