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I am just beginning to try to educate myself on CPAP to help an elderly family member that lives quite a ways a way. He had a sleep study done and was found to have what I think he was told was pretty severe apnea … some of the numbers he remembered (he is working on getting a copy of the report so I can better help) was that during the sleep study they woke him up after only a couple hours because he was stopping breathing upwards of 35+ times/hour and at the longest time was 93 seconds. He got the report back and was set up with a resmed 10 machine and they set it to the recommended levels, which worked OK for the first 5 days … still having 5-13 events per hour, but then after that they went back to 25-42 events. They have experimented with about every pressure possible, but nothing seems to be working … I am hoping to educate myself and get help here if possible.
The first question I have is what is the best software to use to look at the data and then wondering if he would have to mail the data to me on a stick (get it transfereed to a stick at office depot from the card) … or if he brought the card to them and he had the login info for a software, could they just download the information to the account for me to look at and use to get help on here?
Thanks in advance for any help … he is really wanting to get the CPAP to work like so many he has heard about that are so happy and feel so much better now that they have it!
(12-02-2019, 11:23 AM)jpmogler Wrote: The first question I have is what is the best software to use to look at the data and then wondering if he would have to mail the data to me on a stick (get it transfereed to a stick at office depot from the card) … or if he brought the card to them and he had the login info for a software, could they just download the information to the account for me to look at and use to get help on here?
OSCAR software is freeware and IMHO as good as if not better then the manufacturers 'clinical' software. The daily data files produced by the resmed cpap machine are in the 5MB range..so the equivalent amount as a modern cellphone picture so it should be emailable. The file layout structure is pretty self explanatory. The info in the myair application is quite limited and doesn't provide enough info to even guess at what the problem may be.
You can download OSCAR from here: https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
I'm not sure of the best way to transfer the data. You may get an answer faster by posting in the software support forum.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
So far I can tell that help is needed. No question about that. It is the daily data from OSCAR that will tell us what needs/should be done. Since you are aways away look at the organization link in my signature and make the screenshot look like that. Post the screenshot and you will be surprised.
Gideon - Project Manager and Lead Tester for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
From your message I get the implication you relative doesn't have a computer or internet access - is that correct? If so it complicates matters but I'm sure we can work out a useful methodology for you.
An important thing to remember is that the detailed data is only recorded while there is an SD card in the machine. So the first thing to do is to check that there actually is a card installed, and if not then get one and install it. Any standard SD card less than 32 Gb will do. If there is no card in the slot, the machine only records summary data and not the detailed data we need for analysis.
To transfer the data to yourself in a timely manner you might think about setting up a dropbox or similar cloud-based service (eg Google Drive and others). Your relative can have his local service bureau upload to the drop box, from where you can download it.
The recommended software is OSCAR which is a free software written by apneacs for apneacs. It's a very sophisticated program but pretty easy to run. Using Oscar you can create daily charts for posting to this forum for advice.
Does your relative have a neighbor or local friend with a laptop or desktop? Could that person download Oscar onto their machine, get his SD card from him, feed the data into Oscar, then sent you screenshots to post here? I did a version of that for someone and it all worked well.
I am not sure how to quote all of you who have responded, but THANK YOU.
I was able to get the sleep study yesterday and today he is going to get the data to me via google (hopefully this works) … Once I organize the files, should I post everything here or start a new thread?
Jess, we prefer to see threads kept together in order to preserve the history and keep responses in one place where you can find them. There are many reasons a person might see an increase in events after starting CPAP therapy. Some are easily resolved, and some involve a more complex apnea problem that requires a different therapy device. The detailed data from OSCAR will show us exactly what his CPAP settings are, and what kind of events are taking place, as well as many other pieces of information. Once you post the chart(s) we will very quickly be able to make sugestions whether this can be solved easily, or if he is going to need to get back to his doctor.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
(12-03-2019, 10:28 AM)Sleeprider Wrote: Jess, we prefer to see threads kept together in order to preserve the history and keep responses in one place where you can find them. There are many reasons a person might see an increase in events after starting CPAP therapy. Some are easily resolved, and some involve a more complex apnea problem that requires a different therapy device. The detailed data from OSCAR will show us exactly what his CPAP settings are, and what kind of events are taking place, as well as many other pieces of information. Once you post the chart(s) we will very quickly be able to make sugestions whether this can be solved easily, or if he is going to need to get back to his doctor.
Ok thanks … I will keep posting here as it seems there are several of you that are willing to help … hoping by noon tomorrow I can have everything in place to post the study and the data!
