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Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
#1
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Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
So...Thanks to Sgear and others, I've finally figured out how to get the Sleepyhead installed, and up and running. I tried to share my data by exporting but it said that that feature is not yet enabled. (I'm using the newest Test software that works with the A10)

Someone had mentioned a screen shot is okay so I used that nifty feature. I had NO idea how much to share, what to share, etc. SO...Here is where I start out, please tell me what to take pics of to be more helpful and I'll do it.

I gave up on sleeping after 5 hours "last night" because I didn't want to wake up with my mask reactivated Trigeminal Neuralgia flaring. I woke, I wasn't in pain, so for a while at least I'm up. Had a bad night AHI wise and got up to pee 3 times at least (counting the final one where I gave up and stayed awake)

BUT I also raised my lower pressure to 6.6 (or was it 6.3...too tired to recall) and felt really comfortable with that, so that is good news. I'm not going to run away from that setting unless someone really swift says I should, because I've found it takes a few days at a point to get the real read on it's effect..N'est pas?

Anyway, if you old timers, great readers ALL NOT DOCTORS of course....could give me some positives and negatives you see here, and tell me if you want individual day screen shots and what range, and I'll do my best to share.

Thanks in Advance.
Sleep deprived but overall, feeling better than I was a month ago!

Susan AWAKE if not a bit FRIED, in San Francisco.
[attachment=1218][attachment=1219][attachment=1220][attachment=1221]
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#2
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
Good job getting Sleepyhead up and running. Now you're the pro!

Looking at your numbers the one thing that stands out is you need to slow down on making changes. Last night was not all that great for you, but overall you're doing ok. Leave everything alone tonight and see where you go.

You might want to revisit to see if you are sleeping on your back. Don't get me wrong, sleeping on my back for the first time in many years is a joy indeed. But in the beginning it's sometimes very helpful to stay on your side until you get your therapy tweaked out just right. Or, if on your back, make sure the head of your bed is elevated a bit. It doesn't take a lot, just enough to where you can see your feet when laying down.

The increases in your CA's I believe will go away as you accustom to the therapy. Probably they came up a little last night because you changed your EPR from 2 to 3. But they'll get over it, so leave everything alone for now.

Let's see how you do after a couple of days at your current settings.

By the way, I see where you were advising Sparkie how to set up Sleepyhead. Isn't it cool when you graduate from being a newbie to being an sage? Good job on that too.
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#3
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
Hi Retired -Guy,
Thanks for the encouragement. I shall SIT TIGHT as my dad often put it...and stay right where I am for a few days. I was VERY physically comfortable and happy with the 6.6 so I'm content to stay here for a bit.

I had had a really good AHI, my lowest ever, when I changed the machine too fast, early on, I think it was the night I went to 8-13.3 from 5-20. Well my AHI was low but my leaks and misery were high. So...learned the hard way...slow and steady.

I hope I didn't come across as a know it all about sleepyhead with Miss Sparkle! I just thought some playful newbie "come on in the water's fine" would be okay.

As a female on this board, one notes when there are other women going through this too, as we are in the minority (I'm not convinced we are as minor as the statistics show, I had to press and be my own advocate to get a study because I didn't present like a male with apnea might, no I don't have horrible apnea compared to many, but I experience it horribly, with voiding every hour or so all night long, more or less, for years and years and feeling half dead and waking in more pain than I went to bed with)

Sadly, I wish I could say I sleep on my back, but nope. I'm a confirmed die hard stomach sleeper...with a side variant. I sleep in what has been renamed elsewhere as the "Falcon position" (by a Dr Falcon, apparently was called modified swastika, you see why it needed rebranding) On stomach from the neck down, head turned to left, right arm behind me pointing down, left arm in front of me pointing up, alt the same thing facing the other way. Sometimes I sleep on my side using a back pillow between knees due to lower back woes and sciatica, with my face perched off the edge of my firmish tempurpedic pillow. I find I am at risk for leaks when I am on side because if I move wrong mask gets leak.

Btw, question...I tend to leave the machine running when I "skip to the loo" at night, as I'm coming right back, would that be the place I get my high but short leaks (NO PUN) from the mask? I have it on auto on/off but it doesn't "get' that I'm gone that quickly. I've started trying to remember to hit off on machine so that the air coming out doesn't skew my leak rate...do I need to worry about this?

Thanks in Advance, You can see we Newbie's aren't giving you a chance to retire from THIS venture of APnea hand holding.

Susan in San Francisco,
A cpap baby, but feeling like I'm out of the crib and into the playpen!


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#4
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
TheManseHen has been narrowing her pressure range and tweaking EPR.
You might have lowered the max pressure a bit lower than you require.

Admin Note:
JustMongo passed away in August 2017
Click HERE to read his Memorial Thread

~ Rest in Peace ~
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#5
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
(01-27-2015, 12:42 PM)justMongo Wrote: TheManseHen has been narrowing her pressure range and tweaking EPR.
You might have lowered the max pressure a bit lower than you require.

Thanks Mongo,
I wasn't sure I had correctly interpreted what some said about how to determine range. I was wondering last night, when I've seen I had a few nights that shot up to say ..(I don't have data in front of me) nearly 18 pressure, if I should be over that? That said, those nights were the one's I felt runaway machine crazy pressure that woke me severely and had me tearing mask off...

I think I thought that I was supposed to try to be just a bit above me 95 percent range? Was that wrong?

What would you set to if "you were me?" though I've pretty much committed to not tinkering for a couple or three days, I don't know that raising top a little would be tinkering....would it? GrinCool
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#6
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
Your average pressures run between 8 and 9. Your max is 13+. I think you're right where you should be.

Yes, if you leave your machine on when you get up in the night it can make your 95%'s skew a bit. But that's not a big thing as long as you know that's what is going on. You can tell that by looking at your detailed graphs.

I turn my machine off when I get up, and back on when I mask back up. Some people leave theirs on as you are doing. The key to me is if you turn it off, and you're using the "ramp" feature, then when you mask back up the ramp has to start over. I use the ramp feature, it's just that I have it set to "off."

You're doing great!
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#7
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
She's hitting the max pressure setting. I think the machine should be given a little more room to increase.
Up the max pressure by 0.4 cm-H2O and watch for a week. Small steps.
Admin Note:
JustMongo passed away in August 2017
Click HERE to read his Memorial Thread

~ Rest in Peace ~
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#8
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
Mongo, yes I am hitting it because that's as far as I can go, Lord knows if I'd go higher if able...I did have a few high days before I narrowed my range. I'm glad you suggested an ballpark raise, cause I'd have say, raised it to 15 for the heck of it. It makes good sense to do the tiny amount you say, sit with it a couple days or so, if I'm hitting it, go a bit higher by the same tiny, until I come to a place where I'm not hitting the max, or not often. All my adjustments, that were a bit sudden, were made for comfort reasons, not to try to get the numbers lower, though that is a goal overall. My machine did the running away from me thing a few times in the early days, and I may even have needed those high high pressures, but it woke me just enough to feel tormented and tear mask off without realizing it. (and as soon as I discovered it, right back on it went, my sleep self is a willful toddler)

So for tonight. 6.6 (which I LOVED physically even despite the bad night rest wise/ahi wise) to 14.0 (or whatever is .04 h2o higher, I don't have numbers in front of me)

I'm still happy to hear any other thoughts, this has been very educational to hear, and helped me understand how things work a bit more.

Susan
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#9
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
I agree with keeping it where it's at for a while so you can become more comfortable with the pressure. It's obvious that you will eventually need a setting like you had on the 19th but you aren't able to tolerate that level just now. In a few days you'll find that a slow increase of pressure (like .5 cm) will not even be noticed. It takes time and patience to sneak up on the correct setting. You're doing well enough so don't rush things from here forward.

You may like to set the pressure up temporarily and do some 1 hour daytime sessions (week or so) while reading or watching TV. That works for many people to get them accustomed to the pressure they intend to try. I did it that way rather than having to try a new pressure cold turkey on a night time sleep session. The daytime trial runs can take some of the stress and anxiety out of the new pressure and perhaps diminish some of the CAs. I set it as a straight PAP single pressure for those sessions but you can do it in other ways, whatever gets you results.


Best regards,

Dude
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#10
RE: Finally...Data Screen Shots..Please Advise?
oops.. doubled with myself Smile Newcomer to computers..only at it since 1959. Smile
Best regards,

Dude
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