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First nights data after years of APAP
#21
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
So great to hear about your success! I've seen that cervical collar suggestion help so many people...
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#22
Sad 
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
   

OK, I had an interesting night and learned some things from it ,so I thought I'd share here.

I was having a good night, when I was awakened by a horrific nightmare at ~4:30.   You can see how my steady breathing suddenly goes nuts in the screenshot.  I then struggled unsuccessfully for the next hour to calm down and go back to sleep.    During this time I had multiple CA and H events.   None of these were real sleeping apnea and I feel they shouldn't count towards my AHI - I figure my AHI is ~ 0.5 for the 6 hours before I woke up with the nightmare.


In future I will try to remember to turn my machine off when I awaken so that I can get separate sessions.   Does anyone know if I have to have it off a certain minimum time before it becomes a new session (Airscan S10)?    Also, for such a vivid experience, I should have gotten up and perhaps taken some melatonin or something and only gone back to bed once I calmed down, especially since I never did get back to sleep.   It just screws with my data to have this junk in there.,   

Dennis
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#23
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
I've pasted some information below that might help. It is from the Oscar Wiki discussion of the Daily Page: https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...Daily_Page

Session Information. Each time the machine is turned on then off is called a session. If you sleep right through the night, that is a single session. If you stop the machine for a toilet break then start it again, then two sessions will be recorded.
Buttons (bars) to turn sessions on and off. Clicking on these buttons will include or exclude sessions from display of the night's data. Each time you turn the machine on, then off again is referred to as a 'session'. If you sleep all night without turning the machine off, that will be one session. If you turn it off once for a toilet break, that will show two sessions. Clicking on the blue and yellow session buttons will include or exclude sessions from the display of the night's data. This can be useful if (for example) you had a very brief nap in the afternoon and want to exclude it from the night's results. Note that turning a session off will change the calculated AHI for the night. Note also that sessions can be turned on and off using the small green/black buttons in the section information panel. When a session is off the button changes to black / red.
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#24
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
Ah, yes, the continuing saga of Dennis the Apneatic!

So, with the help of you great people here I was able to optimize my machine settings and treatment.   However, over the longer term I had a Jekyll & Hyde thing where about every other night I would be fine and on the other nights I would have lots of Obstructive apnea.    See the attachment for my strange oscillations.


   

I began to suspect that I have been rolling onto my back during the night on some nights, and those were the bad nights.    I ordered a WoodyKnows  anti-snoring backpack and have been wearing it for the last 3 nights and have finally achieved a consistent set of results, culminating in the AHI of 0.0 last night:  

   

I find the backpack pretty cumbersome and uncomfortable to wear.  In particular, the bottom shoulder strap (as I lay on my side) will sometimes cut off the circulation in my arm and give me the pins and needles feeling.    I feel that a vest or garment without discrete straps, but with the same big lump on the back would be better tolerated.   Does anyone know of such a thing, or am I going to have to hire seamstress?

Thanks for all you help and any hints you can give
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#25
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
Nice piece of detective work! I wonder whether a small lump would do the trick. If so, I know one thing people try is to put a pocket t-shirt on backwards with a tennis ball or similar in the pocket.
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#26
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
As a first attempt I have ordered a wide compression lumbar support belt. It is breathable, which is important, and I hope that stuffing a swimming noodle or similar in the back will work to keep me off my back. We will see. I would prefer something that zips up for convenience, but this can be a trial.
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#27
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
You could be on the right track with that lumbar belt. Hope it helps you.

My sarcastic suggestion would have been a bed of nails. But with all the back pain I've got, I'd not wish you back pain that that bed would create.

Coffee
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#28
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
Latest developments!

Yesterday I came up with a modification to the WoodyKnows that makes it much more comfortable:
The shoulder straps come straight up from the bottom of the pack and buckle to the shoulder attachment on the same side.   This results in the strap on the side you are laying on being trapped under your body.   If you shift your body position, this can tighten the strap and apply a fairly large constricting force to that arm/shoulder.   I woke up several times the first night I used it with tingling "pins and needles" in that arm.   Yesterday I took the straps out of the buckles (requires you to cut the stitching holding the rolled up strap end) and made an X-pattern.  i.e., I took the left strap and buckled it into the right shoulder and buckled the right strap into the left shoulder.   This really changed the feel of the backpack.   It was much less restrictive, my arms were completely free, and there was no arm choking or pins and needles all night long.   I'm thinking of posting this in a separate thread with the title "Woody Knows Backpack Modification" so people using it could easily find it - I hope that wouldn't violate the rule to keep everything in 1 thread.

Returning to an earlier question in this thread, I am still puzzled by what constitutes a separate CPAP session in OSCAR.   See last nights results below:

   

At about 3:40 I found myself wide awake, so I turned my machine off and then back on (AutoStart) so that I would be able to identify this time in the data.  Then at 4:00 I was still awake, so I decided to get up out of bed.  I was up for ~15 minutes and then went back to bed.

For the first, short pause at 3:40, there is a clear gap in the data, but it does not create a new sesssion.   For the 2nd longer pause at 4:00, a new session is created.   My question is does anyone know how long I have to leave the machine off in order to get a new session?

Thanks
Dennis
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#29
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
I don't know the answer to the session question, but I'm writing to second the idea of a separate thread with your backpack hack (!). I bet it'll help other people.
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#30
RE: First nights data after years of APAP
oscar combines sessions closer than 1 minute. idk why & personally I wish it didn't.
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