FrankFuss's Therapy Thread

[FrankFuss]

I am looking for advice.  I have been using CPAP for about three months now.  I have always been concerned about the central apnea clusters that I see in the OSCAR data.  Attached are screenshots from last night, which shows what I am dealing with.  I also attached a screenshot from the night before, which is more typical.  I currently have EPR set to 2, but I can still see central apnea clusters with a constant pressure and EPR 1 or 0.

[Gideon]

Welcome to the forum.
You definitly have what looks like typical TreatMent Emergent Central Apnea or Complex Apnea. CO2 is being flushed out of your system to below your apneic threshold at which you will have central apnea. This is clearly indicated by the waxing/waning pattern in your zoomed view. Do note that this in not uncommon and just need a bit of time to get control of it, the first step is to reduce your EPR. These central apneas have a characteristic we call beu=ing consistently inconsistent meaning they do jump all over the place.

Set your EPR = 1 to reduce this flushing. We may need to have you turn it off, but we will see.

[FrankFuss]

Here is a screenshot from last night with EPR set to 1.  The second screenshot shows a typical 2 minute Flow Rate zoom.  I assume this is showing some flow limitation.  Compare this with a typical Flow Rate zoom when I had EPR set to 3.

[Dormeo]

It's possible you'll need to juggle some trade-offs. But for now, I encourage you to follow Gideon's advice. By following it, you'll be helping your body adjust to the ventilation you're getting with CPAP. Over time, you're likely to see the central apnea diminish. Once it's down to a manageable level, you can try increasing your EPR again.

Also note that reducing flow limitations may or may not have an effect on the quality of your sleep.