Hello Guest, Welcome to Apnea Board !
As a guest, you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use.
To post a message, you must create a free account using a valid email address.

or Create an Account


New Posts   Today's Posts

Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
#51
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
I believe it is Corflex Ultra Cervical Collar instead of Coreflex which is exercise stuff.
Crimson Nape
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com
___________________________________
Useful Links -or- When All Else Fails:
The Guide to Understanding OSCAR
OSCAR Chart Organization
Attaching Images and Files on Apnea Board
Apnea Helpful Tips

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.
Post Reply Post Reply
#52
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
Jennie, I completely understand your feeling of desperation. I'm glad you want to take action on your own. Send off for the collar Crimson Nape has suggested, and get started on finding a VAuto. Go here:

http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...plier-List

and start with Supplier #2. They will work with you on the prescription issue.

Let us know if you hit a snag with either of these tasks.
Post Reply Post Reply
#53
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
That is correct, Corflex is the correct name spelling.
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.
Post Reply Post Reply
#54
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
without rereading this thread, I'd be surprised if the following isn't repetition.

turn ramp off, wear a soft cervical collar & reduce pillow height for clusters of hypopnea & mouth leaks, & work on mask fit. a different machine may enable greater settings flexibility & give you better treatment.

achieving decent therapy can be very difficult for some of us. I've struggled for a few years too. the only thing for it is perseverance & a ton of individual trial & error to find what works best for each of us. sadly the sleep med system fails to provide the support we need when sleep deprivation leaves us least able to work it out for ourselves.

you've been at this for some time; I'm sure you know these things. I mention only to encourage you to dust yourself off & try, try again. it's easy to turn off ramp, not so hard to tolerate a collar, especially if you feel better as a result, & while a time consuming & expensive pita, we all eventually find masks that are reasonably comfortable & less prone to leaks. many of us have to try different machine brands & modalities. because the system is stacked against us, many of us are more or less forced to work outside the system. it takes patience, persistence, a willingness to experiment. it might take a while, but as in all aspects of life, these things guarantee success.

sorry if this sounds preachy & singing to the choir. I wish you the best.

& thank goodness (Supersleeper & all the members) for the AB forum for helping us through it!
Post Reply Post Reply
#55
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
Jennie,
1st eliminate the clustering. Then we can tweak what's left.
It can literally be here today and gone tomorrow. The collar is a miracle cure for the clustering, and I mean literally here today and gone tomorrow.
Post Reply Post Reply
#56
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
   
   
   

I'm back after last posting in June. I finally have a new machine after being on my Phillips Respironics System One machine for over 5 years. I was on a fixed pressure of 13 on that machine. I now have a new Dreamstation machine and my doctor set the pressure at 10cm H2O - 20cm H2O.  I've only been on it for 3 nights so far and an auto pressure is very different as I feel like there's no air when I exhale. Also, I can see some of my data on the screen on the Dreamstation itself but when I took the memory card and uploaded my date to Oscar the numbers are completely different. I want to attach a few screenshots and photos for your consideration and possibly to explain to me why the huge difference. I have no idea at this point only 3 nights in whether this new machine is helping or hindering my sleep. According to my machine it shows Aug. 26 numbers as: AHI: 9.2, Hyponeas: 28, Obstructive: 34, Mask Fit at 82% and 90% pressure at 12.0. Then on Aug. 27 the numbers are: AHI: 10.8, Hypopneas: 44, Obstructive: 24, Mask Fit: 63% and 90% pressure at 14.5.  Friday Aug 28's numbers: AHI:14.4, Hypopneas: 87, Obstructive: 10, Mask Fit: 58% and 90% pressure at 12.1.  These numbers somehow conflict with the data uploaded for these nights on Oscar. I have attached the Oscar uploaded data for these same 3 nights.
Post Reply Post Reply
#57
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
It looks like you're having some larger air leaks and the events of hypopnea and obstructive apnea sneak past the lower pressure of 10. You'll have to get the leaks under control via better mask fitting and adjusting, unless it turns out to be mouth leaks in some form. Regardless, it comes down to leak control. Second, I would bump the 10 up closer to your old 13, and you can do that 1 step at a time and review results of events dropping and how you feel under the therapy. Not to be derogatory but it would have been a great benefit if the doc had really helped by dispensing the ResMed AutoSet. These act on events faster than any Respironics. If you just got it, ask for an exchange. Regardless, the leaks have to be gotten control of and try 11 instead of 10 review the results.
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.
Post Reply Post Reply
#58
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
Dave's advice sounds good to me. Three additional things:

When you say "there's no air when I exhale," do you mean you don't feel as though there's any pressure you're exhaling against? If yes, that might just be the fact that you're no longer doing the work of exhaling against 13 all night long. If no, could you say more?

I'm as puzzled as you are about the large discrepancies between what the machine display shows and what Oscar shows. I wonder whether it has something to do with the large leaks. At any rate, I hope someone with the right expertise will be able to explain that.

Your events seem to come in clusters, which can indicate that your sleep posture is affecting your apnea. Do you sleep on your back for part of the night? Or do you think you might be tucking your chin down toward your chest for part of the night? Depending on your answers to those questions, there are some ideas you could try.
Post Reply Post Reply
#59
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
Let us know what your Flex setting is.
You need to control leaks,
Positional apnea http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea
You may need a collar http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...cal_Collar

After being on Apnea Board for over 5 years, you let them dispense another Philips CPAP? Why?
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


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.
Post Reply Post Reply
#60
RE: Highest Periodic Breathing, Leaks and Apnea Ever!
I would suggest trying an inexpensive cervical collar sold at a common drug store (name starts with W and ends in S). It is by far the most comfortable collar that I've come across, and it comes with a washable sleeve that slips over the collar. It is 3 to 3.5 inches in height and has a small notch for the chin which I find suits me. The Corflex brand collars are almost as comfortable, provide a bit more support, have no chin notch, and are available to purchase online in numerous collar heights and sizes for perfect fit. In general, I would avoid "adjustable height" cervical collars due to bad reviews. I had clusters of obstructive events and flow restrictions related to chin tucking. I often woke up in the middle of the night on my side with my chin noticeably tucked, and thought nothing of it- until reviewing my Oscar data and learning from our incredibly bright ApneaBoard moderators. The key is to find a soft cervical collar that is somewhat comfortable, then you will likely get used to sleeping with it quite quickly. Bonus for me: I found that wearing a soft collar while sleeping really helped me with my nagging daytime neck pain. I got rid of my sleep obstructive clustered events the first night I wore it. BTW, I would ask to swap out your Respironics DreamStation for a ResMed AutoSet for Her. They are close to the same cost. Just tell your DME (Durable Medical Equipment) Supplier that you don't like the DreamStation and want the ResMed in the first week or two of using the DreamStation. They will need a new prescription specifying the machine name to swap it. I know, because that is exactly what I did, and couldn't be happier! The ResMed is much better in so many ways. I would encourage you to go for the swap, because you'll wish you did later, and you will have the machine you choose for at least the next 5 years!
Post Reply Post Reply


Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Worried about periodic breathing / CA patterns Jorgo 43 1,066 8 hours ago
Last Post: Jorgo
  Evora FFM Phantom Leaks psinderbrand 6 280 03-26-2024, 08:56 AM
Last Post: psinderbrand
  Invisalign to help sleep apnea and dental extractions as a cause of sleep apnea SingleH 10 608 03-24-2024, 07:00 PM
Last Post: stevew168
  OSCAR flow rate assessment -- mouth leaks, palatal prolapse? manders513 9 227 03-22-2024, 06:16 PM
Last Post: BigWing
  relationship to flow rate and leaks sleepingbetterinFl 2 134 03-19-2024, 10:47 AM
Last Post: sleepingbetterinFl
  Concerned about large leaks sleepingbetterinFl 5 159 03-14-2024, 05:56 PM
Last Post: Deborah K.
  Help regarding managing leaks Strange54 0 106 03-09-2024, 10:12 AM
Last Post: Strange54


New Posts   Today's Posts


About Apnea Board

Apnea Board is an educational web site designed to empower Sleep Apnea patients.