ResMed S9 Elite -- MANY apnea events still

[Peter_C]

To be honest, many/most do not see little if any results for weeks, if not months (I am rare, so bad that it was a thunderbolt in one night). It (my dream machine) actually changed my life in one night of sleeping. But I was/am very bad, am now and have been 100% compliant all these years as I need my dream machine.

FYI? As stated above, it does take 2-10 weeks for the body to get used to CPAP, centrals can lower or disappear, and AIs can slow down (even with no adjustment).

Personally, I kind of wish that most of us would only see 'weekly' numbers, with the option to zoom in if there is an issue. A person can do the same things, eat at the same times, take the same meds, and go to sleep in the same bed at the same time of night, and get two totally different sets of numbers (yet nothing is 'wrong').

[jcarerra]

Attached is the data
-- 1 hr of the cluster

-- 10 minute scale at a segment of the cluster

[robysue]

What I notice in this data is that in the ten minute segment, there's a clear repeating pattern of:

(Relatively) Very large breaths followed by a series of breaths of decreasing size, often, but not always, followed by an apnea or a hypopnea at the nadir of the cycle and then the pattern repeats.

The pattern repeats in roughly 45-60 second cycles.

It doesn't look like classic periodic breathing (i.e. Chenye-Stokes Respiration), but nonetheless there is a real periodicity to the pattern going on here. And that kind of periodicity is not all that typical of what you usually see in a nasty cluster of OAs.

I know that almost all the apneas are being classified as OAs, but even still, I would be strongly inclined to think that this just sleep-wake-junk (SWJ) if you had any memory of being restless at some point in the night.

If you examine the entire period from 2:05 to 2:35 does this same pattern continue to repeat in roughly 45-60 minute cycles? I'm not interested in whether the nadir of every cycle has an OA or H scored, I'm wanting to know if the Large breaths followed by steadily decreasing breaths until a nadir is reached that repeats roughly every 45-60 seconds repeats for the entire 30 minute period from 2:05 to 2:35.

[jcarerra]

Here are the next two ten minute segments...

I do see that progression from normal into shallow breaths at other places, some where events are not declared. It is not an uncommon pattern for me. But I see places of regular, equal depth breaths also.

Now that I am on the CPAP, I have very few, sometimes none, memorable times of awakes. Before machine, they were numerous. In a typical night, I will recognize the sound of a leak once or twice (and fix that by mask manipulation), and I am usually but not always up once for bathroom.

[jcarerra]

INTERJECTION AND ASIDE...

I possibly have an opportunity to pick up a
Respironics REMstar System One Auto CPAP with A-Flex
at a REALLY good price.

Is that equivalent to the S9 Autoset?
Does it collect data and is software available to "read" the data?

Please just one answer if you are knowledgeable on this so the thread does not divert.

[Terry]

INTERJECTION AND ASIDE...

I possibly have an opportunity to pick up a
Respironics REMstar System One Auto CPAP with A-Flex
at a REALLY good price.

Is that equivalent to the S9 Autoset?
Does it collect data and is software available to "read" the data?

Please just one answer if you are knowledgeable on this so the thread does not divert.

I have one. It's pretty awesome. No idea what it's equivalent to.

[robysue]

INTERJECTION AND ASIDE...

I possibly have an opportunity to pick up a
Respironics REMstar System One Auto CPAP with A-Flex
at a REALLY good price.

Is that equivalent to the S9 Autoset?
Does it collect data and is software available to "read" the data?

Please just one answer if you are knowledgeable on this so the thread does not divert.

Yes, the PR System One Auto CPAP with A-Flex is the PR machine that is equivalent to the Resmed S9. A-Flex does work differently than EPR, but the System One records just as much data as the S9 AutoSet does.

Software to read the data is available. SleepyHead does a better job of showing you the data than Encore (the professional software) because SleepyHead downloads the wave flow data and gives you the ability to zoom in on the data. Encore only downloads the last wave form data and has no ability to zoom in on the data.

A while back I wrote the following detailed comparison between the S9 AutoSet and the PR System One Auto CPAP.

Part 1 of Robysue's review and Part 2 of Robysue's review

[Bama Rambler]

If it's the 60 series instead of the 50 series (560 vs. 550) then it's definitely worth getting. However the 550 records efficacy data also.

[jcarerra]

The person I was emailing about the Respironics is not responding to phone calls, so I think the great deal on getting one has evaporated.

Update for last night (no responses solicited--just documenting)...

Very bad for sleeping.
Felt like there were lots of wake ups
(With CPAP I had been having few conscious periods at night.)
Long periods to fall asleep (at least two quite long ones)

BUT
Data shows breathing MUCH more uniform
I ONLY HAD 3 EVENTS AND NO CLUSTERS.
AHI 0.6
But terrible sleep.
Go figure.

[Peter_C]

My opinion? You've not been on CPAP long enough to get used to it - i.e. the machine retraining you how to breathe(regularly)? One reason I love my bi-level, is when falling asleep, I try to follow it (or it follows me, but it feels the same) one breath in, one out, and then poof I am gone. I do have periodic breathing from time to time (probably caused in large part by my pain meds) I do get some large clusters like you have shown, but my health and quality of life have both still improved greatly.

I am curious to see (if nothing changes), what your data will be like in two weeks?