Sleep Center versus At Home Stats

[richb]

My first guess is that you got onto your back during those two periods of clustered events. Sleep position can affect Obstructive events.

Rich

[dclaryjr]

I had another study done Friday night, and although I don't have the report yet, the tech told me that the results were the same. It showed I had no events once the pressure went to 10. Yet, last night I had and AHI over 16. I'm puzzled how there can be such a discrepancy.

http://imgur.com/JSdG9FS

I'd appreciate any observation on this daily from the wise ones!

Thanks,

Dave

[GTOJim]

I've never had a home study but it wouldn't surprise me if my results were like yours. I've had 5 sleep studies in a lab and every time the pressure they recommend to the doctor has always been to low. I don't sleep on my back but they always insist on it for the sleep study. When I get home from the sleep lab I climb in bed and sleep for a minim of four hours after every study. I have requested a home study but the doc won't go for it.

After my last study the tech said I had lots of rem sleep but I died for 5 hours when I got home. Go figure. Guess I'm a rare bird when it comes to sleep labs.

[dclaryjr]

I've never had a home study but it wouldn't surprise me if my results were like yours. .

Just to clarify, I didn't have a prescribed home study. I'm just comparing what SleepyHead is telling me versus the sleep study.

Dave

[GTOJim]

I've never had a home study but it wouldn't surprise me if my results were like yours. .

Just to clarify, I didn't have a prescribed home study. I'm just comparing what SleepyHead is telling me versus the sleep study.

Dave

Understood, sorry if I wasn't clear. I'm not in the medical field so keep that in mind if I give any suggestions. What I might do is to bump my pressure up to 12 to see if it lowers my AHI. If it makes a big improvement, I would leave it for a week or so. AHI can fluctuate from one night to another so I wouldn't rely on only one nights data.

You have an auto CPAP which means it can automatically adjust the pressure during the night as needed. So really my plan of attack would be to switch the machine into auto mode, leaving the lowest pressure at 10 and setting the max pressure around 16. I like to put a limit on the maximum pressure, but some doctors leave it at the maximum pressure the machine can deliver. Basically this means the machine can go that high if necessary. After watching my results I would tweak my settings a bit more. Example if my maximum pressure is spending a large amount of time at 16 I might increase it a bit and see how it goes. Doing the same with my minimum pressure setting. Trial and error until I find the sweet spot for what works best for me.

Warning if your sleep doc has a god complex he or she may be upset with you making any changes to your prescription. I had this happen with my wife's first sleep specialist. The doctor was more interested in telling me off than with my wife's health. We didn't go back and got my wife a new doctor.

On thing a lot of people like with using auto mode is the machine adjusting the pressure during the night. For example a prescribed pressure of 12 might be needed for a small amount of time during the night. This way machine can deliver a little lower pressure most of the night and adjusting to 12 as needed. Although some people do better with a fixed pressure, it's only with experimentation will you find what is best for you.

I'm no expert but it appears to me you will benefit by using a higher pressure.

[dclaryjr]

Thanks! I switched it to auto sense mode earlier today. I don't the sleep doctor who signed off on my report will ever know I did it. He's a full time GP who does these for the sleep center ( he is board certified in sleep disorders). I'm going to try a smaller increase that was suggested earlier--going to 12 max. I'm in full experimental mode now.

BTW, I went back and compared my daily reports and I couldn't find any relationship between leak rate and AHI. Some of best AHI numbers came on days when I had high leaks than normal, and visa versa.

Time for me to strap in and see what happens!

Dave

[GTOJim]

Thanks! I switched it to auto sense mode earlier today. I don't the sleep doctor who signed off on my report will ever know I did it. He's a full time GP who does these for the sleep center ( he is board certified in sleep disorders). I'm going to try a smaller increase that was suggested earlier--going to 12 max. I'm in full experimental mode now.

BTW, I went back and compared my daily reports and I couldn't find any relationship between leak rate and AHI. Some of best AHI numbers came on days when I had high leaks than normal, and visa versa.

Time for me to strap in and see what happens!

Dave

I noticed you had several large leaks, it is something you will need to work on as raising your pressure will tend to make leaks worse.

Just a guess but I think you may need to raise your minimum pressure to around 12. Your on the right track, make small adjustments and see how it goes. One of the great things about sleepyhead is it tracks all your prescription pressure changes which can be useful in finding a pressure works best. It marks the worst prescription in red and the best in green.

You should see an improvement with the changes you just made.

[dclaryjr]

Woot!! I know it's only one day but AHI was 4.9 last night--first ever sub 5. And even though my S10 gave me the green smiley face for mask seal, there was a very noticeable leak around the bridge of my nose this morning. I'm anxious to get home today and plug in that SD card to see what the numbers look like.

I think I'll leave the settings where they are for at least a week and see what the numbers looking. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on dialing in the mask. I'd like to get the AirFit to work because it's more comfortable, but I'll go with whatever produces the best results.

Happy camper this morning!



Dave

[GTOJim]

Woot!! I know it's only one day but AHI was 4.9 last night--first ever sub 5. And even though my S10 gave me the green smiley face for mask seal, there was a very noticeable leak around the bridge of my nose this morning. I'm anxious to get home today and plug in that SD card to see what the numbers look like.

I think I'll leave the settings where they are for at least a week and see what the numbers looking. Meanwhile, I'll concentrate on dialing in the mask. I'd like to get the AirFit to work because it's more comfortable, but I'll go with whatever produces the best results.

Happy camper this morning!



Dave

Very good news. Daily washing of your mask and washing your face each night before bed can help a little with leaks. Skin oils deteriorate the cushion. Most insurance companies allow one new cushion per month. It might be wise to have one or two extras. I also hang onto an old mask that's been replaced for parts. A couple of times something broke on a mask I was using and fortunately I was able to use parts from an old mask to fix it. Broken parts seem to happen at times when I didn't have a new mask in reserve. Our dog has also helped out by chewing up a couple of masks.

Good luck

[Mosquitobait]

There are two things that come to mind with open ended pressure that I thought I'd mention. First, sometimes the higher pressure will wake you up. If you are new to this higher pressure and need it, maybe stepping up to it might help. In other words, instead of letting it go right to 16 when you were accustomed to 14, you set it to 14.5 for a few nights, then 15, then 15.5... I realize that others here would say that .5 is too high of a jump, but I was just giving an example.

The second thing is if you have high blood pressure or a heart issue, sometimes the auto setting can cause problems with the blood pressure, which may make a problem with the heart worse. They didn't even do blood pressure on my study, so it's hard to know what it does exactly.

I'm glad to read that your AHI has improved!! I continually fiddle with my masks. I'm between sizes, so it takes some thinking and rummaging to make it work every night.