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Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
#11
RE: Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
With no other changes set your PS range from 0 to 0, in other words turn it off

This is to see how the PS in affecting your Central Apnea. I expect your CA to drop.

VERY important to get your impression of the change, which do you feel is better?
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#12
RE: Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
Here are the results! : )
Also I'm impressed: a loose foam neck collar and a PS range of 0/0  has me at an AHI of 4.5!  Big Grin

How do I feel? 
- I woke up feeling groggy and a little sleepy
- Overall I have more energy and feel more positive than usual! : )

Do you think it's possible to get my AHI down to 0? Or at least within the range of 2.0 to 2.9? 

While on medical leave from work, I was able to get my AHI down to 2.1 for a single day but then I regressed and I don't know why.  Dont-know


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#13
RE: Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
A couple things,

You have both Central and Obstructive Apneas
Central Apnea tends to behave consistently . . . . . inconsistent! That is it WILL vary.
Let's try this for a couple of days.

AHI of zero, not likely, may be possible with an ASV machine but I'm not sure you would qualify. And those that get zero's do not get them consistently. Right now AHI of 3+/- may be possible.

After a few days, check in first, if this holds we will try a min EPAP of 8 to see if we can knock down the hypopneas.
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#14
RE: Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
Sounds good!

I'll post an update on Thursday morning.

I will say this though:
- Day-1: AHI 4.5
- Day-2: AHI 4.1 -- woke up for an hour and went back to sleep. Woke up again with AHI 5.1

I never used to wake up randomly in the morning. I think that I might've worked overnights for too long (10 to 11 months).

If I can consolidate my sleep, I think my overall AHI will improve.
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#15
RE: Help Finding the Ideal BiPAP Pressure Settings?
Alright, here's my update!

Settings for 11 August - 13 August:

- BiPAP 
- Min EPAP: 7 
- Max IPAP: 12
- PS: 0.0-0.0 

11 August: 4.5 AHI 
12 August: 5.1 AHI
13 August: 5.3 AHI

As mentioned in my previous post, my AHI number will go up if I wake up in the morning and go back to sleep.
The only reason why I managed to get an AHI of 4.5 on 11 August, was because I wore a good blindfold to block out the morning sun. 
Normally I believe in waking up with natural sunlight, but this allowed me to consolidate my sleep into one giant block.

However I want my machine to help me sleep without having to block out the sun in the morning, so I didn't wear the blindfold for the following days.

After two days of feeling crummy from relatively poor sleep quality, I decided to change the settings.

Settings for 14 August & 15 August:
- BiPAP 
- Min EPAP: 8 
- Max IPAP: 12
- PS: 0.0-0.0
 
14 August: 4.3 AHI
15 August: 3.3 AHI 


OSCAR screenshots from 15 August have been attached to this post. : )
I woke up feeling a little groggy and sleepy on the 14th. On the 15th I woke up feeling a little sleepy. 
Overall I'm feeling really good about these new settings. Grin 

That being said, is there anything else we can do to improve my results?

I'll continue to monitor my results from the current settings.  : )


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#16
Concerning AHI Readings
Hello everyone,

Today I woke up feeling relatively fine, except for a few symptoms:
- Feeling a little dizzy
- Difficulty focusing

When I looked at my CPAP machine, the AHI read 6.9.
When I uploaded the data to OSCAR, the AHI reading said 5.43.
I don't know why there's such a big difference between the AHI readings, but more importantly I don't know why my AHI would ever go above 5.0.

Perhaps noteworthy: I recently purchased my own machine (previously it was on rental)
While on rental, I was tweaking the settings as per bonjour's recommendations. I had good results and the doctor approved them.
 
On Wednesday (11 September), I purchased the CPAP machine.
I wonder if there was a change to some of the more detailed settings that I'm not aware of, such as the ramp settings. Could that make a significant difference?
There have also been circumstances of unusually high stress in my life lately, although the stress has been diminishing.

Also, when I uploaded the data to OSCAR it shows that there's a 14 minute period where no breathing was detected.
I don't recall taking the mask off and putting it back on. 

There was also another period where no breathing was detected, which lasted a minute.

Attached to this message are screenshots of the readings from OSCAR.
The 5th/last image shows a more detailed look at the periods during which no breathing was recorded.

However if you look closely at my breathing before and after these two events, it was fine. 

Finally I noted that before falling asleep, I felt as if I wasn't receiving enough air from my mask.
This was very strange as I had already established the proper settings for myself, i.e.:

- Philips Dreamstation
- BiPAP
- Min EPAP: 8
- Max IPAP: 12
- PS: 0.0 - 0.0 <-- (shutting off BiPAP)

I decided to go to sleep without changing the settings, as they've been working well for me.
However I'm considering increasing the min EPAP to 9 tonight, if I once again feel that I'm not getting enough air from the mask.

Once again I do feel very strange today (dizzy and difficulty focusing).
It's not normal for my AHI to go above 4.5 and I find the OSCAR readings worrying.


Many thanks for any advice offered!


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#17
RE: Concerning AHI Readings
As Bojour said in your other thread (It’s often better to keep all of your therapy questions in one thread as it makes it easier to see history) Central Apnoea can be vary variable in nature last night your CA’s were high between 4:30 and 5:00 also it looks like your mask came off arround that time. Are you still using the Collar as it looks like you had chin tucking at that point and your max pressure of 12 was insufficient to clear the obstruction
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#18
RE: Concerning AHI Readings
Hey thanks for the reply, Jaswilliams!

Yep, I use the collar religiously. How can you tell (based on the screenshots) that I was chin-tucking? Maybe the collar was too loose and I don't know it

Should I increase the max pressure to 13?
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#19
RE: Concerning AHI Readings
I am asking a moderator to merge your 2 threads for continuity and history.
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#20
CPAP: Ears Hurt
Hello everyone,

As I understand it, I should post any of my future questions/topics in the same thread -- correct?

This topic is unrelated to all previous ones, but here goes:

Lately my ears have been hurting really badly after waking up in the morning. Sometimes it's the left ear, other times it's the right ear. I did a quick test during normal waking hours and indeed, my ears started to hurt again after using my CPAP machine.

A quick Google search for "ear hurts CPAP" revealed that I could have something that divers seem to call "Otic Barotrauma". Either way it does seem logical to me that there's an issue with inner ear pressure and the eustachian tubes.

This problem has been going on for about 1.5 to 2 weeks and yet I've been using CPAP for about a year now.

Before I consult a doctor, I was wondering if this is a problem that other people have experience with?

I haven't changed my CPAP settings other than reducing the humidity levels. I reduced the humidity levels after the problem started because I thought that I might have an ear infection. This did not fix the problem.

Also: ever since this problem has started, spicey food hurts the inside of my ear -- as if molecules of spice are making their way up my eustachian tubes.

Any help on the topic would be appreciated. Thank you!
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