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Sleepyhead results ?
#1
Sleepyhead results ?
I did look for this info in the "help" section - couldn't find "clear airway apnea" and was hoping for more info on what the number inside () means.
Just wanted to ask what "clear airway apnea events" are?
I see that I have them up to 43 (seconds?).
Is the number in () seconds?
While the "obstructive apnea events" haven't lasted more than 19 (seconds?).
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#2
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
Clear airway events = Central Sleep Apnea Events (or more accurately, non-obstructive events)

I don't have your machine, nor do I use SleepyHead now, but I would assume that the number in the () is the number of centrals, or the number of centrals per hour perhaps?

Does anyone know for sure?

SuperSleeper
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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.


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#3
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
(06-23-2012, 08:01 AM)johns019 Wrote: Is the number in () seconds?

I assume you're talking lines like this in the Events tab on left:

#029: 05:52:51 (18)

I believe that you're right, the event in this example lasted 18 seconds. I remember reading something that makes me believe the SleepyHead author isn't sure himself, but I've checked a few and the events do seem to last the number of seconds given in parentheses.

To check this yourself: Click on an event line, which moves the graphs on the right to center on that event. Then click on the graph section and press the up arrow multiple times to zoom in on the event. Then select the part of the graph with the flat part on the left and the colored event line on the right. At the upper left of the graph SleepyHead will say something like

Events=1, Duration=00:00:18, Selection AHI=196.76

Duration is the key part -- in this case 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 18 seconds. The other parts don't matter -- "Events=1" is because you've zoomed in on that single event, and the scary "Selection AHI=196.76" is because if that one event were repeated for an hour, you'd have an AHI of almost 200.
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#4
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
(06-23-2012, 08:24 AM)SuperSleeper Wrote: I don't have your machine, nor do I use SleepyHead now, but I would assume that the number in the () is the number of centrals, or the number of centrals per hour perhaps?
Does anyone know for sure?

I've asked before and no one could give me an answer. In SleepyHead there is a number in parentheses after every event, not just clear airway events. And the number is sometimes over a hundred, and sometimes zero.
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#5
RE: Sleepyhead results ?

[/quote]

I assume you're talking lines like this in the Events tab on left:

#029: 05:52:51 (18)

I believe that you're right, the event in this example lasted 18 seconds. I remember reading something that makes me believe the SleepyHead author isn't sure himself, but I've checked a few and the events do seem to last the number of seconds given in parentheses.

To check this yourself: Click on an event line, which moves the graphs on the right to center on that event. Then click on the graph section and press the up arrow multiple times to zoom in on the event. Then select the part of the graph with the flat part on the left and the colored event line on the right. At the upper left of the graph SleepyHead will say something like

Events=1, Duration=00:00:18, Selection AHI=196.76

Duration is the key part -- in this case 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 18 seconds. The other parts don't matter -- "Events=1" is because you've zoomed in on that single event, and the scary "Selection AHI=196.76" is because if that one event were repeated for an hour, you'd have an AHI of almost 200.
[/quote]

I think I'm doing something wrong - one that has (33) shows
"Events=1 Duration=00:01:31 , Selection AHI=39.56"
But I don't see the graph equaling that time period.
I don't think I could possibly have an event last that long although maybe clear airway apnea is something different than what I'm thinking.
(06-23-2012, 09:23 AM)JJJ Wrote:
(06-23-2012, 08:24 AM)SuperSleeper Wrote: I don't have your machine, nor do I use SleepyHead now, but I would assume that the number in the () is the number of centrals, or the number of centrals per hour perhaps?
Does anyone know for sure?

I've asked before and no one could give me an answer. In SleepyHead there is a number in parentheses after every event, not just clear airway events. And the number is sometimes over a hundred, and sometimes zero.

Maybe the number in () is total for the night to that point?
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#6
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
(06-23-2012, 11:31 AM)johns019 Wrote: Maybe the number in () is total for the night to that point?

Can't be. Numbers are repeated. For example, last night I had 21 pressure pulse events, and all ended in (14). And it can't be seconds, because none of them look like they lasted 14 seconds. And it would be a colossal coincidence if I had 21 events all lasting exactly the same time.

If JediMark doesn't know, then it's something in the data kept by the machine that SleepyHead just picks up when it reads the event data. I don't have the proprietary software, but it would be useful if someone who has both the proprietary software and SleepyHead would compare the event data to see if the numbers in parentheses are displayed in both.
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#7
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
(06-23-2012, 08:01 AM)johns019 Wrote: I did look for this info in the "help" section - couldn't find "clear airway apnea" and was hoping for more info on what the number inside () means.

When the flow meter detects that you have stopped breathing for 10 seconds or more you'll score either an OA or a CA. During the event, the machine sends pressure pulses down the hose and monitors the resulting flow rate in an attempt to determine if your airway is obstructed. If your airway is determined to be obstructed, you score an OA (obstructive appena). If not you score a CA (clear-airway apnea, sometimes loosely refered to as a central apnea).

Quote:Just wanted to ask what "clear airway apnea events" are?

When your airway is not collapsed, yet you stop breathing for 10 seconds or more. If this happens during a sleep study, and a chest belt indicates no effort on your part to breathe, it's called a central apnea. If you have both obstructive apneas and central apneas during your sleep study you're diagnosed with mixed sleep apnea. Most people have only obstructive apneas, and are diagnosed with simple OSA.

If you've been diagnosed with OSA, and start having CA's only during CPAP therapy, then they refer to this as CPAP-induced central apnea. The usual remedy is a reduction in the prescribed pressure, but this can result in an increase in OA's, so it can become a balancing act.

Quote:I see that I have them up to 43 (seconds?).
Is the number in () seconds?
While the "obstructive apnea events" haven't lasted more than 19 (seconds?).

You have to zoom in on the Flow Rate graph to determine how long they last. No one knows, IIRC not even the author, what that number in parenthesis means.

Is your AHI consistently above 5? Is your AHI dominated by OA's? Do your CA's or OA's last significantly longer than 10 seconds? Have you been on CPAP therapy at the same pressure for more than two weeks? Are you having other problems with your CPAP therapy?

These are all questions you'll want to answer before talking to your doctor about changing your prescription pressure.
Sleepster

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.
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#8
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
(06-23-2012, 12:22 PM)Sleepster Wrote:
(06-23-2012, 08:01 AM)johns019 Wrote: I did look for this info in the "help" section - couldn't find "clear airway apnea" and was hoping for more info on what the number inside () means.

When the flow meter detects that you have stopped breathing for 10 seconds or more you'll score either an OA or a CA. During the event, the machine sends pressure pulses down the hose and monitors the resulting flow rate in an attempt to determine if your airway is obstructed. If your airway is determined to be obstructed, you score an OA (obstructive appena). If not you score a CA (clear-airway apnea, sometimes loosely refered to as a central apnea).

Quote:Just wanted to ask what "clear airway apnea events" are?

When your airway is not collapsed, yet you stop breathing for 10 seconds or more. If this happens during a sleep study, and a chest belt indicates no effort on your part to breathe, it's called a central apnea. If you have both obstructive apneas and central apneas during your sleep study you're diagnosed with mixed sleep apnea. Most people have only obstructive apneas, and are diagnosed with simple OSA.

If you've been diagnosed with OSA, and start having CA's only during CPAP therapy, then they refer to this as CPAP-induced central apnea. The usual remedy is a reduction in the prescribed pressure, but this can result in an increase in OA's, so it can become a balancing act.

Quote:I see that I have them up to 43 (seconds?).
Is the number in () seconds?
While the "obstructive apnea events" haven't lasted more than 19 (seconds?).

You have to zoom in on the Flow Rate graph to determine how long they last. No one knows, IIRC not even the author, what that number in parenthesis means.

Is your AHI consistently above 5? Is your AHI dominated by OA's? Do your CA's or OA's last significantly longer than 10 seconds? Have you been on CPAP therapy at the same pressure for more than two weeks? Are you having other problems with your CPAP therapy?

These are all questions you'll want to answer before talking to your doctor about changing your prescription pressure.

I had no idea that there was so much involved Unsure
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#9
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
Sleepyhead just reports what the machines record in that field. Unfortunately, I believe that it's not really clear exactly what that number means.

Consensus seems to be that it's "seconds," but there's some sort of weirdness about how it measures the number it reports. For instance, it will sometimes show apneas less than 10 seconds, which shouldn't be scored.

Further investigation is needed.
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#10
RE: Sleepyhead results ?
I can zoom in on the Flow Rate graph and measure, to within a second or two, the length of an apnea. I see that sometimes the length of the event matches that number in parentheses, but other times it much shorter. Sometimes an apnea is preceeded by a few seconds of shallow breathing, and if I add that shallow-breathing period to the duration of the apnea, I can get that number in parentheses. That process involves a lot of subjectivity, though.

I have no idea why the number in parentheses is sometimes less than 10, but when I zoom in on the Flow Rate graph and look at them, it's a stretch to conclude that they last the full 10 seconds requied for a score.
Sleepster

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.
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