sudden AHI problems
I'm on a Philips Respironics REMstar Auto A-flex machine with pressure range from 8-15.
After two months of compliance, I LOVE how it makes me feel. In the last couple of weeks, however, something really strange has happened.
Before going on therapy, my apnea was so bad that sometimes it actually prevented me from going to sleep at night, because I couldn't even doze off without waking to gasp for air. In the last few days, that symptom has suddenly returned. I'll spend an hour or two jumping awake every now-and-then, taking a big breath.
Since I have a machine that automatically adjusts to my breathing, I can't understand why this is suddenly happening after two months.
I thought maybe I was imagining it (or that the machine kicking up the pressure as I dropped off was somehow waking me up, and I was interpreting it as being awakened by the need to breathe). I logged in to Sleepmapper and found that, sure enough, on the nights I was disturbed by this feeling, my AHI had gone from its usual .5-ish range to up around 1.5. (I realize that's not a high number in the grand scheme of things).
Should I be worried that these weird breathless symptoms are returning when I try to fall asleep? Sleepmapper is telling me that I have virtually no leakage in my mask, so that's not the problem.
I've noticed it happens more when I sleep on my right side than on my left side, but that makes zero sense at all to me; regardless of which side I sleep on, it's the same machine at the same settings, and there are no kinks in the hose.
Finally, how can I find out when my apnea events occurred during the night? I'm curious to see if more of the apnea episodes were clustered around that time that I was noticing them as I fell asleep. I called a respiratory therapist and she said she couldn't find anywhere that had such a detailed reading of my sleep recordings, but I've seen other people post such things on here. Sleepmapper only gives me the average AHI for the whole night.
Sorry for all the questions! I'm having a difficult day, feeling sleepy and like my pre-therapy self after two months of feeling better
After two months of compliance, I LOVE how it makes me feel. In the last couple of weeks, however, something really strange has happened.
Before going on therapy, my apnea was so bad that sometimes it actually prevented me from going to sleep at night, because I couldn't even doze off without waking to gasp for air. In the last few days, that symptom has suddenly returned. I'll spend an hour or two jumping awake every now-and-then, taking a big breath.
Since I have a machine that automatically adjusts to my breathing, I can't understand why this is suddenly happening after two months.
I thought maybe I was imagining it (or that the machine kicking up the pressure as I dropped off was somehow waking me up, and I was interpreting it as being awakened by the need to breathe). I logged in to Sleepmapper and found that, sure enough, on the nights I was disturbed by this feeling, my AHI had gone from its usual .5-ish range to up around 1.5. (I realize that's not a high number in the grand scheme of things).
Should I be worried that these weird breathless symptoms are returning when I try to fall asleep? Sleepmapper is telling me that I have virtually no leakage in my mask, so that's not the problem.
I've noticed it happens more when I sleep on my right side than on my left side, but that makes zero sense at all to me; regardless of which side I sleep on, it's the same machine at the same settings, and there are no kinks in the hose.
Finally, how can I find out when my apnea events occurred during the night? I'm curious to see if more of the apnea episodes were clustered around that time that I was noticing them as I fell asleep. I called a respiratory therapist and she said she couldn't find anywhere that had such a detailed reading of my sleep recordings, but I've seen other people post such things on here. Sleepmapper only gives me the average AHI for the whole night.
Sorry for all the questions! I'm having a difficult day, feeling sleepy and like my pre-therapy self after two months of feeling better
