my sleep report findings

[swaziman]

Firstly thank you for welcoming me after my first post.
Secondly, these are my initial sleep report results.

Sleep efficiency of 94%.
AHI of 64/hr, 85/hr whilst supine and 61/hr in REM.
Average oxyhaemoglobin desaturation of 5% with a nadir saturation at 79%.

I would be grateful for any advice or comments as I am currely collecting equipment to start a full treatment. I have not yet actually started on CPAP and have been only getting familiar with the machine after downloading the clinician manual.

[Tez62]

Swaziman, you have servere sleep apnea with an AHI of 64, you need to get on your CPAP ASAP.

[DeepBreathing]

What Tez62 said.

Those figures indicate you stopped breathing for ten seconds or more an average of 64 times every hour. 85 times an hour when supine - you were not breathing for nearly 25% of the time. That will do bad things to your oxygen saturation which has nasty repercussions. And every time you recover from an event like that you get a shot of adrenaline which raises your blood pressure, puts strain on your heart and can cause all sorts of other conditions you don't want to have.

[Peter_C]

While your desats aren't too bad, all that means is your body is (currently) doing a great job of waking you timely every time you have an 'event'. Events start at,at least 10 seconds minimum, and can go much longer. But *basically* you are having at least one event every 60 seconds, lasting at least 10 seconds, where you are getting 50% or less than your normal amount of air. Each event, your mind/body basically *jolts* you awake enough for your airway to open enough for you to breathe, then you fall asleep enough to relax the soft tissue, and within a minute the pattern then repeats itself.

Usually the 'jolt' is cause chemically by your brain - which if happening some 60 times an hour times 6-8hrs per night times 365 days per year times however many years will mean a ruined or destroyed heart (among other organ failures).

Many/most people have some degree of apnea. The question is to what degree, and, how badly they desat (blood O2 level drops). Using myself as an example; I don't remember the exact number, but I never entered REM sleep at all, and a desated multiple times into the low 60s (as in turning into a smurf) - I also got a copy of the video of the night, which was a real eye-opener. Mine was so bad that even after having both nose and throat surgery, and after 12+ years on my dream machine, I still have random bad nights with an AHI of 25+. Thankfully now on my ASV machine I have not had an AHI over 5 in many weeks.

I learned of my OSA due to my at-rest heart rate refusing to drop below 122 (this was all of a sudden), and it's only been the last year or so that my at-rest is now in the mid 70s - that's after all the CPAP stuff, and seeing and being treated by a heart doctor with many scripts - and, I am lucky.

As stated above, you need your machine (and 100% compliance) day before yesterday - sooner started, sooner you find that magic mask you love and get used to the program. You can learn as you use it, when I started, this forum was not here, and no machine was data-capable. By all means, read and learn - but first, start using your machine every moment you even think you will be taking a nap.
Does this make sense?

[swaziman]

Thanks for all that. Since the sleep test I have seen the specialist who interpreted the results who didn't appear all that worried. I am apparently asymptomatic as I do not randomly fall asleep, etc. Notwithstanding that I take your points about the hidden dangers and damage it could be causing. My sleep centre doesn't yet have a machine available for me to rent (I want the S10) so I have bought myself the S9 and am awaiting delivery of a mask. When my sleep centre gets a machine I still may rent as they can then interpret the results I get until I know my settings. I have taken to not sleeping onmy back which I think helps.

[retired_guy]

Ok! The S9 will serve you quite well. What we don't know is what pressure setting will be best for your situation. The default on the S9 is low of 4 and high of 20. That usually doesn't work out all that well. A narrow range surrounding your "ideal" pressure is where you need to go.

To figure that out, you sort of need to sneak up on it. Set the machine to a low of perhaps 6 or 8, and a high of perhaps 14. I don't recommend using the ramp feature although there are many that feel it will help you get used to the machine. You might benefit from setting the EPR to on, and a value of 2 to begin with. That will allow for the pressure to drop on exhale 2 points lower than inhale.

Then you start using the machine. Each day check your results using the Sleepyhead software from this site. If the average pressures through the night seem to hover around 10 as an example, then after a few days you can tighten the range a little bit. On the other hand if you find you are bumping the top end a lot, then you'll want to move the range upwards.

The most important thing is to pay attention to getting a good seal with your mask, and once you start using the machine do not allow yourself to not use it when you are laying down. Just resolve that this will now be the way you sleep, and after a short time you will probably find you wouldn't ever go back to not using a machine.

[vsheline]

My sleep centre doesn't yet have a machine available for me to rent (I want the S10) so I have bought myself the S9 and am awaiting delivery of a mask.

Hi swaziman,

I recommend asking for the A10 AutoSet For Her model, because it is a more capable machine than the standard A10 AutoSet.

The standard A10 AutoSet does not include the gentler AutoSet For Her therapy mode, nor does it report RERA events.

The A10 For Her includes the fixed-pressure CPAP therapy mode, the standard A10 AutoSet therapy mode, plus the more gentle A10 AutoSet For Her therapy mode, and is the only A10 model which reports RERA events.

Take care,
--- Vaughn

[swaziman]

Thanks for that advice. I will set my upper limit below where i usually find that the mask leaks, around 13, and see what the results show. I am finding resscan quite easy to use. I couldn't unzip sleepyhead. My results have only been for around an hour a night so i know they can't be relied upon.