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+--- Thread: new member with questions (/Thread-new-member-with-questions)
new member with questions - daveydude - 03-07-2016
hi... i am new to the CPAP crowd... ill be brief.... my heart doc suggested i might benefit from a CPAP machine as my heart measurements have gotten worse...
i am 63... about 200 lbs... 7 years ago i was 300 lbs.. 12 years ago i was 200 lbs... i gained the weight when my knees gave out and i put off replacement surgery for 4 years... during my fatness,, i suffered a blood clot leaving the lower part of my heart dead...
blood pressure is perfect... to this day, i have never had a problem with my heart,, no pressure or pain... but i do have an irregular heartbeat when resting.. my heart skips a beat..
i had surgery on my throat 3 years ago to correct a snoring problem.... i had a sleep study before the surgery, showing a moderate problem...
i swim in the summer morning and nite, and currently jog 1 mile every morning until the pool gets warm.. it takes about 12 minutes for the mile...
i bought a finger oxygen monitor that records... i started sleeping with it and printing off my nightly numbers...
then i picked up an auto cpap machine to see if i could sleep wearing one... found out its not a problem... started wearing it for 5 days then 5 days without,,,,, monitoring my oxygen and heartbeat during the nite... its obvious that the CPAP machine helps...
i've been doing this for 2 months... what i have found lately....
oxygen average is around 94 with NO big drops with the mask on... 91 with a couple of drops into the 80's without the mask...
on my auto CPAP info... my AHI 1.2 and the 90% average is 6...
i plan on wearing the mask every nite for the next month to see if there is a BIG change...
I'd like to improve what i can, but i don't know what my numbers should be...
another change is the length of time i sleep.. with mask 7 hours without 5 hours...
any help would be welcomed... davey
RE: new member with questions - Dawei - 03-07-2016
Welcome to the forum, Davey! When I started on CPAP, my first machine was the M series (straight CPAP)--don't know if Respironics had yet come out with the Auto version.
Sleep apnea is considered treated when your AHI is below 5 (and hopefully stays there). So, it appears that you're close to that goal.
Along with AHI numbers, another important one is your leak rate, because if there is too much unintentional mask leakage, the accuracy of other data, including AHI, becomes questionable. I don't know if your machine records this.
I'm also wondering why your heart doc went no further than to suggest the idea that CPAP might be of some help to you. Isn't he/she interested in your CPAP experiment or able to provide input about it? It seems to me that one area where your heart doc should be able to provide valuable input is your O2 saturation levels. It might be that with your APAP machine, your saturation level is either good or not as high as it's possible for you to achieve. With your heart history, the cardiologist would be where I'd want to ask that if it were me.
David
RE: new member with questions - Dawei - 03-07-2016
Another thought. I noticed your pressure range of 4-20, which means your machine is set wide open--the full pressure range that's most likely possible for your autoPAP. Usually, a low pressure setting of 4 is so low that many people who try it find it difficult to breathe and feel smothered. So, it's often suggested that the lowest pressure be raised above that 4 level by two or three points. If your machine's data includes a history of actual pressure used during the night, it would help in setting a range that's good for you. On the high end, it may be that your needed pressure never goes above let's say, 15. In that case, it would allow you to reduce the highest pressure setting by something like 3 or 4 points. A somewhat reduced pressure range for your specific requirements will help the machine in staying caught up with your changing pressure needs during the night.
Hope this is of some help.
David
RE: new member with questions - trish6hundred - 03-07-2016
Hi daveydude,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy and getting it fine tuned to meet your needs.
RE: new member with questions - daveydude - 03-08-2016
thanks for the info... i believe the machine does have leak info,,, ill check tonite...
my heart doc sent me to a pulmonary doc... i figured if i couldn't sleep with a CPAP face mask it would be a waste of time seeing him...
soooooooo, i bought a machine and found i can deal with it and it is indeed helping me sleep longer and better... my sleep patterns were terrible.. i would wake at 1.30am, then looking back at my oxygen that nite i would see a severe drop along with a spike to 100 or more heartbeats.. this would wake me... then i was awake watching TV for hours before finally falling asleep again...
the big drops in oxygen i was seeing before i started using the mask seem to have gone away... i was seeing drops into the 70's with a heart spike up to 120 before i started using the machine... i haven't seen this for several weeks....
my oxygen seems to stay within a range of 90 <> 96 with the average being 93...
i am now watching my heart closely... lastnite it had one drop to nearly 30.. it averages around 55 <> 60 BPM thru the nite...
RE: new member with questions - daveydude - 03-09-2016
good morning.... checked the machine data briefly ( while half asleep ) the only leak info i saw had 24.1.. i think it was referring to how many minutes there was a leak !!!... ill check for more info tonite...
i adjusted the low to 5 before sleeping... ill b using this setting for awhile...
oxygen was usual,, average 94 with NO drops
i did see one drop on the pulse to 34,,, average was 56...
im still getting a full nites sleep, feels GREAT
ill be back in a few days.... thanks davey
(03-07-2016, 08:37 PM)daveydude Wrote: hi... i am new to the CPAP crowd... ill be brief.... my heart doc suggested i might benefit from a CPAP machine as my heart measurements have gotten worse...i posted updates as REPLYS... see below on the thread...
i am 63... about 200 lbs... 7 years ago i was 300 lbs.. 12 years ago i was 200 lbs... i gained the weight when my knees gave out and i put off replacement surgery for 4 years... during my fatness,, i suffered a blood clot leaving the lower part of my heart dead...
blood pressure is perfect... to this day, i have never had a problem with my heart,, no pressure or pain... but i do have an irregular heartbeat when resting.. my heart skips a beat..
i had surgery on my throat 3 years ago to correct a snoring problem.... i had a sleep study before the surgery, showing a moderate problem...
i swim in the summer morning and nite, and currently jog 1 mile every morning until the pool gets warm.. it takes about 12 minutes for the mile...
i bought a finger oxygen monitor that records... i started sleeping with it and printing off my nightly numbers...
then i picked up an auto cpap machine to see if i could sleep wearing one... found out its not a problem... started wearing it for 5 days then 5 days without,,,,, monitoring my oxygen and heartbeat during the nite... its obvious that the CPAP machine helps...
i've been doing this for 2 months... what i have found lately....
oxygen average is around 94 with NO big drops with the mask on... 91 with a couple of drops into the 80's without the mask...
on my auto CPAP info... my AHI 1.2 and the 90% average is 6...
i plan on wearing the mask every nite for the next month to see if there is a BIG change...
I'd like to improve what i can, but i don't know what my numbers should be...
another change is the length of time i sleep.. with mask 7 hours without 5 hours...
any help would be welcomed... davey