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+--- Thread: New to CPAP - Need advice! (/Thread-New-to-CPAP-Need-advice)
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - avaholic - 09-29-2018
Hey there!
I'm back home from a long business trip and I wanted to post a few charts from the week I was away.
Saturday
[attachment=8553]
Thursday
[attachment=8554]
I don't have EPR enabled at this point and my pressure is unchanged at 12.5 - 19.
Here's last nights chart. Obviously, I sleep a little better in my own bed.
Friday
[attachment=8555]
Any thing that stands out please let me know. Any suggestions on getting my AHI lower than 0.91?
Thanks!
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - avaholic - 09-30-2018
I'm still seeing up and down AHI numbers. I'm fairly confident that the Dr. Dakota pillow is working properly since (I think) my leak data supports it. What else could it be?
Here are my AHI stats since turning off EPR on the ResMed:
Sat 22 - 1.12
Sun 23 - 3.23
Mon 24 - 1.00
Tue 25 - 1.27
Wed 26 - 1.95
Thu 27 - 3.00
Fri 28 - 0.91
Sat 29 - 3.80
Should I lower my expectations? Is there anything I can do to get better numbers? Are the numbers supposed to fluctuate like this? Or am I just being a little OCD about the actual number itself?
I was super excited to see a number below AHI 1 on Friday that I thought I was going to start seeing that every night.
Saturday
[attachment=8568]
20 min session with Hypopneas - Are these really Hypopneas?
[attachment=8569]
Thanks!
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - sheepless - 09-30-2018
you're probably aware that ahi's under 5 are considered 'normal' and that we all vary each night. even the occasional ahi over 5 is not all that unusual. docs seem to look only at the overall long term average anyway. watch for numbers trending up and over 5 and long term avg over 5. otherwise it comes down to how you feel. IDK about the hypopnea.
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - Gideon - 09-30-2018
The only reason your AHI was at an astronomical 3.8 is because of the SWJ at the start of the session. without it would be 1.8. So far normal variation.
How do you feel, that is a much more important question.
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - Bruce1804 - 09-30-2018
Avaholic,
I don't know about you or what you were doing during those 1st 10 minutes but I can relate some of my experience. In the past 2 months I've come to really doubt the accuracy of events being reported by my machine. I have tested it on several occasions where I have put the CPAP on, then carefully relaxed and remained wide awake for 30 or more minutes. During this time I was very careful to breath normally and be as sure as I could be that nothing extraordinary happened. I didn't snore, I didn't take deep breaths, I didn't stop breathing, I tried to do nothing but relax and breath in and out as I would in a meditation. Then I compared that to what was revealed on the SleepyHead software and was shocked at all the supposed events that occured during that time. They seem really doubtful to me.
Also perhaps you're someone who falls asleep quickly but I am not. It almost always takes me 10 -15 minutes or more to drift off even if I just woke and am going back to sleep. The Sleepyhead chart shows all kinds of events occurring during these times as recorded by the machine and then followed by a nice long good easy sleep. There are even other signs that things are being recorded that I just don't think happened. For me it causes me to discount the accuracy and since my AHI is below 5 (actually 1.71 average) I feel like I am just fine as regards to Apnea.
So if your chart were mine I would tend to discount those 1st 9 H events and 3 CA's. If that is true I've got a feeling that would knock your AHI way down. Looks like you're doing great to me!
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - avaholic - 09-30-2018
I just realized that I can select everything but the opening SWJ and see the 'true' AHI below the event flags graph. LOL.
As far as how I feel goes, all I can say is I FEEL much, much better than I have in a very long time. So I guess that means its working exactly as it should and I shouldn't stress about it anymore!
I've dealt with insomnia for so long, I actually have no idea how long it takes for me to fall asleep but I obviously was awake during that first 20-30 mins or so.
Thanks for the replies! You guys rock!
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - avaholic - 10-04-2018
Howdy! My AHI is still under 5 so I'll call it OK, I guess. I feel really good so that's positive.
I'm trying to confirm if the hypopneas reported by the machine are actually hypopneas or not.
Thoughts?
Wednesday
[attachment=8675]
10 minute snip with 4 reported hypopneas
[attachment=8676]
10 minute snip with (I believe) 2 definite OA's and 1 possible hypopneas. At 12:48 am I noticed that this is the only time that I am OVER the large leak % for the night. Does that mean my mouth fell open or something? If I'm understanding things properly, I start having breathing issues at 12:45 am and the CPAP pressure starts rising up to almost 17 at 12:51 am. Pressure begins to lower at that point and I don't have any other reported OA's for the rest of this night. I do have a few more hypopneas reported though. Correct?
[attachment=8677]
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - jaswilliams - 10-04-2018
They look like a form of periodic breathing that could have easily become CA’s but there is nothing you can do about them with your machine
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - sheepless - 10-04-2018
I couldn't see the second zoomed chart (got a network error msg) but the first one with the h also looks a bit like something I see in my flow that I suspect might be periodic limb movement. not at all certain about this, just something consider.
RE: New to CPAP - Need advice! - avaholic - 10-09-2018
Hello,
Here are a few previous replies from this thread:
Sleeprider - 'Once again, the solution to this is bilevel, with a lower EPAP and enough pressure support to ease inspiration without restriction'
Sleeprider - 'When I talk about bilevel, I am including the Autoset in that even though it is limited to 3-cm.'
jaswilliams - 'They (hypopneas) look like a form of periodic breathing that could have easily become CA’s but there is nothing you can do about them with your machine.'
Remember that I could not tolerate the FLEX feature of Philips or the EPR feature of ResMed, so would the VAUTO even help me to achieve better results? Sleeprider is EPR the 'bilevel functionality of the Autoset' that you spoke of above?
I've only had ONE night (Post #71 Friday) where my AHI was below 1.0. I understand that below 5 AHI is considered 'treated' but I'm fairly confident that I can do better than my current avg or 3-4 AHI. I am trying to determine if I would benefit more from an AirCurve 10 VAUTO. I highly doubt that my doc would even approve it or that my insurance would pay for it so I'm considering just purchasing a used unit out-of-pocket.
Comments? Thoughts?
Thanks!
Total Stats since starting therapy
[attachment=8720]
Thursday 4th
[attachment=8721]
Monday 8th
[attachment=8722]