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+--- Thread: [CPAP] Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP (/Thread-CPAP-Doc-taking-forever-to-give-me-new-CPAP-settings-or-BiPAP)
Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Apnea45 - 08-23-2019
I found a YouTube video that told me to join here so I did. He has the same machine as I do except mine is "for her" and is white. I went for my 2nd Sleep Lab and the tech told me my CPAP is not doing me any good as now I am holing my breath where as before I was not but just would stop breathing. The CPAP seems to be making me worse and she said I was better off not using it for now and that the doc would probably put me on a BiPap machine instead. Well waiting to see the doc the doc said he did not get the reports yet and that it could take 8 weeks. I am getting such bad sleep that I keep walking into things and falling asleep standing up. I live alone and now am being questioned if I should not give up my home that is subsidized and took 8 years to get into.
How long is normal for a Sleep Doc to take to get your reports and change you to a different mask or machine?
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Gideon - 08-24-2019
Welcome to the Forum.
We can and will help you. The best way is to see your data, your daily charts.
On holding our breaths, we all do it.
On the subject of using a BiLevel, your current machine is capable of acting like one when properly setup. Once again your daily charts will help us do that.
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - DeepBreathing - 08-24-2019
Hi Apnea45. Welcome to Apnea Board.
Reading between the lines of your explanation above, sounds like you may be experiencing central or mixed apnea. In case you're not aware, there are two very distinct types of apnea:
1. Obstructive: The muscles of your upper airway relax in your sleep, allowing your tongue to fall back and/or your soft palate to collapse. This obstructs (blocks) the airway. This is the most common form of apnea and should respond very well to the machine you have. There is an excellent video demonstrating how this all works in our wiki: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=Wiki_Home Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
2. Central apnea: In this case the brain does not send the "breathe now" signal to the lungs. This may be due to a number of reasons including neurological disorder, reaction to medications, being at high altitude and others. It can also be idiopathic which is doctor-talk for "I really don't know". Finally it can be brought on by your body adapting to CPAP, as the increased airflow reduces the balance of CO2 in your blood. Central apnea is best treated with a machine called an ASV (adaptive servo-ventilator) which is a more sophisticated (and expensive) form of CPAP.
Once the report is available make sure you get your own copy and post a copy here, but ensure you delete any identifying information. That will give us a good baseline to provide additional advice.
I see that you have SleepyHead - this will provide much more data than MyAir and will allow us to provide detailed advice. Please upload some daily pages, as suggested by Bonjour. You could also use OSCAR, which is an updated (but very similar) program.
Obtain Oscar here: https://www.sleepfiles.com/OSCAR/
Oscar help (also useful for SleepyHead): http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=OSCAR_Help
Please format you daily page according to the instructions here (this is important) : http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php?title=OSCAR_Chart_Organization
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Apnea45 - 08-28-2019
Okay I installed Oscar but I don't know how to read it.
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Gideon - 08-28-2019
Organize your charts per my signature, then attach them to a post. We will read them and tell you what we see.
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Apnea45 - 09-04-2019
(08-28-2019, 02:20 PM)bonjour Wrote: Organize your charts per my signature, then attach them to a post. We will read them and tell you what we see.
Okay. Sorry it took so long but other stuff going on as well as having my computer worked on so I am on a temp one that we couldn't get the net working on at first. I just installed OSCAR on here so I can get the chart and upload it. I see the sleep doc next Monday (9th).
I have not been sleeping full nights with the CPAP on but only in intervals as I find it hard to breathe naturally with. Is this normal? I feel like the doc will get mad at me and call me non-compliant or something along those lines.
[attachment=15159]
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Gideon - 09-04-2019
That is a month old chart that you had trouble falling asleep and issues with mouth breathing. You also have a lot of Central apnea.
Could you post a full copy of your sleep studies, the full studies not just the summary. I'm especially interested in the diagnostic study done without CPAP as that will indicate if you have Central apnea prior to CPAP.
I would start by setting your EPR =0 then once we see the results start lowering your pressure.
At the start of the night you had some definite clusters of OA while I suspect you are awake so I'm not going to chase them but they definitely increased your OA numbers.
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Apnea45 - 09-04-2019
(09-04-2019, 09:40 AM)bonjour Wrote: Could you post a full copy of your sleep studies, the full studies not just the summary. I'm especially interested in the diagnostic study done without CPAP as that will indicate if you have Central apnea prior to CPAP.How do I get those? Still learning how to access this all.
(09-04-2019, 09:40 AM)bonjour Wrote: I would start by setting your EPR =0 then once we see the results start lowering your pressure.EPR?
(09-04-2019, 09:40 AM)bonjour Wrote: At the start of the night you had some definite clusters of OA while I suspect you are awake so I'm not going to chase them but they definitely increased your OA numbers.
Thank you for your help so far.
[attachment=15164][attachment=15165]
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Melman - 09-04-2019
Your sleep study should be available from your docs office or the sleep clinic. Get a copy of your prescription also. You have a legal right to both.
EPR (exhale pressure relief) is the difference between inhale pressure and exhale pressure. It is helpful for some but can cause central apnea in others. It is presently set a 3cm of pressure less than your inhale pressure. To turn it off go here https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsense-10-aircurve-10-setup-info for instructions to access clinical settings. In the clinical settings turn the round knob to scroll down to EPR and press it. “EPR on” is highlighted. Rotate the knob to highlight “EPR off” and press it. EPR will then be turned off.
RE: Doc taking forever to give me new CPAP settings or BiPAP - Apnea45 - 09-04-2019
(09-04-2019, 02:04 PM)Melman Wrote: Your sleep study should be available from your docs office or the sleep clinic. Get a copy of your prescription also. You have a legal right to both.
I see the sleep doc this Monday. Last time I asked him for information was my first visit to him and he said I would not understand it all and it is for someone like him to interpret. I doubt he will let me have a copy. Is it my legal right even in Canada?
(09-04-2019, 02:04 PM)Melman Wrote: EPR (exhale pressure relief) is the difference between inhale pressure and exhale pressure. It is helpful for some but can cause central apnea in others. It is presently set a 3cm of pressure less than your inhale pressure. To turn it off go here https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsense-10-aircurve-10-setup-info for instructions to access clinical settings. In the clinical settings turn the round knob to scroll down to EPR and press it. “EPR on” is highlighted. Rotate the knob to highlight “EPR off” and press it. EPR will then be turned off.
Okay checking that out now.