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some newbie concerns? - Beth T. - 03-13-2012
I have had my CPAP for about 5 weeks. I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnea and starte on my machine on 2/2/12. I have used it every night since without too much trouble. At first I felt kind of zippy - like too much caffiene? THen it settled down and I definitely felt much less tired. I have settled into my nasal mask prety well and have very few leaks. On my info it said my pressure was 8 and my AHI was in the 3s somewhere. I woke up sometimes doing a little of the gasping etc that I had before. Anyway when I went back I talked about it to the doctor and he agreed that the pressure should be raised. He said he would raise it to 6 and 9 - it was at 5 and 8.
I looked the next morning and it had not been raised - was still 5 and 8 so I raised it myself. (The whole after care is a whole other story) That was on 3/7.
But my AHI has been steadily increasing. The 3 month data on the machine says 3.8, the 1 month 4.0 and the 1 week 4.2. The last two nights were 5.0 and 5.1. It says the pressure for the last couple of nights was 9.0 and 8.8. I am not sure whate else to do - perhaps raise the pressure a bit? The ramp is only 10 minutes so whatever needs to be done pressure wise should be kicking in quickly.
kind of discouraging as I really want to make this work and was hoping to get my AHI down to less than 1. I guess I should use the software to see what is happening?
I haven't downloaded it - is it easy to use?
thanks for your help and support - just writing to people abolut it makes me feel cheerier!!
RE: some newbie concerns? - oldteddybear - 03-13-2012
I am a newbie also and found that the software really helped(I am also analytically minded and from a scientific background). We cannot see what is actually happening to us when we sleep and the software allows us to look at what is actually happening. I found that I was having leak problems with the masks and the software helped find a mask that is working right through the night. I found that changing my pillow also made a change as my head position was also causing a restriction.
The S9 provides a good view of what is happening while you are breathing and the type of breathing stoppage. It will also give you an idea if your mouth is opening if you see large flow increases/high leakage.
Your AHI is normally labled as good if it less than 5 but I agree it is nice to get it as low as reasonably achievable. You can get links to both sleepyhead and resmed software here, I would recommend the resmed as that is the one that you have, but both appear to be great packages.
RE: some newbie concerns? - JudgeMental - 03-13-2012
Beth. Don't be too quick to rush the pressure changes, although I fully understand your concerns about the increasing in AHI. Yes, a AHI of (0) is everyones goal, but rarely unobtainable by most. We all just strive to get it as low as we can. The most important thing is not in numbers but our "feel good" rating. Your leaking, if much, will definitely raise your AHI, so try to keep a good handle on that.
I am happy to see that you are proactive in your therapy. Sometimes we have to take the bull by the horns and get it done. Since you are knowledgeable about changing your pressures, in a couple of days I just might tweak it to 9.5 on the top end, but give it a chance to work..Maybe a week.
The SleepyHead software is "free" (a donation would be helpful) built by a hosehead like ourselves and is very informative. Also ez to download and use.
RE: some newbie concerns? - SuperSleeper - 03-13-2012
Hi Beth and welcome!
You can get info on how to download both the SleepyHead and ResScan software packages for free here in our Private Files & Links forum, here:
http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Private-Files-and-Links
(you'll need to be signed into your Apnea Board account to access it)
RE: some newbie concerns? - Sleepster - 03-13-2012
(03-13-2012, 09:00 AM)Beth T. Wrote: But my AHI has been steadily increasing. The 3 month data on the machine says 3.8, the 1 month 4.0 and the 1 week 4.2. The last two nights were 5.0 and 5.1. It says the pressure for the last couple of nights was 9.0 and 8.8. I am not sure whate else to do - perhaps raise the pressure a bit?
It is nice to have a place to talk about these things.
Three different types of events contribute to the AHI: obstructive apneas (OA), clear-airway apneas (CA, also called central apneas), and hypopneas (periods of shallow breathing). The sum of these three indices gives you the AHI.
If you want to investigate further, you need to look at these, too. For example, if you're having too many OA's, the pressure may be too low; if too many CA's, the pressure may be too high.
The other thing to look at is the duration of these events. They have to last at least 10 seconds for the machine to score them as an event. Obviously, if a large number of them are lasting considerably longer than 10 seconds, that could be a reason for further concern.
RE: some newbie concerns? - Beth T. - 03-13-2012
thanks! Technical question - I am dowloading the Res Scan software and am at the part where it says custom install or install everything, I read somehwere not to install the drivers but can't figure out how to do that? Sorry - probably sillly question but I want to do it right...
RE: some newbie concerns? - Beth T. - 03-13-2012
ha - nvm - just figured it out - sorry!
RE: some newbie concerns? - zonk - 03-13-2012
(03-13-2012, 09:00 AM)Beth T. Wrote: The 3 month data on the machine says 3.8, the 1 month 4.0 and the 1 week 4.2. The last two nights were 5.0 and 5.1. It says the pressure for the last couple of nights was 9.0 and 8.8. I am not sure whate else to do - perhaps raise the pressure a bit?Hi Beth T.
AHI 5 and under is good, Therapy is working probably it was much higher when diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. The S9 AutoSet is brilliant machine beside breakdown of AHI it show your mask leak (Leak above 24L/min affect the accuracy of measurement) if leak is well controlled then would see the doctor about raising the maximum pressure because the 95% percentile pressure (9 and 8.8) is also the set maximum pressure (9) which indicate to me the S9 want to go higher and even if raising the maximum pressure to 10 or 12 or whatever the S9 wouldn't go there if it,s not needed.
RE: some newbie concerns? - CHanlon - 03-14-2012
(03-13-2012, 02:17 PM)zonk Wrote:(03-13-2012, 09:00 AM)Beth T. Wrote: The 3 month data on the machine says 3.8, the 1 month 4.0 and the 1 week 4.2. The last two nights were 5.0 and 5.1. It says the pressure for the last couple of nights was 9.0 and 8.8. I am not sure whate else to do - perhaps raise the pressure a bit?Hi Beth T.
AHI 5 and under is good, Therapy is working probably it was much higher when diagnosed with severe sleep apnea. The S9 AutoSet is brilliant machine beside breakdown of AHI it show your mask leak (Leak above 24L/min affect the accuracy of measurement) if leak is well controlled then would see the doctor about raising the maximum pressure because the 95% percentile pressure (9 and 8.8) is also the set maximum pressure (9) which indicate to me the S9 want to go higher and even if raising the maximum pressure to 10 or 12 or whatever the S9 wouldn't go there if it,s not needed.
I agree with Zonk - if you feel it's needed, you can touch up the upper end of the pressure range a step or 2. The machine is smart enough to only step up to where your demand is, so it shouldn't be an issue.
Also, as far as the historical data - the AHI will look smaller for the older ranges, because it's spread over a longer time period. AHI is "per hour" so if you're looking at 72 hours as compared to 8 hours, AHI will be lower.
Use ResScan or Sleepyhead to see each individual day, and then you'll be able to see how you're trending. And a ton of other things.
RE: some newbie concerns? - Sleepster - 03-14-2012
(03-14-2012, 11:48 AM)CHanlon Wrote: Also, as far as the historical data - the AHI will look smaller for the older ranges, because it's spread over a longer time period. AHI is "per hour" so if you're looking at 72 hours as compared to 8 hours, AHI will be lower.
If there's a rise in the AHI as time goes by, it's a sign that you had more apnea-hypopeas per hour in the recent past than you had in the more distant past.
Think of it like average speed for a long-distance automobile trip. You can calculate your own average speed. At the end of each day you take the distance you traveled that day and divide it by the total number of hours you spent traveling that day. You could also take the distance you traveled in the last week and divide it by the number of hours you spent traveling that week. You could do the same for the last month, and so on.
If there's a rise in your average speed as time goes by, it means you've been traveling a greater distance per hour in the recent past than you had in the more distant past.