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I'm curious about these CAs I have when I am falling asleep. I've reviewed the topics on the forum and haven't found much. Perhaps you can enlighten me. I normally will have a few Centrals during the night, but not many.....3 or 4. I will also have a few when I am waking up and I do remember a post where these were considered "junk" data.....something like that. When I am trying to fall asleep, and in that twilight mode, I can feel myself stop breathing and that wakes me....sometimes it's a bit panicky. That happened last night and you can see on my chart, where I put my mask back on, I am going to fall asleep, and I have these clusters of Central Apnea. I'm always interested in your insight. The board moderators have helped me a great deal in transitioning to sleep apnea therapy, and I am overall doing well. Thank you in advance
Central apnea events at sleep onset transition is not unusual, and it seems to clear up over time. There is not much we can do therapeutically to treat it. During this transition from wakfulness to sleep, the respiratory system goes from a mostly conscious voluntary activity to the autonomic respiratory response that relies mainly on CO2 levels to pace respiration. This transition is not always seamless, and some clusters of CA can occur. In your case it clears up pretty quickly and normal respiration prevails through the night.
You can search for Transitional Sleep Apnea and a site call ScarySymptoms has a very simple discussion of it.
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Machine: Dreamstation Auto CPAP Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Fisher & Paykel Vitera Full Face Mask with Headgear Humidifier: Dreamstation Heated Humidifier CPAP Pressure: 8-16 CPAP Software: OSCAR
It’s usually a positional....chin tucking problem. I make sure that I use a good pillow with neck support. I also fall asleep on my back and am cognizant to keep my head tilted back as I fall asleep. I use a nasal mask and tape my mouth. A full face mask pulls my head forward and I always have lots of cluster Apneas when using a full face mask. I have had mixed results when using a soft collar neck support and I generally don’t use it. I have come to accept that on some nights I will have cluster events. Just the way it is, but overall , in the long term, my numbers are good, I feel good, and I don’t worry about it.
These last comments are in regard to cluster obstructive apnea events. I do have cluster Central apnea events at the onset of sleep regularly, but as Sleeprider commented, this is a transitory phase that often happens as the autonomic system takes over your breathing during sleep. The events don’t last long.
Hope this helps. Good luck, and get some sleep.
