Is it REM dependent central apnea?
I typically have apneas during REM. If I sleep without the BIPAP then I routinely wake during dreams. There was a time when I was convinced that I had narcolepsy because I have some of the signs, though not all of them. Now I believe it might be REM dependent central apnea. I know that I should have my pulmonologist / sleep medicine look at it but he dismisses my Oscar printouts and last time even told me he wasn't sure that I have sleep apnea. Sigh. He's a good guy but I don't think he's very current and I live in a small town two hours away from the nearest city with good doctors.
Is there anyone here who has this condition, rare as it is, and recognizes the pattern on this Oscar screenshot? I know it does not show a CA at the end where I woke up but I assure you it was a central apnea. For the rest of the night, I slept without the BIPAP which allows me to sleep in roughly 1 hour stretches. I do have dreams but I eventually wake from them. You can see from the respiration rate that I enter REM fairly quickly - after about 35 minutes judging from the point where my respiration increases and develops shallows.
Anyways, thanks for your help.
RE: Is it REM dependent central apnea?
I believe I have something similar to this. Wonky breathing is quite normal during REM to an extent—especially this type of waxing and waning pattern—but this does seem a bit exaggerated and I would say the same for mine. Unfortunately I don't have access to my computer right now to take screenshots on OSCAR but my REM cycles are always characterized by a sharp inhale for seemingly no reason, followed by periods of very unstable breathing during which there appears to be many "centrals" back to back, which is what seems to be happening for you too. For this reason I'm not sure I'd specially call them centrals (even though they technically are) but unstable breathing as a result of an arousal. When I'm not in REM my breathing is usually completely undisturbed and flat across the waveform.
I have a few questions. If you don't feel like answering some of them it's no worries but I'm curious since I've never seen anyone else with this before. How is your mental health, and what are your dreams typically like? My current theory is that my REM "issues" are a result of something connected to that. I've dealt with mental health stuff my entire life and am often plagued by bad dreams. Do you always enter REM that quickly, and how long do your REM cycles usually last? I'm not even joking I literally jumped when I read the thing about you entering REM in about 35 minutes near the end of your post because I am EXACTLY the same. I hadn't realized your data started at the beginning of the night. Normal is about 90 minutes after falling asleep but I consistently enter in 45 minutes to an hour, and my REM cycles are typically quite long. Early onset of REM cycles and just generally weird sleep architecture is often associated with depression and other disorders.
Apologies if it seems like I'm making assumptions, I'm not trying to I'm just genuinely curious if there's a connection to be made.
