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PickleBall4Life
#1
PickleBall4Life
Hi There,

New to the forum, here is a bit of info:
  • Had a take-home  sleep test (attached), which showed mild/moderate sleep apnea
  • Borrowed a friends extra Airsense 10 Autoset for trialling
  • Used the machine for 7 nights, with settings for a couple nights of min/max 6 & 14, and then moved to a min/max of 7 & 7 for the other nights
  • Am 60 yrs old, have epilepsy (take medication), acid reflux, restless leg syndrome, sinusitis but otherwise healthy weight range etc.
As the graphs were showing clear airway events I moved to a fixed pressure after a couple nights in case that was more effective. Unfortunately my daytime energy levels, and morning headaches have not improved since starting CPAP therapy.

The attached take-home test is a few years old (never did any CPAP therapy after the test). As a friend had an extra CPAP I could borrow, I thought it might help. My sleeps for the past year or so have been 'ok' or poor. But not many nights of good or great sleep quality.

Thanks for your help!

Attached are some OSCAR graphs & the take-home sleep test.


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#2
RE: PickleBall4Life
And the latest 2 nights of OSCAR graphs...


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#3
RE: PickleBall4Life
Your therapy has stabilized at less than two events per hour, but there is an underlying flow limitation. Very little of that seems to be obstructive and centrals or CA at this level is not generally a problem. It might be worth looking at a zoom of the flow rate where we can see the respiratory wave. The sleep test summary is not very useful for anything. The goal is to try to make sleep more satisfying, and maybe that will come from sleep therapy changes or not. I think you might want to try fixed pressure at 8.0, and see how that works out, then once that has settled in, trial EPR at 2 which should reduce CA, but may increase flow limitation. I don't see an obvious path to improvement, so a bit of trial and error is where we're at.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

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INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#4
RE: PickleBall4Life
Thank you very much for your insight.

As requested, I've attached a couple of zoomed in sections of the flow rate, let me know if they are adequate - or if you'd like other events/graphs. Will try out the fixed pressure at 8 tonight and report back.


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#5
RE: PickleBall4Life
When we zoom in on the flow rate it is to see the wave-form to visualize timing, airway resistance and other factors and you need to show only 3-4 minutes of total time. The Events tab lets you choose a time span or just follow the directions in our Wiki http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...Chart_View
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#6
RE: PickleBall4Life
Sorry - uploaded some old OSCAR screenshots by mistake. Here are some zoomed in segments of the flow rate.


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#7
RE: PickleBall4Life
Also attached is the normal zoom of the OSCAR daily view & graphs of my sleep with the suggested fixed pressure of 8 and EPR at 3.


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#8
RE: PickleBall4Life
The close-up graphs confirm a flow limitation issue.  The OA at 00:36 has flattened inspiratory peaks leading into some larger peaks that suggest snore or soft tissue collapse ahead of the event.  After the first OA increasing flow limitation leads to cessation of all flow and another OA. Hard to say for certain, but he double OA may have positional / chin-tucking involvement.  Following recovery breathing we see some subtle double peaks (Class 2) flow limitation with the upper airway reopening after initial partial collapse. Moving on to the December 9 event at 02:18 we see similar flattened flow and Class 2 FL.  The CA event on 12/10 shows oscillations in respiratory flow with little or no flow limitation. I think there may be movement ahead of the CA event, but overall this looks like an open airway pause in breathing to me. 

Based on the suggestion of some peak inspiratory airway collapse, I think increasing pressured by 1-cm may help to hold the airway in a more stable situation during inspiration and avoid some of the flow limitation and partial airway collapse we see.
Sleeprider
Apnea Board Moderator
www.ApneaBoard.com

____________________________________________
Download OSCAR Software
Soft Cervical Collar
Optimizing Therapy
Organize your OSCAR Charts
Attaching Files
Mask Primer
How To Deal With Equipment Supplier


INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
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#9
RE: PickleBall4Life
Awesome, thank you for your analysis.

Feels good to be making some progress - will set the machine to a fixed pressure of 9 and report back with the daily view screenshot tomorrow.
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#10
RE: PickleBall4Life
Attached are a few screenshots of the standard view, zoomed & bonus graphs from the last nights sleep with a fixed pressure of 8, and EPR at 3. I think some hip pain and the resulting need to sleep on my back, might have caused the group of CA's at 5:10AM.

In your opinion from what you've seen so far - is it fairly clear I have sleep apnea? I've read online that the take-home sleep test I took (which suggested mild to moderate sleep apnea) aren't as accurate as the overnight sleep study's. My GP has ordered a sleep study, but it might not be another year or so until I scheduled in. Happy to continue with CPAP therapy if that's what is best for me.


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