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[Pressure] 2 weeks user, looking for help!
#1
2 weeks user, looking for help!
Hi all!

Just a little about myself. I've been dealing with health issues the last few years, Hip surgery in 2018, colon cancer in 2020 (recovered thankfully) and just diagnosed with sleep apnea this past January. My luck needless to say hasn't been great, but I've remained optimistic and positive throughout as best as I can. I stumbled upon this board the last few days, and I've been a lurker here since. My cpap machine arrived about 2 and half weeks now and i have started therapy. While I do feel a little better with the treatment, the results are not what I expected. With that being said, I understand that it may take some time to alleviate the symptoms/sleep debt. I do however want someone who can help me better understand my Oscar data that was gathered the last 2 days and offer any suggestions to optimize my therapy. I can also upload any future days if need be. Thanks and hope to speak soon!


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#2
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Welcome


I'm sorry that I am unable to offer you any advice on your charts. However, you have come to the right place for help.  I'm sure you will get helpful advice soon!


Best Regards.
Huhsign  WARNING: It may take a while to sink in...I tend to get befuddled at times.
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#3
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Thanks Plmnb! There is a ton of helpful people here which helped me finally make an account!

Hi all! Im going to include last nights Oscar data as well!


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#4
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Several quick points:-

1.Set your EPR to 3 in order to try to reduce your hypopneas. Give this a couple of days to see how it pans out.

2. Your current minimum of 8 is a really good start. If step 1 above has an insufficient impact, up it to 8.4.

          (The above two actions should start to "catch" events before they manifest themselves into full fledged obstructive apneas, and reduce occurrences of flow limitations).

3. Your maximum is currently bumping up against the set limit, and may have to increase eventually, in order to reduce the  obstructives. 

(I would however leave it for a week or so. Best not to change too many things at once,  As always, step by step, review impact, then move ahead to the next stage.)

4. The central apneas. Did you have a sleep study with these appearing on it? If so, may be helpful to post this with your next graphs.

5. On your submitted graphs, you had a total of 4 clusters of apneas. This is usually a positional problem, but in this case they are central apneas where the brain "forgets" to tell you to breathe. Your sleep study should have some indication of this. Your doctor would know also if  any  medication is impacting your therapy.

You have made a very positive start.
re
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#5
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Thanks for all the suggestions Expat31! Will accommodate 1-2 And will look at 3 and medications issues moving forward. However, I’m not aware of the 11 auto allowing the usage of decimal points for setting pressures. Is there a feature I am overlooking that you are aware of? I will be digging into this tonight as well. As for 4 , here are the results requested. Let me know if the info is sufficient! Apologies for the formatting as I am on mobile. I can update with better screenshots tonight!


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#6
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
There must be a way to incrementally increase the pressure in the clinicians' menu. 

On the A10, you don't physically enter decimal points, you can just modify in steps of .2.  Must be similar on the more modern A11.

I am sure another member with an A10 can chip in.
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#7
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Both the AS10 and AS11 models, the Min/Max pressures increment by 0.2
Jeff8356

MacBook Air (2017, Intel) | macOS Monterey (12.7) | OSCAR v1.5.1 | VM = Win10/Win11 |
How to Links:
Installing OSCAR on a Mac
Organizing your OSCAR charts
Attaching screenshots and files for the forum
OSCAR Help
OSCAR - The Guide

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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#8
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Thanks for the responses! I should’ve updated last night but was able to see where I can adjust it incrementally. Any thoughts on the sleep study?
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#9
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Hi, thanks for the home sleep study.

Couple of overall points.

A sleep study is a sample of just one night, with th obvious limitations. It is the same for everyone.

As indicated in he summary, ou are in the mild range of sleep apnea. A term a bit "dismissive" because by type of apnea can really mess up your health.

Mild AHI falls in he bracket  5-15 events/hr, (events being Obstructive apneas and hypopneas.)/ hours asleep.

Your sleep study uses the term REI, Respiratory Event Index, which is somewhat different from AHI, as it (as I understand), the denominator being total recording time instead of sleep time. In addition it may include arousal events. I am not so familiar with this measure, as my own sleep study was expressed in AHI. Also the firmware of my A10 uses AHI and not REI.

Your study reflects results on untreated symptoms.

However oxygen saturation seems to be within normes in the circumstances, like many people, your symptoms are worse in the supine position.

I could see no mention of central for that particular night.

As previously mentioned, I think the angle of attack is to hit the hypopneas, then the positional apnea, of which I believe is the most important area. 

Off the cuff, I think with your profile a "Soft Cervical Collar" may help. 

Most people on the forum have had good results. I suffered from mega apnea clusters (not central), and the only way to kill this off was to sleep on my side. 

Due to my particular build, tried collars but no go for me. I think I am in the minority.

A quick video demonstrating impact of body positions on upper airways.

https://youtu.be/_bGtvMb_xSo

Sorry this is so long.

By the way, the above is based on my opinion partly from my own experience,  personal research, and learning from this wonderful community of AB.

I have no medical skills, now the only real skill I have is playing with my grandsons. My mental age matches perfectly theirs! 
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#10
RE: 2 weeks user, looking for help!
Thanks for the info Expat31! It is very much appreciated that you have taken the time to dive in to the study and help me understand better. I have made the changes requested on original reply to my CPAP and will be looking to purchase a soft cervical collar today. One question however, is it recommended that I start sleeping in the supine position exclusively with the cervical collar moving forward? I tend to be a side/stomach sleeper, but I know this complicates the usage of the therapy regarding the masks. I also will be posting the last 3 days of Oscar data to this thread to see how everything is coming along at some point today! Again thank you very much!
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