Help with optimizing settings
Hi all. I just completed my 3rd night with CPAP and it's going pretty well so far. The mask is comfortable and I can sleep at least as well as I was prior to starting. I am still waking up a couple times during the night like I was before, but I am definitely feeling more refreshed. I do feel like there is room for improvement.
My medical providers have taken a pretty hands off approach to getting me started with this, to say the least. My PCP referred me to a sleep clinic after I described my symptoms of some day time fatigue and the fact that my wife witnessed me snoring with occasional pauses where I looked like I wasn't breathing. The sleep clinic had me do an at-home sleep study, and after a week of calling and asking for the results, the women at the front desk pulled up my chart and said it looks like you have moderate OSA with an AHI of 23.9. A week later they called back and said my insurance approved me for a CPAP and I would receive it in the mail. That was it. No further details or consult or discussion with a doctor or anything, so I guess I will be navigating this pretty much on my own.
I received the machine with a copy of the prescription for a pressure range of 5-20. I set it up and started my first night with it, and immediately felt like I wasn't getting enough air (Ramp is off), although it did increase to about 9 after a few minutes (maybe it detected a flow limit and ramped up?). I went into the clinical settings and increased the minimum to 7, which still felt a little low, and settled on 8-20 with EPR 3. I've used it over 7 hours per night these last three nights and have had an AHI of 2.3, 1.9, and 1.2 respectively, so I guess I'm doing really good in that respect. I do wonder if the wide open pressure range and varying pressures throughout the night are keeping me from getting as much quality sleep as I could be getting.
I bought an SD card and popped it in last night for my 3rd night with the machine. OSCAR data is attached. Can anyone offer any advice on my settings? I figure I probably need to tighten up the range a bit. Thank you!
-Ian
Additional OSCAR screenshots:
My medical providers have taken a pretty hands off approach to getting me started with this, to say the least. My PCP referred me to a sleep clinic after I described my symptoms of some day time fatigue and the fact that my wife witnessed me snoring with occasional pauses where I looked like I wasn't breathing. The sleep clinic had me do an at-home sleep study, and after a week of calling and asking for the results, the women at the front desk pulled up my chart and said it looks like you have moderate OSA with an AHI of 23.9. A week later they called back and said my insurance approved me for a CPAP and I would receive it in the mail. That was it. No further details or consult or discussion with a doctor or anything, so I guess I will be navigating this pretty much on my own.
I received the machine with a copy of the prescription for a pressure range of 5-20. I set it up and started my first night with it, and immediately felt like I wasn't getting enough air (Ramp is off), although it did increase to about 9 after a few minutes (maybe it detected a flow limit and ramped up?). I went into the clinical settings and increased the minimum to 7, which still felt a little low, and settled on 8-20 with EPR 3. I've used it over 7 hours per night these last three nights and have had an AHI of 2.3, 1.9, and 1.2 respectively, so I guess I'm doing really good in that respect. I do wonder if the wide open pressure range and varying pressures throughout the night are keeping me from getting as much quality sleep as I could be getting.
I bought an SD card and popped it in last night for my 3rd night with the machine. OSCAR data is attached. Can anyone offer any advice on my settings? I figure I probably need to tighten up the range a bit. Thank you!
-Ian
Additional OSCAR screenshots:
