[Symptoms] New to cpap, weary of diagnosis / results

[BBB210]

I was diagnosed with mild OSA (8 AHI, 10 RDI) through lofta about  6 weeks ago. Getting into a study would’ve taken months and months, and I was/am too miserable. Anyway, it showed next to no centrals.

I’ve been on the cpap about a month now and having absolutely no results. Still exhausted, still waking up multiple times a night to pee, etc. I’m on 8cm, continuous, EPR off. I show next to no obstructive events, less than 1 normally .  My AHI for central is normally 4-8 lately. I’m also on long term methadone, which is another reason I’m pretty concerned that it’s CSA rather than OSA ( or , atleast, I have only mild OSA and atleast moderate CSA.) 

I was diagnosed using watch pat one, which apparently *can* detect CSA , but I doubt very effectively at all… I uploaded some data to Oscar and sleephq (which I’m still very new at and aren’t very familiar with working it yet) and posted it in the cpap support subreddit , and had a few people say I’m having central events all over, including several  that weren’t flagged , as well as flat wave form data indicating little to no drive to breathe? I think…


I know about treatment emergent centrals, but I’m really wondering if it’s more than that… I can try to post the data here…

Also for some reason, it appears that the wave form data only came in on 2 of the nights I uploaded, the 6th and 7th I believe. The 7th is what I have looked at for now. 


I’m  brand new  to this forum and really just hoping I can get some help. I’m scheduled for an in lab study, but not for 8 more weeks unfortunately… and I just don’t know how much longer I can continue like this. I work in a loud warehouse and find myself falling asleep while standing up , almost daily. Just getting up in the morning is hell on earth, and if I sit down , to watch tv with my girlfriend or something, forget about it - I’m nodding off every 5 minutes. It’s just destroying any quality of life I have/had…


Any help would be so appreciated, thank you.


Edit : looks like I can’t post any links here…. I can PM anyone the share link to my sleephq data if that helps…

[OpalRose]

Welcome to Apnea Board!

Please post an OSCAR chart for review.

The directions for Organizing a chart, taking a Screenshot and using the Attachment Feature to upload here are in my Signature Line below.

[BBB210]

Unfortunately , I can’t. I don’t have the software at my house at the moment and don’t have my computer . I only have the share link to my sleephq data. I could PM that if it helps? I do have basic screenshots from Oscar , but no wave form data .

[BBB210]

Anybody?

[Jay51]

You do have some CA's.  Some of them line up (vertically) in your OSCAR charts with massive mask leaks.  That leaks out CO2 and can cause CA's.  But a few others do not have this pattern.  

Yours may be treatment emergent or may not be.  It usually takes a few weeks or more to see if they are treatment emergent (most of them go away then) or permanent CA's.  Time should tell in your case.  

Here are some tips to prevent mask leaks from our Wiki:  (Your massive mask leaks could have been when you rolled over, etc. though)
If you stop these massive leaks, you can cut your CA's down considerably most likely.  

• 1Mask Primer
  

[BBB210]

Yes I do sometimes take the mask off momentarily to talk to s/o, use my vape, etc. I’ve been trying to turn off the machine if I do that.

My machine normally shows a great seal and my leaks generally don’t go above low teens for the night , or even in the single digits.

I guess I’ll keep trying to see if they go away, but it’s been over a month. I’m really honestly thinking I’ve been misdiagnosed though. I have a strong feeling that this is central sleep apnea , and not OSA. I hope I’m wrong , as expensive as Bilevel and ASV, especially, are. But I’m not counting on it. I haven’t noticed one iota of difference/improvement since I’ve started on it. 


Just really hoping I can get some kind of relief soon. Otherwise I’ll be waiting months and months to get an actual in lab study this time. And even then I’ll have to hope I can even get the ASV prescribed , and then hope the insurance approves it. It should NOT be this hard and time consuming to get help for such a common and debilitating disorder. I’ve lost all quality of life, it’s exacerbating my mood disorder to a devastating degree , I’m always angry,  irritable, and anxious. I have no energy, I fall asleep everywhere, I’m a sh**ty boyfriend to my wonderful, patient girlfriend because I’m just so purely EXHAUSTED and miserable all the time . I’m just at my wits end here. I was so excited and happy to finally get started on this journey to relief and sleep when I got the cpap, and it’s been nothing but continued misery. I’m just tired of this.


Thank you all very much for your help, though. I do appreciate it very much. Yall seem like a great community of people .

[SarcasticDave94]

Did you get your copy of the Watch Pat detailed results? Put in the call to request this if you've not done so yet. Then you can post it redacted of your personal info. It should have clues to the Central Apnea aspect I'd think.

[BBB210]

Attached is the raw report I requested from them. I believe pAHIc is central? It’s almost nothing. Apparently , it *can* detect central apnea, but I don’t know how accurately tbh. There’s no eeg or respiratory chest band .

[SarcasticDave94]

You may need to request lab testing then. Make known the complaint you have with the CPAP. Your choice to go vague or detailed depending on what your doctor responds to better. Either way your therapy isn't comfortable, and you want to have a detailed reason why it's not helping. Lab diagnostic will help.

[BBB210]

Ok what would you recommend ? I don’t exactly have a doctor, well not a special sleep doctor - but I have a PCP. 

I’m guessing you mean to tell the people at the lab when I do the study? I guess I was thinking of just saying something along the lines of “I did a home study using watch pat one while waiting on a study to open up, got mild sleep apnea diagnosis . Received an AS 11, been using for over a month and still having all the same symptoms and no relief whatsoever, not even a little.”

Like that?