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Okay, so newbie here. I noticed these breathing patterns on my OSCAR chart today as I did my review. I found several of these patterns and they always seem to happen well into my sleep cycle (anywhere from 1-2 hours in). Normally, the breathing pattern is very stable, but then something happens and the lines go all over the place.
They don’t exactly look like hypopneas to me, but a couple of them have caused arousals. The weird thing is that the machine doesn’t mark them as any events. I’m wondering if these patterns are something that I should be worried about. If so, how should I go about fixing these issues? Perhaps a higher pressure? I’m using a ResMed Airsense 10 autoset w/ the pressure settings 7cm - 20cm w/ a EPR of 3 in case that makes a difference. I attached a chart that shows what my normal breathing looks like in a 2 minute window, and then I attached several charts showing what I am talking about. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
What is unusual is the absence of events. Check the 2 dropdowns at the bottom of the page and make sure they are all checked and green.
They look like a shift in position to me, the "events" you highlighted look like Central events (holding your breath) and are followed by some moderate recovery.
All in all I would love to produce your chart, it is far better than my typical .5 AHI
Gideon - Project Manager and Lead Tester for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
(06-16-2019, 04:38 PM)bonjour Wrote: What is unusual is the absence of events. Check the 2 dropdowns at the bottom of the page and make sure they are all checked and green.
They look like a shift in position to me, the "events" you highlighted look like Central events (holding your breath) and are followed by some moderate recovery.
All in all I would love to produce your chart, it is far better than my typical .5 AHI
Thanks Bonjour for the quick response and clearing that up. I didn't know shifting positions could cause that erratic breathing. Also I checked the drop downs and they were all green. Here's another chart showing all of the information. Btw, another member, SleepRider had pointed out to me how flow limitations can be harmful to your sleep. He said if I wanted wanted to take to really treat them, I would need a Bipap. With the EPR of 3, are my flow limitations treated enough? (.02 for 95% doesn't seem too bad). Or would I benefit from getting a Bipap machine? Curious to know what you think. I'm all new to this. Thank you and have a nice day.
IMHO you are good, and I'm normally pretty aggressive about Flow Limitations. If they truly are bothering you with your machine you can try to increase pressure but I wouldn't. BiLevel is a much better way to go but with your numbers, and the lack of complaints, I doubt you could get one covered by your insurance. Lie down and shift from your back to your side, held your breath didn't you!
Gideon - Project Manager and Lead Tester for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
Haha, yes I did. That's good to know. I don't have any complaints. For the first time in my life I've been able to wake up early and not feel tired. I'm literally getting an extra 4-5 hours every single day. Now all I have to do is figure out how stop waking up 3-4 times a night to go to the bathroom! (and last time I checked, I was not diabetic). Could I expect a sleep improvement if I could sleep all the way through the night? Maybe that's what I should focus my attention on.
I turn over a lot to ease hip pain, and I have a number of flow patterns every night that look like yours. We breath much less regularly when awake than when asleep, especially when we exert ourselves, as with turning over.
I am sure that with fewer wake-ups, you would feel even better during the day. Worth some attention, probably.
Of course, with frequent urination at night, it’s good to limit fluids for at least 2-3 hours before bed and to limit alcohol and coffee for longer than that. For men, it’s also good to have a prostate check.
06-17-2019, 04:06 PM (This post was last modified: 06-17-2019, 04:07 PM by 3rdMarDiv.)
RE: Unusual Flow Charts On OSCAR
(06-16-2019, 03:26 PM)ReturnofXile Wrote: Okay, so newbie here. I noticed these breathing patterns on my OSCAR chart today as I did my review. I found several of these patterns and they always seem to happen well into my sleep cycle (anywhere from 1-2 hours in). Normally, the breathing pattern is very stable, but then something happens and the lines go all over the place.
They don’t exactly look like hypopneas to me, but a couple of them have caused arousals. The weird thing is that the machine doesn’t mark them as any events. I’m wondering if these patterns are something that I should be worried about. If so, how should I go about fixing these issues? Perhaps a higher pressure? I’m using a ResMed Airsense 10 autoset w/ the pressure settings 7cm - 20cm w/ a EPR of 3 in case that makes a difference. I attached a chart that shows what my normal breathing looks like in a 2 minute window, and then I attached several charts showing what I am talking about. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
I get those and suspect everyone does. They are short in duration and as long as they aren't coming in long waves are likely nothing to worry about. If you really want to know what is the cause of most anything unusual you find in OSCAR set up a security camera synced in time with OSCAR. I identified many such anomalies when looking into really unusual occurrences I found in my OSCAR Flow Rate Chart. Check out my thread. Maybe you will learn something new about all this like I did.
