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02-06-2023, 04:28 PM (This post was last modified: 02-06-2023, 04:31 PM by aplacelikethis.)
Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
I've been feeling like absolute garbage every night since I started therapy and I've been sleeping an average of 4 hours. I've been waking up around the same time every night.
Should I adjust the pressure? I was thinking of increasing my minimum pressure by 2. My prescribed range is 5-15.
02-06-2023, 04:40 PM (This post was last modified: 02-06-2023, 04:41 PM by aplacelikethis.)
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
I also just realized that EPR was set to ramp only, but I have ramp mode turned OFF, as it was from the beginning. I just disabled ramp only, so it should always be on (at a level of 3), instead of always off like it was before. Maybe this was problem the whole time?
02-06-2023, 05:17 PM (This post was last modified: 02-06-2023, 05:17 PM by aplacelikethis.)
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
Just ran it for 20 mins with the EPR change (didn't actually sleep, just closed my eyes). Definitely felt significantly easier to exhale, which is nice. I wonder if it'll help decrease AHIs.
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
The EPR will help in reducing your flow limits. After looking at your graphs above, I don't see you benefitting all that much from using it. If it feels more comfortable, go for it! Just remember that the EPAP pressure helps control your OAs. You may need to raise the pressure setting to include the EPR reduction when it is using EPAP pressure.
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.
02-06-2023, 05:47 PM (This post was last modified: 02-06-2023, 05:52 PM by aplacelikethis.)
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
(02-06-2023, 05:44 PM)Crimson Nape Wrote: The EPR will help in reducing your flow limits. After looking at your graphs above, I don't see you benefitting all that much from using it. If it feels more comfortable, go for it! Just remember that the EPAP pressure helps control your OAs. You may need to raise the pressure setting to include the EPR reduction when it is using EPAP pressure.
- Red
Great, thanks! How about increasing minimum pressure? Do you think that could solve my problem?
(02-06-2023, 05:44 PM)Crimson Nape Wrote: The EPR will help in reducing your flow limits. After looking at your graphs above, I don't see you benefitting all that much from using it. If it feels more comfortable, go for it! Just remember that the EPAP pressure helps control your OAs. You may need to raise the pressure setting to include the EPR reduction when it is using EPAP pressure.
- Red
I just saw your updated comment. I saw on the wiki that you should increase your minimum pressure to be 2 below the median pressure (~8.9 in my case), so I would increase it to 6.9ish. Do you think it'll help?
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
The minimum pressure that your CPAP will generate is 4 cm. In order to use an EPR of, let's say, 3 means that the lowest pressure setting that will allow this is 7 cm. Seeing that your current pressure range is 5 to 15, and you are only going up to 11.4, I would increase the starting pressure to 8 cm and leave the 15 as it is.
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.
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
(02-06-2023, 05:59 PM)Crimson Nape Wrote: The minimum pressure that your CPAP will generate is 4 cm. In order to use an EPR of, let's say, 3 means that the lowest pressure setting that will allow this is 7 cm. Seeing that your current pressure range is 5 to 15, and you are only going up to 11.4, I would increase the starting pressure to 8 cm and leave the 15 as it is.
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
(02-06-2023, 05:59 PM)Crimson Nape Wrote: The minimum pressure that your CPAP will generate is 4 cm. In order to use an EPR of, let's say, 3 means that the lowest pressure setting that will allow this is 7 cm. Seeing that your current pressure range is 5 to 15, and you are only going up to 11.4, I would increase the starting pressure to 8 cm and leave the 15 as it is.
- Red
Do you think there's any mouth breathing going on based on my charts?
02-08-2023, 03:27 AM (This post was last modified: 02-08-2023, 03:36 AM by aplacelikethis.)
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
I'm extremely confused by my results for the last two nights.
For the first night, I ran it with min pressure of 8 and EPR at 3, as discussed. I got one extra hour of sleep for the first time, which is good. Subjectively, I definitely felt better than I've been feeling the last several nights (especially Thursday and Friday of last week). It's much closer to my pre-APAP baseline. Side note: it appears to be missing data from the first part of the night; that's really weird.
For the second night, I tried a mouth tape with the same settings. It appears that I got another hour of sleep than the night before, so 6 hours total. I'll update with how I feel by the end of the day.
02-10-2023, 10:57 AM (This post was last modified: 02-10-2023, 10:58 AM by aplacelikethis.)
RE: Waking up after 4 hours every single night on APAP (feeling like absolute garbage)
So with the tape, and I felt worse throughout the day and by the end of the day.
Went back to without tape and I'm right around my pre-CPAP baseline. I still wake up every night after 5 hours, not feeling refreshed or well rested. I'm thinking of experimenting with fixed pressure bc it might be the pressure change increases that causes me to wake up early everytime.
My 95% pressure is 13.34, so I was thinking of setting it to 14. What do you guys think?
