100% exasperated

[JamesW]

My wife has been on CPAP since the 2nd of September this year. She went for an overnight sleep study and returned a AHI of 27, hence the CPAP. I hassled her to do it due to her snoring that was disrupting my sleep. I am also on CPAP, five years now and happily adapted with very low AHI now averaging about 0.2 long term. Back to the wife, initially her reaction to my comments about snoring was to sleep in another room. Then after some "discussion" the sleep study and now CPAP. I am pretty worried about her therapy.

Initially her settings were  7-17 on a Resmed Autosense 10 and now a fixed pressure of 12, after her first follow up with her sleep doctor. Since going on the fixed pressure her AHI has gone up and I am worried about that. The big problem is the more I try to give advice the more I am in the dog house. She is 56y/o, carrying a bit too much weight, and if I mention that it could start a war. She is pretty stubborn about being told what to do by me and I do not want to make a difficult situation worse. She does not like being on CPAP at all, and as I pushed her into the whole thing I am trying to gently help her. To not avail though.

I am having difficulty getting an Oscar screen shot of her data as F12 is simply not working on my PC.  I managed to attach a JPEG so any thoughts would be very much appreciated.

JamesW

[staceyburke]

It says you are using sleepyhead - the update is oscar (at the top of the site). That should solve the problem.

[staceyburke]

We really need a day shot not a recap.  OSCAR Chart Organization

[JamesW]

OK, here goes. My wife's data from the last night of APAP, first night of fixed pressure and last night. No consistency overall.   I am at a total loss on how to help her and that is depressing me greatly.

JamesW

[Sleeprider]

Winner winner, chicken dinner! Your wife has positional apnea. Read these two wikis and solve her problem almost instantly without changes to pressure:
Positional Apnea: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea
Soft Cervical Collar: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...cal_Collar

This is an extremely common problem, and most people solve it very quickly. If positional apnea was not previously a problem, try to think of what changed like bed pillows, sleeping position, masks, bedding. I'll make some minor suggestions to settings to relieve the flow limitation:
Mode: Autoset
Minimum pressure: 10.0
Maximum pressure: 16.0
EPR: on full time
EPR setting: 2 or 3.

[staceyburke]

Her problem the first 2 nights I’d positional apnea. She may be lying on her back or just getting into a position where she is cutting off her own breathing. Most of the time it is due to chin tucking (tucking her chin down and cutting her air way). She may be using a pillow that is to high or she may need a collar to help her keep her airway open. SEE THE BOTTOM LINK FOR COLLAR.

[JamesW]

Sleeprider, the same instances of clusters have been fairly consistent across her therapy so I suspected positional apnea from what other forum members have previously posted. I will "gently" try to get her to try out a cervical collar. She is just as frustrated as me in that she can't get a comfortable nights sleep. She has an appointment with the CPAP clinic in a few days to help fine tune her setup, so we will see what comes from that. The previous two were cancelled due to Covid restrictions. Even though we are doing well with Covid down here in Australia the restrictions are playing havoc.

James W

[Sleeprider]

It might help to introduce her to the issue by having her do the relaxation exercise where she allows her chin to fall onto her chest. This is a self-discovery moment, and helps avoid the need to tell her the problem. Instead, you work on how to solve it. I have been married for 41 years and have learned a thing or two.