[Diagnosis] NEWBIE Looking for first diagnosis assistance

[Gothenburg85]

Hey all!
Just started a profile here and am very happy this space exists.  Thank you to those long time users for creating such a useful forum with clear instructions.

39M, 6'2", 205#, athletic slender build, mountain biker and try to stay active

Went years of not sleeping well to finally get a study done Jan 2023, got my device in April 2023, and after the initial hump, seemed to take to it ok.  But I'm inconsistent.  In the past few months I've been battling waking up from 3-5am for some reason, maybe apnea related maybe not.  I do fall asleep ok.

Not sure how far back to post since again, I'm sorta inconsistent, but here are the past 3 days, might reply with more below.  Happy to post more, answer questions, etc.  THANK YOU SO MUCH to anyone reading this.

   

   

   

---

   

   

[Gothenburg85]

   

   

   

[SandraRPSGT]

I see you’re on an APAP. I was never rested when t machine was set on the APAP setting. It might be the constant changing of your pressure that’s walking you up. You might do better on a constant pressure than an auto set. I know I do

I hope you feel better soon! Don’t give up!

[jstro84]

Minimum pressure of 5.0 is doing nothing for you. If your EPR is set to 2, then you will need to set the minimum to at least 7.0 for it to work properly. 

But, I would recommend setting your minimum at something more like 10. Notice that the night with the lowest AHI corresponds to the highest 95% pressure settings, around 12.5 - 13.5 

If you have ramp and smart start or whatever they call it, the so-called "comfort" features, turned on, I recommend turning them off.

[eok361]

i agree. if that were me, i'd definitely set my range from min-10 to max-15. and either turn off the ramp, or set it to 5 min at 8cmH2o.

after a week or so, i'd adjust to see if i could find a CPAP number that would work best.

but the 10 to 15 range would be a good starting point for you.

[Gothenburg85]

Awesome.  Thanks so much for the replies.

It makes sense that the minimum is too low, possibly causing waking issues in the wee hours of the night as I'm falling into deeper sleep / dreaming.

I'll start with the 10-15 pressure recommendations and go from there, also look into the EPR at about 8 and ramp time.

This place is great.  All opinions are welcome!