Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
About four hours into the night, I woke up with the pressure at 18 and staying there. I laid awake for some time and the pressure did not decrease. I couldn't fall back asleep with the high pressure. I ended up taking off the CPAP for the rest of the night.
I have attached my Oscar data from the night. Is this normal? Do I just need to learn how to fall back asleep with high pressure?
Thanks,
Dan
07-22-2023, 10:24 AM
(This post was last modified: 07-22-2023, 10:27 AM by PrimaApneaDude.
Edit Reason: Added leak suggestion
)
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
I would think the pressure should have decreased once you woke up. I'm looking at getting the same machine so this would be a concern for me. I guess worst case is restarting the machine to start over with a lower pressure allowing it to ramp up as you start having events again. Your sleep looks good to me until the very end too. Maybe it was just a software fluke.
edit...your leak rate jumped at the same time as the pressure increased and your events started happening. Maybe you still had large leaks preventing the machine from lowering your pressure.
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
A pressure adjustment is needed. But first we have to see your
OSCAR charts.
Sleepster
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RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
@dank44
I've had the same thing happen a few times, it's like the machine just doesn't get the memo, they are smart machines but can be pretty dumb. Rather than take off all the gear I just tap the power button on top and restart, everything goes back to normal and I can get back to sleep.
Others with more experience than I may chime in here in a bit. Your minimum pressure is way too low, try it around 7, with EPR Full and set for 3 like you have that is a starting expiratory pressure of 4 but provides an inspiratory pressure of seven for managing flow limits.
Right there at the end when the pressures went very high you have some pretty good leaks and lots of flow limits that indicate positional obstruction, like maybe chin tucking, it appears you did hit the power button? but maybe turned it on too quickly before getting your sleep posture corrected? Either way the machine didn't reset with the break, not sure why?
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
NO one can tell you what is wrong but they can guess. I would suggest you download OSCAR (it is completely free) and show us a nights sleep. I'll bet we can tell you what is wrong in just a little bit of looking at the charts.
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
I am newly diagnosed and just started with an Airsense 11 a little over a week ago. I am experiencing the same problem. I wake up, pressure is high (11-12 when my settings are 5-15), and it won’t sense I’m awake. There may be a small leak, and I’ll sometimes adjust the mask to try to fix it while still on the air.
I have a lot of anxiety around this. So I’m basically trying to stay on the machine while this is happening, all the while in moderate distress, hoping that it will go down on its own (it doesn’t) or I fall asleep again (I don’t.) It’s possible the machine is sensing my movement ame attempts to fix the mask, etc. as events.
Also, my diagnosis is CSA-CSR. When I go to sleep on ramp mode (5 mins starting at 4) I would swear I’m awake for initial apnea events before I’m getting a therapeutic level of pressure. So I may actually be having them while I’m awake but groggy; I’m wondering if the machine is recognizing them and won’t back down the pressure regardless of what’s happening.
Either way, it’s distressing me terribly. I didn’t know I could hit the power button twice to reset to ramp level. So I’d actually get up, wake up, walk around, and start over.
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
Take a look at your chart where you had your pressures rise. Look at the events, they started with a Cluster of O events. A cluster of events show you that you had positional apnea.
Positional apnea can NOT be controlled by pressure changes. You have to find out what position you are getting into and cutting off your own airway. Have you changed your sleep position? Sleeping on your back? Using more (or new) pillows? These things can cause positional apnea by chin dropping to your sternum and cutting your airway. Think of it of a kinked hose – nothing can get through – you have to unkink the hose…
IF you can’t make a simple change like staying off your back or changing to a flatter pillow helps then you will need a collar. I have a link to collars in my signature at the bottom of the page. It shows people who are not wearing a collar and the SAME person wearing a collar. There is a huge difference between the two.
Because it was just at the end of the night I'm sure that you would not need to have a collar, you just need to stay out of that position.
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
(07-22-2023, 07:02 PM)staceyburke Wrote: Take a look at your chart where you had your pressures rise. Look at the events, they started with a Cluster of O events. A cluster of events show you that you had positional apnea.
Positional apnea can NOT be controlled by pressure changes. You have to find out what position you are getting into and cutting off your own airway. Have you changed your sleep position? Sleeping on your back? Using more (or new) pillows? These things can cause positional apnea by chin dropping to your sternum and cutting your airway. Think of it of a kinked hose – nothing can get through – you have to unkink the hose…
IF you can’t make a simple change like staying off your back or changing to a flatter pillow helps then you will need a collar. I have a link to collars in my signature at the bottom of the page. It shows people who are not wearing a collar and the SAME person wearing a collar. There is a huge difference between the two.
Because it was just at the end of the night I'm sure that you would not need to have a collar, you just need to stay out of that position.
Not trying to hijack the thread, but does positional apnea change over night? For example, I have a camera that records at me all night, it seems my positional apnea starts hours after going to bed. It seems related to when I sleep on the side of my face, however according to the video I tend to do that throughout the night.
RE: Airsense 11 - Is this Normal?
You can have positional apnea sleeping in any position it happens when your chin drops to your sternum that’s why it is fixed with a collar. It keeps your chin up in all sleep positions.
