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My AHI is really low, but I'm having symptoms of low blood oxygen and/or heart strain, and I'm wondering if these breaths seem adequate.
Obstructives are almost non-existent, there's at most one hypopnea per night, and even centrals are extremely low, although they sometimes occur in little groups.
The main issue that I can see on the data is flow limits that happen around every 90 minutes. Even though the charts can appear pretty good, it just really seems like my breathing isn't getting the job done!
06-24-2023, 09:20 PM (This post was last modified: 06-24-2023, 09:22 PM by Sleepy Quixote.
Edit Reason: spell check
)
RE: Are my breaths normal? Long pauses, jagged lines.
@Nathan Graves,
I can't speak to the wave form or your symptoms, but I can comment on the Flow limit cycle. First would be a question, do you change positions frequently when you sleep? if so my guess would be those higher flow limit times every 90 minutes or so would be when you have rolled onto your back. Your flow limits are running a bit high because of it. Folks around here like to see flow limits around .03, believe me its doable. Another question I have is there any particular reason you're running a static pressure? I run auto, min 7, max 9.6, EPR 3 full time, no ramp of any sort. The thing about ramp is there is little therapy happening during ramp and zero event logging. I started out following internet advice about narrowing or even using static pressures early on, on one hand the advice helped me get a handle on therapy in general on the other hand the advice delayed better results. In general Lower Flow Limit = Better sleep quality. AHI may not be the best indicator of sleep quality, though it does tend to follow better Flow Limits. Once I found the advice given here and changed settings to match I found that my overall average pressures went way down because therapy was managing the flow limits that were driving the pressure up. More comfortable means better sleep.
Other folks far more knowledgeable than me will probably pop in here after a bit.
Good luck! Keep at it, its the only way we get good at it.
RE: Are my breaths normal? Long pauses, jagged lines.
That is pretty normal.
The jaggedness I think you are talking about looks like a very light snore.
About half way into your central event you can see a "buzz", that is the "sonar" or FOT that is used to check for an open airway. That is how your ResMed determines if the event is central (open) or obstructive.
Keep in mind that the goal is not zero events it is to get a good night's sleep.
With your excellent numbers the goal shifts to comfort because you have achieved efficacy.
RE: Are my breaths normal? Long pauses, jagged lines.
My understanding is that CPAP machines dont pick up flow limits or RERA's very well. I know two people that were symptomatic and had "great looking numbers" but still had RERA's all throughout the night, which is not ethical for a sleep doctor to ignore. I recommend paying to get your data looked at by someone whos going to look closer at your data and has a professional level of understanding. The people here may have a lot of knowledge but its hard to know the full picture with one data point and with the tech thats recording it.
RE: Are my breaths normal? Long pauses, jagged lines.
I wish I could pay to get it looked at by someone with real expertise. My local sleep 'clinicians' had actually never heard of 'flow limit' when I brought it up. One of the basic 11 things that these CPAP machines measure, and they've never heard of it.
