[CPAP] First time with APAP, requesting help with interpreting the results

[deep303]

Hello experts,
I have been suffering from heavy snoring for a few years and also experienced symptoms of chocking during sleep. Thus, I decided to consult a sleep specialist and without any surprise  he said: 95% chance I have obstructive sleep apnea (due to my facial features). The sleep study seemed too expensive in my limited budget, so I decided to directly grab an Automatic CPAP machine and see if it helped. Today is the first time I tried it for a few hours (without humidifier) and I already feel great. However, I was wondering if anybody can please help me with:

• Is there any way to confirm that I have obstructive sleep apnea by looking at OSCAR data (since I ditched the sleep test)?
  
• Do the results look normal ? If there are any recommendations for the upcoming nights ?
  

Thanks in advance for all your time and help   !

[Melman]

Welcome to the forum. Congratulations on getting the best machine and getting off to a good start. Your AHI is in the treated range (<5) but there is room for improvement. Your minimum pressure is too low. Most feel starved for air at a setting of 4. Also, note that as soon as ramp ends the pressure increases quickly to a little over 10 to respond to your need and stays at that level or higher for the entire session. We generally recommend a minimum pressure setting close to the median which, in your case is 10.4. I suggest you set your minimum pressure at 9 or 10. Also turn off ramp unless you need it to fall asleep. You EPR setting of 3 is optimal. When posting data it is best to post just event flags, flow rate, pressure (not mask pressure), leak rate, and flow limits. Those are the most important and reducing the number makes the data easier to read. See the link below for how to organize your data. If you don’t know how to change settings see instructions here. https://www.apneaboard.com/resmed-airsen...setup-info    Be sure to post data again after making any changes.

[SarcasticDave94]

I'd say it's convincing enough what's shown here. I'd give min pressure a bump to at least 7 to allow EPR 3 room to work.

[deep303]

Thanks @Melman @SarcasticDave94 for your suggestions. Yesterday I bumped up the minimum pressure to 9.
Attached are the new metrics obtained.  Please let me know if you have any more suggestions..

Thanks!

[SarcasticDave94]

OK, what it looks like now is some positional Apnea clusters, where your chin is tucking your chest or too many pillows. Either is kinking your neck and reducing airflow and increasing Obstructive events. Review your head and neck alignment, the pillow arrangement, and then refer to our soft collar wiki in my signature.

BTW you'll see what I'm meaning by Apnea clusters by looking at this OSCAR you posted, and look for one event after another. A good example is about 0330.

[Melman]

Dave is right about positional apnea. The increased minimum pressure has reduced you flow limitations, RERA, and hypopnea. Pressure spikes appear to be associated with clustered OA which fits for positional apnea. Read the WIKI Dave suggested and also this http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea Reducing your positional apnea should reduce you AHI significantly.