[CPAP] Introduction and 1 week in

[darrenk]

Hi all,

I'm sure, like many, stumbled onto this forum when researching Apneas, CPAP treatment etc. I was recently diagnosed with severe sleep apnea with an AHI of 45.1. My symptoms seem typical - difficulty in focusing later in the day, permanently tired and my snoring was getting out of hand. 

After being diagnosed, I immediately opted to go onto a CPAP/ APAP trial. Because of my job requiring relatively consistent travel, I opted to trial the Phillips DreamStation Go Auto with humidifier. After a week of treatment, my AHI (according to the dreamstation) is now hovering around 4 but I wonder if it's absolutely dialed in. I've attached my report from Oscar and hope I could get some help interpreting and possibly some guidance to interpret the data myself into the future. 

Also, I've noticed that I've woken with a dry mouth and throat even though I've pushed the humidifier to it's maximum setting. When on the adaptive setting, I've noticed barely any water use overnight however on one night when I chose the "fixed" setting, it used approximately half the reservoir. Is this normal? Any settings I should try? 

Overall I do feel better but I wonder if the machine is well tuned and also wonder how long after starting treatment do most people feel maximum benefits?  

Thanks in advance and I would appreciate any comments or thoughts.

Darren

   

   

   

[Canuck 2]

Welcome to Apnea board, lots to learn here and hopefully with your new machine you can get your Dreamstation Go machine dialed in to get max out of it.
If you download Oscar software for free(top of page) the folks here will help you possibly fine tune or see some obvious issues.

[darrenk]

Thanks - I didn't notice when first posting that PDF's weren't allowed for new members. I've since edited the post with images of OSCAR instead.

Darre

[Karlin]

About the dry mouth. That is very commonand sometimes difficult to defeat. What kindof mask are you using? Full face, nasal pillow? If you are using a nasal mask and your mouth opens during the night, that will cause dry mouth. Some people can use a full face mask and tha may reduce dry mouth. 

It can take a while to feel the full benefits of PAP therapy. You are doing great so far; just stick with it!

[Sleeprider]

Well, you're pretty far out from "dialed in". You need to turn off ramp if you don't need it, and based on this chart your minimum pressure needs to be 9.0 cm, and I would not be surprised if you end up closer to 11.0 cm. Philips machines are a slow to increase pressure, and so you're often behind in getting pressure to proper therapy levels when it is set too low. 4.0 to 15 is fine for initial efforts to self titrate, but you will sleep better when you do get things dialed-in to the point pressure does not vary more then 3 or 4 cm through the night.

The screenshot function provides a much better chart for us to interpret as it includes more therapy details, respiratory statistics and settings. Please read the tutorial on taking a screenshot of your Oscar chart and how to attach an image. Both are linked in my signature. The PDF works, but is not as good as what we see with the screenshot. We can get you optimized on this travel CPAP, but I recommend you get a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset to use at home. The full size machine is much more comfortable and effective. Keep an eye on Craigslist, Offerup or Facebook Marketplace for deals. If you have never tried nasal therapy with the lightweight nasal pillows, give it a try. Most people can learn not to leak air from their mouth, and you will have a much smaller, lighter interface if it works.

[darrenk]

Thanks for the thoughts sleeprider - I'm currently away on vacation but will capture a screenshot when I get home to provide better data.

Thanks again

Darren

[darrenk]

Back from vacation and several visits to the clinic later, my configuration for my machine has changed significantly from my first week - corresponding with much improved AHI. Interestingly, the configuration reflects much of what Sleeprider recommended without prompting..


Would love all of your feedback on below.

Thanks in advance.

Darren

[Sleeprider]

Certainly improved, but it's still looking like a minimum pressure of 11.0 is in your future when you tolerate it. Lots of flow limitation gives rise to the RERA and hypopnea. Results like this really point to someone that would be a lot more comfortable on the Resmed machines using pressure support (EPR) instead of Flex. Good job working on self-titration and making this progress.