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Hello- After many years I have decided to try to control my sleep apnea again, so I'm trying to wrap my head around all this advanced data in an effort to get the most out of my therapy. 20 years ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea by a local sleep clinic. I was put on a CPAP machine, but the noise and the constant pressure blowing in my nose kept me awake all night and I ended up sleeping worse, so I ditched the machine. We no longer have any sleep clinics in the area, but now with new APAP technologies and quieter machines, and the fact that my sleep apnea is really taking a toll on my health, I have decided to give it another try. I was wondering if I posted an average night's data, would anyone be able to glean anything off of it that would be helpful to ensure I have my machine set to optimal settings for me, such as minimum/maximum pressures, etc. It seems as though I can only post 1 night's worth of data (200 KB), but if I'm wrong on that then please let me know. I realize 1 night's data is not much and I might have to post more, but any kind of information would be greatly appreciated; I have been reading this board for a few days now and am trying to arm myself with any knowledge that would benefit my efforts to get my apnea under control. Thank you for your time.
after 4 more posts you can post more data. Looks like you could bump your min pressure up to 8 safely since thats what your average is anyway. Than see how it looks.
Membership in the Advisory Members group does not imply medical expertise or qualification for advising Sleep Apnea patients concerning their treatment.
then post it as text "htt p://imgur.com/xxxx.png" (notice the space) until you achieve "Member" Status (about 4 posts)
Your numbers are good I can see raising your min to 6 then see what is happening over several (3) days then making another adjustment.
Your min pressure is about 6 for the night so that is why that, then adjust, probably up in small increments (.4 to .6) and wait about 5-7 days to allow your body to adjust to the new settings and look for AHI Improvements. You have a lot of Flow Limitation, this should go down with some pressure increase.
But the important question is How do you feel?
Fred
Gideon - Project Manager Emeritus for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
Thanks for your replies, they are very much appreciated. I will incorporate them into my therapy. I feel pretty good, but I realize it's going to be a long haul before things really turn around, but I'm definitely looking forward to better health.
Geno, good chart here. Let's break this down a bit and find out how you are feeling in terms of comfort. Your pressure range is 5-15, which is a pretty wide range of pressure. Your median pressure is 10.3 and it goes up to over 12 (we can ignore the max). Overall your event rate is pretty good, and the events are mainly obstructive. It would be a good idea to give your machine a bit of a head start so you may not experience most of that. In terms of comfort, your machine could provide exhale pressure relief from 1-3 cm, and It looks to me like 1 or 2 might make you more comfortable, but that is certainly your choice. I would suggest a minimum pressure of 8 based on what I'm seeing here. I don't see any reason to change maximum pressure. With a minimum of 9 and 2 cm of pressure relief on exhale, I think you would reduce hypopnea and prevent most of the obstructive apnea. I think exhale pressure relief (EPR) might helps you extend exhale time. Central might temporarily be higher until you adapted to that change. Leak rates are acceptable, but keep working on it. Overall, your respiration and event rate are acceptable, but the big question is how do you feel?
Summary: CPAP min 8, CPAP max 15, EPR 2.
Please link future images as shown in the second link in my signature, and you won't have a limit on size.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED AS MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEB SITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
Sleeprider, thanks for the post. I was kinda thinking the same thing on that minimum pressure. Right now my epr is 1, and I feel pretty comfortable with that, but I have no objections to going to 2 and minimum 9 if you think that would help, otherwise I'll leave it at 1 and 8 min. pressure. Other than that, I feel pretty good in the morning. I just got a new opus 360 mask, so I'm still working out getting it fitted correctly. I don't think I had it was tight enough on this night, so I'll see tonight when I tighten it up a little.
Read the Mask Primer, There is much in there on Mask Leaks.
What prompted this is your statement to tighten it up. One of the common mistakes is to make it to tight.
Fred
Gideon - Project Manager Emeritus for OSCAR - Open Source CPAP Analysis Reporter
Machine: Resmed AirSense 10 AutoSet For Her Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed f20 Humidifier: Resmed Integrated humidifier CPAP Pressure: 11/14 CmH2O CPAP Software: Not using software
Other Comments: I started CPAP in 2008. Totally blind since birth.
