Cervical Pillow and a couple of other questions

[bt60]

I have a couple of questions and appreciate any response.

I am 60 yo male with moderate apnea.  I use a Devilbliss machine and just downloaded OSCAR but do not have results yet ( pretty slow on the tech side).  When diagnosed my AHI was about 18 with most being hyponeas and no centrals. Recently,  my AHI index has stayed around 4 ( average of 4 for last 30 days). My settings were 4 to 15.  I moved the minimum setting to 8, results are still similar.  I use the nasal mask, and suspect that I might be a partial mouth breather.

I sleep on my back and have read that a cervical pillow could help.  Any information on this and any suggestions for the type or model?

2.  I read so much about the ResMed AiirSoft machine.  Is that likely to give me better results, particularly with dry mouth?

3. I used to wake up in night to urinate, but since using CPAP that has stopped?  Is that likely a result of CPAP.

4.  What does it mean what an AHI around 5.  Should that affect health?  Generally even around these numbers, I feel better than I have in a while

[harrywr2]

2) The Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset algorithm for adjusting pressure is considered to be the most responsive.
It helps keep your AHI down and hopefully a better nights rest but dry mouth has to more to do with humidifiers and/or mouth breathing.

3) Many people report a reduction in the need to get up and urinate at night after starting CPAP.

4) An AHI(Apnea/Hypopnea Index) of 5 is what your insurance company/medicare thinks is 'good enough for government work'. Being disturbed 5 times an hour isn't what I call quality sleep.

As far as your results while total AHI is helpful in seeing how well you are doing the details of Obstructive Apneas,Hypopneas and Central Apneas are important. In my own case if I raise my minimum pressure above 8.2 my Central Apneas increase and if I reduce my pressure below 8 my Obstructive Apneas increase. Posting your OSCAR results generally provides the minimum amount of information necessary for others to make informed suggestions as to improvements.

[Gideon]

Welcome to the forum,

My last machine was a DV and I got a much better set of data and responses from ResMed.  My DV has limited methods treating flow limits, actually 1, Pressure and I was using 19-20 cmw every night.  I am currently using the PS of 6 and EPAP min (doesn't vary much) of 11 and averaging about .5 - 1 AHI.  

More than raising the min it is likely that you will get a better result with a greater difference between exhale and inhale pressures.

2. ResMed machine with their implementation of EPR provide a better way of attacking flow limits than other machines that are not a BiLevel machine.  Dry mouth is likely caused by a mouth leak or mouth breathing.  Machine should not matter.

3. Yes,  better sleep patterns put the body in a mode where it will suppress urination at night.  CPAP does this by removing apnea.

4. AHI of 5 means someone is giving you an elbow in your ribs every 12 minutes on average.  That's good right? 


The best advice is given when based on data.  Post your daily OSCAR charts.

[Dormeo]

About the bed pillow. Sometimes people who sleep on their backs will tuck their chins toward their chests, especially if they have a plump pillow or use several pillows. The chin-tuck can promote obstructive events, so it is good to try to avoid it.

A flatter pillow would be one thing to try. A cervical pillow is another (meaning the kind that has a fatter part going under your neck and a thinner part that goes under your head). And instead of, or in addition to, either of those you could try a cervical collar or a snore collar (usually stiffer than a cervical collar and with just a strap in back).

Once you can post some Oscar charts it'll be easier to see whether chin-tucking might be going on, so continue to work on that. Let us know if you hit any particular roadblocks, and we will try to help.

[Melman]

Were you thinking of a soft cervical collar? It is effective for preventing  chin tucking and some have found it to prevent mouth breathing as well. I am a mouth breather. I use a soft cervical collar to prevent chin tucking but it does not control my mouth breathing. I have found a full face mask to be the only solution for me. Here is and article on soft cervical collars. http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...cal_Collar