DanEm [Therapy Thread]

[DanEm]

Hello everyone.
I hope I am at the right place for my question.
I have been using the CPAP for more than a month now.

I do not have a full night sleep but instead I average 3 sleeps by night for about 1,5 hours each with a 1 hour wake between.
This has not changed from before the CPAP.
The last 23 days, I had a total of 70 sleeps.
For 10 sleeps, my AHI was from 25 to 50.

I am wondering if my pattern is normal.  Any comment will be appreciated.

[staceyburke]

I don't know anyone right now that can give you answers.  You have a new machine that is not compatible with OSCAR and that is what we get our data from.  Without that we would just be guessing.  The team here is trying to develop the means to read a SD card and get data from it but have not yet been able to.

[DanEm]

Thx Staceyburke, I knew about OSCAR and can only hope something will come out soon to analyse the data.
Philipps is no help at all for private owner about the new CPAP.
My care provider is not to savey with the equipment.
Plus, I found that the CPAP interferes with other BlueTooth connexions I have.

[DanEm]

In my ResMed AirSense 11 AutoSet report, my AHI was 3.8 for a sleep duration of 4:10 hours and it congratulates me for such results. 

Going through the Oscar details for the same time, I see that my AHI was 15 for ±80 minutes and for the rest of the sleep it was zero. So, is that a concern ?
See attached image.

Is a low AHI for a longer duration less worrisome than a high AHI for a shorter duration?  

Thank you all for any comment on this post.

[attachment=38778]

[Gideon]

The peak in the AHI (IHA) chart is because you had a cluster of events. The Events chart shows this better. If we know the type of events and maybe the cause we can suggest how to eliminate them.
Read the organization link in my signature and post the "Standard" OSCAR charts (Events, Flow Rate, Pressure, Flow Limits, Leaks) and the left sidebar without the Pie Chart and Calendar.

My GUESS is that you have something positional going on and may require a soft cervical collar to correct. Read the wiki linked in my signature on soft Cervical collar to see what I THINK is going on.

[DanEm]

Thank you Gideon. Your quick reply is greatly appreciated.
Sorry for my first post with the French version of the attachment.  I forgot to change languages for that post.

I am including to this post the screen capture I did following your instructions.
I hope I got everything properly organized.

Based on your comment, I take it that the situation I described is worrisome and should be prevented to happen again.

I read the the wiki on soft Cervical collar. 

sit relaxed in a chair and take a couple of deep breaths. Then let your chin drop to your chest, take more deep breaths, and note the increased resistance.

I did the exercise and felt no difference between the 2 positions.

Finally, the situation I describe happened only a few times within a period of 18 days (nights) usage.

I am eager to know what you think is going on and mostly what to do about it.

Let me know if I can provide more info.

[DanEm]

Hello Staceyburke

I took a while for me to come back and pursue this discussion.
I got rid of my first Philips CPAP and after 3 months waiting I got the ResMed Airsense 11
I have been doing the therapy for 18 days now.
Strangely, the average AHI is now much lower (1.5) than it was with the Philips machine ???

As for my night sleep being broken in 2 or 3 sleeps, that did not change.


So my initial concern is still here.
Is this pattern normal?

[OpalRose]

Hi DamEm,
It's important we see the following layout:  Events, Flow Rate, Pressure (not mask pressure) Flow Limits, Leaks) and the left sidebar without the Pie Chart and Calendar.  This is the Standard chart.

I can't see your pressure graph, but I'm fairly certain with the high Flow Limitation rate, that is what is driving your pressure to the max.  In turn, this higher pressure (which you may not need) could be waking you.

To try and rectify that, set your EPR to 3 full time. you currently have it set to Ramp only. If you are using ramp, try to wean off it. You are starting at a low pressure, so you shouldn't need it.

Speaking of pressure, if you're open to making a slight change, set your minimum pressure to 7cm with EPR 3 (full time) and leave max setting alone for now.

Using EPR helps with Flow Limitations, Hypopneas and Reras. Hopefully this will help you sleep better.

Repost after a day or two and we can go from there.

[DanEm]

In another post, I was told that it is the CPAP pressure that is required, not the mask pressure so I made a new screen capture with the right pressure.

[Ratchick]

Yep, that looks very positional to me. The fact that it's all clustered together, the machine maxed out without resolving them... that's typical.

First off, I would suggest swapping EPR from ramp only to full time. That will help hopefully with the flow limits you're having. I'd also increase your minimum pressure to 7 at least, to allow the machine to use EPR to its full effects. With an EPR of 3, that means you will be exhaling against just 4cm instead of 7cm. Any less than 7 would limit the machine because 4 is the minimum pressure that it can produce.

And secondly, yes, you should look at the wiki information about positional apnea/chin tucking and look to getting a soft collar if none of the other tricks (like a thinner pillow etc) help.

It's something to definitely fix, but it's not... critically dangerous or anything.