Dang71 Therapy thread

[dang71]

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in January 2023. 48 events per hour. I was prescribed a CPAP machine with an automatic pressure of 5-15, EPR at 2.

I think that during the first year, I did not have a good night's sleep. When I talked to my sleep tech, everything was fine because my AHI was below 5. A classic case.

So I read about it, realized that I was not the only one, I installed Oscar. I tried to understand.

In 2024 I started to play with my settings. My statistics improved. I now have a fixed pressure at 8, still the EPR at 2. But I still have CAs. Less than before, but still.

Here is the graph of my night yesterday, a classic case.

I decided this morning to go and look at my 2023 statistics. The majority of my bad nights are due to CAs. Lowering the pressure helped but not totally.

I wonder if I can still do something? EPR at 3 ? Am I on the right machine ?

Thank you very much and have a nice day!

[Deborah K.]

Folk would be better able to help you if you posted a full night's Oscar, not just the expanded portion.

[dang71]

sorry, here we go!

[Deborah K.]

Your CAs are not very high, and they all show up towards morning.  Did you have a lot of CAs in your sleep study?  If you don't have a copy, ask your doctor for one.  I don't know if they must provide it, as in the US, but ask anyway.  If they won't do it, ask them to tell you how many CAs you had and what percentage of your events were CAs.  That will help us figure out if you do need a different machine.

I suggest you set a small range of pressure to see if your body might need higher pressure.  I think 8 to 12 would be good to help us determine what will work best for you.  Please try it, then post an Oscar and tell us how you feel.  That's an important element, sometimes more important than numbers.

In the meantime, it would help if you changed your Oscar chart a little.  When you copy your Oscar page hit F12 if you use Microsoft or F12 plus FN if you use Apple.  That will help us see what we need better.  Also, make sure we can read to the very bottom of flow limits.

Good luck!  

[dang71]

First of all, thanks for the answers! And you put me on a track. I notice that I have a lot of CAs in the morning indeed... and I remember that I was awake, that I was trying to go back to sleep, and that I move a lot.. So it's something to keep in mind

As for the recommendations that you made me, I tried to put my pressure at 8-10... And here are the results (in attachment), I'm almost embarrassed!

On the other hand, I have a question.. You had recommended 8-12, but I was afraid that if my pressure goes too high, that some CAs would show up, considering that my entire first year under CPAP, my machine was set to 5-15 mode and that I had a lot of CAs... But I also notice in my graph, that I often approach 10.
So my question, do I leave it like that or do I try the 8-12 anyway?

By the way, I went back to my mask over the nose (dreamwisp), although less comfortable than my N30i, I have fewer leaks, considering that I increased my pressure

I also set the EPR to 2. More comfortable and it seems to have helped my results as well.

I'll keep an eye on this for the next few days for sure!

Thanks again 

[dang71]

I just got the results of my sleep study and I had no CAs.

and of course, the sleep tech tells me not to trust Oscar

[dang71]

sorry I didn't have the flow rate on my last screenshot