[CPAP] Newbie to CPAP Therapy

[staceyburke]

Your change to EPR 3 did NOTHING... Let me explain - the absolute lowest your machine can go is 4, your min is 5.   EPR subtracts like this Min - EPR = exhale pressure.  So yours 5-3 the machine can not go down to 2 so your exhale pressure pressure was 4.

I suggested min 8 and EPR 3 Which would  be min8-epr3 = exhale of 5.  It is important because the EPR is what we use to lessen the flow limits - you need to move the min up to 8.

Then we  can see if it is helping or not.  And the collar would be a help on the positional apnea.

[SleepyPrince]

Hello All,

I was able to keep the AHI <3 most of the time these three months, but this week it was terrible. I get 6-7 almost every day this week.

The only change is I'm having an bad sore throat pain with a prickly feeling and sinus allergies. I got checked with my doctor told & he has prescribed some antibiotic.

I'm a mouth breather since I have a severe deviated septum as well. So basically my throat is always dry. Does throat infection makes the apnea worst? Thanks in advance.

   

[Gideon]

Infection itself no. Inflammation/swelling from the infection yes.

[clownbell]

I'm puzzled. In August, Stacey suggested min of 8. The chart you posted today has min of 10.6. Why so high?

Glad to hear the collar is helping. Be aware there are different styles and heights. Some experimentation may be worthwhile if you are still uncomfortable.

[Gideon]

Let's try increasing your min pressure to 12 for now lowering it back down when your throat feels better.

Thoughts. Your OA clusters are indicative of a positional apnea but not in your case this time. Not bad enough to insist on a collar but on a watch. Not this time. Your history implies the cause is your sore throat and not position, I could be wrong. For this reason I want to try a higher min pressure to see if that impacts your apnea and or throat. Bring the pressure back down when the throat feels better.

[SleepyPrince]

Thank everyone for the inputs, I was back to normal after my sore throat but this week numbers are not very promising.

I feel its time to change the collar and try it out. The reason I increased my pressure to 10 is I had very few events with that settings.

Also I slept from 23:45 to 4:00 am last night but in the Oscar , I see till 4:40 am . Not able to follow how ? 

Thanks in advance.

[SleepyPrince]

Hello folks,

This is my first year of CPAP use in allergy season. I'm very allergic to pollen and medications helps a bit, but most of the time I feel terrible.

For the last one week, my events skyrocketed and I'm getting day time tiredness as well after many months. I always used to have 2-4 AHI but now its uncontrollable.

Is this common for CPAP users during allergy season? Do I need to talk to my sleep doctor about this? Any comments or suggestions are appreciated. TIA

   
   
   

[Gideon]

Your charts are saying positional apnea. Pressure will not fix this. Straightening your neck will. Read about the soft cervical collar wiki referenced in my signature.

[SleepyPrince]

Thanks for the reply, I'm using cervical collar and Brough down my events to 2-3 couple of months back and been doing it.

Even when I did not use the cervical collar, I used to get OSA but nothing more than 4-5 AHI . 

But currently I use a cervical collar, but I get a lot of Hyponea and RERA events this past week & day time tiredness. Only aspect that changed from previous month are the allergies. That's why thought it is related to allergies.

Should I go check out an ENT just to evaluate any other factors?

[Gideon]

Try treating your allergies more aggressively. I know Flonase is common