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I have been using CPAP for few years now following a diagnostic of a mild apnea. I don't fall asleep in the afternoon as I did prior to using the CPAP and my general health is better so this has had positive impact on my life and I would not go without it. However I never ever get the feeling that I am fully rested and it does not matter if I spend 7 hours or 12 hours in bed. I feel generally OK with sleeping with the CPAP and at best of times I am even not sure if I have it on or not. I attach a screenshot from OSCAR and I was hoping that someone would be able to guide me to a better results so I could get fully rested again. If you look at this screenshot – is there something that you see that I should/could try adjusting in order to get better rested?
Therapy looks good, but I'd like to see some random zoomed images (4-minute resolution) of the flow rate graph to see why your statistics are showing a longer inspiration time than expiration time. I suspect flow limit may be under-reported in the statistic, but would need to see the flow rate. Your AHI is low and pressure seems to move within a reasonable range. The close-up views might give us more of a clue why you experience sleep disruptions.
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.
Many thanks for your swift reply. Please find attached 3 screenshots of the flow. I hope the zoom level is what you are looking for. You can perhaps see that I selected flow 2 and 3 not totally randomly but somewhat showing where there is something different going on.
The third screenshot shows the kind of flow limit I was expecting, but the first two look like normal inspiratory flow. Your statistics show longer inspiration time than expiration, but your expiratory flow is just fooling the algorithm. You have a fairly abrupt exhale that settles into a near zero flow for a longer time before inhale actually begins. This rebound out of exhale is fooling the machine into recording the beginning of inspiration too soon. Using the mask pressure under the flow rate chart would reveal whether the transition from EPAP to IPAP is affected. I suspect not. Trying EPR at 3 may be worthwhile unless you have found higher EPR to be disruptive.
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.