Feedback for a complete newbie? [still tired]

[dentedcan]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to CPAP and this forum. First, thanks for such a great resource. I've been reading threads the last few days and finally had to make an account. What a community!

My polysomnography was completed about a month ago and indicated 29.3 events per hour, and o-sats dropping into the 70s.

I'm heading into night three of sleeping with a CPAP and didn't expect to feel so terrible. My events are way down, but I'm waking up foggy-headed (new since CPAP), with big raccoon eyes (new since CPAP), my chest and upper back feel sore/overused throughout the day, and in the early afternoon I slam into a wall of tired. I was accustomed to napping in the afternoon but now naps are mandatory.

I called my respiratory therapist at the DME provider yesterday to report how I felt and felt a little brushed off. Said it was normal and she'd call me in a week to look at how it's going. :/

Based on some of the other threads here, I made a couple changes to my device after the first night: turned off ramp, raised the lower pressure from 4 to 6 because it felt like some combination of shop-vac/squid was suffocating me while I tried to go to sleep.

Tried to arrange my SleepyHead screenshot based on the forum thread. Looks like I can't post images or links until I make a few more posts.

Slightly manipulated url: http://imgur.com/a/3b1bZ

Hoping someone may have some additional feedback that could help. Thanks in advance for any thoughts you might have, and for all the other great posts here.

[Gideon]

URL manipulation should look like 

 htt p://imgur.com/a/3b1bZ

Here it is
http://imgur.com/a/3b1bZ

Your numbers are looking pretty good but your chart does not have all the events enabled  Click th "flags" on the lower left and enable everything.  You only have Large Leaks and RERA enabled.

Fred

[dentedcan]

My apologies. Thank you for the formatting help.

[PaulaO2]

It is normal. Your body and brain have to get used to everything, including getting sleep.

Try sitting up during the day with the mask and machine on. This will help you acclimitize.

Your AHI is good, so the machine is doing its thing. Let it run as is for at least a week, preferably a little longer. Gives you and us a chance to look at your trends. You don't want to make too many changes at once.

[dentedcan]

Thanks for having a look, PaulaO2. Will stay the course and give it time.

I have a crippling anxiety disorder (20 years) that leads me to second guess everything. Actually, my apnea wasn't "discovered" until I purchased my own pulse ox and recorded three nights of sleep, because something just didn't feel right. Saw the O2 falling way down and brought the laptop to my primary doc's office begging her to review the logs. But it was enough to justify a full sleep study, which led me here, so maybe it ultimately saved me.

[Walla Walla]

Your Minimum pressure after adding in flex is only 4cm. A lot of people struggle with that low of pressure. It can feel like your not getting enough oxygen. If get that feeling and start to struggle increase your minimum up to 9cm with the flex staying at 3. Otherwise looks good.

[dentedcan]

Updated screenshot with (I think) all the even flags enabled: https://imgur.com/a/PBz0v

---

Your Minimum pressure after adding in flex is only 4cm. A lot of people struggle with that low of pressure. It can feel like your not getting enough oxygen. If get that feeling and start to struggle increase your minimum up to 9cm with the flex staying at 3. Otherwise looks good.

Thanks, Walla Walla. I'll bump it up a little as suggested and see how it feels. Appreciate the reply.

[Gideon]

Your Minimum pressure after adding in flex is only 4cm. A lot of people struggle with that low of pressure. It can feel like your not getting enough oxygen. If get that feeling and start to struggle increase your minimum up to 9cm with the flex staying at 3. Otherwise looks good.

Note that the 4 is Exhale pressure, not Inhale,  but a good check would be to measure your O2 SATS while using CPAP.  They should be over 90.

You could bump your min pressure up to 7 and see if it helps with your discomfort.  Note that your numbers do not call for this but you NEED to be comfortable with your CPAP.

Fred

[dentedcan]

That's an excellent idea! I'm going to record SPO2 tonight along with the other data so I can see what it's doing while I sleep. Will hold off on the pressure change for now, but bump to 7 if I've got that starved feeling.

Thanks again to the three of you. I sincerely appreciate the guidance.

[Sleeprider]

Welcome to the forum.  I looked at your chart before reading the rest of the thread, and everyone has been spot on so far.What we see in the chart, other than no events are flagged, is a very low AHI.  The settings from 6-15 with EPR at 3, means you are starting at 6/4 minimum pressure,  Your median pressure is 10/7, so that is much closer to your therapy pressure, so increasing minimum pressure a bit to get your exhale pressure out of 4-cm faster is valid, and will probably be more comfortable as you wont experience wide pressure swings.  We can see where flow limitations and snores occurred along with pressure increases, and this is also likely where the few events you had would happen.  Excellent leak rate and good respiratory stats and a 7.5 hour therapy duration.  You really are on your way, but need to be patient with the therapy to overcome the sleep debt.  You can be confident that you will eventually feel the results of this apparently effective therapy.