Feedback, please

[SHargett]

Hello all -

I'm glad I found this community. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2015 and had a "brick" CPAP until May of this year. I went through two sleep doctors before finding my current clinic. They set me up with a Dreamstation APAP and I downloaded Sleepyhead. I'm still learning about Sleepyhead and its wealth of data. I wanted to post some screenshots and get feedback on my therapy so far. I am feeling better than when I started on this new machine and new pressure. I think I hoped that I would see improvement more quickly ... but maybe my sleep debt is larger than I thought.

[SHargett]

I should clarify - I thought that I would feel better after using my new machine for a day or two. I think that was naive, but it is what I thought. I am feeling better than I was before I got my new machine, but I am not waking up feeling refreshed and I am still having daytime sleepiness and some irritability.

[Walla Walla]

It takes time to recover from sleep apnea. If you post a daily chart it would help to see if any adjusts could be recommended to you.

[SHargett]

Thanks - I appreciate your patience.

[Walla Walla]

Your numbers for the most part look very good. However you do have a couple of spots where snores were driving up the pressure a little. I'd recommend setting your minimum pressure to 8cm to try and avoid the pressure changes.

[SHargett]

Thanks! Will give it a shot tonight.

[Sleeprider]

I kinda wish you had a Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset because I think it is so much more flexible when dealing with issues like flow limitation and hypopnea. With your Dreamstation, I suggest raising your minimum pressure to 7.5 and I think you will find your pressure stays much more steady and resolves the minor residual issues. Overall, this looks pretty good. The respiratory rate of 20 is a bit above normal, but if it's normal for you, it's good enough for me.

Higher minimum pressure should help with the flow limits and snores, and a minimum of 7.5 is still below the average of most individuals, and I can see a good argument to suggest 8.0+ as a minimum.

[SHargett]

I am having issues with increased heart rate. The cardiologist is checking that out. I suspect that is where the increased respiratory rate comes from.

[Sleeprider]

Give yourself a bit higher minimum pressure as suggested above. This should put less stress on you to breathe. Very few of us can tolerate a pressure of 4.0, and this is still within your median pressure.

[SHargett]

Can you please tell me how a higher pressure makes it less stressful to breathe? Honest question. Looking to learn.