Greetings from a newbie

[age237]

Hi

I am a 57 years old newbie from Northwestern Spain (Europe). I apologize if my English is not good enough.

One month ago, after testing 2 nights with a borrowed CMS50F chinese oximeter that showed many events during the night I did a full on sleep study with a neurophysiologist that confirmed I have a severe OSAS, so the pneumologist determined that I had to use a CPAP. In a 2nd full on sleep study for calibrate the right pressure, the neurophysiologist determined that the optimal pressure was 6cm H2O.

I received the CPAP 17 days ago and I sleept (badly for the moment) all these nights with it.

It is not a fantastic model but I think the main purpose (the air pressure) is guaranteed. Meanwhile I do not have a model with SD card I have bought from internet my own CMS50F in order to record my sleep indicators (only from time to time).

For the moment I'm not yet habituated to the CPAP. I wake up many times during the night, and I still feeling tired, sleepy, and suffer headaches during the day but I feel confident that I will pass by in a few weeks and this will increase my quality of life soon, as the majority of you.

regards,

[DeepBreathing]

G'day age237. Welcome to Apnea Board. Your English is fine - much better than my Spanish!

It's very important that you are able to monitor your therapy on an on-going basis to ensure that you have the right settings. A night in a sleep lab is only a snap-shot of your condition and is not (in my view) a reasonable basis for the prescription which you may be stuck with for years. That's why we always recommend fully data-capable autosetting machines. I hate to say it but your machine doesn't give any useful data to monitor your therapy, not even a basic AHI reading. If at all possible, send this machine back and get a fully data-capable autosetting model. Your idea of using an oximeter to help monitor your condition is a good one, but it really only tells a very small part of the story.

The fact that you're adapting so badly to CPAP therapy possibly indicates that the prescribed settings are not right for you. But there's really no way of knowing if your machine doesn't provide data.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I think it's important you give yourself every opportunity to succeed. With this machine you will be struggling for a long time.

[Sleeprider]

Unfortunately you have no choice to optimize but trial and error. I would suggest that you increase your CPAP pressure to 7.0 and see if you feel better. I would continue increasing pressure, taking note of how you feel, until you sense some discomfort or a reversal of symptoms. I think you might find ultimately you feel better at a pressure of 8 or 9 cm. In fact, 8 cm is the most common CPAP pressure we see, although many are higher, few are as low as 6.0. A CPAP pressure of 6.0 is minimal, and I think you might get relief from higher pressure. All you can do is try it.

If you have the opportunity to purchase a data-recording machine, I think it will help a lot. Buena suerte.

[trish6hundred]

Hi age237,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Take Sleepridder’s advice on increasing your pressure, 6CmH2O is fairly low.
Good luck to you with your CPAP therapy and getting your pressure dialed in to better treat your sleep apnea.

[age237]

G'day age237. Welcome to Apnea Board.  Your English is fine - much better than my Spanish!

It's very important that you are able to monitor your therapy on an on-going basis to ensure that you have the right settings. A night in a sleep lab is only a snap-shot of your condition and is not (in my view) a reasonable basis for the prescription which you may be stuck with for years. That's why we always recommend fully data-capable autosetting machines. I hate to say it but your machine doesn't give any useful data to monitor your therapy, not even a basic AHI reading. If at all possible, send this machine back and get a fully data-capable autosetting model.  Your idea of using an oximeter to help monitor your condition is a good one, but it really only tells a very small part of the story.

The fact that you're adapting so badly to CPAP therapy possibly indicates that the prescribed settings are not right for you. But there's really no way of knowing if your machine doesn't provide data.

I'm sorry to be so blunt, but I think it's important you give yourself every opportunity to succeed. With this machine you will be struggling for a long time.

Unfortunately you have no choice to optimize but trial and error.  I would suggest that you increase your CPAP pressure to 7.0 and see if you feel better.  I would continue increasing pressure, taking note of how you feel, until you sense some discomfort or a reversal of symptoms.  I think you might find ultimately you feel better at a pressure of 8 or 9 cm.  In fact, 8 cm is the most common CPAP pressure we see, although many are higher, few are as low as 6.0.   A CPAP pressure of 6.0 is minimal, and I think you might get relief from higher pressure.   All you can do is try it.

If you have the opportunity to purchase a data-recording machine, I think it will help a lot.  Buena suerte.

Hi age237,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Take Sleepridder’s advice on increasing your pressure, 6CmH2O is fairly low.
Good luck to you with your CPAP therapy and getting your pressure dialed in to better treat your sleep apnea.

Thank you for all of you for your welcoming, DeepBreathing, Sleeprider and trish6hundred.

Of course, there is no doubt, it is clear for me that my own aim is to have asap an "open" CPAP with fully data recording capabilities on the SD, and then using the SleepyHead software for determining and trimming the right pressure in trial-error way. Every person is different from another. This is something important that I discovered on APNEA FORUM and I am grateful to you for this. But, the CPAP type issue here in my country have its own characteristics. I will explain later on.

Concerning my low level of pressure, neurophysiologist explained to me that the goal is not starting from scratch with the pressure that allow you zero apneas, because all the people have certain amount of it, but find the minimal pressure that reduce to zero all the risks of hypoxia. One of the advantages of starting at a lower optimal level of pressure, doctor said, would be to get used more easily to the CPAP.

Honestly, I am not yet sure that the only element that could causes that I am adapting so badly to the CPAP therapy is a wrong settings,  may be one, but not the only one. I guess that 18 days is not too much time to get used to CPAP. In addition, I have most of time rhinitis, mainly allergical, but not only, so I woke up some times last night breathing by my mouth (and this by-pass the CPAP). I will ask for a humidifier/heater.

My last reports of the oximeter shows event rates four times lower than before CPAP and no hypoxia under 88%.

[Sleeprider]

I won't argue with the rationale of your neurophysiologist...he sure has a better title than I do. I appreciate the importance of easing into CPAP, and we see people prescribed a pressure of 14 with a pat on the back, and good luck. They fail more often than not for the reasons you pointed out.

On the other hand, it's time to start moving your pressure up to better efficacy. If you seriously are still having SpO2 of 88, you know the direction things need to go. Just do it. As long as you're comfortable, you'lll make your doc happy and you will get better treatment. I think it's nuts to use an ineffective pressure and know that it is. If you're comfortable with some more pressure, do it.

[Hydrangea]

!Bienvenidos!

I don't want to repeat what others have already wisely said. But I'll just add my experience. I found the need to breathe through my mouth because my pressure was too low. I wasn't getting enough air (my pressure was 5). Once I raised it, I was so much more comfortable, and I no longer needed to breathe through my mouth.

Of course, if you have allergic things interfering, that very well could be why you're breathing through your mouth. In which case, might you consider a FFM?

P.S. Your English is fantastic. Bravo.

[age237]

Thank you so much for your advises. I will keep it in mind for sure. The aknowledge collected in this forum based on the experience of many patiens is a really treasure for all the newbies starting with this therapy.

[Hydrangea]

I completely agree! Such a great resource.

[Beej]

Welcome.
Here are a couple of tips:
If you are not sleeping on your side, some folks find their obstructive apneas and hypopneas may decrease considerably.
Also, check the position of your chin when sleeping. If you bend it down to your chest, this puts enough of a bend in the neck that it may increase apneas. A collar type pillow or even a cervical collar may help prevent you from doing this.