Help interpreting OSCAR results on first successful night w/ CPAP!

[Dormeo]

You'e doing great, freddieku, and you're in the best of hands with Sleeprider.

And speaking of practice -- you might benefit from using the mask and machine during the day or evening for an hour or two, set up outside your bedroom and where you can do something diverting, like watching TV or reading. This helps speed up the rate at which your mind and body get used to the weird experience.

You might also want to watch some videos about fitting the F20. You might find a few good tips you could use.

It's very common for people to pull off their masks during the night at the beginning of their PAP use, so you're in some good company. This will stop completely once you get acclimated.

In general, there will be good nights and not-so-good nights, but I think you're going to find you do very well with this. You've already found a support group here, you're using Oscar, you're taking an active role in dialing in your treatment, and you have an experimental outlook. Those are the harbingers of success.

[Sleeprider]

This is a member's chart from another thread. I'm posting it to give you a visual of what EPR at 1 looks like  The flow rate graph is respiratory inhale (above the line) and exhale (below the line. Farther down the chart you can see mask pressure, This is what the pressure from the machine looks like with EPR 1.  Instead of a straight line, the pressure forms little waves which support the inhales.  This is what makes it easier to breathe and give some assistance to prevent flow limits.  Compare your flow rate graph to this one.

[freddieku]

First, thank you for the encouragement Dormeo. I did plan some time to sit there with the mask on and read before I went to bed and think that did help when boosting the EPR to 1 as I was definitely nervous. I think it helped immensely.

Overall, I think it went good but I had a few questions. Before looking at my graph, know that minutes into me falling asleep, some jackass decided to rev his motorcycle at an intersection near my house which woke me up and I couldn't fall back asleep for like 4 hours. But the data below:

   

   

Overall, I think everything looks better. I'm curious as to what "clear airway" means as that happened right before the motorcycle event and I'm curious if they're related because I was in that weird sleep/awake state when it happened so I'm wondering if it was a central apnea event thing.

The other thing was, I read about EPR a bit more extensively due to me worrying and since I was doing 7-9, I boosted the pressure to 8-10 as EPR drops your pressure by a point, if I understand correctly? I actually just found my pressure avg from the night before of 7.4 and boosted it to 8.4 so my minimum pressure was my avg. I'm not really sure if this is sound but.. 

I appreciate any and all help you've given me and will do so. Thank you so much.

Also, I've tried reinstalling OSCAR and fiddling with some settings but on my Win10 64bit HP laptop, it does seem to be a little glitchy in appearance and I have to do a few menu things to see the correct data every time I open it. It's not a huge deal but odd. Speaking of that.. wow does my data look nothing like the graph Sleeprider posted as to how it's supposed to normally look. Yikes.

Thanks again.

[Dormeo]

Nice! It's fine that you increased your minimum due to the introduction of EPR, but it may not be necessary, given how well your obstructive apneas are being controlled at lowish pressures. If you're comfortable with the new settings, leave them alone for a few more nights. Then go to 2 with your EPR. No need to increase the minimum pressure. Check back in any time, but especially after you go to EPR of 2. It will be good to see what happens with the flow limitations and resulting pressure swings.

What an annoying thing, that motorcycle noise! If the central occurred before the noise, I don't think they're directly related. But they might be indirectly related. You were falling asleep, perhaps in just a light sleep; that meant you were easily awakened, and it also meant you were still negotiating the handoff between the daytime and sleeptime regulation systems for sleeping. It's normal to see a central or two at that point. Absolutely nothing to worry about.

The next time you post a chart, could you fiddle a little first? If you grab the horizontal gray bars that separate the graphs, you can push them up to squeeze the following into a single screen shot:

Events
Flow rate
Pressure
Leaks
Snores
Flow limitations.

That's all you need to provide.

One last thing: your total time in apnea on this chart was 32 seconds. That means those centrals and the OA were very short events!

[freddieku]

Thank you so much for the reply! Great to hear that things seem to be going smoothly. I shall follow your advice and try EPR 2 in a couple of days. I'll also fiddle with OSCAR to present the info quicker.

I did wonder one other thing.. I don't fully understand this stuff but if my AHI is .71 events an hour (it's an hour right?) and I only spent 32 seconds in apneas.. what's the "best I can do" or rather am I/can people get this to like 0 AHI and 0 seconds in apneas? Is that what fine tuning it more does? Like, in my lay understanding these numbers seem good so why not stick with it or is 0 events possible? What's the best possible outcome here? etc.

Thanks so much. I'm learning a ton and this so. helpful.

[freddieku]

Last night was not the best but.. I'm committed. I woke up after 4 hours and could tell I was just up. Laid in bed reading the news and stuff and went back to bed for an hour w/ the mask on. Woke up and my dog jumped up and I laid there petting him and at some point fell back asleep for an hour or so with the mask off accidentally.

Two things, when I woke the first time, I went to the bathroom and pardon my specificity but when straining at the end all of the sudden I got this shooting migraine kind of feeling headache. It went away with time and I think was gone fairly quickly but that was weird. Maybe unrelated. The other thing, I think I woke up twice this time with my mouth like this: https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/orig...ologuy.jpg That had never happened before and I think was only in the last hour of sleep. It's possible I imagined it in some dream like state as a result of my mouth being dry.

Anyway.. I assume if I'd gone the full 7 or longer, my AHI would have gone lower, maybe a little more time in apnea but.. I don't know.. you tell me. 

   

Thanks again. I am quite tired but still excited!

[freddieku]

Based on other factors, such as continually having to hit the stop button so that I could swallow without my ears popping, I decided to order the P10 nasal pillow. It’s a free exchange either way so may as well give it a whirl. Just FYI. Won’t receive it for 5 days or so though.

[Sleeprider]

Remember you are using a higher pressure than necessary because you were nervous about having enough air. If you have left that anxiety behind, we can reduce the minimum pressure to 7.0 with no problem, and that might relieve your popping ears. Your current maximum pressure is still under 10.0. When you start using the P10, the more direct pressure will feel like more than with the full face, and we often see a reduction of 1-cm pressure in that change.

[Crimson Nape]

Try fully exhaling before you swallow. This will offer some relief.

[freddieku]

Thank you for the replies. I will try exhaling tonight. And duly noted on the pressure change when I get the pillows.

I guess I’ll just keep chugging along with the current settings for the next four nights.

Thanks again.