Purplepenguin's Therapy Thread

[purplepenguin]

Hi all,

Only about a week into therapy, with promising results thus far in terms of how I'm waking up and maintaining energy through the day.  My AHI from the sleep study was 16.0, and I'm seeing 5-10 AHI with APAP usage and would love some help getting that number down.  Currently using a F30i mask, but I intend to try out a nasal pillow soon for various reasons.  I will note I plan to turn off the ramp feature tonight as it leaves me feeling starved for air as I try to fall asleep.

Thanks for any input you all may have, or advice on how to better present this info to get better feedback!

           

[Sleeprider]

Minimum pressure needs to be at least 7 or 8 with EPR 3. With a minimum pressure of 7.0, your pressures are 7.0/4.0 (inhale/exhale). By increasing to 7.0, your machine can respond faster to obstructive events and you will be much closer to your median pressure, which is often above 8.0. We can see obstructive events are clustered in groups which is the signature for positional apnea. Read this wiki article on how to optimize. You may be using multiple pillows or one that is too tall or firm, and fixing your cervical alignment to avoid "chin-tucking" can resolve this. https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...onal_Apnea

I agree, this is a great start, and a small bump in minimum pressure and attention to positional issues should improve it.

[purplepenguin]

Thanks for the response, I will bump minimum pressure to 7 and see how I respond.

You are 100% spot on with the chin-tucking.  I often feel this happening when I am falling asleep or woken up in the middle of the night due to obstructions, but have never seen it discussed as it is in the wiki.  Thank you for the link and information!  I will de-stuff my pillow a bit to start and see how that goes, and look into a cervical collar if issues persist.

Thank you!!