High Central Apnea, Setting Changes

[jaswilliams]

The VAuto will not treat Central Apnoea, you need a Resmed Aircurve ASV more expensive than a VAuto

[lbl82]

   
I've noticed by looking at my data that the "Clear Airway" makes up a large percentage of my AHI number to me.  For example, if my AHI is 5.48 my "Clear Airway" is either the exact same number or very close to it.  If my AHI is 12.34, my "Clear Airway" is 11.5 or very close to it.  I've also noticed that when my AHI is below 10 by Cheyne Stokes is almost at 0.  If my AHI is a above 10 my Cheyne Stokes are anywhere from 3 to 10 percent.

So my questions are: Is the reason I feel so tired no matter if my AHI is under 5 or not is because my "Clear Airway" isn't under control?  Does the "Clear Airway" number in the purple bar represent events per hour or the entire duration of my sleep? Does that mean that most of my events are Central?  Also, what are Cheyne Stokes?

[Sleeprider]

Well you have some therapy onset CA and it will significantly diminish with less EPR. Try using an EPR setting of 1 and I think you will see a difference.

[lbl82]

   
   
I've been told that lowering my EPR would help with my Centrals.  On May 28th I lowered it to 2 and my AHI was 12.87 as you can see.  I had the same exact settings last night and the only thing I changed was the EPR.  I raised it back to 3.  My AHI was 5.48.  Is there something I'm doing wrong?

[lbl82]

I don't see a document attached.  Am I looking at the wrong place?

Which BiPap are you getting?  This is VERY important. The ONLY BiLevel/BiPap that is designed to treat Central Apnea, is an ASV.  
Look at Page 5 (7 on a computer) of the following document for what mode treats what condition,  What treat Complex/Mixed/Central Apnea.

For practical purposes your AHI didn't go up (yes it did a bit) it Demonstrated the Centrals inconsistency.
Try, EPR = 1, or since EPR = 2 showed no appreciable difference, Try EPR = 0.  Failure to significantly reduce your Central Apnea, adds evidence that you need to get an ASV, IMHO the ResMed ASV based on the many successful users of that machine here at AB

And yes, lowering EPR will marginally impact your exhale, but the immediate issue to get managed is your Central Apnea,  Comfort issues would be addressed after the primary issue is better managed, Central Apnea.  That is a serious issue and it needs to be addressed!

[PaulaO2]

Each person is different. For me, it was the opposite. If I increased it to 3, my CA events rose. 2 is ideal for me.

You do what you need to do to sleep and treat your sleep apnea.

Also, you made the change with possibly too little time in between. Possibly.

I don't know your history but have you and your doc discussed the possibility of Complex Sleep Apnea? And how long have you been using a CPAP? If you are new to it, then it is probably CPAP induced CA events. The only "cure" for that is time.

[PaulaO2]

I think a moderator should merge all of the OPs posts since they relate to the same issue.

[Gideon]

The VAuto is a machine to treat OSA, NOT CA, I would like to see EPR=1, Even EPR=0, let's see what this does,
If this fails you are likely looking at a ResMed ASV machine, NOT a VAuto. But let's see. This test will tell us a lot.

[mesenteria]

I don't see a document attached.  Am I looking at the wrong place?

I think this is your question, and not bonjour's?  It appears in the quote box, but I don't see that he asked it, so I'll assume it's yours.

In the large charts at right, 'Events' has all sorts of coloured lines showing with varied spacing.  Those can be counted.  The machine does this over the time you slept and then averages it to give you the AHI figure in the marginal information at left.  

Also, "Flow Rate', below 'Events'.  If you hover your cursor over each coloured line, you can see what the event was, and how long it endured.

[jaswilliams]

CA's are consistently inconsistent and can vary wildly from night to night. If reducing EPR did not reduce the centrals then The only other option is to try and get an ASV machine. It will take time. a Resmed Autoset 10 does not treat CA's