How much obstructive apnea time?

[Ghost1958]

You machine is working fine. I have had apneas last as long as a min and 14 seconds. The machine cannot stop an apnea once its occurred. It will simply wait until the OA is over then raise the pressure by CM or 2. If nothing else happens for a specified period of time and your wave form is stable it will start dropping pressure back toward min unless it sees a faltering of your wave form then it will tap the pressure back up as needed.

All apnea machines work to prevent the apneas before they happen. There are none that can force your airway open after its collapsed. They simply do not have that much pressure capability.

[vsheline]

My AHI its in near 6 using Remstar APAP
I dont know very much about the sleephead results.
But if a look at the obstructive apnea time I see more than 10 secs. with obstructive apnea (without breath) with my APAP working?

It´s normal or APAP doesn´t work well.

Hi dela, welcome to the forum!

I think your machine is working normally.

The apnea events your machine reported are not unusually long. (If you had not been using the machine the apneas probably would have occurred more frequently (and perhaps would have lasted longer).

Philips Respironics APAP machines (like yours) do not raise the pressure during an apnea event. After an apnea or hypopnea has ended the machine will decide whether to raise the pressure in order to avoid future apneas, based on how often obstructive events are occurring. The machines also raise the pressure when Flow Limitation (FL) is occurring. (FL is a sign of partial obstruction.)

Often, the AHI will continue to improve as we become accustomed to the therapy.

Take care,
--- Vaughn

[vsheline]

You machine is working fine. I have had apneas last as long as a min and 14 seconds. The machine cannot stop an apnea once its occurred. It will simply wait until the OA is over then raise the pressure by CM or 2. If nothing else happens for a specified period of time and your wave form is stable it will start dropping pressure back toward min unless it sees a faltering of your wave form then it will tap the pressure back up as needed.

All apnea machines work to prevent the apneas before they happen. There are none that can force your airway open after its collapsed. They simply do not have that much pressure capability.

Hi Ghost1958,

Was that 74 second apnea an obstructive apnea?

Do you happen to remember what your pressure was when that 74 second apnea occurred?

Do you think raising your Min Pressure above 8 would tend to help avoid how long your longest apneas will last?

[vsheline]

Next chart shows a strip of APAP - where my oximeter says I stayed above 90% oxygen. My opinion is that the machine worked and I am safe, but look at all those blips. (the AHI for that night was 9.46)

Hi quiescence at last, welcome to the forum!

I suggest changing the scale on the Flow to something like -80 to +80, so it will be easier to see the Flow waveform.

Often when new CPAP patients have many Central Apneas, within a few weeks or months the number of Centrals will diminish as we become accustomed to sleeping with pressure.

If after a few more weeks the number of CAs is still too high, you might want to consider turning A-Flex lower or turning it off, because for some people A-Flex seems to increase the number of CAs.

[Ghost1958]

You machine is working fine. I have had apneas last as long as a min and 14 seconds. The machine cannot stop an apnea once its occurred. It will simply wait until the OA is over then raise the pressure by CM or 2. If nothing else happens for a specified period of time and your wave form is stable it will start dropping pressure back toward min unless it sees a faltering of your wave form then it will tap the pressure back up as needed.

All apnea machines work to prevent the apneas before they happen. There are none that can force your airway open after its collapsed. They simply do not have that much pressure capability.

Hi Ghost1958,

Was that 74 second apnea an obstructive apnea?

Do you happen to remember what your pressure was when that 74 second apnea occurred?

Do you think raising your Min Pressure above 8 would tend to help avoid how long your longest apneas will last?

Yep it was an obstructive. First one of that night and not the only one of that length but they are rare. usually on one of those nights the aliens drop by LOL.

My min is 10 now and my max is 16. Has been as high as 18. Ive had a couple that long with the machine already at 17 from responding to FL.

But any OA for me on cpap is rare. My numbers on a nasal mask run about 1 or less AHI. With pressure never going above 12.

With FFM AHI runs about 2 to 2.5 with pressures going up as high as 18 until I capped it at 16, titrated lab pressure was 15.

When I do have an OA on the machine they tend to be long ones. 30 seconds or better usually. It was the same at the sleep lab. If I have one on cpap its normally a long one. You should see my report of OAs and their length on my lab report without cpap LOL. Probably why my O2 drops so drastically with with very few OAs if they are anywhere near close together.

My titrated pressure was 15 on a FFM. That was upped again about a month into cpap to 18 on ffm. Drastically lower pressures and numbers on an old gifted too small nasal mask. Which is why after I learned to not mouth breathe in the FFM and with the help of that old worn out gift nasal, they have switched me to a ESON nasal.

But I rarely have an OA on the machine. normally not more than 2 or three over a 9 hr period on the machine. The PRS1 Auto does a really good job of keeping them away before they happen.

With the AHI Ive gotten myself too by tweaking the machine of 98 percent of the time 2 to 0.1 AHI my O2 stays up fine and I feel great.


Without the machine I felt and feel and think like the walking dead LOL.