Daisylouu,
I understand your frustrations. Do you know how to make a zip file? If so, I might be able to at least look at some of your data over next weekend.
But I'd also like to ask a few questions as well to better understand what you want help with.
You write:
(11-27-2016, 06:25 PM)Daisylouu Wrote: Just for an opinion or to narrow down what exactly I have to point out to doctors?
I know that we're all ga-ga over numbers here, but in order to gain something out of pointing numbers out to the docs, there has to be a point behind it.
So ...
What did your diagnostic sleep study numbers look like? What was the diagnostic AHI? Were you surprised to be diagnosed with OSA? And what symptoms lead to the diagnostic sleep study?
Next, what goes on at night that you do know something about: How long do you think it takes you to get to sleep each night? How often do you wake up during the night? How restless do you feel your sleep is? In other words do you think you are doing a lot of tossing and turning during the night?
And this as well: How comfortable are you with your mask and machine? I'm not asking about the data; I am asking about physical comfort. Is your mask very comfortable, somewhat comfortable, or not particularly comfortable? Are you dealing with issues like rainout? Dry mouth? Aerophagia?
I assume that you are not feeling as good as you think you should be feeling. So then there are those questions as well: How bad did you feel before you started PAPing? Has there been any subjective improvement at all in how you feel during the daytime? Do you have some decent days and a lot of not so decent days? Or do you feel just as awful as you felt before starting CPAP?
You also write:
Quote:I've posted here many times about this over the past year, and have not been able to improve my numbers. I've been doing this a year and a half and really just want someone who knows what they are doing look at all my data and maybe figure out this puzzle.
I'd like to tease apart two related issues:
1) The night of data that you posted has an AHI = 9.81, which is typically considered "too high". And so yes, it would be nice to bring that AHI down below 5.0. But without knowing more about the tweaks you've done over the past year, there's not much anybody can say about how to bring the AHI down more.
2) Bringing the AHI down below 5.0 may or may not make you feel substantially better. It really depends on whether there are other things going on that the CPAP data by itself does not answer. Particularly in light of this comment:
Quote:I feel like I'm possessed when I sleep because nothing makes sense. Or perhaps I have a sleep issue that is unrelated to apnea that is just affecting my apnea, idk.
Do you feel like you're possessed when asleep because of the data you see in SleepyHead? Or do you feel like you're possessed when asleep because you feel awful when you wake up regardless of what the SleepyHead data says or does not say?
You also write:
Quote:Yes, I have done that over the course of the last year and a half. I have had some detailed advice as to narrowing my pressure and raising my pressure, and wearing a soft collar, and sleep position, etc etc.
My problems continue and my numbers vary greatly with no rhyme or reason. I'vet been to a neurologist, a pulmonologist, and discussed it with my family doc. They all just shrug.
Is the problem your varying numbers or is the problem that you still feel lousy?
In other words, if you had no data at all, would you be complaining to the docs that you still feel just as lousy as you did before starting xPAP? Or has there been some minor improvement in how you feel?
Quote:Another sleep study is only as good as that night's data, a complete roll of the dice with me. Could be a 2 AHI night or a 23 AHI night, could be full of obstructives, or full of centrals. Nothing is ever consistent. I need someone willing to look at the BIG picture of data, and not just a small snippet if you know what I mean.
How many actual sleep studies have you had done? And what did the sleep studies say about your untreated sleep apnea?
How many titration studies have you had done? And what did those sleep studies say about your treated apnea (on those nights) AND your sleep continuity/fragmentation as well.
Quote:I will be losing my insurance in a year, so I was hoping to have this sorted out while I have coverage. But I need someone to really really look at all my data because it varies so much, and maybe someone who is really good at how all the charts fit together could shed some light on what is going on.
For most people, the numbers in SH are going to vary some from night to night. But for most people with a correctly set xPAP, the AHI numbers should mostly stay (well) below 5.0, and yours do not.
Things that can cause the AHI numbers to vary more widely than normal include other health conditions and certain prescription medications. Also a tendency to have upper respiratory problems (anything from colds and flu to more serious problems like asthma or COPD) might also wind up affecting the AHI numbers. In my own data I can often tell I'm coming down with a head cold several days before I get the symptoms because there's often a pretty noticeable increase in my AHI from roughly 1.5-3.0 up to the 4.0-5.0 range.
And then there's this to think about: How often do you tweak the settings? Every few days? Every few weeks? Or every few months?
In order to sort out what's really going on, you may need to keep a sleep journal as well as look at the SH data.
It sounds silly, but some pre-menopausal women find that the AHI sort of tracks with their cycles, although how it tracks can vary and why the hormone cycle would affect the AHI is not something that makes much sense to me.
Other sleep issues, particularly insomnia, can affect the machine-scored data. Lots of time spent lying awake in bed tossing and turning can create an artificially high AHI if the person's wake breathing is sufficiently ragged looking---the machine can't tell you're not asleep and so it scores events that would not be scored on a PSG simply because you are awake when they happen.
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