Inital Charts

[theoak]

New to everything CPAP.

I had a home sleep study.  6.8 AHI but my O2 dropped to 83%, so they prescribed me a CPAP.

From an AHI perspective I am floating anywhere from 1.0 to 5.0; however, I am noticing the bulk of my events appear to be Clear Airway.  However, I have read that certain conditions can appear a CA when it really is not.  I have not figured out how to read these charts.  I would love your feedback here.

I am still getting used to the hose and mask, so you will see times during the evenings where it is off.  I also think I am getting used to it as I will feel like it is not doing anything and hence I will shift the mask and sure enough air goes everywhere.

Fingers crossed I figured out this attachment thing.

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[Sleeprider]

You results are pretty good, but you had mild apnea according to your sleep test, so your Current AHI from 1.5 to 2.7 AHI may not seem that impressive. You can get an inexpensive recording oximeter to verify that your oxygen saturation is resolved, however I don't see any suggestion here that it should be a problem. Tidal volume is ranging from 320 to 380 which suggest a smaller person, but overall, respiration looks good and AHI is relatively low. If the duration of the CA events is 10 to 20 seconds there should not be a problem, and I would expect the frequency of CA will diminish as you adapt to the therapy.

With settings of 5 to 20 pressure and EPR at 1, your pressure mostly hovers from 5.5 to 6.5 and rarely exceeds 9.0 It's pretty clear you don't require high pressure, and while your machine is responding appropriately, you can consider setting pressure from 5.6 to 8.6 and it will quiet the pressure changes and be less disruptive. Your leak rate is nearly non-existant and flow limitation is normal to low, so there is nothing here that requires changes. Your time at therapy is excellent. The remaining questioni s are you feeling any better?

[theoak]

Well, its only been a week, so I don't want to jump to conclusions.

Prior:

Prior, I felt like a walking energy drink to get me through the day. Foggy head and barely stay away during the day. I wake up feeling awake. I have not felt like this in a long time. I feel much more alert and clear during the morning. I still have an afternoon crash where I get sleepy, but it is better than the crash I used to get at 10AM for example. I am hoping with time I will last even longer during the day. Now, I am the type that if its past 8PM and I sit in front of the TV ... give me 10 minutes and I'm out. That has improved, but some of that could be I am just an early to rise early to bed type person.

Headaches:

Prior to treatment I would typically wake up with a headache. With the CPAP, I will say I did at first also. My wife, who has been a CPAP user for almost a year told me if the air is too cold that can cause headaches too. My humidity was set to 4 and the temperature to 72. My provider told me that the settings were like a horse shoe and to keep these two the same horse shoe (hopefully this makes sense). So I upped the humidity to 5 and the temperature to 76 to maintain the consistent horse shoe between the two. Well, I woke up in the middle of the night to a sputtering, spitting tube. So I dialed back the humidity to 4 but only dropped the temperature 2 degrees to 74. That seems to be working for me thus far. Waking up the headaches are not as intense or not at all. It could be too that my body is responding to the therapy after all is said and done.

CA's:

Thank you soooo much for your feedback. My wife seemed to suggest that if I was getting CAs that I possibly had the wrong machine. At the end of the day however if the machine could get me less than 5 total AHI that would put me in the "normal" range so medically the machine is doing its job. I seem to be currently floating between 1.5 to 3 total AHI - the bulk however being CA. With your comments I feel better about the CA values.

Mask ResMed F30:

This seems to be doing the trick for me as the leak rates will testify. It never fails though, as soon as I put my mask on, lie down in bed, get the hose and the blankets juuussst right ... my nose itches I've learned to give my nose and face and good scratch prior to putting the mask on. Wearing glasses, I like the open face if I need to put my glasses on.

Hose:

I toss from side to side a lot. So I wake up every time thus far every time I change sides to rearrange the hose. Hopefully this will improve over time. On the plus side, even if I do, I am getting a better sleep.


Conclusion:

I am still getting used to this beast. Initial impressions though are its a keeper

[Sleeprider]

Keep up the good work. Once you get comfortable with the whole thing, it is just part of life and good health. I have been at this quite a few years and can't imagine trying to sleep without it. Good luck!

[theoak]

Of all the CAs over the 5 days posted, I had 3 CAs that lastest longer than 20 seconds. All three were on different days and they were in the low 20 - 25 second range.

[Sleeprider]

Those short duration CA events are not of any real significance. I get similar numbers at times, and am not even aware of it until I look at the results. You resolved the OA, and everything else will eventually take care of itself.