Just found out I have Severe OSA

[Dormeo]

Yes, you’re supposed to exhale through your nose. Do you have EPR on? Setting it at 3 would be good. That will drop your pressure by 3 when you exhale.

See how that goes, and let us know.

[yoonseri]

Yes, I have EPR set to 3 (not 10 as I said in my last post - typo). Okay, here goes my first night!

[yoonseri]

Thanks to all of you, I made it through my first night! I did fall asleep relatively quickly and woke up twice, once in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and once when my dog wanted to go out. This morning I didn't want to get out of bed so I just kind of lay there checking texts while I still had the machine running.

I did not use the pulse oximeter because I didn't have enough time to figure it out. The only thing that was a bit uncomfortable was waking up feeling the outside of my nostrils were a little tender from pressure of the pillows.

I feel *better than usual* this morning.

Should I post OSCAR data here or start a new therapy thread with a different subject line? And which of the OSCAR files is most helpful to upload for interpretation?

Also what does you all do with your machine when you're not using it? Do you leave it out? Put it back in the bag? Does it need daily cleaning?

[Dormeo]

Wow -- that's great news! Stay in this thread and post a screenshot of a daily chart showing the side panel on the left (turn off the calendar and the pie chart if necessary) plus these graphs:

Events
Flow Rate
Pressure
Leaks
Flow Limitations
Snores.

The machine itself doesn't need daily cleaning, just a surface dusting from time to time. I leave mine out on my bedside table. If you're using tap water in the humidifier chamber, I'd dump it out in the morning and dry the metal plate with a paper towel to prevent scaling.

[yoonseri]

Thank you, Dormeo! Hope I'm doing this right:

[Sleeprider]

Damn! Nailed it on the first try! Way to go. I don't think I've ever seen a better first night of therapy.

[Dormeo]

Excellent-looking chart. Very low AHI. You had two pauses between breaths that lasted long enough to register as central apneas; you shouldn't give them a moment's thought. Your leak rate is a thing of beauty!

You have some flow limitations that are not bad at all, but when you feel like making a change in your settings, you could raise your EPR to 3. That will probably reduce the FLs, though again, don't feel stress about this. For some people, FLs make no difference to their sleep.

Are you a fairly petite person? I ask because your tidal volume would be consistent with that.

When you next post a chart, there's no need for you to include any of the graphs beyond the six I listed. Once you get the O2 monitor up and running, you should import those data and include that graph as well.

You are doing just great!

[yoonseri]

Sleeprider, really?! Wow. That's super encouraging. Thank you! I would be completely lost without this forum. You were all right; I'm getting better advice here than I would have from a local person.


Dormeo, I can't thank you enough for taking the time to hold my hand through this. I thought I set the EPR to 3, so thanks for catching that! Yep, I'm a petite woman. It's amazing that you were able to discern that just from my chart.

Now my goal is to figure out what all these things mean. I'm hopeful that my nights (and days) will only get better and better.

[yoonseri]

Night 2 charts attached. Not quite as good as the first night, but still pretty good?

What does "clear airway" mean? 

I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the restroom. Couldn't fall back asleep right away, but I wasn't up too long. Also at one point during the night I remember opening my mouth involuntarily, felt a rush of air go out and thought, oops!

Someone said they got a special pillow (to support their head). Is that a good idea? If so, any recommendations?

Also, I have been using a weighted blanket for the last two years. Should I continue to do so or is this not a good idea with CPAP?

I put a plastic shower cap over the machine on my nightstand as a dust cover. Still need to figure out the pulse ox.

Any other insights or recommendations? Thank you!

[Dormeo]

"Clear airway," aka "central apnea," means that you paused your breathing for ten seconds or more in the absence of obstruction. CAs are common, and a scattering of them, as we see here, is of no concern at all.

If your pillow and blanket are comfortable, keep using them. There's no apnea-related reason to stop.

I think your current settings continue to serve you well. With numbers as good as yours are, the big question will be how you feel during the night and then the next day.

You just couldn't be off to a better start. Let us know if we can try to help with the oximeter.