Lessons Learned - 6 Months on CPAP

[Sleepster]

I was really impressed with your detailed assessment I would have liked to have read this before i did my test.... Like you i was awake from 10.00pm till 2.30. Laying there!!! finally fell asleep only to be woken by the nurse stating i had tossed some of my wires off at 3.10 took me another hour to drop off again. only to be woken at 5.45 with a bright light... Not a pleasant start to a new day.

We don't get a good night's sleep during those sleep studies. But maybe we sleep more than we think we do. We often drift off, generate some data, then think we were awake the entire time.

I also think they wake us up early to get us the heck out of there, so they can go home and get their sleep. But, I think that's a good sign. Maybe it means they got all the data they needed.

If I were planning another sleep study I'd plan to take the next day off so I could get some sleep after I got home from the sleep study.

I'm hoping that the prevalence of home sleep studies, and self-titrating APAP's, will reduce costs enough so that insurance companies will get on board with them.

[Bobmac27]

Thanks for the great post B36.

[Marnid2014]

Excellent, thanks for sharing all this.

[WakeUpTime]

Excellent summary. Everyone that's relatively new at it is going to pick up at least one tip in reading it.

I really regret not taking a sleeping pill during the titration study. Why don't they just automatically just offer them? Don't they get it that we are people with sleeping issues? I'd want to sedate everyone so we can get at the core biological functions instead of dealing with issues of comfort related to having a ton of wires on you and a camera staring you in the face recording every blink. I suspect the data will be less than accurate as a result -- at least for me anyway. I was awake for at least 2.5 hours during both studies and they counted that as sleep which falsely lowered all the index averages.

Sleepster is clinically correct that we sleep a little more than we think we do during the sleep studies, but it's a continually interrupted surface-level sleep (rather than a continuous deep sleep) which will falsely skew the index averages and show a non-typical home sleep.

[RonWessels]

I was awake for at least 2.5 hours during both studies and they counted that as sleep which falsely lowered all the index averages.

Sleepster is clinically correct that we sleep a little more than we think we do during the sleep studies, but it's a continually interrupted surface-level sleep (rather than a continuous deep sleep) which will falsely skew the index averages and show a non-typical home sleep.

If you were truly awake for 2.5 hours that were counted as sleep, then your sleep study results were analyzed incompetently.

The reason for the electrodes to the head are to take brain-wave readings to determine not only if you are asleep, but what phase of sleep you are in. And when in N1 sleep (the "lightest" sleep), patients often report not being asleep at all.

Analysis of apnea events should only include periods of actual sleep.

[b360155]

Wow, my post of 2+ years ago has come back to life! If it has helped anyone, then it was well worth the time I took to write it.

Some things that have changed since my original post:
1) I now am using a Resmed Quattro Air full face mask. Both the Quattro FX and the Quattro Air have worked very well for me, producing on average AHI readings less than 1.0 and unintended leak rates between 0.0 and 2.4 and most importantly allow me to sleep through the night and wake in the morning without any pressure sores or indentations on my face. I like the Quattro Air because it's very lightweight and comfortable to wear and has a bit more support than the Quattro FX since it has a forehead support. It's also very easy to clean. As always though, I have to add the disclaimer that your results may differ.
2) I now leave my Resmed Autoset S9 machine on a CPAP setting of 11.4. Thanks to the Sleepyhead software, I determined that on average, this setting produced the best results for me. I'm very happy with the Resmed Autoset S9. It has been reliable and quiet and the data recording capability helped me determine what pressure was more effective for me.
3) I'm no longer using any mask liners with the Quattro Air. The silicone cushion has a slightly different texture than the older Resmed masks that doesn't stick to your skin quite as much, but still provides a good seal.
4) Cleanliness is a good habit to get into and I think it helps to promote good therapy results as well as maximize the life of your equipment. I wash my face every night just before bedtime which I think is important for getting a good seal with full face masks. I wash my mask every morning and have been able to use the same mask for many months at a time before replacing it. I also wash my water tank, hoses and machine and replace the air filter as recommended by the manufacturer.