Little Olive - Therapy Adventure

[UnicornRider]

From all of your clustered Events, It appears that you may be experiencing Positional Apnea, quit possibly Chin Tuck,

https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...onal_Apnea

You very well could knock out a large amount of those Events with a Soft Cervical Collar (SCC),

https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph...cal_Collar

Could you capture a 10 minute zoomed view of the area around 00:40, and post a screenshot?

By reducing the AHI score with environmental changes, it reduces the demands placed on the machine and it greatly enhances the chances for CPAP success, therefore potentially reducing therapy pressure.

[Little Olive]

Thank you !

[Little Olive]

Thanks for the links, l found the ino interesting.   My sleeping position is complicated by my spinal problems.  I probably do chin tuck sometimes, although  for years I have only  slept on a low profile pillow, to help ensure cervical and spinal alignment because l have arthritis in my spine and my neck, with nerve impingement throughout, worst in my neck, that causes almost daily  right sided cervicogenic headache and l also suffer occipital neuralgia. So no high pillows here. 

I am very familiar with the soft cervical collar.  I need to wear one at least part of most days, being mindful of course that it's not ideal, but l need to support my neck and head to help with pain.   ?  the best sleep.position for my neck and thoracic spine pain has always been supine, but l guess that's not good with apnea, so now l try to lie on my side . 

I find the fabric of the collars is rough, so l have had made  little  covers of super smooth soft fabric to slip over them, but still,  l don't know how well l can tolerate wearing a collar at night but lm trying tonight. Wish me luck.

[UnicornRider]

Most of us have reasons for not having the perfect sleep hygiene. You would be amazed how many have legitimate reasons to sleep supine. I almost totally sleep on by back, I am still able to get decent numbers and sleep.

When wearing a collar for sleep you may have to adjust your pillow to compensate for the additional bulk. With the help of the forum you will learn to read your OSCAR Report and with a little effort you will be able to figure out what and how changes in the sleep environment affect your sleep quality. The covers for the SCC are a good idea, mine came with a removable cover, it makes cleaning much easier.

   In order to acclimate your body to the fit and feel of the mask under pressure I suggest to new users to wear the mask under pressure during the day while doing something distracting like watching TV, reading, gaming, crafting, or on the computer researching the ApneaBoard Wiki or forum, watching YT videos about sleep disordered breathing related subjects. It takes the "average" new user several weeks to a couple of months to truly acclimate to the fit and feel of the mask under therapy. The hours spent acclimating during the day will reduce the hour of sleep spent to acclimate. Any sessions that you do not want to show or count towards your AHI score, you can remove from the displayed OSCAR Report by deselecting those sessions at the bottom of the left hand side panel. 

As always if you have any questions, concerns or doubts please post them, We all learn from each other.

[Little Olive]

Went to bed wearing the collar. Just woke up, not looked at Oscar yet, but........WOW

[UnicornRider]

Green Smiley Faces are a good predictor.  


Yellow Smiley Faces are bigger than Green. 

Show us your OSCAR, we will guide you to a Turquoise Smiley with Dream Bubble. 



Soon you will have a relation with your ResMed, you could only dream of before. 



I wish I had Smiley with flowers, 



Do you like Popcorn?  


'Cause we will be following you, to guide you and Dancing with your success,   


Wow, I am a Poet, and nobody knows it.  


Your OSCAR Report is eagerly anticipated, please Post it. 

[Little Olive]

[jcp519]

Good news is you don't have any CSR on both of those charts! Those periods on the first chart that were labelled CSR, were just periodic breathing due to consecutive obstructive apnea. That most recent chart is definitely a massive improvement. Many of us wear a cervical collar at night, including myself. Without mine I usually get a few areas of the night with a bunch of hypopnea and apnea.

Could you show us the flow limit chart and leak rate chart for the most recent night? If the leak rates are spiking that might be causing some of the central events you're having.

[UnicornRider]

The clustered Event Flags are indicative of potential "Positional Apnea" most likely "Chin Tuck". If you review the links I posted in post #31 of this thread, you will gain additional insight to  JCP519's comment about wearing a "Soft Cervical Collar" (SCC),

When possible it is perferencial to reduce events with correction to our sleep environment, rather than try to use *PAP settings in an attempt to correct for those events. Most times an obstructive event can not be blown open by corrective pressure. We are striving to keep your therapy pressure down to the minimum that is necessary for therapy. Later in life you may need that upper pressure due to health changes. The hassle with leaks, CA events and mask selection are not worth dealing with higher pressure for things that can be corrected with SCC , low pillows or sleep position. I know you can not sidesleep so that leaves your neck collar and sleeping pillow to deal with.

CPAP FRIEND is a forum member who has posted some very informative YT videos, His "Intro to OSCAR" Parts 1 & 2 are very worthy of viewing and reviewing.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32JwMc6dphQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujaoKvBnP00

 The ApneaBoard Wiki has some very important resources to go along with those videos, I highly recommend "The Guide":

• OSCAR - The Guide
  

Looking at your Flow Rate graph of your posted OSCAR report, there is a couple of minute session starting at 22:22:47, then an ~ 47 minute break before your true night's session begins at ~ 23:15.   You can remove sessions from your posted OSCAR Reports by "deselecting" those sessions at the bottom of the "Left Hand Panel". I believe CPAP Friend will cover that in his videos, it is a very important feature, you will need to use occasionally especially during the early days of working with the forum to assess the changes to your therapy pressure. Go ahead and practice removing that short session to see the difference it makes.

At the bottom of your Daily and Overview Tabs, you will find some soft buttons. the "?Hint" button is a valuable resource that in the early days will aid you tremendously. In the upper left corner of the OSCAR pages you will find a "Help" when you open it there are links to "Online Users Guide" and "Sleep Disorder Terms". Check all of those so that you develop familiarity with them.

In order to maximize the usefulness of your OSCAR Report for postings please follow the:

• OSCAR Chart Organization
  

  I know it may seem like a lot to learn, but you will quickly master the skills necessary to navigate OSCAR. If you utilize this thread to review all of the links and information we have posted, while acclimating to the fit and feel of your mask under pressure (post #34), you will do well.

Try sleeping with your SCC, and post back daily when possible. In no time at all, you will set up for the long haul.

[Little Olive]

Thanks JCP, yes I'm really pleased with it, hopefully I will continue to get better results, this is the lowest I have had since I started with the CPAP.  And relieved to see the CSB not there today.  Here are the flows and leaks.

I did use a different mask last night, although I didn't notice more air escaping. The medium size is too big and it rocked and slipped and leaked a lot, so I went back to the small size which is a more snug fit and i thought it was better than the previous. I also reduced the pressure from 15 back to 14.6. They started me on 13.6 but increased it over the weeks. The 15 didn't change anytning at all except destablisise the mask and force me to tighten the back straps so tight it gave me bad headaches. If things continue to improve for me I hope the pressure can be reduced again.