My Experience and Some Questions

[Lourens1190]

Hi Guys!

So, this is officially my first post. Where to begin...

Every now and then, I would wake up gasping for air... Sometimes, I'll even wake up with my heart racing at what feels like 800bpm. My wife will wake me up, just to remind me to breathe and my response will be: "Leave me alone, I'm sleeping." Every day I would feel like a zombie, tired and exhausted.
I never knew the implications of these symptoms. I never even know it WAS symptoms. Until, at a family gathering one day my brother-in-law mentioned he's going for a sleep study. After explaining his symptoms I thought, hey, let me Google that. After diagnosing myself as having 7/8 out of the first 10 symptoms that pops up, I realized I have to do something about it and visit a sleep clinic.

My first visit wasn't too bad.
I didn't sleep very well, but I've slept worse.

The second visit was better.
At first I was fitted with a nose mask. I decided to sit around for about 45 minutes to get used to it before trying to sleep. After 20 minutes of trying to fall asleep, I called the nurse. I felt like a balloon getting blown up and had to force all the air from my lungs every minute or so, just to 'deflate'. I have to mention, I have quite bad sinus problems as well as a deviated septum restricting air flow to only one nostril.
She swapped it for a full face. Much better!! It was something to get used to at first but I slept much better.

My results as follow: Before CPAP (1), During CPAP (2)

Baseline Oxygen Saturation: 91%, 90%
Minimum Oxygen Saturation: 53%, 82%
Desaturation Index: 80/Hour, 3/Hour
Apnea/Hypopnea Index: 78/Hour, 2/Hour
Snoring Percentage: 21%, 2%

This was eye opening!

Yesterday, two weeks after my second study, I was like a little boy on Christmas morning. Oh, I have to mention, the morning after the 2nd study, I woke up at 3am ready to take on the day. That whole day I felt like I could conquer the world! It was like upgrading from a small box TV to a 65" Ultra HD TV! Wonderful!
So, yesterday I left the DME with a huge smile on my face. I couldn't wait to go and sleep.

With the following settings the DME set the machine, I went to bed last night:

PAP Mode: APAP
Pressure: Min 6 Max 14
EPR Level: 3

Results:
Sleep time: 6h:18m
Pressure: 4.02 (Min), 10.82 (Max), 9.28 (95%)
AHI: 0.00
Leak Rate: 0.00 (Min, 95%), 21.60 (Max, when I removed the mask to scratch my nose without pressing the power button)
Snore: 0.00 (Min, 95%), 0.38 (Max) (According to SH, it lasted 2,5min.)

I'll share all the stats as attachments once I have enough posts...

How is it possible to have such good results on the first night?

Also, how do you pause the A10? By pressing the power button it creates multiple sessions in SH. Taking the mask off, registers a leak. What's the right way to pause?

Thanks for all the great info!!

Lourens.

[Sleeprider]

Lourens, great work adapting so quickly. I don't think that is unusual, but you're fortunate to be one of the people that need the CPAP and adapt to it easily. Results are outstanding and no need to worry about a leak to scratch your nose...no one is grading you. Stopping the therapy for any reason by pressing the power button or using the auto-start function and removing the mask does not create multiple sessions, however it will show up as a gap in the charts. In Sleepyhead, go to File/Preferences Import Tab and be sure that the box is checked for "Don't split summary days". This will ensure Sleepyhead keeps all portion of sessions in one day (default is noon to noon), in one session.

Welcome and good luck.

[Lourens1190]

I think the ability to adapt depends very much on your mindset and approach. I'm trying to be as positive as possible.
I consider my OCD levels quite high, hence the fact that I'm trying to have perfect results and good graphs. Thanks for the tip on the setting, I'll check it out.

Cheers!

[eseedhouse]

Also, how do you pause the A10? By pressing the power button it creates multiple sessions in SH. Taking the mask off, registers a leak. What's the right way to pause?

They way you did it was the "right" way. You want your machine to record the truth so you can act on accurate information. The machine doesn't have a "pause" button for that reason, because how broken up your sleep is is also important to anyone analyzing your sessions to see how well you are doing.

I find the number of times I get up to urinate in a given night is important information that tells me a lot about my sleep quality, and also the length of my longest session during the night correlates strongly with how I feel the next day. I want to know that information, not hide it.

[DynamicMaroonPenguin1961]

I hope I get to this point! Glad you are having success, and it helps to hear other's stories.

[Lourens1190]

Oh yeah, that makes 100% sense.
I will then keep it as is, so I can track my awake moments. I have to say, even with the perfect readings, I was still tired as I 'paused' it 12 times (SH) to scratch. I will follow up on my progress...

Thanks for the tips and advice!

[trish6hundred]

Hi Lourens1190,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
Keep up the good work, you are off to a great start.
Good luck to you with your CPAP therapy, hang in there for more responses to your post.

[sonicboom]

You can avoid registering a leak when you turn your machine off by hitting the stop button almost immediately after removing the mask. I do it this way because I found that when I hit the stop button with the mask on the machine registered an obstructive apnea or hypopnea which messed up my data averages.