RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
(05-01-2019, 02:34 PM)Marillion Wrote: As always, Bonjour has great advice! Going up to 11 as a minimum is a great idea. I would also consider dropping your EPR from 3 to 1 or even turning it off entirely if you can. If not. Just try it at 1. I myself don't use EPR at all as I found it would cause / influence events and I always got better results without it. I would allow for at least 3 days to see what these settings do for you.
Thanks, Marillion. I have reset machine to 11 and dropped EPR to 1. It was a bit hard to fall asleep, my nose felt so full and puffed out, but I got used to it eventually. By sometime in the night I didn't really notice it. So I will keep it there for a bit, at least until I get my neck thing which is supposed to arrive Monday. I did notice that the CAs were way down last night, but there have been a couple of nights like that here and there for no discernible reason, so not getting too excited about that. Will see what happens over the next few days.
Will be back to fill you in in a few!
Amy
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
Excellent. As they say around here, "one night does not a trend make!"
As you get used to not using the EPR it will become more and more the norm. Keep us posted and all the best.
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
Finally got my home sleep study results (insurer wouldn't approve lab study). It was BAAAD! LOL! No surprise there. Now they are immediately ordering a titration study in the lab. Problem is I am going away for a month and want to do the study ASAP. Can I just find any local sleep lab? I'm going to a rural area, but there's a county hospital with a sleep lab about half an hour away. How do I find out if it's decent? Or should I just wait until I get back home?
In the meantime I have switched to a new mask - a Resmed N30i nasal pillow. So far the most comfortable mask I've tried. It doesn't go into my nostrils, just fits over them. Doesn't seem to leak much - at least not noticeably to me!
Bad news is I still feel like crap and I will nap multiple times a day if I have the chance. If I don't, I will stay awake, but feel like I need to physically hold my eyelids open. So hopefully someone watching me sleep and recording all the deets will figure out what's going wrong.
I don't remember, but will I be able to use my own equipment in the sleep lab? Or at least my own mask?
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
You had a sleep study that confirmed sleep apnea and medical necessity for a CPAP. Get a prescription for an auto CPAP, preferably Resmed Airsense 10 Autoset, and let the machine do the work of a $2000 sleep study. Very simple. Your doctor can write the script for the Resmed auto CPAP, and self-titration, and you're done....call me in the morning. A titration study is not an insurance requirement, it is a profit mechanism. If nothing else, get your primary care physician to write the script. Repeating, you do not need a titration study, you need an auto CPAP.
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
I have to agree about using the APAP to do the titration. I had a sleep study done 20 years ago, with a pressure of 10 prescribed. I opted for surgery instead of CPAP at the time due to problems adapting to the therapy - big mistake. Anyway, I just had a home study done, and after working with the recommended APAP, I ended up with a minimum pressure of ...... 10. The machines do a great job if you stay on top of your therapy and ue OSCAR. The advice you get here is likely more timely and easier to understand than what you get from your doctor too.
06-25-2019, 10:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-25-2019, 10:17 PM by aflynn37.
Edit Reason: Typos
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RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
Sleeprider and Why Me, I guess I shouldn’t have assumed that anyone seeing my post would have read this thread from the beginning. But my doctor did get me the machine you suggested and I have been using it for months now. My events are still way too high and I feel no better. I believe that is why he wants me to have the lab study. Not just for titration but to see if there is something else going on. I am using Sleepyhead btw. I have tried everything recommended to me here so far. Including collar and chin strap which i could not tolerate. But I don’t believe I am mouth breathing. My husband is also positive I am not.
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
Actually, I did read from the first post, and I absolutely understand why you would want an in-lab study. The techs there can try different machine types to see what works best for you, where obviously, you can’t do that yourself at home without spending crazy money and way too much time. I just wanted to let you know that many of us have had some success, even without benefit of the in-lab study. In my case, the home titration and lab study resulted in identical prescriptions - my case likely was less complex than yours though.
RE: Poor results with CPAP - thoughts?
Why Me, I've had a number of sleep studies over the years. I always believed that the only problem was my noncompliance. But now that I've been using the machine consistently for over 7 months, I'm convinced that there is something else going on. Even if I'm having too many events to call it a success, it's still 80% lower than what it was for all these years not using anything! I can't believe I wouldn't feel significantly better, rather than absolutely not one bit better.
I was really convinced that getting the APAP machine would fix everything. And my doctor seemed pretty hopeful as well. FML...
