New guy here with some questions for CPAP veterans

[brianr]

Hi everyone. I am new posting here. I have read a lot of threads, but never asked any questions or commented because I am still learning. I am curious from the data below if anyone with experience can tell me if I am doing ok? I have had some trouble when I started because of the lack of support from my primary care doctor and the company he sent me to. Without going into a large detailed story, I acquired my new ResMed Airsense 10 from a family member who had it prescribed to him. I tried contacting the company my doctor sent me to, but they would not program my gifted CPAP since I did not buy it from them. I offered to pay for the programming and consultation, but they would not budge. So, I have several people at work who have the same machine and they gave me the details to program it myself after my doctor gave me my prescription settings. I initially had interpreted the pressure settings incorrectly. He gave me 5-15 and I manually set it to 6 as it seemed comfortable. After about a month or so, I developed nasty heart palpitations. I am not sure if this is linked to the settings I had the CPAP set to, but they have gradually quit once I set the ResMed to APAP (min5 and max15) back in late April. So here I am – still do not know a ton – feel a bit better – no palpitations to speak of, but I am very curious if any experience CPAP folks on this board would be so kind as to see if there is anything glaring in the data below and offer any programming suggestions. Thanks in advance! Brian.

[attachment=13281]

[SarcasticDave94]

Hi brianr and welcome to the Apnea Board.

My quick scan of your data didn’t have any big red flags that I could see. My initial suggestion would be to get OSCAR, it’s the free report tool at the top of the screen. Use OSCAR to gather data off your SD card. Post that data just like you did for that other chart. Members here will view and post suggestions. Best wishes for success.

PS you can get your machine manual in the CPAP Setup Manual link above also.

[brianr]

Thank you Dave. I will do that.

[DeepBreathing]

G'day Brian, and welcome to Apnea Board.

On the basis of those statistics I'd say you've got things pretty well under control. A very small increase in your minimum pressure might improve things marginally, but you're already in the area of diminishing returns. You might want to put up an Oscar daily page to see if there's anything that stands out. (Instructions here: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...ganization )

Otherwise the questions relate to your personal experience: Do you feel well-rested? Do you experience daytime sleepiness? Are the palpitations under control (a well-known co-morbidity of sleep apnea)? Do you need to urinate frequently during the night (another co-morbidity)?

It looks like you're on the right path - well done!

[SarcasticDave94]

Thank you Dave. I will do that.

Glad to hear it. Here’s a virtual coffee to go...

[brianr]

Thank you DeepBreathing. I ijust downloaded and migrated my SleepyHead data over to OSCAR as you and Dave have suggested. I will work on the OSCAR daily page. 

I am feeling much better since my initial diagnosis. This came from my cardiologist. He suspected apnea after dealing with a very nasty bout of A-fib on Dec 31st, 2018. I do sleep much better and my wife is happy that I no longer snore! haha

No daytime sleepiness at all. No night urination needs. Palpitations quit after I reconfigured for APAP mode rather than fixed pressure of 6. I also enabled EPR at 2 and set my humidifer to auto. I have a climateline air tube, but I tend to feel much better without any heating (I am weird llike that I guess).

On another note: Looks like I picked the best location to ask for help! I was nervous to even ask for help. Thank you and SarcasticDave94!

[SarcasticDave94]

Welcome, always glad to assist. No doubt several other members will chime in upon data postings. Great eve to you brianr

[brianr]

Here is the OSCAR data. Maybe this will reveal something additional.

[attachment=13282]

[SarcasticDave94]

I guess we’ll see if others agree or not, I’d consider bumping your low EPAP pressure from 4 to 6.

Reason behind this that most adults feel air starved at 4. Secondly the slight bump can cancel out events by way of preventing them from occurring in the first place.

As is, ask yourself how you feel after a night’s sleep. If not satisfied, some digging needs to be done to see if there’s anything medical or otherwise preventing this rest.

[Gideon]

You have excellent numbers but...
You are having RERAs which by definition end in arrousal. These are treated with pressure support which is the difference in pressure between inhale and exhale.

Your min pressure should be 6 to allow your EPR of 2 to function fully.

I suggest trying a min pressure of 7 with an EPR =3 to better treat your RERAs. This will start you with an exhale pressure of 4 and a minimum inhale pressure of 7. And should be easier breathing.