New to Board. Need help interpreting OSCAR

[Travel2BFree]

Greetings, I'm new to the forums and using Oscar. I've been on CPAP for a several years but never received any real feedback or medical advice since starting. So, I am hoping that someone can give me some suggestions on how to improve the efficacy of my cpap tx. Attached are screen shots from the last two nights. If I can provide anything else, let me know. Thanks, -g 

[Travel2BFree]

Let me add that today I changed a couple settings on my own. Previously, I had CPAP pressure set to 9. Today, I changed setting to AutoSet and set the range from 6-15 to see if there was any improvement in energy level. Actually, I have no idea what I am doing so any help is appreciated.

[staceyburke]

I would set EPR to on and FULL TIME set to 3.  It will help your flow limits which should let you sleep much better.

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

Agree with Stacey that EPR will help with the flow limitations. I will add consider turning off ramp.

How did you end up with a fixed pressure of 9? If you are considering other things to try, I suggest setting your machine to APAP, range 8-15, EPR 3 full-time, no ramp. That would give a starting point to fine-tune. You may end up back on CPAP mode, but this would help with the tweaking.

[Travel2BFree]

Thank you for your input! I am hopeful that this will help.  

The fixed pressure of 9 came from the sleep lab about 10 years ago. After the sleep study, I had a hard time adjusting to CPAP and stopped completely for a while. Eventually, exhaustion motivated me to make it work and have been using CPAP regularly for the last few years but in that time I have received no medical support. While CPAP has made a world of difference, I still don't feel like I get the most restful sleep. 

So, I am happy to have some suggestions and will report back after trying the new settings for a couple of days. 

By the way, is there a spell check for my posts?

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

Personally, I do my best spell checking after I hit “Post”.

[UnicornRider]

Just like my eyeglasses, every once in a while I have to adjust my prescription of my PAP therapy. So if 9 cmH2O is from 10 years ago, it may be time to readjust your PAP settings..

 The people here are very knowledgeable and will guide you in getting the best therapy for your present day needs. 

[Travel2BFree]

Well, I changed my settings to APAP, range 8-15, EPR 3 full-time with no ramp. My subjective experience has been that while it is much more difficult to fall asleep when I awake I feel like I had a more restorative sleep. Attached are screenshots of my last 2 nights OSCAR reports. In regards to difficulty falling asleep, would you suggest that I tough it out and allow myself to get used to having no ramp or set up a short ramp? Also, where is the best source of info on interpreting OSCAR charts? I am grateful for your assistance. This could be a real life changing opportunity. 

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It looked like only 1 of my OSCAR sheets attached. Here is last night's data.

[Deborah K.]

Can you please post a copy of your sleep study with the personal information redacted?  You presently show mostly central apneas, and we need to see if that was so on the sleep study.  That will help those trying to help to offer better advice.

[UnicornRider]

The Guide:    https://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.ph..._The_Guide

A great reference, deserves to be referred to often. I still fall back on The Guide.

Look at your Pressure graph and your Flow Limits graph, Flow Limits drive Pressure up trying to correct the obstructions.

Your Flags are clustered, in the guide look for "Chin Tuck" then run out to get a Soft Cervical Collar (SSC).

Keep trying Keep Posting.