Newbie struggling!

[Robylla]

Help.
I was diagnosed with severe sleep apnoea two months ago where my initial sleep study said my AHI was 29 and I think 45 when I was sleeping on my back. I started treatment with CPAP on a Resmed Airsense 10 for her and on the first few weeks my AHI went to less than 2 but the leakage on my mask was around 35 l/min. After a bit of trial and error (now using a full face Phillips) the leakage went down to about 11 l/min which I understand is acceptable. Things started to go wrong about 3 weeks ago when the sleep physician (after my second sleep study) showed me how to reduce the pressure and said to try 11 instead of 14. I actually don’t understand what the value of a lower pressure is apart from maybe swallowing much more air. My AHI started to creep up from between 6 to 9 so I rang the sleep technician 3 days ago who suggested switching  to automatic which I did. I think the range was between 4-20 and when it started felt I couldn’t breathe. On the second night about an hour after I put the mask on I had the worst attack of atrial fibrillation that I have ever had and considered calling an ambulance. I landed up taking the mask off and seemed to breathe a bit better even though the AF was pretty bad - it reverted after 12 hours which is normal for me. I think my OSA has caused the AF and very high blood pressure (now under control with medication) which I have had over 10 years. Last night I switched back to CPAP and set the pressure to the top of 14 but still felt I was not getting enough air and after 5 hours of fairly broken sleep, my AHI was 14.2 As I write this with the mask on, I have reset the pressure to 16 and definitely feel like I am getting enough air now. I will take my machine and check in with the sleep technician on Monday.
What I would like to know, is it normal for the pressure to start off at 13 - 14 and give perfect AHI readings only to change a few weeks later and not be enough. How much is too much pressure?
I realise that I will be on CPAP for the rest of my life but I hope and pray it is not going to be this difficult. Thank you in advance!

[OpalRose]

Hi Robylla,
Welcome to Apnea Board!

The first thing we would like you to do is be sure there is an SD card in your machine. If not, go buy one as they are fairly cheap.

Next download the OSCAR software, set up your profile according to instruction.

Once you have a couple days data on you SD card, use the tutorials in my signature line to guide you in Organizing the Daily Chart as to direction, take a Screenshot of that chart and then use the Attachment Feature to post some data here.

We have many knowledgeable folk here that will look at that data and advise accordingly.

Also, if you have a copy of your Sleep Study (not just the summary) upload it here. We can get a much clearer picture of what your dealing with.

[Robylla]

Thank you for your prompt reply. Yes there is an SD. card in the machine so I will upload Oscar and my sleep studies.
?

[trish6hundred]

Hi Rovvilla,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I wish you good luck with your CPAP therapy. When you get your settings dialed in, hopefully, it won't be such a struggle.

[Robylla]

Thank you for your support. I  am now having a battle downloading Oscar because I have a shared computer which hasn’t been used for ages (much handier using an iPad!) just trying to figure out what passwords I should be using ... but like CPAP, perseverance is going to be the key!!!

[DeepBreathing]

You don't need any password to download Oscar - just go to the site, select the version you need and click on it. The instructions are here.

If you need passwords for your computer itself we probably can't help a lot. But tell us what you see on the screen when you have the problem.

What I would like to know, is it normal for the pressure to start off at 13 - 14 and give perfect AHI readings only to change a few weeks later and not be enough. How much is too much pressure?

13 - 14 is a reasonably high pressure and my guess is that the tech was trying to make you more comfortable by lowering the pressure - didn't work though. Alternatively, the pressure could have been causing some central apnea which the tech was trying to resolve. The pressure should be high enough to treat your sleep apnea but no higher. Too high, it is uncomfortable and can cause treatment-emergent central apnea.

[Sleeprider]

Robylla your machine has a lot of tools available to us to leverage to improve your results and comfort. Getting the OSCAR data is key to seeing how to use those tools to our best advantage. I can tell you that a wide-open Autoset setting of 4-20 rarely works, and I certainly would not have you on a minimum pressure less than 10, just based on what you have already said in your first post.

We want to know what kind of events you have, what pressures they occur at and whether you are using the EPR (exhale pressure relief) settings, which allow you lower exhale pressure and higher inhale pressure. This is important to addressing excessive RERA and hypopnea, and can greatly increase comfort. Without the data, we are just guessing. Once you are able to give us some basic information on your use of EPR, pressure and types of events, we have a few tricks up our sleeve to get you dialed in pretty quickly.

You are being affected by mask leaks. Be sure to read the Mask Primer Wiki http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php/Mask_Primer . There may be some ideas for you to work with there.

[Robylla]

Trying once again to attach my data and posting on this thread.
Update before posting
Unfortunately not able to attach files. It says I am "currently using N/A of your attachment usage (2.93MB) and then when I press "view my attachments" there is nothing there.

I did reply to someone else's post which seemed to go through ok - I can see it on the thread.


Robylla

[OpalRose]

Follow these instructions:

http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...pnea_Board

[Robylla]

Thank you OpalRose
I have opened and printed out the link you sent "Attaching Images and Files on Apnea Board"
The 3 files that I have saved to my computer are approx 407kb and in the .png image format.

I have taken a screenshot Attachment bar of the Oscar data screenshot I am trying to send.
I seem to be able to get to:
 
1. Choose File
2. The Mac version of attaching files hasn't got an "Open" button - just a "Choose File" button which then inserts the file in the New Attachment
    Bar but will not attach another file (just seems to replace the first file with the second one I choose)
3. The "add Attachment" button doesn't seem to do anything.

When I then preview or try to post, a blank screen appears and the post is not on the thread.

I have also sent myself an email and attached one of the Oscar Data screenshots which I received not as a link but as the actual image.

Update:
I have just previewed this message before I send it and the attachment is not showing up.

If this doesn't show up on the original thread, I will try posting a new thread "Newbie Struggling 2"

Robylla