RE: New to CPAP, awful aerophagia
It's good to know it's possible to MacGyver a solution to CAs if they become a big problem!
I don't have a copy of my sleep report yet and I don't know what kind of apneas I had during the sleep test, but I do know that my blood oxygen dropped into the 80s a few times. So it's possible this is a common feature of my sleep. The CAs do SEEM to go up when I have EPR set at 3 but probably I would need more data to confirm it. Sleep quality on EPR 3 feels worse than 2 though so far. Here's a zoom as that series of CAs was starting.
RE: New to CPAP, awful aerophagia
Yesterday I ran 7 miles and slept hard all night for 8 straight hours. It's funny, I can see from the chart that I put on my mask and exactly two minutes later I was asleep, so I'm definitely getting more used to CPAP. I wish my muscles could handle running like that every single day because it's great for my sleep. Normally it takes a while of tossing and turning for me to fall asleep and then normally I wake several times in the night. Not after long runs though.
Towards the morning there were a few logged CA events. I'm curious, are these true centrals? Or are they sleep wake junk? A few minutes before the CA event it looks like there was a small leak and some breathing disturbance. I'm attaching a zoomed in image along with the full night's chart.
Tonight I want to try EPR 3 again but I'm a little nervous about inducing centrals. Does it make sense to set an alarm on my oxygen monitor to wake me if my oxygen drops? Or is it better to just sleep through it? My oxygen only seems to drop to the high 80s at worst so I don't know if that's worth being hyper-vigilant about.
Thanks!
Full Night
Zoom on CA
RE: New to CPAP, awful aerophagia
An alarm will just disrupt your sleep. The reason for centrals is over-ventilation that lower PaCO3 suppressing respiration, but that often goes with relatively high SpO2. The problem with apneic breathing is everything varies periodically. Anyway, my suggestion is give it a try and assess the next day rather than setting alarms. You're at EPR 2 and adding one cm of EPR isn't going to make much difference. On the other hand, you could just continue with EPR 2. This is really good therapy and you slept well.
RE: New to CPAP, awful aerophagia
Thanks Sleeprider!
I changed to EPR 3 and this time all of the CA events looked like SWJ and my oxygen never dropped. I think that means I'm getting used to treatment.
My sleep last night was not super restful but I'm noticing that other things contribute a lot to my sleep quality, like how much I exercise and what time I eat and what I eat. Yesterday I ate poorly, and late in the day, and I didn't exercise. I also didn't sleep enough.
My plan for now is to stick close to these settings and keep working on the other sleep contributors. Thanks again!
RE: New to CPAP, awful aerophagia
Looks very good once you got past 12:30. Your assessment of sleep quality varying day to day and in response to our own behavior is true...I know this because I frequently abuse my sleep with bad things.
