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I just started CPAP this week and I'm trying to make sense of the data. My Airsense 11 said I had an AHI of 36 the first night with nearly all of them listed as CA's with no air leaks. My doctor had me set up with a pressure of 4-16, but I felt like I couldn't breathe well. I called him and he upped it to 5-16 and I also toggled off the EPR mode. Anyway my AHI went down a little to about 25, but again it shows pretty much everything as CA's. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if I really have Central Apnea that needs to be treated with a more advanced machine. I can't see the doctor for about a month so I'm struggling with what to do. I put in a screenshot, any help would be greatly appreciated.
You have zoomed in on a part of the ca you had. It would be helpful if we could see the entire night. What this shows is you slept for 10 hours and the very last part of the night you had all the CAs. Is that correct? You had no other events for 10 hours?
If you have your sleep study, please post with name and any personal information blacked out. This will tell us if the CAs were what you had and if so you may need a different type of machine, if you did not have them during your sleep study we need to know that also.
So the photograph in the first post, I was only able to wear it for two hours. Every time I felt like I was starting to fall asleep my body would sort of wake up and realize I wasn't breathing.
Here's a couple photographs from the night before were I had an AHI of 35. I think I slept with in on that night for about 5 or 6 hours. I had the same feeling of waking up numerous times realizing that I had stopped breathing. It seems to occur mostly just as I'm drifting off to sleep. I'm not sure if this is just my body adjusting to the CPAP or TESCA. I don't want to give up on it, but I'm afraid it's actually hurting my body. I've had a new headache the past few days that I think is probably related to not getting enough oxygen.
Not sure if age matters, but I just turned 40 and I'm pretty physically fit. My wife says I don't really snore, so the apnea diagnosis was a little surprising. When I did my sleep study my AHI was about 36.
Thanks again for any help in making sense of this, hopefully these photographs are better.
(03-02-2024, 06:41 PM)nixontahoe Wrote: I just started CPAP this week and I'm trying to make sense of the data. My Airsense 11 said I had an AHI of 36 the first night with nearly all of them listed as CA's with no air leaks. My doctor had me set up with a pressure of 4-16, but I felt like I couldn't breathe well. I called him and he upped it to 5-16 and I also toggled off the EPR mode. Anyway my AHI went down a little to about 25, but again it shows pretty much everything as CA's. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong or if I really have Central Apnea that needs to be treated with a more advanced machine. I can't see the doctor for about a month so I'm struggling with what to do. I put in a screenshot, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Are we twins? I started CPAP yesterday with an Airsense 11 and a pressure setting of 5-16. I also only had CAs. I came to this forum to ask the exact same thing. I don't know what the proper etiquette is. Do I create a new post or add to this thread?
My CA flow patterns looks similar to nixontahoe's. It seems like we both have a slight pause in breathing followed by two to four breaths. I noticed that before the start of most of my CA clusters, there is a large flow event (orange arrow). Maybe I was taking a deep breath or becoming partly awake and it isn't central apnea? Or am I deluding myself and it is likely central apnea?
If anyone has insight, I've posted my entire night and my sleep study summary:
(I slept last night from 0200 - 10:00 but only used the machine between 0200 - 07:15)
Total Apnea Index: 41
Hypopnea Index: 37
Hypopnea 4% Index: 14
Central/Mixed Index: 28.9 (53%)
SpO2 <=88%: 17%
Something you may consider is increasing minimum pressure to 6 or 7. The choice of 7 will permit EPR 3 to work unhindered. However with these questionable CA, you may want to try 6 and lower EPR to 2.
Agreed on seeing your sleep test data redacted of personal info.
INFORMATION ON APNEA BOARD FORUMS OR ON APNEABOARD.COM SHOULD NOT BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALWAYS SEEK THE ADVICE OF A PHYSICIAN BEFORE SEEKING TREATMENT FOR MEDICAL CONDITIONS, INCLUDING SLEEP APNEA. INFORMATION POSTED ON THE APNEA BOARD WEBSITE AND FORUMS ARE PERSONAL OPINION ONLY AND NOT NECESSARILY A STATEMENT OF FACT.
With all those ca's you may need aiVAP but those machines are much more expensive so they aren't prescribed till the patient fails after trying a cpap or bipap . In my own case I had a messed up sleep test. It was so messed up they recommended trying a Bipap set for 24 inhale and 20 exhale then indicating I would probably need the more expensive aiVAP. When I got my Bipap set to 24 inhale , 20 exhale my AHI was about 12 till I dropped the pressure to 16 inhale , 8 exhale and now have a AHI of ~3 . I realy don't even need a bipap I do just as well on an old Resmed S9 cpap set to a pressure of 14 .
Unless you have COPD or other serious respiratory impairment, you don't need an iVAPS. However, the cpap is not treating your CAs. CPAP only treats obstructive apneas.This includes most bipaps, including the popular VAuto. You should qualify for an ASV, since you hace more than 50% CAs, and most insurance including Medicare, will cover an ASV, which costs at least $3000. I have an ASV, even though my sleep study showed I had slightly less than 50% CAs, because I also had Cheyne-Stokes Respiration based on my OSCAR printout, which my sleep doctor examined. My ASV works so well that my AHI is usually less than 2. Last night it was 1.4. With the AS 10 it was almost always more than 5, sometimes as high as 25. Take care, I hope you can get an ASV soon. You will be glad you did.
I appreciate all the responses, it's nice to feel like part of a community where there's people out there who actually want to help one another and share their knowledge.
I'll try to get a copy of my sleep study, but I don't recall there being CA's on the results or at least my doctor didn't discuss them.
After looking through the board, I thought I should also mention that I live in the mountains at about 4500 ft. I'm not sure if altitude plays a factor in the results I'm getting. I also just had a full physical, including a heart stress test for my job and everything on there was normal. I'm pretty young, not overweight, and in good physical shape.
I'm not sure if I should continue to use the CPAP and see how it plays out or discontinue it's use until I can get in to see the doctor again. I'm a bit worried with the insurance company saying I'm not compliant or something if I'm not using it, but it feels next to impossible to sleep waking up every couple minutes realizing that I stopped breathing.
When I first got my machine, about 40 years ago, I had problems keeping the mask on longer than about an hour. I was not in compliance... I started wearing it when I read at night, watched TV and read books. It help me get use to wearing in and it completely gave me 4 hours each day to become compliant. They can't tell if you are asleep or even in bed, just how lone the machine has run... You can-t just turn it on and not wear it because it would show a total leak all of that time. But if you have it on you are in compliance.
I would second the suggestion for getting an ASV. It took my AHI from 5-7 all centrals to under 1 within a within a week. If cost is a major factor, it is possible to find refurbished units online with a prescription or buying one used off of places like facebook marketplace are an option. I found my ASV on facebook lightly used for $500. ASV's are a lot rarer than your typical cpap so it would be more challenging to find one used.
You're definitely in good hands with this community. Everybody here wants to help you sleep the best we can!
