OSCAR Result Interpretation & Clear Airways

[Steven Alexandro]

Hi all,

A quick update on changes implemented and what's worked vs what isn't working.

Positive change: started using the Caldera Releaf collar and aerophagia has been pretty much eliminated. I didn't use mouth tape last night and did great. I also switched to the n20 nasal mask, which has been a fantastic fit for me.

Now for the not so great. I'm still waking up really tired and with headaches. Lots of CAs, most of which aren't concerning (arousal based, top/tail of sleep), but some of which have kind of weird patterns. Screenshots attached. EPR has been set to 3, though thinking of dialing down to 2 if the weird CAs are potentially treatment emergent.

Also, flow limits appear better with new mask/collar set up. Switched to APAP and have a fairly narrow pressure range according to min/med/max figures.

Any thoughts about how I could improve sleep quality to wake rested?

Thanks!

[Dormeo]

You're doing a lot of great problem-solving! And you have developed good insight into what your charts mean.

As for settings, I don't see any reason for higher pressure or for a pressure range. For the most part, your pressure just goes up and down in response to your FLs without really doing much for them. While the pressure changes are small, if there's any chance they disturb your sleep, it'd be good to avoid them. Your obstructive events were well treated with a pressure of 7.

The snippets you posted just show arousal breathing (both) and unstable (waxing/waning) breathing after arousal (second). Let us know if there were particular moments that concerned or puzzled you.

So, you might try min = max = 7, with EPR of 2, to see what happens. If you try this, give it a few nights before evaluating. The other thing I think is important is for you to work on your daily schedule so you can get at least 7.5 hours of actual sleep per night, which will probably mean at least 8 hours in bed. Ideally you could bump up the sleep time to 8 hours, with time in bed greater than 8 hours.