OSCAR Results - Would love feedback and support!

[anyadee23]

Hi there,

I really appreciate any feedback folks may have for me.  I am diagnosed with mild sleep apnea and UARS.  I've done three at home tests and chose not to do an in lab as I also have insomnia and I doubt I'd sleep a wink in the lab.  My at home tests score around 6.4-7 AHI and RDI does not suggest UARS, however, my ENT diagnosed me with it as I have a partial deviated septum and turbinites swell due to allergies.

I have played around a LOT with settings and masks.  This is what I am now using: CPAP set rate of 5.8 (the auto set was waking me up a lot), low humidity, and the EPR turned off as suggested by my sleep tech.  With EPR on I was getting a lot of centrals.  Dreamware nasal pillows and mouth tape.

My issue: I still wake up a LOT.  I am not able to stay asleep for more than 2 hours at a stretch and often wake up during a dream.  On total I can get about 8 hours of sleep but broken.  To note, I am also experiencing hormone decreases with age (perimenopause) so some of the arousals could be due to that.

My concern is that my oxygen may be low so I am looking into an oxygen device to help monitor that.  My oxygen did not go low during the sleep test, however.

I have tried a MAD which was helpful but stopped working. So, I am really hoping the CPAP can work for me.


Thanks for any thoughts, suggestions, questions, feedback!

Thanks in advance!

[clownbell]

While your AHI is fine and number of events is low, I notice that flow limits are higher than desired. Your machine has 4 levels of EPR -- 0(off), 1,2 and 3. Your sleep tech has recommended off. The use of EPR is the number one tool in treating high flow limits. Suggest experimenting with EPR of 1 and see what happens. EPR is not simply on or off. There are four choices. Maybe 1 will help with flow limits without increasing centrals too much.

Remember that many people have "a few" centrals and it is not an issue. If you read a suspenseful book or watch a suspenseful movie, you likely hold your breath for 10+ seconds anyway.

[anyadee23]

Thanks so much for responding! I am looking at the screen shots I sent and realize I didn't attach one with the flow limit graph. Where are you seeing the flow limits being high? I'd love to follow along. I do have another sreenshot with the flow limit graph but don't see a way to add that attachment here.

I will play with the EPR again for sure. The centrals were scoring quite high but if it's not something to be worried about (sleep tech also said he didn't feel it was a problem) I can toggle that up and see if it helps.

Thanks for your time!

[Crimson Nape]

Besides the Flow Limit graph for a Resmed, it lists the values on the left side statistics detail pane.
- Red

[KeepSmiling]

Hi anyadee23,

Did you use the MAD because your tongue was causing issues, or as an alternative to a CPAP machine?

I would not oft hand say it is hormones waking you up unless waking up is a new thing.

Your quote[I have played around a LOT with settings and masks. This is what I am now using: CPAP set rate of 5.8 (the auto set was waking me up a lot)]


Did you try both settings:
Auto, and
For Her Auto

Did both wake you up? Were the settings set right?

[Gideon]

Your 1st zoomed view shows a lot of flow limits, the second looks like awake breathing.

A 95% FL value 0.10 or greater say your flow limits could definitely be Improved. We would like to see.03 or lower. There are no official values to look for, a number of us here have agreed that these are effective targets.