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Machine: ResMed Aircurve 10 Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed Humidifier: in the ResMed device CPAP Pressure: EP: 8 IP:12 CPAP Software: OSCAR
Okey! I'm just so relieved to have a nights sleep that didn't look dire (to me at least - and my hypopnea/hypoxia has been serious business) that I want to see another night or two before tweaking any pressures.
I know there's info on the board somewhere on sizing a cervical collar or pillow so I have to look for that. Since I got such a huge result from my travel pillow kludge I want to see if I can get a real one ASAP. Can't size one in person, you can't buy stuff except online.
So much gratitude here --- hoping this is the real fix!
Machine: ResMed Aircurve 10 Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed Humidifier: in the ResMed device CPAP Pressure: EP: 8 IP:12 CPAP Software: OSCAR
What concerns me, scares me, about the resp rate, tidal volume, and the rest is the very real history of stroke and TIA during sleep. Apnea is a very strong contributor to cardio/cerebrovascular incidents. I have had one stroke for sure, many TIA's - the last ones may or may NOT have actually been transient! - due to combinations of blood pressure and apnea/hypnopea making me hypoxic.
Every single incident over 18 months has been while asleep. This is rather dire until proven otherwise, as far as I am concerned.
But the good news! Look at last night's graph -- ZERO events except the mask leak. That's fixable, and I have a different mask in mind.
This is using my kludgy travel pillow so now I need a real solution to that. I know I was back sleeping, I woke up that way.
Machine: ResMed Aircurve 10 Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed Humidifier: in the ResMed device CPAP Pressure: EP: 8 IP:12 CPAP Software: OSCAR
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.
Machine: ResMed Aircurve 10 Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed Humidifier: in the ResMed device CPAP Pressure: EP: 8 IP:12 CPAP Software: OSCAR
Machine: ResMed Aircurve 10 Mask Type: Full face mask Mask Make & Model: Resmed Humidifier: in the ResMed device CPAP Pressure: EP: 8 IP:12 CPAP Software: OSCAR
Quick update: With the kludgy travel pillow neck brace to prevent the positional (chin-tuck) apnea I was still getting a couple of O2 drops to 88-ish per night.
I switched to a CVS cervical collar 2 nights ago, had one night with no O2 drop, last night had one down to 91, but more apneas (AHI 1.0 up from approx 0.5)
I expect the collar to be a trial and error exercise.
Does it make sense to tweak levels while I'm looking for the right collar, or do one step at a time?
--- side note:
It may not be an exaggeration to say this board saved my life. With my stroke history and interaction between apnea and BP levels, it's very likely I would have suffered a major incident because of nightly hypoxemia.
If there are any MD's on the board I'd sure like to get some insight into why 4 major medical centers didn't look for this and catch it.
I notice there are no Wiki articles on the implications of apnea for stroke survivors - nor how the simplistic AHI does them a disservice. If there's interest I'd like to contribute some of what I've learned over this last horrible 18 months! Including new information on replacing AHI with something more useful.
