true CA's and OA's ???

[Inspired]

Are these truly CAs and OAs on the attachments, or am I awake and holding breath to turn over?
Thanks for opinions.

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[Sleeprider]

No attachments, but the criteria for "true" CA or OA is that you're asleep. The machine data doesn't really tell us that.

[Sleeprider]

I see the attachments now. The Resmed FOT is really subtle compared to the Respironics pulse. To really visualize the difference, try making that flow graph taller by dragging down the bottom and increasing the scale. You will see the flow fluctuation of OA is much smaller than CA. The compressed scale of your attachments just don't show that.

[Inspired]

I see the attachments now. The Resmed FOT is really subtle compared to the Respironics pulse. To really visualize the difference, try making that flow graph taller by dragging down the bottom and increasing the scale. You will see the flow fluctuation of OA is much smaller than CA. The compressed scale of your attachments just don't show that.

Sleeprider: Thanks for your reply. I am not sure I understand what "flow fluctuation" means. Here are expanded scale attachments:
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[PoolQ]

So my thoughts:
Hard to say. For me I tend to get what is known as wake/sleep junk. OA' or CA's right before I fall asleep or right before I wake up. I can tell this because I actually wake up and turn the machine off even if I soon get back in bed. And then if the machine gets turned on and within 15-30 minutes I get apnea's well then it's on the going to sleep side.

Did the machine in your case correctly identify the apneas by type. Yes I think so, were the wake/sleep apnea's or true apneas? If they are not close to known wake/sleep times this will make it hard to tell.

[Inspired]

PoolQ:
Thanks for your reply. I thought that after an OA there should be a deep recovery breath, and I don't see that on any of my "OA's". The graphs just look like the CA graphs to me. Before the OAs and the CAs occur, I am seeing irregularities in the baseline that seem to mean that regular sleep breathing has stopped, and I though that meant I was awakening...then the apnea would either be a CA during arousal, or me holding my breath to turn over. But the OAs look like that too. So I am trying to figure out how to interpret this myself. I appreciate input from experts.

Not that I am worried about my progress, because I know I am getting better...my energy level is 80% better than pre-Cpap in just 2 months of treatment so I am pleased...just wanting to get educated.

[Sleeprider]

Resmed uses Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) to determine if an apnea is clear or obstructive. FOT are small pressure occilations (1 cm H2O peak-to-peak at 4 Hz), then uses the resulting flow and pressure (determined at the mask) to measure whether the airway is open or closed. http://www.resmed.com/us/en/healthcare-p...ology.html

Here is an abstract for a study that compared apnea determination using FOT vs polysomnography http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12701337

Compared to Respironics which uses a 2-cm pulse of air and detects the pressure return, the FOT is not as easy to visualize in the graphics. When a Respironics pulse hits an open airway, the flow chart has a noticeable deflection downward, then returns to zero. A closed (obstructed) airway doesn't respond to the pulse. It's very easy to see.

[PoolQ]

So I looked at my OA's and the breath after my OA is only less than 10% more than some others and actually 10% less than some of my deeper breaths.

I am guessing that a deep recovery breath is more of a conformation of the Apnea rather then a requirement to classify something as an Apnea.

My apnea count is not consistent throughout the week. .15-1.24 index and every way between.

[PaytonA]

I think that you are right PoolQ. An OA is defined by a cessation of breathing for ten seconds or more with an obstructed airway. One can surmise that when one is trying to take a breath and is not able to, when that obstruction is finally cleared one would gulp a big breath of air. If the cessation of breathing is long enough this is probably the case.

It may also depend on what phaze of attempt to get a breath one is in when the obstruction clears. So the big breath after the apnea might not occur every time but when it does it seems to me it would definitely be an OA.

Those are my thoughts anyway for whatever they are worth.

Best Regards,

PaytonA

[vsheline]

My apnea count is not consistent throughout the week. .15-1.24 index and every way between.

.15 to 1.24 per hour would be very excellent, to excellent, and everything in between.