Should I be concerned about last nights results?

[cate1898]

Last night falls into the 2 weeks worth of data my sleep doc will be looking at when I see him later this month. Things have been going along fairly well with anywhere between 1-5 OA's, some hypopneas, and the odd CA events each night and a low AHI. I've even had several mornings where I did not wake up with a headache!

But this morning I awoke with a moderate headache and when I looked at my results I wasn't sure if I should be concerned and maybe show the results to the sleep doc as I believe he may be only looking at AHI.

Would be grateful for some input!


   

   

[DeepBreathing]

Hi Cate. An AHI under 5 is regarded as treated, so your 1.39 is a very respectable score. Why would you not want to show that to your doctor? I did notice one of your apneas was pretty long at 57 seconds and a few others were in the 20s or 30s, but otherwise everything looks fine.

Generally speaking it's recommended we don't take a single night's results in isolation but look at overall trends. There can be lots of reasons a single night might have anomalous results. Likewise there can be lots of reasons you can have a headache and not necessarily associated with apnea.

[cate1898]

Yes it was the long apneas I was wondering about. 57, 28 seconds and so forth. I don't usually see apneas that long on my results and wondered if they corresponded to waking up with a moderate headache. Lately when I've woken with a headache which is now only about 50% of the time, they are pretty minor. Used to be before CPAP that they were bad and it's slowly gotten a lot better until last night although not as bad as pre-CPAP.

[Sleeprider]

Cate, when you have long apneas like that it can help to zoom in on the flow rate wave form to see what actually happened. Sometimes it is not one long continuous breathing cessation, and is a period of irregular breathing that might not impact your oxygen levels much. Either way, the incidence of events is low and would be considered pretty good treatment for OSA.

You have some pretty good leaks towards the end of the night, and it appears air was escaping through your mouth (note the flat topped leak rate).

[OpalRose]

cate,
I think your numbers look really good and they are nothing to worry about, but the fact that you still get headaches could be a concern. Not saying it is, but you may want to bring that up to your doctor.

[archangle]

You can click on the event in the list or zoom in manually and look at the flow rate graph in detail. They're often not as bad as the number says. Sometimes, the number doesn't really make much sense anyway.

[cate1898]

   


Here is an enlargement of 2 apneas, first 57 seconds, then second 30 seconds. So how do I know if it's good or bad?

[sonicboom]

Another possibility is that of RERAs and other non "qualifying" apneas which SH can track as UF 1 and UF 2. On mornings when I have a little headache I sometimes notice lots of RERA and UF1 and 2 activity non of which are included in AHI.

[justMongo]

Looks like you struggled to breathe several times during the longer apnea. The little wiggle in the flow pattern and an attempt by the machine to switch from IPAP-EPR to IPAP pressure can be seen.

I wonder if you would do better with a little less EPR. You are set at 3 which means you have 6.5 cm-H₂O holding your airway open between inhalation. That might not be enough. YMMV

[cate1898]

I can't help wondering when long apneas like these happen if using an Auto CPAP would help one recover from it faster? So far I'm slated for a fixed CPAP.

JustMongo: I changed the EPR setting to 2 and will see how it goes tonight