Stop Breathing event with CPAP - help

[neils]

Hi everyone,

Unlike most of you, I don't regularly analyze my CPAP data (maybe I should), and usually wind up using the software after a scary and possibly life threatening event, which was the case last night. My machine is a Resmed Airsense 10 Auto with nasal, with range set to 6.0-16.0.

I usually sleep well with the CPAP, but every few months (3-6) will have a major breathing event, and at least 1-2 a year that feel like a heart attack. Last night was one of those, where I was awoken in a panic, with mask on, not able to breathe, shaking, jumping out of bed, and yelling out to my wife for help (poor her). 

I have been using a CPAP for over 10 years, and for the most part, it has helped. When I check the phone app, it usually gives me good scores overall, with my AHI usually being under 1. I checked my phone app this morning, and it says 1.5 events/HR. I did notice though under leaks it read 28.8L, but I know I also ripped off my mask when the event happened, without shutting off the machine.

I am trying to figure out why I cannot read data off my SD card in Oscar (not a regular user), can only see a daily summary with no data (requested help in the software section).

I am just curious if there is anyone else in this situation, where you have a severe breathing event that wakes you, and you feel like it is a heart attack with inability to breath for a while. My only guess at this point, is that it is more to do with CSA than OSA, where a CPAP may not be able to help.

Your thoughts (besides going to see a doctor incl cardiologist) ??

Thanks for your time !!

[neils]

Managed to get some data off my SD card, having issues with the Daily view but the overview for last night suggests the following

OA 1.0 
H 0.3
CA 0.1

Sadly Oscar is blank for stuff like UA, MV, so don't have the complete picture, not sure why I cannot read the rest of the data, working thru it now.

Scary that one can live thru a major event of non breathing, and the machine suggests that barely anything happened. I question whether this falls under the CA area, where CPAP's might not be able to deal with it (assuming) as well as OA.

Thanks

[Sleeprider]

Without the detailed daily view of the event, and even zooming in on the moments that led to it, the most likely answer is an anxiety attack or panic attack, or perhaps a positional issue where you obstructed your airway due to an acute bend in the airway from chin-tucking or similar. CPAP settings are not very useful for preventing unusual events that only occur once or twice per year, and it is very unlikely the event is related or preventable with a pressure setting. It would be interesting to get the detailed view, because without it, we can only empathize with the fact that was probably a very scary and uncomfortable experience.

[Gideon]

The 2 most common causes are
1. SD card was not in the machine overnight
2. SD card was "locked" and thus not writeable

O
ther less common cause is a failure of either SD Card, SD Card Reader, or SD card slot in the CPAP.

[neils]

Thanks for the advice, and it is very scary to know that even with a CPAP for therapy, extreme breathing events like this, where you cannot breathe, and feel like you are having a heart attack, with a tight chest, and shaking while attempting to get air into your lungs, can happen here and there and nothing to do about it.

My bigger worry is that even when something like that happens, what if you wake up a fraction too late, or cannot get air into your lungs in time. The times when the brain does not send the signal to breathe, and pushing more air from the CPAP may not fix it. I often wonder about those cases.

I guess for now, not much to do about it, besides hope I can read the data next time around in more detail. MyAir did not indicate anything out of the ordinary, other than what I provided above. If there was maybe a massive air leak that could explain some things, but MyAir did not indicate that.

Either way, I may ask my doctor for a referral back to either a sleep clinic or cardiologist, just to make sure things are ok, rather than wait for the next major episode where I know the machine cannot help in those cases (which is scary).

Thanks

[Sleeprider]

For an event that occurs once or twice per year, the odds of capturing it in a sleep study are remote. Even if they captured the data, what would they do with it? In my experience, sleep clinics don't try to do anything but count apneas and hypopnea, and they often get that wrong routinely diagnosing central apnea as obstructive. We can help you interpret your Oscar data and let you know if there is anything there. We know that you awoke and felt unable to breathe, but what came first when you did? Inhale or exhale. The problem is that regardless of cause, you were deep into an adrenaline panic already. Why don't you have data from that event?

[neils]

Thanks Sleeprider !! Appreciate the support from you guys, makes me feel like I am not alone in the struggle !!

As mentioned, I think what happened (best guess) is that when I pulled my card out and stuck it into the Mac dock, and went to read it, the progress bar was going, and while waiting, I was reading the guidelines for Oscar, and came across the line where it said make sure your card is locked, else MAC can write stuff to the card, rendering the card unusable by the machine afterwards. So in a panic I aborted the transfer, pulled the card only to find it unlocked, ran to the Redmed to make sure the card was readable (thankfully it was), came back to reread the card (this time locked), and that is when I wound up with only summary data but nothing more.

What's even more weird is that I had access to a bit more data in the Overview tab but I did notice data missing for many days.

Rather than speculating what happened, I think I will just read the link on how to export data and try to attach it here, but like you said, without the full picture, not sure you can assist with my event. Will try anyways. Since the event happened on the 13th going into the 14th, I will see if the machine wrote data from last night as a comparison.

Will give it a try now (export) and see where that takes me

Thanks

[Crimson Nape]

It should have made reference to the S9, not the A10 series about locking the card. Please provide a link to where you read this, so it may be clarified.

[Sleeprider]

neils, your data import problem is really easy to solve. Just got to today's data and use the menu Data/Advanced/Purge Current day (or whatever day this event happened). Then insert your card and import again. It will come right up.

[neils]

Thanks Sleeprider. That was going to be my next question, any way to wipe the data in case the subsequent SD reads is not overwriting the previous data read. Worked like a charm. Thank you !!!

Here is the data from my breathing event (the one that felt like a heart attack that took a while to get out of), March 13th. Let me know if there are any screenshots I should take that would help, trying to respect the minimum charts and order to post here (I think I already have 1 chart too many in the view).

I also included last night's data to show a typical night

THANK YOU !!!