40 days in, stats are all over.
Greetings!
I've just hit my 40th day on a DreamStation Auto CPAP with humidifier and heated hose. I've achieved an AHI below 5 once, and my statistics vary wildly. My events are predominately CAs, but some nights there are more OAs, and rarely, there are more Hypopneas than anything else. My Leak Rate and Snore seem acceptable. Many of my events cluster in a 10-20 minute range, so I recently started wearing a cervical collar, which seems to make everything even more random, with increases in Snore and Periodic Breathing.
I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea by a NovaSom home sleep test, which didn't complete sucessfully either night. Each night, after approximately 3 hours I would start getting a "Check Breath Sensor" warning every fifteen minutes. Everything seemed fine - I would huff into the sensor (and learned swearing into it worked equally well
) get "Breath Sensor OK", and start again - 15 minutes later, same thing. I finally called tech support at 4am and was basically told to "Unplug the sensor, then plug it back in" (the magic cure for anything electronic!), which made no difference. They sent out a new Breath Sensor, with the same results. I was told they got enough data between the two nights for a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea with an AHI of 23.9. I still don't have a copy of my results, so I don't know the breakdown.
I don't have a Sleep Doctor - just my GP and my Lincare RRT, and neither seem very invested in my progress. I've been making my own prescription changes from the machine defaults as prescribed - now currently EZ-Start off, Auto Min gradually moved up to 9.5 and Auto Max down to 15. I've stopped using Ramp, but am still using AFLEX 3, and have changed from a DreamWear FFM to a nasal cushion. Things have shown some improvement, but not below the 5 AHI target.
My biggest concern is that I might need a BiPAP or ASV, and my Original Medicare window for that prescription change is closing soon, at least without another sleep study, which right now is something I'd rather not be doing. If I need to make a machine change, I'd like to be able to present a convincing case for it.
I have an OSCAR Daily screen shot for each day of treatment, with junk sessions turned off where I've just been trying to get back to sleep, but I have no idea which to post. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!
I've just hit my 40th day on a DreamStation Auto CPAP with humidifier and heated hose. I've achieved an AHI below 5 once, and my statistics vary wildly. My events are predominately CAs, but some nights there are more OAs, and rarely, there are more Hypopneas than anything else. My Leak Rate and Snore seem acceptable. Many of my events cluster in a 10-20 minute range, so I recently started wearing a cervical collar, which seems to make everything even more random, with increases in Snore and Periodic Breathing.
I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea by a NovaSom home sleep test, which didn't complete sucessfully either night. Each night, after approximately 3 hours I would start getting a "Check Breath Sensor" warning every fifteen minutes. Everything seemed fine - I would huff into the sensor (and learned swearing into it worked equally well
) get "Breath Sensor OK", and start again - 15 minutes later, same thing. I finally called tech support at 4am and was basically told to "Unplug the sensor, then plug it back in" (the magic cure for anything electronic!), which made no difference. They sent out a new Breath Sensor, with the same results. I was told they got enough data between the two nights for a diagnosis of Sleep Apnea with an AHI of 23.9. I still don't have a copy of my results, so I don't know the breakdown.I don't have a Sleep Doctor - just my GP and my Lincare RRT, and neither seem very invested in my progress. I've been making my own prescription changes from the machine defaults as prescribed - now currently EZ-Start off, Auto Min gradually moved up to 9.5 and Auto Max down to 15. I've stopped using Ramp, but am still using AFLEX 3, and have changed from a DreamWear FFM to a nasal cushion. Things have shown some improvement, but not below the 5 AHI target.
My biggest concern is that I might need a BiPAP or ASV, and my Original Medicare window for that prescription change is closing soon, at least without another sleep study, which right now is something I'd rather not be doing. If I need to make a machine change, I'd like to be able to present a convincing case for it.
I have an OSCAR Daily screen shot for each day of treatment, with junk sessions turned off where I've just been trying to get back to sleep, but I have no idea which to post. Any insights would be appreciated. Thanks!
... or I'm just worried that I'm on the wrong type of machine, and if I don't get that resolved before my initial 90 days, I'm going to be stuck with it for 5 years 
