[Symptoms] Mysterious Arousals

[joeblough]

The main correlation I am seeing is between oxygen changes and arousals. In other words, most of the noticeable changes in my SpO2 graph - both up and down - coincide with an arousal (usually, but not always, without awakening). I guess that suggests some sort of positional obstruction is going on, though I'd expect that to affect what the CPAP machine sees in terms of flow restrictions and events - yet I don't think it does.

i see this also - i record my position with SomnoPose and whenever i turn, of course there is an associated arousal. in turn i see central apneas on the CPAP right after the position change, and a drop in O2 sat - a series of drops of decreasing amplitude. sometimes i get down to 85% on the first one when this happens. the sequence of drops lasts maybe 20 seconds, 30 tops.

i see the same O2 drops if i'm not wearing the cpap and they correlate with the position change/arousal. i think i read somewhere these are called "transitional apneas" and are thought to be normal as your brain transitions from "awake breathing" to "sleep breathing" which are driven by different physiological processes.

[BigWing]

Here is the result of the quick sniff and simultaneous sharp wrist turn.



Soon after that, you can also see me flagging the fact that I had settled down onto my RIGHT side, with 5 quick sniffs (RIGHT contains 5 letters; I do 4 quick sniffs for LEFT side).

[BigWing]

I hadn't heard of SomnoPose - I must try that.

Here is an example of the most typical arousals I see, showing a sudden breakup of the normal Flow Rate pattern accompanied immediately by a sizeable Movement spike - then followed several seconds later by a spike in the Pulse Rate. These occur maybe 20-30 times per night and usually have no effect on the SpO2 level, but occasionally do (maybe 4-6 of them).

[BigWing]

I now have SomnoPose and it is wonderful! I hadn't realised how often and how much I was turning during arousals without awakening.

Here is an example. I flag the Flow Rate chart with sniffs whenever I wake, so I know for sure that only the final movement in this Orientation chart, at 3:35am – as I turn from my right side (+90°) to my left side (-90°) – was deliberately done while I was awake.

All the rest of the turns – e.g. the big one at 1:50am from +125° to 30°! – coincide with arousals which don't wake me. I now worry about all the time I seem to spend close to supine, which as most people know is not ideal!

As an example, you can see in the Flow Rate chart that the 10 minutes I spent at 30° produced very curtailed breathing (with shapes reminiscent of that caused by Palatal Prolapse, actually).

[UnicornRider]

Hypnic jerks, Is what came to mind when I saw the video. There are several NIH articles that discuss cause and concerns.

[Brastic]

I get something similar.

When mask is off I get lots of drops in HR and SpO2.  When on I get lots of HR spikes and O2 is stable.

I wake up unrefreshed and with sore shoulders, so suspect that's related.  However unlike you I have a F20 full face mask, with a nasal mask I get woken when my mouth open.  Also, my sleep tracking watch shows lots of awakenings.  

Tempted to get a night camera - what did you use?

[Adamby1047]

Any update on this? I'm going through something very similar, unexplainable deep breaths and arousals, with little to no AHI

apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-Adamby1047-Bi-PAP-therapy-advice

Here's some background on my end. I'm stumped as well. xPAP doesn't seem to do much for me, no matter what I do I consistently get these weird arousals every 15 mins, and its making my life miserable. I'm thinking the only other option I have is a sleep induced endoscopy to see what's going on. I don't really know after that.

[freakyfrog]

Hey, still haven't found a solution. But I made a discord server for this type of UARS, and I'm currently inviting people online who have experienced something similar. Here is the link https://discord.gg/vg9gaHkg