Central apneas after starting cpap
I have been on cpap (Auto cpap, really. I have an Airsense Autoset 10 for Her) for 3 nights now. I got an SD card reader and got all my data loaded into ResScan. During both of my sleep studies, all of my apneas were OSA.
My AHI was only 5 and my RDI was 15, so now I have this machine (which I love) and my AHI is down to 3.2. But I noticed that I'm now registering Central Sleep Apneas... It's very low (0.04).
Is this anything to be concerned about?
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
(02-23-2015, 10:12 PM)kdmorris410 Wrote: My AHI was only 5 and my RDI was 15, so now I have this machine (which I love) and my AHI is down to 3.2. But I noticed that I'm now registering Central Sleep Apneas... It's very low (0.04).
We need a little care in interpretation. Sleepyhead does not flag these as "Central" events, but as "Clear airway" events. The "CA" stands for Clear Airway and your machine cannot classify them beyond that. All it knows is that you stopped breathing while your airway was open. It cannot tell you why you stopped breathing. For that you need a different kind of monitoring equipment usually available only in a hospital.
Ed Seedhouse
VA7SDH
Part cow since February 2018.
Trust your mind less and your brain more.
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
No. CA at that level is not a serious problem, and can actually be from a couple events while you drift to sleep or wake up. It is truly meaningless at that level. CA is more of a concern where we see large clusters of CA with longer durations that could potentially lower SpO2. True CA is from lack of respiratory effort.
Sleepyhead software will let you zoom into the events and see their duration and the breath by breath waveform when they occur. Also, you were given the typical wide-open settings on your auto CPAP. For somewith with such a low untreated AHI you should expect to achieve AHI lower than 1 fairly consistently. I am fairly certain you are not being treated at optimum minimum pressure and predict that you will require a higher minimum pressure.
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
Look at it this way. You need an AHI of 5 to be diagnosed with sleep apnea. Your CI was just .04. Unless that number dramatically increases to being over 5 then refuses to go back down, don't worry about it. It could be you hold your breath while dreaming or was talking prior to falling asleep, etc.
Watch the data and look for trends. No two nights are the same so what you are looking for is general ranges where you usually fall. The rule of thumb is it takes at least ten days (but it's best to get more) worth of data to get that trending range kinda established. It is good you are watching the data already! Take control of your own health! But, don't panic over little changes. Each day is different (different stresses, foods, environments, influences, etc) so each night is going to be different. Consider keeping a sleep diary. Write down each night what kind of day you had, how you feel, what was good, what was bad, and whatever else you feel like putting in. Make a note of any changes to the sleeping arrangement such as guests or new sheets or room is too hot or too cold. Then when you wake, write down how you slept. Dreams, positioning you woke up in, were you comfortable, how many times did you get up, and again, whatever else you feel like putting in. Then later when you look at the data, you can also look at the sleep journal. You may see that nights you went to sleep late were not good nights (or other way around). Or that the neighbor's barking dog doesn't change your sleep as much as you think it does! Later, if you decide to change your own pressure settings, this journal will be come very, very important.
PaulaO
Take a deep breath and count to zen.
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
Hi kdmorris410,
It's good to hear that you like your machine.
Don't worry about those CAs, you had such a low amount of them.
Just hang in there with it.
trish6hundred
02-24-2015, 06:36 AM
(This post was last modified: 02-24-2015, 06:37 AM by kdmorris410.)
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
I haven't been able to get Sleephead to work. Every time I try to import the data from my SD card, it crashes. I was looking at the data in ResScan. It just flags the detailed graphs as Central (10) or Obstructive (10) or Hypnea, etc. I'm not sure what the numbers represent, as I haven't figured out how to read the data yet  The highest central over three days was 16.00 (with most of them being 10-12). I will try to attach the picture of the night with the 16.
My doctor made an appt for me to come back after 7 nights (this Friday) and I'm guessing he'll go over the data with me then. Right now, my machine is set at the native 4-20 auto pressure with no ramp (cause it's so low or automatic anyway, I guess?)
Paula, a sleep journal is a fantastic idea!
Thank you all for checking in!!
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
The number (10) is the event duration in seconds. Ten seconds is the minimum for an event to be flagged, so that indicates you're not spending long periods in apnea and it's unlikely you will experience significant desaturations.
The obstructive apnea is still too numerous. If you would like to improve that, you need to increase the minimum pressure, using the clinical menu on your machine.
What version of Sleepyhead are you using? The only one that works with the Airsense 10 is the new Testing Version 0.9.8.1 http://sleepfiles.com/SH/index.html?TestingVersions
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
(02-24-2015, 08:42 AM)Sleeprider Wrote: The number (10) is the event duration in seconds. Ten seconds is the minimum for an event to be flagged, so that indicates you're not spending long periods in apnea and it's unlikely you will experience significant desaturations.
The obstructive apnea is still too numerous. If you would like to improve that, you need to increase the minimum pressure, using the clinical menu on your machine.
What version of Sleepyhead are you using? The only one that works with the Airsense 10 is the new Testing Version 0.9.8.1
I had an older version and tried downloading the 64 bit 9.8.1 version this morning. However I was missing a .dll. I downloaded the 32 bit version and it's working now!
Unfortunately, I have no clue what I'm looking at LOL LOL
RE: Central apneas after starting cpap
The 64 bit version needs a couple Microsoft Visual Basic C++ files. I can't tell you why Microsoft did not include them on the installed operating system, but they are very easy to add. Here is a link for the download and installation, it will require a restart. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/...x?id=40784
The 32 bit version will work without those files, but might as well do this right. Good luck!
|
