[Treatment] Doctor wont raise settings higher... what now?

[stanleydean]

Go ahead and post some SleepyHead data, several members can and will provide valuable input if you do that. You may also want to update the pressure information on your profile to match the pressures that you are currently using just to avoid any confusion. As others suggested, stay with one setting for at least a week before changing. Best wishes for a successful resolution to your dilemma. Keep us posted.

Stan

[sw33ttsunade]

i would have to post a few dozen daily charts because i was literally making changes of 1cm or so at least once a week, min and max pressures, and i personally believe i might need a bilevel or asv. the doc is having me go in for a ct scan so maybe that will help. im really more concerned about how to deal with him.

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i do wonder about that reaction time- i have pressure pulses all night and nothing happens!

[ajack]

without a chart, no one here can advise on whether you need a higher pressure. As to how to deal with your doctor, I would write a very short letter, listing your concerns. It will give him clear, concise info to answer and takes away trying to remember it all on the day.

[Walla Walla]

sw33ttsunade,
Post one chart using sleepyhead with you using 8cm as your minimum pressure. That's the pressure you were complaining about to start. With that one chart it would give a clue to what the problem may be. If you need help learning how to use sleepyhead just ask. Also several of us have helpful links at the bottom of our posts. Of course if you really don't want help or advice than that's fine too.

[sw33ttsunade]

Ok, I will post some of the daily stats here, in order (I hope lol), from the past 6 months. I had noticed that I usually top off around 8 to 8.5 and that was why I had tried it before I saw the doctor, but now it is just not working at only 8. My worst night since I got the machine was at 8 min.

It's on imgur:

https: //imgur.com/a/w1V24

I didn't get them in order, but here is a synopsis- Sept 30th is the WORST day, Aug 20-22 I left it wide open to a max of 20 to see what it would do, Jun 25-26 and July 23 are some of the best days I remember, and my first day on the Machine was March 3rd.

Please note everytime I find a good setting, it's great for a few days if it's a good setting, then I get really bad again and it doesn't come back to where it was when I first made the change.

[Walla Walla]

OK from what I see you did well at 8.5 to 11 with EPR 2. That's where I'd set it up at and leave it for a week before making any more changes. As far as reading your charts I think you can turn off VS2 snores and leave VS1 snore on. It helps reduce the clutter on the event charts.

[sw33ttsunade]

Also, I did the change setting part way through the nigh on Sep 30 because that was the night I woke up with a night terror and a migraine throughout my head and my right arm was throbbing shoulder to fingertips. I decided to put it back to 8.5 because I was really, really scared something bad was gonna happen. I slept much better the rest of the night after I changed it back.

[ajack]

Your numbers aren't too bad. I can understand why your doctor has a wait and see attitude. Everyone has a bad night now and then.
The dreamstations are slow to respond. If you don't want to follow doctor advice and work it out with him, which I would till you have finished with him with all issues. There is nothing urgent to fix. Then I would have your min on 9 and leave max on 12 and see if that helped a bit with OA/H.

I think any noticeable change in how you slept with 8 and 8.5 is coincidental and I would look elsewhere for a cause for those symptoms

[sw33ttsunade]

Thank you all once again for your help, I am a busy teacher lol... and Im sorry if I came across as short... Yah, that's what I told my doctor I will put the Flex to 2 and max to 11 and let's see what happens... I am still concerned that it won't handle everything though, because I still wake up very, very tired and most of the time I have a migraine too.. and dizziness and excessive drowsiness throughout the day after that. I used to keep food in my car because I commute an hour each way and I didn't want to fall asleep, and I am having to do that again... Every commute I want to pull over and take a nap. This is happening even at AHI less than 1.

My numbers are really not representing how I feel. This is the frustrating part- they look great, but all of that stuff I mention up there ^ is still happening. The best I have gotten is a solid night of sleep with no awakenings, but I still get all the symptoms once I wake up and throughout the day. It's really freaking me out lol.

What's happening between 8 and 8.5 is that I get night terrors and 3-4 awakenings (and bathroom trips that go with that) when it's at 8, but if I put it at 8.5 those things disappear.

I am really liking the 8.5-11, I will try that and see if by next Tuesday it has followed suit and become ghasty like the others!

[ajack]

Your apnea is being treated, if you don't start to feel better in a few weeks, Your doctor should look for other causes. Being a stressed busy teacher could be one reason