Help, no more than 4 hours of CPAP
Hi!
I’m currently on my third attempt in 5 years to use a CPAP, this time with a nasal pillows mask and mouth tape.
However, I’m struggling to keep the CPAP on for more than 4 hours of sleep.
I’ve also noticed some Central Apnea flags showing up in my reports.
My obstructions are palate, tongue, and epiglottis. Not to mention,
I still feel tired despite having a low AHI.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Greetings from Colombia
09-26-2024, 09:43 AM
(This post was last modified: 09-26-2024, 09:43 AM by PeaceLoveAndPizza.)
RE: Help, no more than 4 hours of CPAP
There is nothing in the chart that would imply a problem. I would not suggest keeping fixed pressure, for now, at least until you have done a few nights of titration and found the pressures that work.
Many stop/start CPAP therapy, for some it is due to improperly configured machines, incorrect mask for them, incorrect sizes of masks, etc. Nothing to be concerned about, but as you were prescribed a CPAP machine for specific reasons, best to keep trying to make it work.
Regarding the 4 hours +/-, do you recall have that problem when sleeping without the CPAP? It may happen without realising it, so if you use a smart watch during sleep it may have more clues. Sleep is a fragile ecosystem with small things causing big impacts on sleep quality.
RE: Help, no more than 4 hours of CPAP
Thanks for your reply.
Yes, If I dont use the cpap I still wake up after 5 hours in avg.
With the cpap I wake up after 3 or 4 hours.
The machine is a cpap resmed 10 autosense. By the time I bough it I did not know the differente between apap-cpap-bilevel.
I have a Vibeat pulsioxymeter and oxygen never drops below 90.
What other info can I extract from the smartwatch ?
RE: Help, no more than 4 hours of CPAP
That is what I expected. We have many sleep issues BC (Before CPAP) that we only notice as a result of using CPAP. Far too often folks blame CPAP therapy for their sleep problem, but when digging deeper we find out the issues were there long before CPAP usage. Your honesty is appreciated.
If you are open to it, I suggest trying the following for a few nights.
Mode APAP
Min pressure 7
Max pressure 12
EPR 3 full-time
No ramp
This will allow the machine to adjust the pressure to find what works for you in that limited test. From there we can tweak in fixed or adjusting mode based on your preferences.
BTW, you bought one of the rockstars of the CPAP machine business. That machine should give you many years of usage and can easily be refurbed to make it last even longer.
