Why is my RR higher asleep than awake?

[ArthurLaurent]

I downloaded SleepyHead last night, and imported data back to 2012 from my two older Respironics machines (Bi_PAP and AVS). I've only had my new AVS machine 5 days, so I'm going to wait a week before importing any data from its card. (I'm obsessive, but not THAT obsessive! Ha Ha Ha)

I noticed my RR during sleep therapy is much higher than in waking life. When awake, I'm down near the lower end of "normal" when resting: mostly 8 to 10 with a scattering of 11's and 12's. On the machine, I swing widely between 15 and 22 r/min. The RR doesn't seem to follow any event in the other graphs.

Does this higher RR have any clinical meaning, or is it just another number?

The past three years, my AHI has declined steadily, from 18.6 weekly average to somewhere between 1.5 and 0 (Yay, zero!). So the machine seems to be working. I just wonder why the RR is higher.

Thanks for any help.

[quiescence at last]

I am not sure RR has any clinical meaning, but would guess that most have heightened RR in periods scattered through sleep while the same condition does not occur while awake. RR is just calculated, and dips when you have a chain of events. RR rises above the broad normal 8 to 14 breaths per minute to somewhere in the 16-24 range in periods where hyperventilation is occurring and I associate most of my episodes to REM sleep, as the minute ventilation stays somewhat stable. In most cases, while the breathing is more rapid, it is also more shallow (tidal volume decreases), and the flow rate waveform looks more like sine wave.

In the below graph, you can see the transition at about 23:06:10.



there are other times when Sleephead overcounts the respirations, but these look a lot different. Still clearly asleep, I get a bump after exhale (possibly a reaction to exhale pressure relief) that is counted as an extremely shallow breath.

Notice what happens to tidal volume in these cases, seen below:



I would not be alarmed at either of these cases.

QAL

[trish6hundred]

Hi ArthurLaurent,
WELCOME! to the forum.!
I don't know the answer to your question but hang in there for more responses to your post and much success to you with your CPAP therapy.

[vsheline]

I've only had my new AVS machine 5 days ...

I noticed my RR during sleep therapy is much higher than in waking life. When awake, I'm down near the lower end of "normal" when resting: mostly 8 to 10 with a scattering of 11's and 12's. On the machine, I swing widely between 15 and 22 r/min. The RR doesn't seem to follow any event in the other graphs.

Hi Arthur, welcome to Apnea Board.

ResMed ASV machines target 15 breaths per minute. They are programmed to slowly drive the Respiration Rate toward 15.

Take care,
--- Vaughn