can someone read my oscar chart and tell me if it's good or bad?

[mugen4u]

I had positional apnea, and produced both obstructive and centrals. Often these centrals are "false positives.

i tried positional training before, afaik it did make me feel very slightly tiny bit better but that could be a placebo effect as well. i find sleeping on my back a lot easier, on the side i can hear the air from the cpap device going through my mask and i hate that.

i don't know what to do right now, you guys really seem to know A LOT about sleep apnea but my doctor has over 30 years of experience. However in my country (the netherlands) i feel like research on central sleep apnea is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy  behind compared to countries like the USA.

[Expat31]

I see your options are as follows:-

1. Follow the protocol of the doctor, continuing on as now and hopefully the problem will resolve itself, or she will be able to provide "some kind of medication that helps me breathe and controls my breathing or something..?"

 2. Acquire yourself a suitable BiPAP. I am not a BiPAP user and therefore cannot offer any advice. All I know is that there are several types of machine. (Copied from wiki)

     -Aircurve 10 VAuto. (BiPAP) Bi-Level machines.
     -AirCurve 10 S - Fixed bilevel therapy device (10 S is static only).
     -AirCurve 10 V - Auto-adjusting bilevel therapy device
     -AirCurve 10 CS PaceWave -Adaptive servo-ventilator ASV device used to treat CAs.
       (The Aircurve S and Vauto sold in the EU seem to lack trigger sensitivity settings.
      
   On the 21st of December, SarcasticDave suggested a "VAuto style bilevel, using Trigger High or Very        High, or the VAuto failing to give good therapy, the ASV to treat CA."

   I have no idea how you would buy one in Europe without a doctor's prescription. Someone else in the forum needs to help you out on this.

3. "Sedentary lifestyle for 10+ years causes these symptoms". Is this a comment of the doctor's? What do you think she meant by this? Is your BMI (Body Mass Index) in the normal range of 20-25?

That's all I can think of. I am not a doctor, so the above is what I think are possibilities.

[mugen4u]

Number 3: no that was my comment, that's the only reason i could think of in case sleep apnea is not the cause of my issues. i have to buy the device in the USA and have it ship over to the netherlands, not sure how i can do that.

i forgot to put the SD card back in the device so i have no data. i couldnt fall asleep so i took a sleeping pill my doctor prescribed me and slept for about 6.5 hours with the device.

OSA: AHI 71
CSA: AHI 4.9

the OSA is mainly caused by the sleeping pill for sure, however CSA is again under 5

[mugen4u]

it was my longest sleep with the device so far (as far as i know) without sleeping meds, almost 5 hours. I did take 3mg of melatonin to see if it helps me sleep faster, and it did.
what bothers me is that my CSA was almost AHI 7 but this does not seem to be caused by the melatonin i took, or so people claim.

at 0:00 midnight my AHI at that moment sky rocket to 18 but luckely went down pretty fast. It was never this high before during an event.

should i call my doctor and tell her there is no point in continueing this way because the chart doesn't show any improvement even tho my CSA events are lower than the sleep study? 

do you guys see any changes in patterns or other stuff compared to the other nights or no changes whatsoever?

[SarcasticDave94]

Yes, I would report to the doctor, indicating "it's not really helping you sleep better". This phrase goes by how you feel more than the numbers reported.

[mugen4u]

so i should just ignore the AHI from now on and just see how i feel during the day? yeah i will inform my doctor but going to wait it out and try to use the device the whole week every night without any breaks.

[SarcasticDave94]

At least for me, there was a connection with feeling bad for the therapy and what numbers OSCAR charts will reveal.

As to the question, I meant you need to convey feeling bad or feeling bad despite the numbers. This doesn't mean ignoring these, more like an emphasis or highlight the feel instead.

[Expat31]

Hi,

I think you are right to take some melatonin. It will help in the short term which is an important positive and giving you some respite.

I see you are taking 3mg. I have seen in chemists they sell slow release melatonin, which is meant to last the whole night,  I don't know if it is any good. Worth a try.

However melatonin does tend to lose effectiveness over time. To try to prelong the positive effect, maybe take it just from time to time.

The body does produce it's own melatonin naturally, but I don't know if this additional melatonin can mess with this production.

From what I have read, no one really knows, as no conclusive research carried out.

Concerning your graphs, I don't see any changes or trends from before. You had  32 central events, at a (rough) average duration of about between 15 or 17 seconds.

[mugen4u]

Hi,

I find it weird that i feel so very much more tired after starting melatonin and my AHI last night was 8 of which 7 central, i slept about 4 hours.
This is the fourth night my AHI is above 5 since i started melatonin.

you guys sure melatonin doesnt affect sleep apnea?

i did however started using a different mask since this year, its also a nasal pillow but it has 2 plugs that are a bit in my nose. i wanted this because it barely gives any leaks.
before this i also had a nasal mask but that was nothing more than a piece of silicone with 2 holes in it that rests gently on my nose holes.

[Expat31]

Hi,

To reply to your question, in life, no-one can be completely 100% sure of anything. 

In addition, we are not medical professionals, just a bunch of people trying to help out in the best way we can.

However, whenever you take a substance that can effect the brain, you can never know in advance the potential impact.

Several years ago, at the beginning of my therapy, when things were really tough,  I took melatonin, and had very mixed results also. Sometimes great, sometimes terrible, nothing was ever consistant.

It does depends on each person. I found that I was alway feeling drowsy as a side effect.

You can do some research yourself on melatonin, lots of doctors post very informative YouTube videos. 

It is important to understand, that for each reaction, there is usually an equal and opposite reaction of some kind. Consequences

Remember, melatonin does not treat the root cause. It's a sort of temporary patch, that's all.

For you, maybe best to stop it, but only you are can decide. 

Tell your doctor what is happening.