Seeking restful sleep!

[TennisFan]

Hi,
Thanks to all for this resource! My spouse was asking if I could be less crabby at breakfast (haha) so I started trying to get more/better sleep.

My Apple Watch results over the last year show I get less than half the ideal deep or REM sleep.

My home sleep test results were an AHI of 3.8 and RDI of 16.2 (109 mini-suffocations in 6 hours of sleep). My O2 went down to 89 and my pulse ranged from 45 to 91.

I have been on APAP for about a month and feel no better than before. Same amount of deep/REM/total sleep. The Wellue O2Ring shows at least fewer O2 drops, so that's a plus, but I still wake with a headache.

I have posted last night's OSCAR results. The AHI is low. My pulse rate seems wacky, and my breathing is shallow, slow, and seems far from regular (one zoomed example included).

Open to any suggestions for changes in settings. Or do I just need to be patient? I have a sleep lab study scheduled for March (!).

Possibly relevant issues - I have PTSD and occasional mild asthma, and use azelastine for allergies at night, which maybe helps. I am not obese but about 10 lbs. overweight.

Thank you, thank you.

[Deborah K.]

Mostly your chart looks good, but your pressure is too low. I suggest you change it to 7 to 11. I think your therapy and comfort will both improve.

Best of luck with your new therapy!

[Old Steve]

Welcome to the forum!

I would start by increasing your minimum pressure to 7cm as you need at least 7cm to take full advantage of your EPR that is set to 3.  Also, the higher pressure should stop some of your apneas, if it doesn't take it up a little more.   Try for a few nights and see if you feel any better.  Then post some more charts.

Good luck.

[TennisFan]

Super, thank you, Deborah and OldSteve. I will make that change and see how it goes.
Have a great weekend.

[PeaceLoveAndPizza]

I’ll add you can try dropping your EPR to 2. That may help with the CA’s as well.

[TennisFan]

Much appreciated, PeaceLoveAndPizza (great user name, haha).
I will try that, too.

[TennisFan]

Hi,
I am reporting back with results after making the changes suggested:
* pressure 7 to 11 (later changed to 7 to 10 - no effect)
* EPR 2
Also:
* I changed response to Soft from Standard to see if I could sleep through the pressure increases better
* change to a Philips Dreamwear mask (still nasal pillow but strap fits better).

I would say the pattern is that one of two things happens; either I wake up at 4AM and take the mask off, after which my oxygen drops (so the APAP is doing something?!); or I sleep longer with it on but still get a lot of CAs.

I will post one of each and a zoom of a flow chart with typical patterns.

So I am wondering if I should try more settings, or wait for my sleep study (in 6 months), or something else? Maybe I need a different machine (ASV?).

I am going to try to see an ENT.
I still wake up with a headache and got half an hour of deep sleep last night, which is probably not great!

Thanks for your help!

[TennisFan]

Hi, all-
Losing hope over here to be honest.

I have been to the ENT who found basically nothing to treat (he did offer to prescribe steroid nasal spray for my allergies - last time I tried it, I got nose bleeds).

He was nice as pie but expressed skepticism of the home sleep test (and the apnea diagnosis, and the prescription of a CPAP, and even moreso my DIY nature of titrating settings).

He said there may be some other (non-apnea) issue causing my morning headaches but it was not his area of expertise. No idea how to proceed.

He also said I should probably give up on the CPAP until I get the sleep study done in the lab (only 5 months to wait! haha). It's not like I feel any better, and I usually only last about 3-4 hours with the mask on anyways, so maybe he's right.

Wishing you all restful sleep.

[Deborah K.]

Since you only had 3.8 AHI in your sleep it may be that you don't need a pap machine. My thinking is that if you feel a bit better, you might want to stick with it, but if you don't feel better you could drop it.

Since you must have bought your machine, you could probably sell it if you want to. I know a person on another board who buys and sells machines with very little profit for himself who could probably sell it for you. If you are interested, let me know and I can PM you with the information.