really confused newbie..

[SKClay]

I've been on the machine for about 3 weeks now. The weird thing is, on my worst nights sleeping, I had my lowest numbers. Trying to link to last nights graph. Felt like I was waking throughout the night. Then woke up at around 3:00 and couldn't go back to sleep.

https:// dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27483625/Sleepyhead/Sleepyhead_all_20161130.png
that's the broken link, won't let me make clickable link. I'll try something else if you're not able to use that.

I think I have include all of the graphs, except snore, which has been zero since starting on the machine.

The past few days my sinuses have been a little stuffy, but haven't prevented me from breathing through my nose.

My AHI when tested was around 7.9, so not huge compared to some numbers I've seen here. On the machine, my average is 3.53 for the past 23 days. Anyway, today I'm especially exhausted, so not thinking very straight.. But was shocked when I saw last nights numbers.. The night before was about the same (also with stuffy sinuses, but slept longer). Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks guys

[PoolQ]

the link works if I delete the space https:// dl just before the "dl"
Think about it. If something is disturbing your sleep and you wake up, then chances are you will not have an apnea. On the nights that you do not wake up you go right into an apnea.

How's that low end 5 working for you,? I have found that I need just over 6 to not feel a little starved for air. Just checking

Maybe the flow limit graph would be nice

[holden4th]

I'm confused too. If your AHI was rated at 7.9 this puts it in the mild range and probably doesn't require CPAP. Was this a home test or at a sleep clinic?

[MitchS]

Hello SKClay. Welcome.

It does get better. My first couple of weeks were miserable. Between fighting with leaks and getting used to sleeping with a mask I got very little sleep. Things slowly got better as I worked out each problem.

I'm confused too. If your AHI was rated at 7.9 this puts it in the mild range and probably doesn't require CPAP. Was this a home test or at a sleep clinic?

If I understand correctly, the threshold for treatment is 5 AHI. I was diagnosed with an AHI of almost 6 and prescribed a cpap machine. The cpap machine has made a great difference in all aspects of my life. I would hate to think I would have to go back to the way things were pre-CPAP.

[robysue]

The first thing that stood out to me in the data you posted was the SD and PC data. You're using a recording pulse oxymeter of some sort. How have you set the thresholds for SD (SpO2 Drop) and PC (Pulse Change) flags? And are the number of these events roughly comparable to a night with a higher AHI?

Next as someone else explained: If you were not getting much real sleep this night, that could easily explain the low AHI. Funny thing about WAKE breathing with an xPAP is that some folks' wake breathing seldom triggers events being scored and other people's wake breathing is erratic enough have lots of events scored.

[Mr. Van Winkle]

What works for me when my nose is stuffy is a saline nasal spray, don't need it very often but works for me when I do need it.
Sometimes when I wake up at 3:00 and can't sleep, I blame it on to much on my mind.
I think it takes a month or so to get use to it all, but everyone is different , stick to it ,it does get better.

[OldVet]

Clay,

I'm a new member here. All of the replies have been from Advisory Members. They are the big guns. Perhaps I can humbly offer some advice. Since I was in your boat a month ago, and have the same machine, perhaps I can help.

My doc stuck me with a straight 15 pressure. That really sucked. I started from scratch. I emailed the owner/moderator of the Apnea Board for the clinician's guide to the Dreamstation. I then studied every setting. I literally read 100+ posts on this Board. Apnea Board is an amazing reference tool.

Because I have your same machine, I know the Dreamstation C-Flex and A-Flex settings don't show in Sleepy head. Given your low pressure settings, I would recommend you leave that setting to off if it isn't already. C-Flex is the exhale relief setting and A-Flex is the inhale/exhale relief setting.

I would suggest that you try setting the minimum pressure to at least 6.5 to 7.5. I think your issue might be the minimum setting. For me, I struggle to get enough pressure to actually breath below 7.5. When you're hangin' out eating Cheetos looking at Internet sites you shouldn't (lol) just wear the mask and figure out a comfortable breathing pressure. I gotta believe it's higher than the 5 minimum you're currently at.

Your best nights on the worst nights sleeping might be because you're awake. Perhaps you can't sleep because you can't get enough airflow.

You're fortunate that your required pressure is relatively low. If you're a mouth breather, you may need to configure a mouth strap to keep it shut at night. I did.

Standard legal mumbo jumbo.... I'm not a doctor, just saying. However, last Tuesday..... I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express!

[SKClay]

Thanks for all the replies. I really wasn't thinking straight yesterday after so little sleep. Makes sense that being awake could keep the numbers low. I'm thinking the minimum might be a bit low as well. Sometimes it almost feels like I'm panting to get enough air. I haven't had a problem with mouth breathing or leaks.
I tried bumping the min pressure up to 5.5 shortly after starting, but the pressure difference was not comfortable. I tried it again last night and it felt ok. I'll keep it here for a bit, then can try bumping it up more.

I've read through a lot of posts here, especially trying to learn more about what the different settings do, but still need better understanding of them.. When I took the machine in for my 2 week check in, he adjusted the flex numbers, but I'm not positive it improved things. So much to learn.

As Holden4th noticed, my test numbers weren't super high. My daytime tiredness was probably a big reason for going with the cpap therapy. I'll can give you guys more background info with my sleep issues when I'm a little more awake and have more time. Suffice it to say, it's relatively new thing, started after a back injury in a car accident 5 years ago.

Anyway, I appreciate all the information and help you all give here. Hoping it all comes together for me..

[richb]

Hi SKClay. Try posting some fine detail from your Sleepyhead data. 5 minute blowups of your flow data will reveal any variability in your flow that isn't scored as an Apnea or Hypopnea.

Also, hi OldVet! Thanks for your input. Keep it up.

Rich

[SKClay]

The first thing that stood out to me in the data you posted was the SD and PC data. You're using a recording pulse oxymeter of some sort. How have you set the thresholds for SD (SpO2 Drop) and PC (Pulse Change) flags? And are the number of these events roughly comparable to a night with a higher AHI?

Not positive what you mean. The Oximetery settings in SleepyHead? It says :
Flag rapid changes in oximetry stats:
SPO2: 3% - 8s
Pulse: 5bpm - 8s
Other oximetry options:
Flag SPO2 Desaturations Below 88%
Flag Pulse Rate Above 99 bpm
Flag Pulse Rate Below 40 bpm
Discard segments under 0s.


Oximeter Information
From the night of the graph:
Stats:
Pulse RateHeart rate in beats per minute (bpm)
W-Avg: 83.25 70.00 83.00 88.00 102.00
SpO2Blood-oxygen saturation percentage (%)
W-Avg: 95.71 92.00 96.00 97.00 99.00

SpO2 Desaturations: 175 (38.89%)
Pulse Change events: 220 (10.54%)
SpO2 Baseline Used: 98.00%

From a couple of nights before the graph:
Pulse RateHeart rate in beats per minute (bpm)
W-Avg: 79.19 57.00 79.00 83.00 108.00
SpO2Blood-oxygen saturation percentage (%)
W-Avg: 95.29 91.00 95.00 96.00 99.00

SpO2 Desaturations: 14 (0.88%)
Pulse Change events: 228 (7.38%)
SpO2 Baseline Used: 96.00%


The SPO2 varies a lot more than the pulse change..