theredheadsaid (Therapy Thread)

[theredheadsaid]

Hi folks!  So I'm using a Dreamwear nasal mask, and sleeping mostly through the night (yay!) I have noticed that I seem to have more centrals with this mask, and looking at my OSCAR data, they seem to correlate with some mask pressure rumblings. Can anyone explain if this is a thing? I've attached two screenshots, one of my night of sleep, and one zoomed in on a central, and mask pressure reading. Thanks in advance!
             

[Sleeprider]

Mask pressure is the amount of pressure sensed by your Airsense 10 at the internal pressure sensor. It closely follows the respiratory flow rate.  In the image below, a CA event is recorded when you pause breathing for approximately 10-seconds. In the respiratory flow rate we see a flow-limited breath at 04:10:25 followed by a large inhale or sigh, followed by an extended exhale lasting to approximately 04:10:35.  At this time your pressures are approximately 10.2/8.2 (IPAP/EPAP).  The mask pressure somewhat loses track of your breathing and provides the IPAP pressure with a sharp spike above the actual machine pressure at the peak of your sigh. It then detects the end of exhale as two inspiratory breaths and attempts to provide IPAP pressure, however you are now in a breath pause.  At the end of that second peak the machine begins its Forced Oscillation Technique (FOT) which is described here https://document.resmed.com/en-ap/docume...ac_eng.pdf

Although this is scored as a central apnea, it appear to be related to a sleep disturbance, most likely physical movement with a slight arousal, so it is a non-event in reality.  This is very common and you will see other weirdness if you start examining respiratory flow rates.

[theredheadsaid]

thanks for the analysis! 
I'm still getting used to the nasal, and getting used to the noises it makes (if one side of the mask frame gets blocked, and I hear the WHOOSHING), or if I (a side sleeper) bump the mask so there's a little air escape. Or sometimes it's so easy to breathe I'll "test" the mask and move my tongue to see if the seal is still there. I guess I was wondering if any of those things would be the cause of the "central" shown here. Each time those things happen I do wake up a little bit, so your'e saying maybe it's my waking up a little bit that is the "mini-arousal?"

[Sleeprider]

Arousals for any reason can cause respiratory irregularities. I don't see anything to be concerned about, but it is interesting to see the data in this detail.

[theredheadsaid]

So I woke up this morning to find I'd pulled off my mask. I put it back on and tried to go back to sleep, and thought I did (for an hour or so). I woke up with a headache (my sign that I got crap sleep) and looked at my data. There a giant block of Central Apneas, like one every third breath. What could cause this? Maybe I wasn't really asleep? no mask leads or anything during this time. 
           

[Dormeo]

It's quite possible you weren't really asleep. It's also possible you were having some "transitional" CAs, which show up sometimes when the neurochemical systems governing waking and sleeping breathing hand off to one another.

Either way, you were probably breathing fairly deeply, which washed out CO2 and delayed your impulse to breathe, and then breathed deeply again in the wake of the pause. This can cycle over and over until your breathing stabilizes. You can zoom in on the flow rate to see whether that was what happened.

I wouldn't worry about this if it is a one-off thing.

[theredheadsaid]

       
from about 6:12 - 6:34 there's super deep breathing, 
I'm wondering if the machine went berserk or something. it's like on every 5th breath

[clownbell]

The machine does not "cause" centrals to happen. It merely reports what your body did. In my personal case, I have similar cases once in a while although not as many centrals as you. If this has not happened before, I wouldn't waste any time on it.

One other thing. The experts, of which I am not one, would appreciate it if you keep all your queries in one thread. That avoids them wasting time looking for your other threads to get a handle on your history. Thanks.

[theredheadsaid]

so, if I have another question about my sleep data, I'm, supposed to go back to one of my other threads and add that query?
If that is the case, perhaps there should be some kind of warning, like "Set up a thread with your name on it, and ask your questions there so there is a history"

[Jeff8356]

There is a sticky in the main forum (up top): http://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Thread-...f-together

It helps when all your therapy info is in one place.  Others will not need to go thru a bunch of other threads to find your info, it makes things easier on those that offer advice.