using cpap during winter months

[cpapnovice]

i use room humidifier during winter months.  i noticed my cpap humidifier is full after use, only if i turn room humidifier off cpap humidifier almost empty after 7 hours of use. Can someone explain why room humidifier makes a difference. Additionally my numbers got a lot worse.  last night i did not use room humidifier, had no mask leaks but very high events.

[GuyScharf]

It all depends on the humidity of the air the CPAP machine is taking in. I.e., humidity of the room air. If the room air is humid, then the machine does not need to add any additional humidity and so does not use water in the tank. If the room air is dry, then it will soak up a lot of water from the tank to achieve the desired humidity.

I wrote that as if the CPAP machine was doing something. It's not. It's just passing the incoming air over the water in the tank. Humid air won't pick up much additional humidity but dry air will.

[cpapnovice]

this makes sense.  another question i have are much worse numbers now as i am using heating system?
i never had AHI numbers so high

[cpapnovice]

i dont understand why my AHI got so much worse now. Can i assume that if i still get number that 1/2 what i have without cpap, i should be happy. And days with AHI <1 just impossible to recreate?

[cpapnovice]

additional picture

[sheepless]

try a soft cervical collar to reduce the oa clusters.

[cpapnovice]

what causes oa cluster to show up? i am not doing anything different

[sheepless]

chin tucking is the usual cause. you aren't likely to be aware of it so something might have changed during sleep. could be simply position, could be too many or too tall bed pillows. for $20usd it's worth trying a collar. or fashion a facsimile from stuff you have around. search the site for the wiki article for more detail.

[GuyScharf]

Sheepless is right -- OA clusters happen when your body position has changed such as to make airway collapse more frequent. Chin tucking is usually what is happening, and a soft cervical collar is the commonly recommended solution. If it happens only when you are sleeping on your back, you could also find a way to avoid sleeping on your back.

[Sleeprider]

Please read these wiki articles. Your pattern of apnea is a classic signature of what we call positional, but is usually chin-tucking. You might just be sleeping in a different position, or using a taller pillow:

Positional Apnea http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...onal_Apnea
Soft cervical collar: http://www.apneaboard.com/wiki/index.php...cal_Collar