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RE: New To The Forum - ajack - 03-22-2019
I had disturbed sleep when I started. It may take a while before you feel the benefits. I was waking up every 2 hours.
The first thing I noticed was that I didn't get tired in the afternoon and wanting a sleep. I think that was a month or so on cpap.
The main thing is to keep the mask on all night and let your body get use to cpap.
The DS is slow to respond to obstructions and as been said to raise the min a bit at a time, till the OA/H clear
RE: New To The Forum - mountaingiant - 03-23-2019
So here is last nights results. I was pretty restless the first portion. Just couldn't fall asleep. I got up around 12:15 and didn't get back to bed till 1:05. I was dealing with a sick toddler. After that I ended up passing out. I woke up this morning once and took my mask off thinking I was going to get up for good. Ended up putting the mask on and falling asleep again for an hour or two.
Overall I feel pretty good. I didn't change any of the settings. Minimum is still set to 8 and Maximum is 15. I didn't feel like I was in a fog when waking up. Waking up was much quicker than normal. I felt alert and active within a minute of opening my eyes. I felt better this morning, than after a normal night without CPAP.
[attachment=10949]
RE: New To The Forum - mountaingiant - 03-27-2019
Update.
These are the past 4 nights. There have been some minor changes. Around Saturday or Sunday I changed my nasal pillow to a large and it seems to fit much more comfortably. Additionally, last night I swapped out the Dreamwear frame to a large as well. That was a huge difference as I now realize how uncomfortable the medium frame and nasal pillow were.
The major change was the increase in minimum pressure from 8 to 8.5 on 03/25. That night wasn't a good night, so I'm considering it a one off. Essentially because of my schedule I wasn't able to clean my new accessories in time for bed and ended up using an older hose and mask. Same style mask and hose. I had to clean the old hose and old mask as best I could and there was a very odd odor that was keeping me awake.
In regards to AHI, obviously a 0.00 would be the best, but what is a reasonable AHI that should be satisfactory? Also, is there anymore tweaking I should be looking at?
Again, thanks for all the help.
[attachment=11002][attachment=11003][attachment=11004][attachment=11005]
RE: New To The Forum [help with CPAP settings] - DeepBreathing - 03-27-2019
Those results aren't too bad on paper. Anything under 5 is regarded as "treated" but most of us are aiming for a 2 or less. Aiming for a zero is not realistic, as even people without apnea will have the occasional glitch in their breathing. You're still getting quite a few hypopneas, so a further small increase in pressure might help to reduce those. If your sleep is disturbed by outside factors (eg a crying baby) then you're going to be tired the next day, regardless of your apnea hypopnea scores.
As an aside, can you turn off the calendar in your daily charts? That will allow the machine settings to be seen.
<Edited to add:> You mentioned washing your hose and mask. I wouldn't worry too much about that. Just hang your hose in a warm dry place out of direct sunlight. Any condensation will drain out and you'll be good to go. I wash my hose out once a week (if I remember) and others have longer periods. Daily washing is not necessary and takes up your valuable time.
The mask is a different issue if you're using nasal pillows - the most convenient way to clean it is to use baby wipes on a nightly basis and a thorough wash once a week. Have a look around the forum: there are many threads on the best way to keep your equipment clean, and many many different personal regimes.
RE: New To The Forum [help with CPAP settings] - mountaingiant - 03-29-2019
So I went ahead and increased my pressure twice. I went with something that felt comfortable and felt like it "fit" with my breathing. Not sure if that's a good thing. Last night I did take my mask off for some reason and forgot to put it back on until two hours later after falling asleep again. I think its starting to look and feel better.
[attachment=11025][attachment=11026]
RE: New To The Forum [help with CPAP settings] - mountaingiant - 03-31-2019
[attachment=11057]So after increasing the pressure to 9.5, I was able to consistently get my AHI down under 2.0 for three nights. I don't really understand much of the charts, but should I be focusing on anything else? Is there anything else I should be lowering? These two screenshots are my last couple of nights.
[attachment=11057][attachment=11058]
RE: New To The Forum [help with CPAP settings] - Sleeprider - 04-01-2019
Your approach is pretty solid. You increased pressure in an increment of 0.5 cm and have seen a change for the better, particularly in a reduction of Hypopnea and slight decrease for RERA. Give these changes time to settle in, and I would not hesitate to try a pressure of 10.0 and then judge what works best for you from a comfort standpoint. It does appear you are getting very good results, more consistently now.