+- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums)
+-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area)
+--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum)
+--- Thread: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! (/Thread-Long-time-CPAP-user-first-time-here-Any-insight-is-appreciated)
Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - TwoFistedWonderBrain - 01-10-2024
Greetings all. Please forgive a bit of backstory. I would like to think folks who have been at this a while will be able to relate, although I wish none of this needed to be true. I will try to keep it to the most relevant bits. My journey with CPAP started back in 2015, although simply getting diagnosed with sleep apnea at the time was an absolute chore. I do not remember what the take home study reflected, but not enough for the doctor at the time to declare anything. My employer at the time had partnered with Fusion Health and was sponsoring a free CPAP and regular supplies for all employees, as long as I could get a diagnosis. I pushed hard to get an in-clinic study approved, and pushed even harder to get a diagnosis when they told me that I was just borderline. They sent me a Resmed AirSense 10 (or was it 9? No bother.), and I settled in to it as best I could with my stressful job and everything else going on.
In 2018, I moved to a new city and found a new sleep specialist (pulmonology). Not once did I feel as if I were improving with CPAP. I just knew I could not sleep without it. This doctor would tell me my numbers were good, but I would tell him I am not feeling any better. This led to me pushing for another in-clinic sleep study, because with all the electrodes and sensors and data, there /should/ be some signal in all that noise. The AHI number came back good/under control. That doctor told me as much, and told me that I was feeling better. I laid into him with my voice and stopped shy of accusing him of gaslighting. I regret not going that far. Small regret in the grand scheme. That was the last time I saw that doctor. While I laid into him, I demanded him give me some recommendations for area dentists who do oral appliances, or really anyone who does any proven alternative therapies.
In my desperation, I found a nearby dentist who set me up with a ProSomnus appliance, although that was not covered under insurance and was not an easy pill to swallow. That was fairly decent, but my quality of sleep was never above that of CPAP. The main difference was the oral appliance was much easier to tolerate at the time than CPAP. Then COVID swept through, and I went back to that dentist almost never because not one person was wearing a mask. Until about 1-2 years ago, the appliance was okay, until it started to break down, which was not entirely unexpected.
Since I did not have any intention of going back to that dentist, I asked my GP for a new recommendation, which led me to my current ENT. He's... alright, but the kind of doctor where you really need to have a plan when you meet or else he's just rushing off to the next appointment. His PA is a bit better in that regard. At least she seems to actively listen. It is through her that I have my current CPAP. It is a 3B Luna, so not OSCAR-compatible. For the time being, I am just glad that it is reasonably tolerable, but this is not sustainable. I still do wake quite a bit, but usually just a gradual wake and an urge to roll over. Since I cannot use OSCAR, I got an Emay brand pulse oximeter so I can maybe generate some actionable data to present to the PA. She's leaned on AHI numbers a bit, but seems somewhat open to exploring when I tell her that CPAP is only just helping, and cannot be the whole picture. She also suggested to lose weight, which I strongly countered that I have mostly maintained the same weight for years, and even just a few years ago I was maxing out two double-stacks on cable pulls at the gym... while all of this was going on. Not that I necessarily recommend that, but I was fired up.
So, this is where I ask for help and advice. I do not know quite how to read the data from the pulse oximeter, but the app can produce a really nice summary, as well as dump the data to .csv. One thing I've noticed in the summary is that my SpO2 < 94% for each night usually runs between 10-15%. This seems... maybe not good. It has only been quite recently that I learned of UARS, and thought of OSA as part of the 'spectrum' of sleep disordered breathing. Big thanks here to TheLankyLefty27, VikVeerENTSurgeon, and CPAP friend, all on YouTube.
Any help, advice, etc. is greatly appreciated. Please ask any questions. In time, I would like to also help others on here, as well. Thank you!
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - Crimson Nape - 01-10-2024
Hi TwoFistedWonderBrain! -
While your CPAP is not compatible with OSCAR at this time, software is available to view your sleep data. It is located in the Private Area (AB members only) / Private Files and Links.
Here is a shortcut:
BMC 3B RESmart Software for Windows Only + other software
I hope this may help!
- Red
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - apapnoob - 01-11-2024
To read the sleep data, use the paplink software, it is able to display the most data points. Take out the SD card under the humidifier chamber, plug into your pc, it will show up a a drive. Run paplink software, click the download data button, browse to the SD card drive. Follow the instructions to load the data. Click on 1 or more days on the left, and click detail chart to see the charts.
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - TwoFistedWonderBrain - 02-05-2024
I just realized my reply last month did not send, but I'm not going to bother trying to remember what was in it.
Thank you both for the info! I am able to see /some/ detail to my data with the RESmart app, but perhaps not the most important for some reason. For whatever reason, flow and leak rates are not visible. Leak /should/ be near perfect, especially since switching to the Dreamwear with nasal pillows. Flow rate would be great to see the shape of my breaths. That being said, I found out how trivial it is to change my CPAP settings in the app, as well as how to easily access the clinical settings directly on the machine. The provider said that absolutely needed a prescription and they could not make changes any other way, but they also said that I would need to bring them the machine to make those changes, so blah blah blah. I switched to CPAP from APAP and turned off EPR.
While flow rate is not visible, I could see the P95 values for each night. For the first night after that, I set the pressure to the most common P95, or 8cmH2O. Eventually, I boosted that all the way up to 12cmH2O, with a 10 minute ramp from 8cmH2O, since years ago my pressure was about that high and I am confident my leak rate is under control. That's actually pretty comfortable and tolerable. Flow rate visibility would certainly help me adjust, though.
So, that has led me to consider purchasing a CPAP at full price (not sure which, but OSCAR compatibility is a must). This could be a thread unto itself, but I am not sure the pitfalls of buying a CPAP at full price. At least with the rental I have, there is some level of security knowing that I can get a replacement machine from a nearby location. That led me to check how long I have left on my rental term with my provider, and they tell me I am about halfway through a 10 month term.... totaling over $1000. I told them this is a $600 machine, and they have it listed at $1200. Something tells me I do not have any recourse there, but I at least feel compelled to mention this to my doctor. There are probably at least two threads here, but I wanted to just reply to this one first.
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - apapnoob - 02-05-2024
I believe the paplink software shows flow rate. What is missing from the Luna g3 is the Flow Limit data, it does not have a sensor for that. This is the reason I switched from Luna to Resmed 10 autoset, which has flow limit and snoring and a long list or other data points. I saw the Resmed 10 autoset card to cloud is about $400 on sale now, which you may want to consider.
I have some interesting observations
switching from Luna g3 to Resmed does cause some additional getting used to, but overall is probably worth it. I will probably talk about if people are interested.
Kevin
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - TwoFistedWonderBrain - 02-06-2024
(02-05-2024, 01:52 PM)apapnoob Wrote: I believe the paplink software shows flow rate. What is missing from the Luna g3 is the Flow Limit data, it does not have a sensor for that. This is the reason I switched from Luna to Resmed 10 autoset, which has flow limit and snoring and a long list or other data points. I saw the Resmed 10 autoset card to cloud is about $400 on sale now, which you may want to consider.
I have some interesting observations
switching from Luna g3 to Resmed does cause some additional getting used to, but overall is probably worth it. I will probably talk about if people are interested.
Kevin
Hm... initially I tried paplink, but I wonder if my machine is missing a sticker or something... There is no QR code on the device exterior, nor anything that says iCode. That being said, I'll load the card back into RESmart and see if I can figure out why there is no flow rate data.
Do you have a link for that sale? I've only checked DME Link Removed Supplier #38 since my most recent mask purchases were through there.
-----
Moderator Action: DME Link Removed
Moderator Action: DME Link Removed
To maintain our status as an educational organization, links to DME-owned or DME-operated websites and links to pages that sell prescription-required items are prohibited in forum posts. This is stated in the Apnea Board Rules.
-----
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - apapnoob - 02-06-2024
Links are not allowed in the forum. If you just Google it, you find it for low $300 now.
RE: Long time CPAP user, first time here. Any insight is appreciated! - TwoFistedWonderBrain - 02-06-2024
(02-06-2024, 12:08 PM)apapnoob Wrote: Links are not allowed in the forum. If you just Google it, you find it for low $300 now.
No worries, still kinda new here. I found one for $450, which I may go for if I don't find anything better. OSCAR seems to have full support, too. I /think/ I had the 10 CPAP/non-Autoset (with cell modem) years back when I first started.