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+--- Thread: 2nd go around as a hose head (/Thread-2nd-go-around-as-a-hose-head)
2nd go around as a hose head - jhurlbut - 06-04-2014
Hi all,
Thanks for the great forum and information! I just wanted to put a post out there mostly to introduce myself, give you my story and ask a brief question.
Here's my brief question so you don't have to read through my whole story and introduction if you don't want to: I've had my S9 Autoset for two nights now. First night I used it 5.4 hours, last night (just got up) was 7.1 hours. Both nights my AHI was 0.0. In comparison on my sleep study it was 46. My question is this: Can Cpap therapy REALLY be that effective that quickly? Or is my machine just not detecting my events properly?
Here's my background and story:
Back in 2009 I weighed 370ish pounds. My wife suspected I had sleep apnea and in talking to a friend who did he said that getting his sleep study done and getting his machine was a life changing event and that he never knew what a good nights sleep was until he had it. So I had my doctor refer me for a sleep study. That study revealed that on average I was having 60 events per hour. I was prescribed a BiPap machine. I don't remember the pressure settings from that machine, I just know that for the four or five months I actually used it, I never felt worse in my life. So I just stopped using it. I tried having the pressure reduced but I just never got used to it I think. Now I never downloaded my data, didn't know about this forum, and was really blind to the whole thing.
During that time, I also had weight loss surgery. I had a Lap Band installed on 08/25/2009, which was about the time I stopped using my BiPap. Subsequently my weight began to fall and I got down to a low of 276. I've been hovering between 295-305 for the better part of four years now and am currently on a big push to lose about another 70 lbs. down to about 290 as of yesterday.
Earlier this year, I started the process of obtaining my private pilots license. I made it through ground school and passed my written exam. I started my flight training and went in for my class 3 medical certificate. Upon finding out I had a Lap Band, my doc deferred my medical to the FAA. They sent me a letter stating they needed my medical records for my lap band and a letter from my treating physician as to my current status and if there have been any complications. There haven't. So off went 65 pages of medical records and letters.
A week later a letter comes back from the FAA saying that they need letters regarding a few things in my medical records, most of which are easily explained, but they wanted more details about my sleep apnea, what I was doing for treatment, and a download of data from the machine I was using ideally. Crap! I hadn't used my machine in nearly 5 years because I didn't feel like I needed to. So I had my doc refer me to ANOTHER sleep study, which I did on May 23rd. I still have severe OSA and I've been rushing everything to get my new machine so I have a good chunk of data to send to the FAA later this month. I got my new machine Monday and have had two nights with an AHI of 0.0 both nights.
I used this forum as well as other resources to determine which machine I thought I wanted, because I really have to show I'm using the machine this time. I settled on the ResMed S9 Autoset, which I was able to get.
I will say, my new ResMed S9 Autoset is much improved over my old Respironics BiPap machine. I used the machine 5.4 hours Monday night and 7.1 hours last night. I don't ever remember using my BiPap more than 5 hours a night. I'm still getting used to being a hose head again, but it seems as though the transition this time will be much smoother.
If you want to see more about my flying adventures and my ordeal with the FAA over obtaining my 3rd class medical, you can go to the blog at: guy trying to fly dot com. (New member won't let me out the link in)
With any luck, later this year I will have my private pilots license, will be a healthy ish 220 pounds and be getting a good 7-8 hours of restful sleep a night!!!
Thanks for the awesome forum and all the helpful advice.
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - ImaSurvivor - 06-04-2014
Welcome to the forum jhurlbut.
You have an excellent machine. It is good you did your research and determined what machine you wanted and got it. It would be my opinion that 0.0 AHI is unlikely. There are many on the forum that rarely get 0.0 ... if ever. I would suggest unplugging your machine and plugging it back in again to hopefully reset it and clear any hangups it may have. Your hours of usage for your first two nights are great for a newbie. I struggled to get 4 hours in that I was required to do for compliance.
Good luck with your therapy and getting your pilot's license.
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - ShelaghDB - 06-04-2014
I agree. It couldn't be zero like that.
Good Luck with your pilots license as well.
Look into it closely.
I've been reading quite a bit lately about the trucking industry and how angry many are. Whether they have a right to be angry or not i wouldn't know but suffice it to say, many are and they are pretty upset at being forced each and every year to take sleep tests, etc.
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - Terry - 06-04-2014
(06-04-2014, 10:33 AM)ShelaghDB Wrote: I agree. It couldn't be zero like that.
It's probably possible, but not likely. Mine usually runs around 0.5, but I've never seen 0.0.
(06-04-2014, 10:33 AM)ShelaghDB Wrote: I've been reading quite a bit lately about the trucking industry and how angry many are. Whether they have a right to be angry or not i wouldn't know but suffice it to say, many are and they are pretty upset at being forced each and every year to take sleep tests, etc.
It wouldn't break my heart if at least at-home sleep tests were done for anybody with a risk of apnea. I could have gotten back the 2 hours I spent every morning trying to get my s*** together for the last 30 years.
The really sad part is that after talking to friends and seeing all the coffee and "5 hour energy" ads, I thought everybody felt like crap in the morning. It wasn't until some real prodding by my wife that I tried a used CPAP machine and discovered that it was possible to wake up and feel awesome. Too bad it took so long.
Terry
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - SuperSleeper - 06-04-2014
Howdy jhurlbut, welcome to Apnea Board!
Just wanted to encourage you in your endeavors to get your private pilot's license. That must be a royal pain dealing with the medical requirements. I never got my licence, but I soloed when I was younger in a Cessna 172. My dad was an instrument instructor at the time at two of the local airports here. I'll tell you, I'm very glad that I at least soloed, but I wished that I had gone all the way to the getting that license. Keep at it and don't let your sleep apnea stand in the way - keep fighting to get that medical cert.
May you have little to no crosswinds upon landing.
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - jhurlbut - 06-04-2014
Thanks everyone!
After reading a few posts that say the S9 occasionally reports zero and needs a reboot, I unplugged it before I left today. I'll plug it back in when I get home tonight & see what happens in the morning.
Also I'm going to download last nights data into Sleepyhead and see what I see there. Any suggestions as to which chart(s) to look at to determine events?
Thanks!!
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - diamaunt - 06-04-2014
(06-04-2014, 12:01 PM)jhurlbut Wrote: Thanks everyone!
After reading a few posts that say the S9 occasionally reports zero and needs a reboot, I unplugged it before I left today. I'll plug it back in when I get home tonight & see what happens in the morning.
Also I'm going to download last nights data into Sleepyhead and see what I see there. Any suggestions as to which chart(s) to look at to determine events?
Thanks!!
look at the waveform chart, if you don't see any points where you stop breathing, you don't have any apneas, and the machine is right.... if you see apneas, or hyponeas, (where your breathing is reduced for a period) then the machine is missing them for some reason.
here's a site that has examples of waveforms, and some description: http://www.osahelp.com/
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - jhurlbut - 06-04-2014
(06-04-2014, 01:00 PM)diamaunt Wrote: look at the waveform chart, if you don't see any points where you stop breathing, you don't have any apneas, and the machine is right.... if you see apneas, or hyponeas, (where your breathing is reduced for a period) then the machine is missing them for some reason.
Thank you diamaunt!!
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - jhurlbut - 06-04-2014
OK if you look at this snapshot of my graphs, can someone tell me is this an "Event?" I think actually this is when my wife's alarm went off this morning, or really close to it? But 99% of my graph for the whole 7.1 Hours looks like what's to the left and right of this flat spot on the graph. As far as I can tell, pretty normal?
See Attached File.
Thanks in advance for the interpretation.
RE: 2nd go around as a hose head - jhurlbut - 06-04-2014
OK well apparently I don't have enough posts to put an image up of my graphs.