Brand new - looking for any input/tips

[mike291068]

Hey All! Brand new, well a few days in and I've already learned so much! Who knew there was a whole subculture going on. This place is awesome. Anyway - I've attached my last night's data. Still trying to figure out what it all means. I have been on CPAP for a week and a half and have some good nights some not so good. Last night was not so good - I woke up every two hours. Any input/tips would be great. Mike

[mike291068]

The "somewhat" obvious seems to be to narrow the pressure range (currently 5-20). Hopefully the experts can weigh in. I'm not entirely sure how raising the minimum will affect things. Is the normal step to up in 1cm increments and see how it goes? I should note that I had bad aerophagia on my first go around with nasal pillow mask and have since changed to a full(hybrid) mask which has a made a huge improvement. I feel there is still room for a lot of improvements.

[Okie bipap]

The reason for raising the lower setting is to try to prevent events from happening. Every time you have an event, the pressure goes up in attempt to prevent other events. If nothing happens within a short period of time, the pressure drops again, you have an event, the pressure goes up again, and the cycle repeats all night long. Some people are sensitive to the pressure changes. If you bring the lower pressure up, you can prevent the events from happening and the pressure cycle will smooth out. My pressure seldom varies more than one cm all night long. I have found I sleep better if I don't have the constant pressure changes.

[palerider]

The "somewhat" obvious seems to be to narrow the pressure range

Ooooh how I dislike that "narrow the pressure range" phrase, it completely misses the *point*, which is that the min pressure is absurdly low. The max pressure is *insignificant*..

Raise your min pressure to 8, and let's see how you do. Leave the max pressure alone.

Is the normal step to up in 1cm increments and see how it goes? I should note that I had bad aerophagia on my first go around with nasal...

Normally, you'd look at the pressure curve sor the night and get a good idea what pressures are probably needed, and raise the min to match.

If you're not having aerophagia at your current settings as high as the pressure is going (oner 11).

But if you want to go in smaller steps, the move to 7. You don't even get the full effect of epr until pressure gets to 7, since it can't drop below 4.

[palerider]

The reason for raising the lower setting is to try to prevent events from happening. Every time you have an event, the pressure goes up in attempt to prevent other events. If nothing happens within a short period of time, the pressure drops again, you have an event, the pressure goes up again, and the cycle repeats all night long. Some people are sensitive to the pressure changes. If you bring the lower pressure up, you can prevent the events from happening and the pressure cycle will smooth out. My pressure seldom varies more than one cm all night long. I have found I sleep better if I don't have the constant pressure changes.

What he said is spot on.

[mike291068]

Awesome! Thanks that's what I was planning on doing but now I feel more comfortable. Good thing I'm not waiting until my next scheduled appt with doc in December to review my progress lol. I drank a bit yesterday and last night(I know, I'm a bad boy) but I will post my new graph in a bit. I will say I slept like shit(not unexpected I suppose). Thanks again! Will be back in a bit

[mike291068]

Here's my graph from last night - again I did have a few drinks last night but was done by 8:30. What jumped out at me is the RERA's. Are these accurate? Concerning? This is the first time I have had any recorded RERA's. It looks like the first one happened right after I woke up so I'm guessing just a false reading? The third one also looks like it happened right after I had been awake so same thing? Something to do with the alcohol maybe? I am a newbie so I apologize in advance for any stupid questions. I also upped the minimum to 8 this afternoon and tried to nap. I will post that graph shortly, if I don't get banned

[mike291068]

I upped the minimum to 8 and tried to take a nap this afternoon. Not sure how much, if any, was actual sleep. I do have some stomach discomfort now(9:20 PM), not sure if aerophagia related or something else altogether, I fasted for most of day and just pigged out so not sure if maybe just that. Hopefully not TMI! Thanks again!! This forum has been a godsend!

[mike291068]

Here's my graph from Saturday. It seems aerophagia is going to be an ongoing issue. I lowered it down to 7 last night which seemed to be a little better and will post that graph next. Hopefully I can get some feedback. My sleep has always been very choppy, waking every couple hours and while I have had a few instances of longer sleep the last few nights have been very chopping, waking almost every 2 hours sometimes wide awake where I can't fall back asleep for hours. I am hoping this can helped with the right settings but also fear there may be something more going on. It seems my REM sleep may be the issue and what is arousing me maybe? My fibit backs this up although I know that data can't really be relied upon. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

[mike291068]

Here's my graph from last night. I did have some alcohol during the day(football is to blame!) and again sleep was very choppy awake for a lot of the night. I would/will say more, get into more details but don't want to waste anyone's time(including my own - lol). Kidding, joke Would love to hear from someone. I know you experts are busy and see all the great info you have

[Pugsy]

Watch all the videos here and learn to distinguish awake vs asleep flagged events.

http://freecpapadvice.com/sleepyhead-free-software

Make sure that the events you are trying to reduce with more pressure (since the more pressure is causing aerophagia issues) can really be reduced with more pressure.
It's entirely possible that the poor sleep you are having is causing the flagged events and more pressure isn't going to fix them if you weren't asleep.

You can have false positives in any event category...not just central apnea.
Sometimes the higher AHI isn't the cause of the poor sleep but instead result of the poor sleep.

[mike291068]

Thanks Pugsy! I actually have seen at least some of those videos on youtube(how much I absorbed is another story!) I will review again and try to figure out but appreciate your help. Do you think at this point I should just stay at 7-8 pressure until I figure out what is going on?

[Pugsy]

Since using more pressure causes aerophagia issues then I wouldn't use more pressure until I figured out if what I was trying to kill with more pressure is actually killable with more pressure.

I have had a night with the AHI was 3.5 or so....every single flagged event was related to an arousal or awake breathing. No amount of pressure would have prevented them. I had a bad night in terms of just having a crappy night from pain issues.

[mike291068]

My sleep apnea diagnosis was based on an at home test. At the time the sleep doc said there was an option to do an inlab study. I wanted to get things going so we decided on at home study and go from there. Does it look like an inlab study would be helpful/required to get some answers? As much as I would love to learn, I am not confident on me figuring this out on my own in any reasonable timeframe. Thanks again.

[Pugsy]

So what were the results of the home sleep study in terms of AHI and what your oxygen levels did?