Sleep Study Results - Basics

[PhotoCrusader]

I have my sleep study report. It includes the summary page and the rest of the report.

Summary:
- Abnormal
- Moderate Snoring
- Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea with an overall AHI rating of 10 per hour with oxygen saturation drop from a 97% baseline to a low of 82%.
- RDI of 32 per hour
- CPI Filtration of 12 cm of water
- All other factors were normal
- It also states that I did not reach REM during filtration. So if CPAP doesn't help another sleep study may be necessary.

I am still hoping to have my system by Christmas. Some good sleep has been a long time coming.

What are the basics that I will need including cleaning supplies etc to start?

[TedVPAP]

I have my sleep study report. It includes the summary page and the rest of the report.

Summary:
- Abnormal
- Moderate Snoring
- Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea with an overall AHI rating of 10 per hour with oxygen saturation drop from a 97% baseline to a low of 82%.
- RDI of 32 per hour
- CPI Filtration of 12 cm of water
- All other factors were normal
- It also states that I did not reach REM during filtration. So if CPAP doesn't help another sleep study may be necessary.

I am still hoping to have my system by Christmas. Some good sleep has been a long time coming.

What are the basics that I will need including cleaning supplies etc to start?

The most important thing is getting an Auto-PAP machine (Phillips Respironics or Resmed). Since your titration did not achieve REM, you may need more pressure than 12 cm-h2o. With an Auto-pap, a range of pressure is set and the machine will adjust as needed. It will also store data on an SD card which you can read into your computer and view it using sleepyhead. See the three links below for more info on SH.

[Julie]

Did it give any stats re your sleeping position - e.g. supine (on your back), prone (on your front) etc? Because with such a low score (10) I'd question whether you really need a machine if you were to e.g. learn to side sleep vs back (back provokes many more apneas than side) if it applies to you. If not, then I'd proceed to get more info with your doctor. Positional apnea is a known situation and many people have been helped by learning to not back-sleep.

[Soothest Sleep]

Cleaning supplies are the easiest part: water, mild dishwashing liquid soap, white vinegar, maybe unscented moist wipes.

If you will be using a humidifier unit as part of your machine, distilled water is recommended for use in it.

You'll want a solid surface next to your bed on which to place the machine. If using a humidifier, it is helpful to position the machine lower than mattress level to allow any condensation in the hose to fall back, instead of resulting in a spray on one's nose . There are other strategies for dealing with such "rainout" , as it's known, but this is one you can plan ahead for.

Welcome to the forum!
Jean

[Sleeprider]

I have my sleep study report. It includes the summary page and the rest of the report.

Summary:
- Abnormal
- Moderate Snoring
- Mild Obstructive Sleep Apnea with an overall AHI rating of 10 per hour with oxygen saturation drop from a 97% baseline to a low of 82%.
- RDI of 32 per hour
- CPI Filtration of 12 cm of water
- All other factors were normal
- It also states that I did not reach REM during filtration. So if CPAP doesn't help another sleep study may be necessary.

I am still hoping to have my system by Christmas. Some good sleep has been a long time coming.

What are the basics that I will need including cleaning supplies etc to start?

If you can find a way to post some images from this report with the personal information removed, it would be helpful. It's hard to say if this is a diagnostic, titration or combined study. The type of events matters; so if the AHI was obstructive, central, hypopnea is important to the answer. if titration was performed, what were the pressures?

I suspect we might be looking at a titration study where you continued to experience a high rate of events (mostly central or hypopnea) and CPAP failed to produce acceptable results. You are being issued a CPAP with the "best guess" of what might work, with the full expectation you will fail to tolerate this therapy, and will need to be titrated on bilevel and bilevel with a backup rate. If so, you will end up with another round of studies, perhaps evaluating adaptive servo ventilation (ASV), and we really need to get you acquainted with the Sleepyhead software so you can understand what is happening, and make this trial as short and tolerable as possible. I'm just guessing, and it would really help to see some pages from this study to help you.

[PhotoCrusader]

Did it give any stats re your sleeping position - e.g. supine (0n your back), prone (on your front) etc? Because with such a low score (10) I'd question whether you really need a machine if you were to e.g. learn to side sleep vs back (back provokes many more apneas than side) if it applies to you. If not, then I'd proceed to get more info with your doctor. Positional apnea is a known situation and many people have been helped by learning to not back-sleep.

Body Position Analysis:
Supine: 83.9 minutes, 97.1% Sleep, 23.8% REM, 45.0 REM AH/POS, 0 Central Apnea, 1 Obst. Apnea, 0 Mixed Apnea, 22 Hypopnea, 16.9 Index
Left: 72.1 minutes 89.5% Sleep, 0 Across the board after that

Apnea/Hypopnea Index (Total Sleep Time):
AHI: 45.0 REM #/h, 3.8 NREM #/h, 9.5 TST #/h
RDI: 63 REM #/h, 25.7 NREM #/h, 30.8 TST #/h

[Pugsy]

Was your total sleep time 30.8 plus 9.5 in minutes and totaling barely over 1/2 of an hour over the entire night?

Looks like your OSA is much worse in REM sleep...fairly common. I have that myself.

[PhotoCrusader]

Was your total sleep time 30.8 plus 9.5 in minutes and totaling barely over 1/2 of an hour over the entire night?

Looks like your OSA is much worse in REM sleep...fairly common. I have that myself.

I slept about 3 hours. Then they woke me up to connect me to CPAP and try masks. I never fell back to sleep. I am normally a side sleeper.

[Mogy]

So she has an AHI of 10, and a RDI of 32.
Can anyone explain what could be the extra 22 events per hour?

[jnk...]

The AHI is defined as the average number of episodes of apnea and hypopnea per hour. The RDI is defined as the average number of respiratory disturbances (obstructive apneas, hypopneas, and respiratory event–related arousals [RERAs]) per hour. -- https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/ ... erential#1

Color added by me.

[PhotoCrusader]

Did it give any stats re your sleeping position - e.g. supine (on your back), prone (on your front) etc? Because with such a low score (10) I'd question whether you really need a machine if you were to e.g. learn to side sleep vs back (back provokes many more apneas than side) if it applies to you. If not, then I'd proceed to get more info with your doctor. Positional apnea is a known situation and many people have been helped by learning to not back-sleep.

I would love to provide a stripped version of the sleep study report, but I cannot find away to include it.

[ChicagoGranny]

I would love to provide a stripped version of the sleep study report, but I cannot find away to include it.

That's smart. Scan it, redact it, then upload it to imgur.com and post the link here.

[PhotoCrusader]

I would love to provide a stripped version of the sleep study report, but I cannot find away to include it.

That's smart. Scan it, redact it, then upload it to imgur.com and post the link here.

You can see my study at https://imgur.com/a/2xc2u.
Has anyone purchased their equipment from 1800CPAP?
They have a certified refurbished Airsense for Her ... for $599. https://www.1800cpap.com/airsense-10-au ... ished.aspx or a new one for $699.https://www.1800cpap.com/airsense-10-au ... med-1.aspx . I would go with the new one as the $100 price difference is the diference between a 90 day warranty and a 2 year warranty. An additional year warranty can be purchased @$100 for 1 year. Bingo. Just found a 10% off coupon. So $699 becomes $620. I also found a used one on ebay for around $250 but it would be coming from China. I will pass on that one.
Has anyone purchased their equipment from get in shape on ecrater.com https://getinshape.ecrater.com/? Found coupons as well but no place to put them in unless it is during paypal portion of invoicing (20-50% off coupons).
I just found an Airsense 10 for Her for $525 (new)

Is heated tubing better or not necessary?
Is the "For Her" really better for woman?
Is the Airsense 10 a better option than the dreamstation?
What else should I be asking?
Where can one find rentals?

(By the way, insurance will not cover and company will not add rider. So it is all out of pocket.)

[ChicagoGranny]

I recommend a gently used AirSense 10 AutoSet or S9 AutoSet from http://www.secondwindcpap.com/Used_CPAP.html

These come with one-year seller's warranty. I bought an S9 from them earlier this year. They are good to work with.

Is the "For Her" really better for woman?

Above 10 cm pressure, the For-Her algorithm is disabled. It's value below 10 cm is doubtful.

Is heated tubing better or not necessary?

What climate do you live in? What is your bedroom temperature in heating and cooling seasons?

Where can one find rentals?

At local DMEs (durable medical equipment suppliers). Usually very high rental prices.

What else should I be asking?

Masks. Here is a generic guide to selecting your first one -

How to Choose an Initial CPAP Mask for Newbies

1. If you had a sleep lab titration and liked the mask that was used, and that mask was recommended by your medical team, then go for it.

2. If not 1., then did your medical team recommend a nasal mask or a full face mask (FFM)? For many people, nasal masks are easier to use assuming they don't mouthbreathe, leak air out the mouth or get air inflating the cheeks while using CPAP during sleep. If you have any of these problems, you may need to use a FFM. (Despite what you may see in the forum, there are many of us that find FFMs are easy to use, do not leak and are not uncomfortable.)

3. Once you have decided whether you need to start with a nasal mask or a FFM mask, begin looking at the mask descriptions and images at https://www.cpap.com/cpap-masks.php . This is the website of this forum's host.

4. For a newbie, you should select a popular mask that gets high rankings from the reviews. Some people in this forum get excellent usage out of masks that are not popular and do not get good reviews. They might rave about the mask to you. But for a newbie, you want to start with a popular mask with high rankings. After you get some experience, you can experiment with masks that pique your fancy but are not so popular.

5. Once you have a category (nasal or FFM) of masks selected, you can go to that category on CPAP dot com's web page and sort by Biggest Sellers and then by Rating. You can check the ratings and read reviews.

6. When you receive your mask and machine, you should watch the mask manufacturer's videos (On CPAP dot com's web page) for instructions on use and adjustments.

7. If you have any problems using the mask, please start a new thread here and ask for help.

8. It's not unusual to try different masks before settling on one that works well for you. If you find yourself buying a fourth or fifth different mask, the problem may be with the way you are trying to use the masks, instead of the mask itself. Please get help from the experienced forum members.

- ChicagoGranny

[ChicagoGranny]

You can see my study at https://imgur.com/a/2xc2u.

Oh, I meant to mention, while you are in the process of getting a machine, you may find significant relief by avoiding backsleeping. Obstructive sleep apnea is often more severe on the back where gravity is directly pulling the tongue and soft palate toward the airway. On the sides or stomach, the effect of gravity is moderated.

During your study, while sleeping on your sides, you got no REM sleep. So, it can't be sure that you will get relief by avoiding backsleeping. (OSA is usually most severe in REM.)

To avoid backsleeping, some pile up pillows against the back and others have worn something like a small backpack.