What caused you to seek medical help,....

[Lucyhere]

shallow breathing is normal when you are asleep

Of course it is not! Does that even sound right to you? Oh, never mind.

[Pugsy]

Yea,...I thought a hypopnea was overly shallow breathing, or a very low respiration rate?

Actually a hyponea is more like a baby OA that hasn't grown up to be a full grown obstructive apnea.
Has nothing to do with shallow breathing or not.

There are certain criteria that need to be met to earn a flag....they all have to last at least 10 seconds.

Obstructive apneas have the additional criteria of at least an 80% reduction in air flow caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.
Hyponeas are reductions in the air flow of at least 40% (50%...depends on which brands criteria) to the 79%...caused by the same narrowing of the airway from the airway tissues collapsing.
Has nothing to do with big breaths or shallow breaths..

Now someone could maybe be a shallow breather in conjunction with a hyponea but it isn't the shallow breathing that causes the hyponea flag....it's the reduction in air flow from the obstruction or partial obstruction caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.

Hyponeas are very important and not to be pooh poohed off as "only a hyponea". They can be just as damaging to the body and to the sleep quality as a full grown OA. That's how come they are part of the AHI and the diagnosis criteria and why the auto adjusting algorithm take them into account when they are deciding how to respond what is going on.

Other than the flag name there really isn't all that much difference between an OA flag of 25 seconds with a reduction of 81% than one with a 78% reduction lasting 25 seconds and getting a hyponea flag.

[Mittens]

I'd suspected issues and asked about a sleep study, but it was initially deferred in favor of "other priorities." This summer I went in for a routine visit and mentioned extreme fatigue, asking about how to handle it. I figured some meds were possibly interacting since there had been a change in a couple of prescriptions earlier this year, and I was struggling with daytime fatigue as well as interrupted sleep at night. When I shared my Fitbit sleep record to support my claim of fatigue and struggle with getting enough rest, I was rather clearly told I was being referred for a sleep study! (Granted, Fitbit claimed that in seven to eight hours of rest, I was getting 3.5 to 4.5 hours "sleep" on average, and the rest was either restless or awake, but maybe meds were interacting with one another, right?) Well, here I am -- in my first month with a mask, and awaiting the first follow-up visit with my doc.

[Lucyhere]

I would imagine that my symptoms and diagnosis is not that out of the ordinary, but I was just curious how some of you folks came to know you had this 'wonderful' condition?

I was waking up with bad headaches 4-5 mornings a week. Doctor thought maybe sleep apnea and she was right. Unfortunately, didn't help my headaches though.

[Pugsy]

My husband said I snored so bad it would wake the dead and he witnessed my stopping breathing many times during the night.
I was already having massive sore throats from the snoring and the killer headaches from lack of oxygen and having to pee just about every hour on the hour all night long.
So it wasn't a big surprise to me. I did put it off for a while though. Just didn't want to face it mainly from a cost perspective. I thought the machines were a lot more expensive than they were.

[Mark55]

Yea,...I thought a hypopnea was overly shallow breathing, or a very low respiration rate?

Actually a hyponea is more like a baby OA that hasn't grown up to be a full grown obstructive apnea.
Has nothing to do with shallow breathing or not.

There are certain criteria that need to be met to earn a flag....they all have to last at least 10 seconds.

Obstructive apneas have the additional criteria of at least an 80% reduction in air flow caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.
Hyponeas are reductions in the air flow of at least 40% (50%...depends on which brands criteria) to the 79%...caused by the same narrowing of the airway from the airway tissues collapsing.
Has nothing to do with big breaths or shallow breaths..

Now someone could maybe be a shallow breather in conjunction with a hyponea but it isn't the shallow breathing that causes the hyponea flag....it's the reduction in air flow from the obstruction or partial obstruction caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.

Hyponeas are very important and not to be pooh poohed off as "only a hyponea". They can be just as damaging to the body and to the sleep quality as a full grown OA. That's how come they are part of the AHI and the diagnosis criteria and why the auto adjusting algorithm take them into account when they are deciding how to respond what is going on.

Other than the flag name there really isn't all that much difference between an OA flag of 25 seconds with a reduction of 81% than one with a 78% reduction lasting 25 seconds and getting a hyponea flag.

Got it,....thanks for correcting my understanding of that word.

[TASmart]

Yea,...I thought a hypopnea was overly shallow breathing, or a very low respiration rate?

Actually a hyponea is more like a baby OA that hasn't grown up to be a full grown obstructive apnea.
Has nothing to do with shallow breathing or not.

There are certain criteria that need to be met to earn a flag....they all have to last at least 10 seconds.

Obstructive apneas have the additional criteria of at least an 80% reduction in air flow caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.
Hyponeas are reductions in the air flow of at least 40% (50%...depends on which brands criteria) to the 79%...caused by the same narrowing of the airway from the airway tissues collapsing.
Has nothing to do with big breaths or shallow breaths..

Now someone could maybe be a shallow breather in conjunction with a hyponea but it isn't the shallow breathing that causes the hyponea flag....it's the reduction in air flow from the obstruction or partial obstruction caused by the airway tissues collapsing and narrowing the airway.

Hyponeas are very important and not to be pooh poohed off as "only a hyponea". They can be just as damaging to the body and to the sleep quality as a full grown OA. That's how come they are part of the AHI and the diagnosis criteria and why the auto adjusting algorithm take them into account when they are deciding how to respond what is going on.

Other than the flag name there really isn't all that much difference between an OA flag of 25 seconds with a reduction of 81% than one with a 78% reduction lasting 25 seconds and getting a hyponea flag.

=======

how ironic after 3 people say i am FOS and you verify that shallow breathing is normal

hypops are only bad when the lower the spo2
low spo2 kills cells
it also increases the heart rate and cause cause death

they are annoying when they cause arousals or RERAs and can disturb sleep
but that wont damage your health if you sleep longer to make up for it

This is incorrect. Hypopneas are considered part of the AHI because they can and do negatively impact health. You cannot just sleep longer to overcome the effects of hypopnea or RERA because you are continually aroused. You cannot get into deep restorative sleep when you are constantly arroused. This is why RERA are of concern for some Doctors. They believe that just the slight rousing from non-scorable events is damaging to the quality of life and by causing some level of arousal your response to respiratory-related arousals is sufficient to cause some of the issues such as increased blood pressure, and daytime sleepiness.

[InnerGlow]

I have been severely tired and fatigued for literally two decades. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia 17 years ago and with rheumatoid arthritis 11 years ago (both of which can cause fatigue). Somewhere around 14-15 years ago I had a sleep study, and while it showed slight sleep apnea (don't remember the AHI), the doctor felt the primary problems were pain and allergies. Over the years since, I've accumulated quite a collection of medications, many of which can make you drowsy. However in the past 2-3 years, I've started sleeping longer and longer, to the point where if nothing wakes me, I can easily sleep 12-14 hours at a time. So I went for another sleep study, during which I barely slept and didn't get to REM sleep, but it showed an AHI of 25 and I began CPAP therapy just over a month ago.

[Pugsy]

how ironic after 3 people say i am FOS and you verify that shallow breathing is normal

Read again and try to understand what I wrote.
No where did I say anything about shallow breathing being normal....no where...and I sure as hell didn't verify what you said.

hypops are only bad when the lower the spo2

No, this is not true. They are bad for the same reasons that obstructive apneas and central apneas are bad and oxygen levels may or may not be part of it. Ever wonder why they are part of the AHI in a diagnosis??? Maybe it's because they are sort of important despite what you think.

[zonker]

as far as i knew, i wasn't seeking help for my sleep. my original complaint was that my nose would stop up during sleep. if i laid on my left side, the left nostril would plug up. same with the right side.

fortunately, my GP was interested enough to ask questions. one of them was how often did i get up in the middle of the night to pee? (i had no idea at the time that this was a symptom of sleep apnea.) he then had me do a breath test to see how deeply i could suck in air.

at the end, he said he wasn't sure, but suspected i had sleep apnea. i had no idea what he was talking about! but explained the dangers that i could face and recommended a sleep doctor.

so, i wasn't even seeking help for any sleep "problems", but in the end, i'm glad i got the diagnosis and am now working on the treatment.

[TASmart]

how ironic after 3 people say i am FOS and you verify that shallow breathing is normal

Read again and try to understand what I wrote.
No where did I say anything about shallow breathing being normal....no where...and I sure as hell didn't verify what you said.

hypops are only bad when the lower the spo2

No, this is not true. They are bad for the same reasons that obstructive apneas and central apneas are bad and oxygen levels may or may not be part of it. Ever wonder why they are part of the AHI in a diagnosis??? Maybe it's because they are sort of important despite what you think.

========
taking things out of context is tasmarts patented dirty trick

hypops are only BAD when tehy lower spo2
they are problems because they disturb sleep
but you can make up for bad sleep with more sleep time
you cant fix dead cells from low oxygen

They are in AHI because they needed a simple statistic for OA to determine if medicrap gives you an xpap

all apnea and hypops are only BAD when they lower spo2
otherwise they are just annoyances

AHI is a meaningless statistic and doctors say so
RDI is meaningful and so is desats level

This is flat out wrong and potentially deadly. In the absence of distractions apnea, hypopnea and possibly RERA are more than annoyances that can be overcome by sleeping more. The issue is that all forms of sleep-disordered sleeping cause sleep deprivation and may cause oxygen deficiency. Note that your favorite whipping boys, sleep doctors and insurance companies and medicare all use AHI as an indicator of the need for PAP, with and without desaturation. Sleep deprivation alone is a health risk, no matter what you claim.

[Pugsy]

all apnea and hypops are only BAD when they lower spo2
otherwise they are just annoyances

No, that's just your opinion.
Are you actually saying that someone with an AHI of 60 something is just having an "annoyance" because the O2 doesn't drop?
I have a good friend with AHI if 66 and her oxygen levels never dropped during her in lab sleep study. I guess she didn't need CPAP by your opinion.

They are in AHI because they needed a simple statistic for OA to determine if medicrap gives you an xpap

all apnea and hypops are only BAD when they lower spo2
otherwise they are just annoyances

You know you come up with some ridiculous opinions but this one ranks right up at the top for being asinine.
Just because you have this opinion doesn't make it so.

[tooter]

Why does the owner of this site put up with the crap the xyz guy puts out????????????

[Lucyhere]

Why does the owner of this site put up with the crap the xyz guy puts out????????????

Many of us are wondering the same thing! ?????

[zonker]

Why does the owner of this site put up with the crap the xyz guy puts out????????????

the owner of this site, johnny goodman, is a libertarian. he doesn't believe in rules. he's posted many times that we should just behave ourselves. it's his belief that things will work out.

mind you, it's not the way *I* feel about things.

but, it's not *MY* forum......