Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

General Discussion on any topic relating to CPAP and/or Sleep Apnea.

Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

I purchased a Zeo and believe it is a great product with useful data output.
23
28%
I purchased a Zeo and think it is just so-so.
8
10%
I purchased a Zeo and don't like it.
5
6%
I am considering purchasing a Zeo.
24
29%
I have no interest in purchasing a Zeo.
11
13%
I don't know what a Zeo is.
11
13%
 
Total votes: 82

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by ChicagoGranny » Sat Dec 29, 2012 7:41 am

MyIdaho wrote: Another question. In my sleep study, I had only 1 minute of REM sleep and 117 oxygen desaturations per hour during non-REM. Would I better off to buy an oximeter rather than a zeo?

Are you using CPAP software to optimize your CPAP therapy and do you practice good sleep hygiene? This should come first before even considering buying another device.

If your CPAP software shows that your CPAP therapy is optimal but you are still concerned about oxygen levels, then ask your doctor for an overnight oximetry study. Most B&M DMEs provide the equipment and a copy of the study results free of charge.

If your CPAP therapy is optimized, your oximetry study shows good levels, you practice good sleep hygiene and you still have sleep problems, then you might want to consider purchasing a Zeo.

MyIdaho
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by MyIdaho » Sat Dec 29, 2012 3:09 pm

ChicagoGranny wrote: Are you using CPAP software to optimize your CPAP therapy and do you practice good sleep hygiene? This should come first before even considering buying another device.
Yes, I have full daily information on both ResScan and Sleepyhead software. I review the data daily. My present cpap settings have reduced AHI from 130 (sleep study) to an average of 1.2, a 98% reduction. Not sure what you mean by good sleep "hygiene"?

ChicagoGranny wrote: If your CPAP software shows that your CPAP therapy is optimal but you are still concerned about oxygen levels, then ask your doctor for an overnight oximetry study. Most B&M DMEs provide the equipment and a copy of the study results free of charge.
My cpap therapy appears to work well but I still have days when I'm very tired/yawning during the work day. Oxyen desaturation index (ODI) is correlated with AHI but there is a large range of ODI values for a given AHI value. I'm curious in my case if desaturations are still occurring with a low AHI... Thanks for the info on a possibly free overnight oximetry study from the DME. I'll call next week as my Doc is out of town until Wednesday. If I buy my own, I can do a study whenever I want so may go that way as well, particularly if my DME charges for an overnight oximetry study. I have high deductible insurance and it rolls over on Jan 1...
ChicagoGranny wrote: If your CPAP therapy is optimized, your oximetry study shows good levels, you practice good sleep hygiene and you still have sleep problems, then you might want to consider purchasing a Zeo.
Nice, well thoughtout approach! Thanks!

cosmo
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not a toy

Post by cosmo » Sat Dec 29, 2012 4:11 pm

Image

The Zeo is great. As you can see from the screen shot above, I was booted from deep sleep into REM due to an apnea.

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by ChicagoGranny » Sun Dec 30, 2012 7:26 pm

MyIdaho wrote: Not sure what you mean by good sleep "hygiene"?

Here is one decent list - http://www.pulmonaryandsleepmedicinepc. ... ygiene.pdf

I suggest you take some time one day to google "sleep hygiene" and read some articles from diverse sources. Then you can develop a routine that fits you personally.

BTW, I think sleep apnea patients should wean themselves off all sources of caffeine. My husband read this in this forum some years ago and we are both better off for saying "No" to caffeine.

Good luck!

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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by johnthomasmacdonald » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:23 pm

curse you cosmo!!! your zq score is 93 and my BEST night was a 91, I will catch you and then run you into the dust no matter how long it takes and how many cpap machines, masks, pad-a-cheeks, filters,mask wipes, sweat bands and duct tape I need to buy!!!

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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by johnthomasmacdonald » Sun Dec 30, 2012 10:30 pm

chicago granny wrote: "BTW, I think sleep apnea patients should wean themselves off all sources of caffeine. My husband read this in this forum some years ago and we are both better off for saying "No" to caffeine."

Coffee gives jolt to life span
Java consumption linked to slightly increased longevity and the caffeine in coffee has been shown to delay Alzheimer's

It’s the news that coffee addicts have been waiting for: Drinking several cups of coffee every day may help you live longer. A study of more than 400,000 people finds that drinking coffee may reduce the risk of death from heart disease, stroke and even infections, researchers report in the May 17 New England Journal of Medicine.

Scientists have long puzzled over the notion that a stimulant could provide a health benefit. “There’s been a concern for a long time” that coffee could even be detrimental, says study coauthor Neal Freedman, an epidemiologist at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. “Our results might provide some reassurance for long-term coffee drinkers.”

Since the study volunteers weren’t randomly assigned to drink coffee or not, the research has the limitations of being observational in nature. But with data from 402,260 participants, the results are “very powerful” and unlikely to be superseded by another coffee study anytime soon, says Roy Ziegelstein, a cardiologist at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. “This might be as good as it gets,” he says.

Freedman and his colleagues analyzed data provided by men and women who completed a detailed questionnaire that included information about coffee intake as part of a medical study in the mid-1990s. The researchers excluded people who had previously had cancer, heart disease or some other serious illness and recorded the remaining volunteers’ mortality status through 2008 by checking death records.

During a median follow-up of 13.6 years, people who drank two or more cups of coffee per day were 10 to 16 percent less likely to have died than nondrinkers. A single cup a day provided less apparent benefit. Women seemed to get more out of drinking ample java than men; women who drank six cups of coffee per day had a 15 percent reduced risk of death compared with nondrinkers, while men consuming that much had only a 10 percent reduced risk.

More than two cups a day seemed to offer some protection against death due to heart disease, respiratory ailments and diabetes, while four or more cups a day imparted apparent benefits against stroke and infections.

The researchers accounted for differences between coffee drinkers and nondrinkers such as body mass, smoking status and the consumption of alcohol, red meat, white meat, vitamins, fruits and vegetables.




More good news for people who can't function in the morning without a cup of coffee.

Researchers from the University of South Florida and University of Miami have found that higher caffeine consumption -- a big source being coffee -- is linked with a delayed onset of Alzheimer's disease, even in older adults who already have mild cognitive impairment (thought to be an early sign of Alzheimer's and/or dementia).

"These intriguing results suggest that older adults with mild memory impairment who drink moderate levels of coffee -- about 3 cups a day -- will not convert to Alzheimer's disease -- or at least will experience a substantial delay before converting to Alzheimer's," study researcher Dr. Chuanhai Cao, a neuroscientist at USF, said in a statement.

Researchers conducted the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, on 124 people ages 65 to 88; some of the study participants had mild cognitive impairment.

They found that the study participants who went on to develop dementia over the next two to four years had 51 percent lower blood caffeine levels than people whose MCI did not progress over that period of time. The researchers said that high blood caffeine levels were a sign that a person regularly consumed caffeine.

Researchers cautioned that the study doesn't mean drinking coffee is guaranteed to save someone from Alzheimer's, but rather coffee may help to lower the risk of Alzheimer's.

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wildflowertx
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by wildflowertx » Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:38 am

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:curse you cosmo!!! your zq score is 93 and my BEST night was a 91, I will catch you and then run you into the dust no matter how long it takes and how many cpap machines, masks, pad-a-cheeks, filters,mask wipes, sweat bands and duct tape I need to buy!!!

Should I then not tell you that I had a ZQ of 110 Saturday night and 100 last night (Sunday)? It usually seems to be in the mid/high 80s or low 90s, though, but I did also have a 109 early in December. I've also had some bad 50s and 60s nights...

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Jay Aitchsee
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by Jay Aitchsee » Tue Jan 01, 2013 1:00 pm

John, Cosmo, and Steph,
If you haven't seen it, you may want to check out this thread: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=84753&st=0&sk=t&sd= ... e&start=30
DD makes the point that higher ZQ scores are not necessarily better. For example, a 12 hour sleep devoid of REM and Deep would score 102. Good score, but poor sleep.
Just a thought.

Jay

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wildflowertx
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by wildflowertx » Tue Jan 01, 2013 5:18 pm

Yeah, I actually had that thought already myself, Jay. My REM and deep sleep are rarely much more than an hour each, split up through the night; most of the points in my ZQ come from the total amount of sleep and most of the sleep is light sleep. But the good thing about the Zeo is that at least I can *see* that data and hopefully figure out how to improve the stats.

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SethW
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by SethW » Tue Jan 01, 2013 11:45 pm

MyIdaho wrote:Can a person use the zeo with a mirage quattro mask? I'm thinking not but maybe it works? I've finally got the leaks down to a very low managable level with my quattro and am not excited about switching masks...

Another question. In my sleep study, I had only 1 minute of REM sleep and 117 oxygen desaturations per hour during non-REM. Would I better off to buy an oximeter rather than a zeo?
I have not been using my Zeo for a while now because I need to replace the headband. I've used it only once after switching to the Ultra Mirage that I'm using currently. There was enough room on my forehead above the mask's bar to wear the Zeo sensor and it seemed to stay put for the night, although it wasn't as tight as I remember when I could wear it on my forehead square in the middle (like I could with the Quattro FX mask I used to have). The readings seemed to be diminished, but like I said, I'm also being told by the Zeo that I need to replace the headband.

As for whether or not an oximeter would be better than a Zeo, my personal experience with my Oximeter is that there is a lot of noise in the signal. In very broad terms, I was able to see a general improvement from one level to another (i.e. numbers seemed to hover around a higher number than without CPAP), but I wouldn't say I was able to get detailed information from the oximeter. Or the Zeo, for that matter.

I'd say pick whichever you're most interested in and go for that. I got both.

Guest

Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by Guest » Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:26 am

johnthomasmacdonald wrote:More good news for people who can't function in the morning without a cup of coffee.
That is not what that says.

That says if you take an observational look at all comers, drinking coffee may have some health benefits.

However, if you wake up in the morning and are dysfunctional, you'd get a lot more bang for the buck if you fixed the (apparent) sleep problems.

Further, if the (apparent) sleep problems are compounded by caffeine intake, any gains appreciated by coffee intake would most assuredly be lost by poor sleep (keeping in mind that the study is not about "caffiene" it is about "coffee", which has >1000 compunds in it, so who knows why those results are the way they are).

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Not Fade
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by Not Fade » Wed Jan 02, 2013 6:51 am

Good point Guest!

If,
johnthomasmacdonald wrote:More good news for people who can't function in the morning without a cup of coffee.
then you have a problem (probably sleep apnea) and you need to get therapy not caffeine!

I was a coffee hog before diagnosis and CPAP. Caffeine kept me going.

Weaned myself off of it and am glad of it. If I have a bad night I will occasionally measure out a quarter cup of coffee first thing in the morning. I can feel the impact of even this small amount but it will be out of my system by bedtime.

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chunkyfrog
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by chunkyfrog » Wed Jan 02, 2013 12:15 pm

Much of the Zeo coaching is directed at improving sleep hygiene, by providing feedback and suggestions.
"Sleep hygiene", by itself is more economical, but the Zeo inserts that extra kick of showing cause and effect.
I have yet to sample their customer service, to compare with the negative comments in that direction, however.

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cosmo
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by cosmo » Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:47 pm

2 months later, I'm still loving mine and using daily.

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TheUglyTruth
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Re: Opinions/Experience re the ZEO?

Post by TheUglyTruth » Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:41 pm

cosmo wrote:2 months later, I'm still loving mine and using daily.

Are you using the data to improve your sleep? Or just obsessed with numbers?

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