New to CPAP Woes

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

Post by alexm » Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:37 pm

I am new to CPAP. I had a sleep study done earlier this year as I was snoring loudly and wanted to check into that. It was found that I have an AHI of 19 which is moderate. I was given a CPAP machine. It has taken me a month to get used to the CPAP machine as far as comfort is concerned. From what I can tell, my snoring has been completely eliminated and my apnea is virtually gone. However, I am sleeping worse than I ever have. I used to wake up maybe once in the middle of the night, then fall back asleep. Now I am waking up every three hours, so maybe 3 times a night. My sleep seems to be worse than when I did not have CPAP, even though I am afraid to not use the machine for health reasons obviously. I was wondering if someone could comment on this, as I wonder if this is a common occurrence? Also, when I had my study I did not sleep much. Therefore, I wonder if a sleep study can be that accurate without many hours asleep? I was told that one apnea even lasted 70 seconds which is quite long to hold ones breath!

Thanks,

Alex

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ChicagoGranny
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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by ChicagoGranny » Wed Apr 01, 2015 4:50 pm

alexm wrote:From what I can tell
Quit guessing, download Sleepyhead software and look at your events and leak line.

alexm
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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by alexm » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:15 pm

Thanks for the acerbic introduction to the site. I am not guessing when over the last two years my wife said I snored like a freight train and now she said I haven't snored for a month...not once. Something is working, but my sleep is fragmented and this is due to my CPAP therapy.

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by palerider » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:18 pm

alexm wrote:Thanks for the acerbic introduction to the site. I am not guessing when over the last two years my wife said I snored like a freight train and now she said I haven't snored for a month...not once. Something is working, but my sleep is fragmented and this is due to my CPAP therapy.
granny's part of the cushy soft comfort brigade... except when she's not.

as to your sleep being fragmented... you're still getting used to it, and you may have had other sleep issues in the past, but you were so tired that when you'd lay down, you'd pretty much pass out (not sleep) so it's not a very good comparison.

give it time, get sleepyhead like she said, and make sure that more than just your snoring is being adequately taken care of.

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Bill44133
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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:31 pm

Alex it maybe the adjusting machine pressures that are disturbing your sleep. You need to download the software SleepyHead, and see what is going on when you are waking up.

Welcome to the forum by the way.. Work all your issues out here.

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by alexm » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:36 pm

I do have the auto ramp feature set if that is what you mean. Thank all of you for the info. I appreciate it. I will download the software.

Alex

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:39 pm

alexm wrote:I do have the auto ramp feature set if that is what you mean. Thank all of you for the info. I appreciate it. I will download the software.

Alex
No not the auto ramp..
Are you set on a range of pressures? Seems these days people are on pressure ranges.. Some times the machine working to stop an event it will disturb your sleep. Most of the time it is corrected by narrowing the range instead of a wide open range.

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by alexm » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:42 pm

I am specifically set at 6 I think...

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by chunkyfrog » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:43 pm

Sometimes it helps if we can see what kind of equipment you have.
Providers often have no clue getting all the settings right, so many of us have downloaded manuals (free).
You would be amazed how many different things can contribute to a horrible night.
We can take it a bite at a time, and figure out how to make it work.

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by OkyDoky » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:43 pm

Here is a site to help you with Sleepyhead download. https://sleep.tnet.com/resources/sleepyhead
ResMed Aircurve 10 VAUTO EPAP 11 IPAP 15 / P10 pillows mask / Sleepyhead Software / Back up & travel machine Respironics 760

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Bill44133
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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:45 pm

alexm wrote:I am specifically set at 6 I think...
SleepyHead will tell us what you are set at.. 6 maybe the starting number...

that is a very minimum pressure.. You may need 9 or 10 to stop events. The machine climbing to 9 or 10 quicky could be disturbing your sleep..

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by alexm » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:53 pm

This is what the sleep doc found was adequate pressure in my study, but I will definitely install the software.

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 5:56 pm

alexm wrote:This is what the sleep doc found was adequate pressure in my study, but I will definitely install the software.
Great Idea... You are going to have to take an active roll in your therapy to start to get all the kinks worked out. You should go into the user control panel and fill in your equipment so other will be able to help you...

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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by tazman » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:20 pm

I have only been on CPAP for less then 3 weeks but I had unrelated arousals during my sleep study and so far my sleep is just as crappy as it was before CPAP. My plan is to wait until the sleep doctor calls for the meeting that is required by my insurance to see how things are going then if things have not improved I will talk to him to see if there is anything else he could do for me. I am on my third day with 0 caffeine even though I would not have any hours before bed time I want to have all of the little stuff out of the way to make sure we talk about the most relevant items. I would definitely start looking at your data to see if there is anything you could tweak to help you sleep better so you can be prepared if things do not improve and be able to talk intelligently to your doctor.

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Bill44133
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Re: New to CPAP Woes

Post by Bill44133 » Wed Apr 01, 2015 6:34 pm

Once you get it installed you want to look at the leak line, the pressure line and the events line...

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