Apnea cluster

Hi, newbie here. Most nights my AHI is around 2-2.5 with isolated apneas, on two nights though I've had some big clusters. My pressures are self determined as I didn't get a sleep study done. I'm also a bit concerned as it looks like I have periodic breathing? Was hoping someone could take a look at the graphs and see if everything is "normal" or if I need to change something. Thanks

S9 Autoset
Airfit P10 Mask
Min pressure: 5
Max pressure: 9.4
EPR: 2
Ramp 20 mins
Last seven AHI: 5.46, 2.16, 2.52, 3.11, 1.20, 1.17, 7.83

the zoomed in bits look suspiciously like cheynne stokes respiration. is it like that when you're not having clusters of apneas?

you might want to see if you can do without EPR, in case it's messing up your co2 balance.

if that keeps up, you might want to see a cardiologist.

Your graph looks very much like periodic breathing. The problem with it being Cheyne-Stokes are the OSA's between the episodes. When I run a series of Cheyne-Stokes Respirations, I see similar breathing but there is a central apnea in between. It looks as if you get an obstructive event, struggle to breathe, get in a few breaths, and then another obstructive event. What is odd is that the pressure is not responding to these events but IPAP and EPAP are pretty flat. I would guess that your EPAP is a little too low and that increasing it just a little or changing the EPR from 2 to 1 might help.

Do you have a sleep doctor to consult? Now would be a good time.

I assume that you feel really rotten in the morning after one of these episodes.

Lloyd84 wrote:Hi, newbie here. Most nights my AHI is around 2-2.5 with isolated apneas, on two nights though I've had some big clusters. My pressures are self determined as I didn't get a sleep study done. I'm also a bit concerned as it looks like I have periodic breathing? Was hoping someone could take a look at the graphs and see if everything is "normal" or if I need to change something. Thanks

S9 Autoset
Airfit P10 Mask
Min pressure: 5
Max pressure: 9.4
EPR: 2
Ramp 20 mins
Last seven AHI: 5.46, 2.16, 2.52, 3.11, 1.20, 1.17, 7.83

Are you sleeping on your back on these bad nights? I know if I some how end up on my back I have clusters of Apnea.

I wish you well

JDS74 wrote:Your graph looks very much like periodic breathing. The problem with it being Cheyne-Stokes are the OSA's between the episodes. When I run a series of Cheyne-Stokes Respirations, I see similar breathing but there is a central apnea in between. It looks as if you get an obstructive event, struggle to breathe, get in a few breaths, and then another obstructive event. What is odd is that the pressure is not responding to these events but IPAP and EPAP are pretty flat. I would guess that your EPAP is a little too low and that increasing it just a little or changing the EPR from 2 to 1 might help.

it's not responding to the events because it's at max allowable pressure.

I've seen something that looks very much like that.



misflagged as OAs, turns out the guy has CHF. that trace was the first indication.

Thanks for your replies I'll try turning the epr off and see if it helps. As far as I know I'm not rolling over onto my back, I always go to sleep on my side and I don't wake up on my back. (I don't think I've even MOVED the last couple of nights). I still feel good today even though last night was a high AHI, not sleepy or headachey. My breathing for the majority of the time looks like this-



and then occasional periods of this-



Even though last night was a high AHI I still feel pretty good today, not tired or headachey

the first zoomed in looks good, the second looks like what a PRS1 would likely flag as periodic breathing.