Hello from a Newbie

Hello everyone and a big thank you for all the valuable info on this forum.

My story is that just prior to my 60th I was diagnosed with moderate sleep apnea. I had been telling the doc that I woke up each morning with a hangover and I don't drink! Tiredness during the day, lethargic, irritable etc, and have been complaining of this for nigh on 10 years about this. I also smoke 50 a day and am slightly overweight, but my heart is in great condition, had all the tests done and no helpful diagnosis. Oh and suffer from chronic depression!

That's the history now the present.
I decided that as I was going to be sixty, it was time to take stock of my life and I am so glad I did. I invested in an Airsense 10 and a couple of nasal pillow masks after being given a trial of a CPAP machine for a week with pressure set at 8 I think.
The results were amazing, and I woke up without a hangover for the first time in years, and had loads of energy all day, I also only slept for 8 hours instead of 10/11 a night. I also quit smoking, cold turkey and I'm now free of nicotine for 2 1/2 weeks. I can't remember a time when I felt so alive and raring to go, it is truly a life changing experience, and I have been very fortunate that I took to the APAP so quickly, and my machine is now my second best friend.

As there are no real sleep clinics here in Singapore, I have ordered all my equipment from the USA and it is half the price that is charged here. I now know why the doctors in Singapore drive around in Ferraris and Porche's, medicine is all about money here, which is not good. I am on a steep learning curve and am teaching myself as much as I can to fine tune my own therapy, and it's thanks to the good people on this site and others that I know I can get help and have the will to embrace this therapy.

So to any other Newbies reading this, don't give up, the rewards of the journey are amazing, and if I can do it on my own, with your help, I just know that those of you who have good medical support can do it too.

If I can be of any moral support to anyone struggling, I'll be there, still learning the clinical stuff, but I am sold completely on what a positive mental attitude can do.

Thanks to all the members of his forum.
Duncan

Welcome to the forum, I have prepared a welcome wagon just for you: Hot chocolate milk and chocolate chip cookies, and peppermint schnaaps for flavoring. NOTE: You will be carded since alcohol is provided. When you arrive, please sign in (your login name) so we'll know you stopped by. Then my post will return back to the top of posts for other newbies to stop by for a treat.

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Enjoy!

Starlette

Are you sure your pressure is right at 8? Where did that come from?

Is your A10 an Auto? If it is you could try a range and self titrate. Maybe get even better results

Are you using any software to monitor things - what's your AHI looking like?

Hi englandsf
I had a sleep test done by the ent doc and he gave me a couple of names to try out cpap. One of the guys who loaned it to me said I should be on 8 and when he picked up the machine and checked the records he said my AHI was down to 0.21. Now I'm not sure if he was being accurate or just trying to sell me a hugely overpriced machine.
I had already ordered an Airsense 10 Auto from the U.S. which arrived the day he took the other machine away.
I had it set on full auto 4 to 20 and was achieving AHI 4.16 consistently with pressures in the range of 6.82 med to 11.66 max with a 95% of 9.98.
Last night I set the pressure range 7 to 12.2. and just checked the results. AHI up to 6.12 with a significant number of large leaks showing. I'm going back to 4 to 20 until I can get more data and feed back from the forum as to what min max pressures I should be exploring.
I'm using Sleepyhead software, but have only 4 days of data and I'm still learning how to interpret it. I'm really just going by the AHI reading at present.
Any suggestions very welcome as I strive for the ideal settings. Oh, I use a P10 nasal pillow, if that's of any use in determining pressures?
Thanks
Duncan

Looks like you're homing on the optimal pressure but your AHI is still a bit high it appears.

Are you using ramp? How often are you turning off during the night? Are you seeing big leaks?

P10 is a very forgiving mask.

Got my AHI down to 3.71 and I've set the ramp to 10 mins. I'm not turning off during the night ( if you mean turning the machine off). Last night got a long period of large leak, but I put that down to incorrect placement of the mask straps. Once I adjusted them all was good.
Pressure range 4.8 to 18 and a. Looking to go to 4.8 to 16 tonight.

I would really appreciate it if anybody can point me in the right direction to learn about all the data that I see on the Sleepyhead software. I see lovely graphs but don't know what the relevance or meaning of them are.
I'm a passionate seeker of knowledge and really want to fully understand the myriad of data that is available on the software.

Thanks

Duncan

Does your mouth get really really dry after the large leaks? If so, the leaks may be mouth breathing...

No I'm no getting any dryness in my mouth. I'm pretty sure the leak was due to bad mask positioning, because it happened in the first third of the therapy session and I vaguely remember adjusting the straps of the P10 and the leaks stopped.
As an addendum to my last post, I have checked out Pugsy's pointers, very helpful thanks, but I feel the need to learn more.
Can you let me know what a clear airway event is please?
D

Merlin7 wrote:Can you let me know what a clear airway event is please?
D

Clear airway is what Respironics calls "central apnea"....the airway is open but there is no air flow.
Cessation of breathing but the airway is open.
Obstructive apnea is the cessation or reduction of air flow but it's caused by the airway tissues collapsing and blocking the air flow.

Your minimum pressure is going to be the most critical pressure setting to prevent the obstructive apneas and hyponeas. It's not the maximum.

Merlin7 wrote: I would really appreciate it if anybody can point me in the right direction to learn about all the data that I see on the Sleepyhead software. I see lovely graphs but don't know what the relevance or meaning of them are.
I'm a passionate seeker of knowledge and really want to fully understand the myriad of data that is available on the software.

Thanks

Duncan

Pugsy is being very humble. If you look at the first entry under "Announcements" at the top of the Home page, you'll find more than you wanted to know! By Pugsy, who is all things CPAP!

Thanks so much Pugsy, all the info is great. You really do know all there is to know about CPAP, and it's a real comfort for us Newbies that you are there to help?

Hey Merlin,

I'm from Singapore too. Just started on the CPAP. Everything here is over-priced! And the retailer the hospital recommended isn't that helpful. The mask they recommended (the Philips Wisp) left a blister on my nose, and they had no solution.

I've since switched to a Swift FX nasal pillow system. Works much better, but there's still air leakage when I sleep on my side.

Do you have that problem with the P10? I think it's the successor to the FX, but being so small, it might be more sensitive to movement.

Also, where did you order your equipment from? Most online retailers require a prescription as required by US Fed law. I ordered the Swift FX from 1800-CPAP. They didn't need a prescription as the shipping address was overseas, and their FedEx rate was surprisingly reasonable. Their prices are decent, and I had a 10% voucher too. But I'd like to hear if there are any other options!

Look forward to hearing from you.