New to the board..just introducing myself

Hi all,

I wanted to take the time to write a post since I've been lurking for the last 3 months. I'm so thankful for all the great information on this board.

Altough using a CPAP and adjusting to the many aspects of it have been a bit tough, especially emotionally, for my health it has been a complete 180 turn.

At my sleep study, my AHI was over 100 and they did a split where they put me on CPAP after 3 hours in the lab. In the morning the technician was surprised at how *severe* it was and when I saw my family doctor after she was floored by the results.

I have snored for years, friends and family get pretty annoyed by it but I never thought it was that bad. However, the last 6 months before I finally went for the study and started CPAP I was having enormous amounts of anxiety, as well as daytime sleepiness, no energy, food cravings, and the last straw was waking up during the night with my heart pounding. That was enough to scare me and get the help I needed. I'm only 29 but I was becoming scared that I would just wouldn't wake up one night.

With the CPAP, after about 3 weeks, I started seeing a difference and so did the people around me. I don't fall asleep watching the 6pm news, I have tons of energy, I'm more patient, more focussed at work, less anxious, better at controlling my eating and have already lost about 15 lbs.

My main take away is that I should have gotten help sooner.

Since everyone posts their sleepyhead summaries, here is what a typical night looks like for me. I'm still using a rental machine, waiting to hear back on the insurance before making the purchase.

I have been wondering if a higher pressure would be beneficial? They started me at 11 and increased a couple times to get to the current 12.2. And let me know if I didn't post this correctly.



Thanks!

What machine do you use - full name (words on top and on the bottom - but DON'T tip it til water's out. Without knowing that, it's hard to advise.

His report says he is using an AirSense 10 autoset

Julie wrote:What machine do you use - full name (words on top and on the bottom - but DON'T tip it til water's out. Without knowing that, it's hard to advise.

I'm currently using an Air Sense 10 but in CPAP mode (its a rental). What the DME has given me to send the quote to my insurance and will be using is an Air Sense 10 Elite CPAP. I'll add information to my profile.

Edit to add: The prescription from the sleep doctor is for CPAP at 12.

oryx wrote:Hi all,

I wanted to take the time to write a post since I've been lurking for the last 3 months. I'm so thankful for all the great information on this board.

Altough using a CPAP and adjusting to the many aspects of it have been a bit tough, especially emotionally, for my health it has been a complete 180 turn.

At my sleep study, my AHI was over 100 and they did a split where they put me on CPAP after 3 hours in the lab. In the morning the technician was surprised at how *severe* it was and when I saw my family doctor after she was floored by the results.

I have snored for years, friends and family get pretty annoyed by it but I never thought it was that bad. However, the last 6 months before I finally went for the study and started CPAP I was having enormous amounts of anxiety, as well as daytime sleepiness, no energy, food cravings, and the last straw was waking up during the night with my heart pounding. That was enough to scare me and get the help I needed. I'm only 29 but I was becoming scared that I would just wouldn't wake up one night.

With the CPAP, after about 3 weeks, I started seeing a difference and so did the people around me. I don't fall asleep watching the 6pm news, I have tons of energy, I'm more patient, more focussed at work, less anxious, better at controlling my eating and have already lost about 15 lbs.

My main take away is that I should have gotten help sooner.

Since everyone posts their sleepyhead summaries, here is what a typical night looks like for me. I'm still using a rental machine, waiting to hear back on the insurance before making the purchase.

I have been wondering if a higher pressure would be beneficial? They started me at 11 and increased a couple times to get to the current 12.2. And let me know if I didn't post this correctly.



Thanks!

Hi Oryx,

I am very happy for you! First, good for you! A lot of folks (about 50%) give up on CPAP therapy for sleep apnea, even when it is extremely severe like yours. Sticking with it and keeping a good mindset, in spite of all the anxiety that goes with having sleep deprivation!

Your results are fantastic. Keep up the great progress! (My sleep study ahi was 134.8 in Nov '15, we should start a 100+ club) I use an auto machine, so I can't really speak to setting pressures. It is working well for me, but results may vary and you need to find your own way.

Anyway, great job and very good to hear about your success!

Kind regards,
GB

Here are some tips I have for organizing your screenshots.
The graphs that are usually helpful are:
1. Event Flags
2. Flow Rate
3. Pressure (not mask pressure)
4. Leak
5. Flow Limit (only with Resmed machine)
Put your graph in that order by grabbing, by the labels, with your mouse and dragging it where you want it.
Now grab the line between the graphs and resize them until you get them in one screenshot.

Take a screen shot after you organize your graphs. You can push F11 ( or click file - view - fullscreen toggle) on your keyboard before you take your screenshot and it makes it full screen with no ID info.

If you are tolerating the pressure ok at 12.2, you could try a bit higher, 12.7 or 13. You have some obstructive events, maybe during a REM cycle, or maybe you spent some time on your back. If you were running in auto mode, the machine would adjust the pressure up to try to control these events, and you could see how high it would go and use that as the fixed pressure. Is this graph typical? If it's just an isolated night where this happens, it may not be a huge problem. If you change the pressure, give it a few days to judge the result. Nice job in your first 3 months!
Jim

oryx wrote:I have been wondering if a higher pressure would be beneficial? They started me at 11 and increased a couple times to get to the current 12.2. And let me know if I didn't post this correctly.

it posted fine.

if it were ME... I'd switch it over to autoset mode, with a minimum of 11, and a max of 20, and see what the data looks like. that would give you a bit lower pressure normally, and you could see what the max pressure would be needed for those groups of obstructives. then you can decide whether to raise the minimum pressure a bit or leave it.

Julie wrote:What machine do you use - full name (words on top and on the bottom - but DON'T tip it til water's out. Without knowing that, it's hard to advise.

it's actually on the front on the air10 line