Newbie, First Sleepyhead post

I got my machine yesterday. It is in my profile.
I used it for about 3 hours while sitting in a recliner and felt a need to take it off. Then did another 3 hours in bed later. Not quite sure what to do with the data. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Lots of clear airway events, while in bed, none in recliner.
I have the mode set to autoset for her. Min 8 max 13. No ramp, EPR =3. My sleep test AHI was 25. I am pursuing this because of various heart issues that my cardiologist suggested were sleep apnea related

As a side note, the insurance assigned me to one DME who could only provide a Dreamstation. Luckily, I had previously read enough here to get my doc to write the specific Resmed on the prescription. I insisted that the insurance should assign me another DME who was willing to provide the Autoset for Her. They did... and then success. I already owe a lot of thanks to this forum.



Michael

When you were in bed between 5:30 and 8:30 were you sleeping? Did your sleep test mentiom CAs?

image link did not seem to post

http://imgur.com/F6Tqmna

first, congratulations on posting a great, well organized screenshot. it's much rarer than it should be.

second, I'd suggest trying turning down your EPR, that *may* (ducks before pugsy smacks me) help the excessive centrals.

LSAT,

thank for the reply.
Yes I was mostly sleeping, although not deeply. I seemed to be exhaling a bit though my mouth, but not inhaling thorugh it and I was drifting in and out of sleep. Kind of weird, my mouth was not opening, my lips just seemed to purse with air coming out due to the pressure on the exhale.

On my sleep test (in home) 167 total events, obstructive apnea 123, central 0, Hypopnea 44. Longest apnea 55sec, longest Hypopnea 32 sec. Lowest SpO2 81%. Snore count 10. Min heart rate 36

Michael

Your pressures seem ok...I would try what Palerider suggested to see if CAs are reduced. Since this is your first night, I would watch your results for a few nights before worrying about any other changes.

palerider wrote: I'd suggest trying turning down your EPR, that *may* (ducks before pugsy smacks me) help the excessive centrals.

I am not throwing anything....yet.
But I believe I would have tried to ascertain if OP actually slept during the time in bed.
It wasn't clear to me and before I would go suggesting changing things I like to know for sure if someone was actually asleep or not.
First night and a newbie...I wonder about actual sleep and if not asleep...those centrals aren't real and don't count.

Pugsy wrote:

palerider wrote: I'd suggest trying turning down your EPR, that *may* (ducks before pugsy smacks me) help the excessive centrals.

I am not throwing anything....yet.
But I believe I would have tried to ascertain if OP actually slept during the time in bed.
It wasn't clear to me and before I would go suggesting changing things I like to know for sure if someone was actually asleep or not.
First night and a newbie...I wonder about actual sleep and if not asleep...those centrals aren't real and don't count.

good point.

Pugsy wrote:

palerider wrote: I'd suggest trying turning down your EPR, that *may* (ducks before pugsy smacks me) help the excessive centrals.

I am not throwing anything....yet.
But I believe I would have tried to ascertain if OP actually slept during the time in bed.
It wasn't clear to me and before I would go suggesting changing things I like to know for sure if someone was actually asleep or not.
First night and a newbie...I wonder about actual sleep and if not asleep...those centrals aren't real and don't count.

When I asked, he said up above that he was sleeping the last 3 hours.

LSAT wrote:When I asked, he said up above that he was sleeping the last 3 hours.

And I saw this which to my mind doesn't necessarily mean totally asleep.

mdemers800 wrote: I was drifting in and out of sleep.

mdemers800 wrote:Yes I was mostly sleeping, although not deeply.

Which for a first night wouldn't be all that unusual. But doesn't tell me that a person slept soundly...and points to a very light sleep with probably a lot of SWJ going on plus he was awake enough to aware of inhaling and exhaling through the mouth.
Now if I had seen "was sleeping soundly until I woke up and removed the mask" that would be a totally different story.

But it hurts nothing to turn EPR off or reduce it, especially since the minimum pressure is relatively low anyway, if it's comfortable to do so.

First night..newbie...hyperaware of things....not sleeping soundly...all greatly increase the chances of those centrals being SWJ and that's a greater chance than the chance of EPR causing the centrals.
I suppose we could ask for zoomed in images of the flow rate for clarification but I wasn't going to worry about that until see if the centrals stick around or not.

thanks everyone, this forum is great.

I am feeling OK about my progress; just getting the machine and using it for 6 total hours the first night. I found the P10 pillows and the pressure to be more comfortable than expected, given others early experience. I will keep tinkering and post again in a few days to a week. I also have an AirFit F10 full face mask that I picked up inexpensively from a forum member that I will experiment with also. I like the idea of leaving on the EPR until its proven to be an issue.

Michael

LSAT wrote:

Pugsy wrote:

palerider wrote: I'd suggest trying turning down your EPR, that *may* (ducks before pugsy smacks me) help the excessive centrals.

I am not throwing anything....yet.
But I believe I would have tried to ascertain if OP actually slept during the time in bed.
It wasn't clear to me and before I would go suggesting changing things I like to know for sure if someone was actually asleep or not.
First night and a newbie...I wonder about actual sleep and if not asleep...those centrals aren't real and don't count.

When I asked, he said up above that he was sleeping the last 3 hours.

I don't trust people's memory when they say they were sleeping, or not, since the brain is terrible at remembering things like that, so their recollection is often quite suspect.

I used to swear up and down I was awake all through tv shows.... "just closed my eyes a bit", but people told me I was snoring and head bobbing terrible, and, more telling, when I'd rewatch the show, there would be big chunks that were new to me

looking at the airflow during the times of those centrals is a much better indication.

if mdemers800 wants to zip up his sd card and upload it to https://www.dropbox.com/request/0LalWvEsijRIgX8sdM7H I'll take a look.

Palerider,

thanks so much for the offer. Let me take a few days to get stabilized with the treatment and if the CAs persist, I will take you up on your offer. At this point, they could be phantoms, so I will wait before asking you to invest too much time.

Michael

mdemers800 wrote:Palerider,

thanks so much for the offer. Let me take a few days to get stabilized with the treatment and if the CAs persist, I will take you up on your offer. At this point, they could be phantoms, so I will wait before asking you to invest too much time.

Michael

up to you, it only takes a few minutes to scan over the flow rate while zoomed in enough to see what the centrals look like

here's a brief overview of what I'd be looking for: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xallwxPCg84

Palerider,

thanks again for the offer to look at my data and help me. I did upload a zip of my SD card to your dropbox. I was not sure which files, so I did them all, the size was modest. I also uploaded my sleep study which showed zero clear airway apneas. It was a home study with no EEG, so I am not sure how they concluded that.

Following is my Sleepyhead for last night. I also did a screen shot of my Pulse Ox readings. It shows that even though I have these CA events, my pulse ox levels never drop much. There are some pulse spike, which I would like to understand because my most serious complications of SA are my heart arrhythmias. I don't know if these spikes are within normal range. I do have bradycardia, amd my heart rate averages in the low 40s at night. Even though I loaded the pulse ox files into sleepyhead, they would not be in the SD card files I sent. I am not sure how to send those.
To help your interpretatin a bit: I did not got to bed until 1:30am. I did not feel like I slept until 3:30 or so. My best sleep was from 3:30 to 5:30. I woke up about then with dry mouth. I am exhaling through my mouth, I don't feel I am inhaling through it. I did sleep uneasily form 5:30 to 8:30. All of my CAs seem to be in the restless times. My flow rates look best between 3:30 and 5:30 when I was sleeping best... with no CAs then. So this may all be just adjusting to the machine. I am able to tolerate the machine all night, on my second night, but comfort level is still pretty low. My heart rate is also smoothest during that sleep period.

thanks again,
Michael


http://i.imgur.com/4rFiNv5l.png


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