djam's therapy thread

[djams]

Yeah, that's a legit high rate, not just sleepyhead getting confused and double counting breaths.

As long as it's just an occasional thing, I woulnd't think it's something to be concerned about. (mind you, that's a guess, not substantiated by anything... but I'd just look at it and go "huh, weird" if it showed up on mine.)

Thanks. I'll adopt your reaction, and keep an eye on it. Whole night is odd right from the get-go. Starting off with respiratory rate in the mid-30's and staying there.

You sharing your likely reaction is very helpful - appreciate it.

[palerider]

Yeah, that's a legit high rate, not just sleepyhead getting confused and double counting breaths.

As long as it's just an occasional thing, I woulnd't think it's something to be concerned about. (mind you, that's a guess, not substantiated by anything... but I'd just look at it and go "huh, weird" if it showed up on mine.)

Thanks. I'll adopt your reaction, and keep an eye on it. Whole night is odd right from the get-go. Starting off with respiratory rate in the mid-30's and staying there.

You sharing your likely reaction is very helpful - appreciate it.

The *only* thing I can think even might possibly be a 'thing' is if some of the vent holes on the mask are clogged, and it's not washing out the CO2 as effectively as it normally does... that would increase your RR.

[djams]

The *only* thing I can think even might possibly be a 'thing' is if some of the vent holes on the mask are clogged, and it's not washing out the CO2 as effectively as it normally does... that would increase your RR.

This could very well be the case. I've taken to mashing my face into the pillow when I wake up with a leak. This could block the large vents on one side the of my "quiet air" elbow.

[palerider]

The *only* thing I can think even might possibly be a 'thing' is if some of the vent holes on the mask are clogged, and it's not washing out the CO2 as effectively as it normally does... that would increase your RR.

This could very well be the case. I've taken to mashing my face into the pillow when I wake up with a leak. This could block the large vents on one side the of my "quiet air" elbow.

I'm pretty sure those aren't vents, that's the anti-asphyxiation valve. Should be *firmly* closed when the mask has pressure in it.

[djams]

I'm pretty sure those aren't vents, that's the anti-asphyxiation valve. Should be *firmly* closed when the mask has pressure in it.

You are of course correct again. I've never really looked at this elbow very closely. Is indeed two little flapper valves(on each side). Pushed into place by the air flow. Covered them up just now while running mask fit and blocking the end of the hose. They release so I don't suffocate. Pretty important little design feature here. Also discovered that these flaps closing is what makes that "thwap" sound.

These machines and their components continue to amaze me. The precision required of all the different pieces and parts...

[palerider]

I'm pretty sure those aren't vents, that's the anti-asphyxiation valve. Should be *firmly* closed when the mask has pressure in it.

You are of course correct again. I've never really looked at this elbow very closely. Is indeed two little flapper valves(on each side). Pushed into place by the air flow. Covered them up just now while running mask fit and blocking the end of the hose. They release so I don't suffocate. Pretty important little design feature here. Also discovered that these flaps closing is what makes that "thwap" sound.

You got it! It is pretty hard to see what's going on without a mirror.. and even then, you gotta be real quick

[djams]

You may have a strong positional aspect to your pressure needs.

Maybe set up one of those 25$ wyze cams and have it record you at night,

I got the Wyze cam a while back, and it has 100% confirmed Pugsy's statement above. The FL's and events and pressure increases happen immediately when I roll onto my back. It's had the additional benefit of allowing me to verify that none of my CA's are real. I look at some of my CA's and think "hmmm, maybe this one's real", but when I "go to the tape", I always see some sort of positional adjustment immediately preceding the CA. It's been interesting, it doesn't take a lot of movement to create a disturbance in the flow chart. I don't really do anything too odd. I move my legs frequently, and I rub my head. Once in a while while on my back I put my hands behind my head and lay there like I'm on the beach somewhere. Also on my back, I'll bend my knees and sleep that way for extended periods. The cat gets a lot of air time.

Anyways, I appreciate the recommendation palerider. I've put it away, as it consumes a lot of my time - but it's been useful, and most likely will be again at some point in the future. What a bargain that thing is.

On the therapy front, I've been at 12 min, 20 max pressure for almost 30 days. Average AHI is 0.56. Low 0, high 0.9. Here is last night's chart, just for posterity.

[palerider]

You may have a strong positional aspect to your pressure needs.

Maybe set up one of those 25$ wyze cams and have it record you at night,

I got the Wyze cam a while back, ...
Anyways, I appreciate the recommendation palerider. I've put it away, as it consumes a lot of my time - but it's been useful, and most likely will be again at some point in the future. What a bargain that thing is.

I'm glad it helped to fit some pieces of the puzzle into place.

And, yeah, they're a great deal... maybe have it watch the bird feeder instead of you for a while... more relaxing videos

[djams]

I recently got to wondering how much my O2 levels were dropping during. Particularly during my 2-3 minute hypopneas.

I'm surprised at what I'm seeing. I thought that when I had a 30 second or so OA that I'd see a correlating drop in O2 levels, but this is not the case. During a long hypopnea, the minimum O2 level I'm seeing is 94% so far. Don't have a lot of data. I don't like wearing the oximeter, and the data transfer into SH is, cumbersome, I guess.

With what I've seen so far, I'm not going to wear it regularly. I guess the question here is simply - everything look normal here? If so, I'll put the oximeter in the drawer for the next time I feel like monkeying around with it.

[djams]

I had 2 bouts of really irregular breathing Wednesday night. 1st lasted 20 minutes, 2nd 45 minutes. I can't find anything like this in the charts identifying what the various flow rate shapes. My respiratory rate was way up during these times. To me, it looks like I was panting or something. I spent the day yesterday trying to shrug it off as an anomaly, can't do it, I have to ask. Input greatly appreciated.

20181121_irregular_breathing.PNG (19.19 KiB) Viewed 35610 times

Here's the entire night.

20181121.PNG (144.15 KiB) Viewed 35610 times

When I woke up in the morning, I could tell something odd had transpired by the way my chest/lungs felt.

[palerider]

I had 2 bouts of really irregular breathing Wednesday night. 1st lasted 20 minutes, 2nd 45 minutes. I can't find anything like this in the charts identifying what the various flow rate shapes. My respiratory rate was way up during these times.

Your RR was about 22 during the zoomed in bit that you posted, count the big peaks.

SH is stupid there, and it's counting every little zero crossing on the flow rate as a breath, even if it's something else (maybe cardiac affects that sometimes show up in some people's flow rate because of the way they're laying... or something). I've seen it before, and seen it in literature (no reference handy)... I don't know what causes it, but you're not the only one.

[djams]

Your RR was about 22 during the zoomed in bit that you posted, count the big peaks.

I had suspected this might be the case, you mentioned earlier in the thread that SH does this on occasion. Now I know what one of these occasions looks like.

SH is stupid there, and it's counting every little zero crossing on the flow rate as a breath, even if it's something else (maybe cardiac affects that sometimes show up in some people's flow rate because of the way they're laying... or something). I've seen it before, and seen it in literature (no reference handy)... I don't know what causes it, but you're not the only one.

Interesting about the possibility of cardiac influence. I believe that I spent nearly all of the night on either my left or right side, for what that's worth. And knowing that you've seen this before, and that I'm not alone helps. Didn't see any of this in last night's data.

As always, I really appreciate your response.

[palerider]

Your RR was about 22 during the zoomed in bit that you posted, count the big peaks.

I had suspected this might be the case, you mentioned earlier in the thread that SH does this on occasion. Now I know what one of these occasions looks like.

SH is stupid there, and it's counting every little zero crossing on the flow rate as a breath, even if it's something else (maybe cardiac affects that sometimes show up in some people's flow rate because of the way they're laying... or something). I've seen it before, and seen it in literature (no reference handy)... I don't know what causes it, but you're not the only one.

Interesting about the possibility of cardiac influence. I believe that I spent nearly all of the night on either my left or right side, for what that's worth. And knowing that you've seen this before, and that I'm not alone helps. Didn't see any of this in last night's data.

As always, I really appreciate your response.

I wish I has a real answer... But at least I can say it's not unheard of.

[djams]

I wish I has a real answer... But at least I can say it's not unheard of.

Trust me, this helps.

[djams]

I wish I has a real answer... But at least I can say it's not unheard of.

I didn't mention that the unusual breath shapes occured with EPR off, didn't suspect that it was relevant. Had been trying EPR OFF earlier in the day, and forgot to turn it off. I noticed it of course when I went to bed, but just decided to leave it off - kind of a "eff-it" moment.

I went the past 2 days with EPR ON/3cm, and saw no weird breath shapes. Turned EPR OFF last night and they re-appeared.

Wondering if this could be related. Simply trying to adjust to exhaling against 12cm instead of 9cm while I'm asleep?

I may continue the ON/OFF experiment to see if the correlation continues. I'm very surprised that I'm able to tolerate EPR off all of a sudden(meaning that I can fall asleep with no problems). This was unthinkable in the past. Then again, the odd breath shapes may indicate that I'm not really tolerating it.

Edit: I hooked up the Wyze cam last night to see if these breathing spells were causing any noticeable distress. I slept through all of it with nothing out of the ordinary happening movement-wise. If anything, I moved around less than normal last night.
Also decided to rename this thread what it is. My therapy thread.