Any Thoughts Appreciated

I slept in a hotel over the weekend (one nite) and decided before hand that I wasn't going to take my machine. I realize that's a no-no.

My daughter was restless and couldn't sleep, so she read. My granddaughter and I fell asleep pretty quickly. My daughter said I didn't snore one time the entire nite and no events of any kind. She said my breathing was quiet and uneventful. No trips to the bathroom, very slight headache upon waking, and fairly rested considering the hectic schedule of the weekend.

Do I really need this therapy? I was thinking that perhaps I've learned "how to sleep" -- on my side, supporting my neck, and with my mouth closed.

I'm really perplexed. Any thoughts would be helpful.

I'm a little uneasy to respond... but as long as were are "just talkin'"...What are your AHI numbers when you do use cpap? The snoring, bathroom breaks, stop-breathing moments are symptoms of OSA, but it doesn't mean you don't have any. I have thought about your question also. My gut feeling is that you may have "trained" your airway to "open-up" because of cpap therapy, but after a period of time you may fall back into an obstructive airway. My fear would be that no one is around to tell you that you are snoring, stop breathing, etc..., and you you don't "think" you need cpap therapy). It took an expensive test (or two) to diagnose OSA. It would still take an expensive test (or two) to tell if you don't have it..... for one night... Just my thoughts.

Sheriff

Was there any indication on your sleep study that your OSA was positional? The only way you would know for sure is if you had another sleep study and slept in your "new" position.

Lots of people don't snore and have obvious events, though (like me), and still have hypopneas, flow limitations, etc.

If your description is accurate, I'd say you may be on to something. However, it would be reckless to suggest you abandon therapy based only on observations of one night. What I WOULD suggest is you talk it over with your sleep doc. Anything is possibke. But the stakes are too high to make rash changes.

Why did you go from cpap to bipap ? was it recommended ? by whom ? why ?

[quote="SleepingUgly"]Was there any indication on your sleep study that your OSA was positional? The only way you would know for sure is if you had another sleep study and slept in your "new" position./quote]

Never heard anything about it being positional. I do remember the tech waking me when I was on my side telling me to lie on my back. She told me she was going to do that before I ever fell asleep. Oxygen level was 85%.

My AHI with CPAP/BPAP is 0.9 or lower. I remember seeing 2.0 on Sleepyhead one time.

Doctor suggested BIPAP as an experiment to see if it would help with morning headaches. Some days I think maybe it has helped... other days I'm sure it hasn't. I can't see a real difference.

Are you using an oximeter?

SleepingUgly wrote:Are you using an oximeter?

I think SleepingUgly hit the nail on the head. Get a recording oximeter and use it with and without the CPAP machine.

The whole purpose of CPAP is to keep your oxygen level at the proper lever so your body is getting enough oxygen when you are sleeping.

Ed

You could have decent oxygen saturations and still have OSA. But if you didn't have decent saturations, you would know that your positional therapy isn't working well enough.

SleepingUgly wrote:Are you using an oximeter?

No... altho I did one time after a week or so on CPAP.

I think using one now would be a good idea.

FoxNewsFan wrote:

SleepingUgly wrote:Are you using an oximeter?

I think SleepingUgly hit the nail on the head. Get a recording oximeter and use it with and without the CPAP machine.

The whole purpose of CPAP is to keep your oxygen level at the proper lever so your body is getting enough oxygen when you are sleeping.

Ed

I think that's a very good suggestion. I'm going to give my sleep specialist a call.

Just for the record... Sleeping Ugly would never say that oxygen saturation is the only indicator of SDB. My SaO2 is 92-93% without CPAP...

My take?

Just like we all have the occasional really bad night, we all sometimes have a really good night for what ever reason. And, with therapy the level of low-grade inflammation in your body has likely decreased or disappeared. And this could mean that the tissues surrounding your upper airway maybe less swollen. And hence, for the occasional random really GOOD night, your upper airway just might resist collapsing a bit better and sleeping without the CPAP doesn't turn into a disaster. And so you got lucky.

Some notes:

1) I've seen on other boards where some sleep docs request that a person go a few days without the CPAP if for some reason the doc has ordered a new diagnostic sleep test (not just a re-titration) test. So it could be that long term therapy with CPAP provides a cushion of a few days before the inflammation starts to build and the hypopneas and apneas that do occur start to become a real problem.

2) You also need to keep in mind that not all apneas/hypopneas are extremely obvious to the observer---even when they're looking for them. Before my sleep test, my hubby reported that I occasionally stopped breathing a couple of times a night once or twice a week. The diagnostic study showed that I had between 3 and 4 full apneas during each full hour of sleep. My hubby never noticed really shallow breathing. During the sleep study I had around 19 hypopneas with arousal during each full hour of sleep.

robysue wrote:And so you got lucky.

Cause there's no chance you got better?

rocklin wrote:

robysue wrote:And so you got lucky.

Cause there's no chance you got better?

Probability(Getting Lucky) >> Probability(Getting Better).

Strictly speaking, Probability(Getting Better) > 0: Mathematically, almost NO event has Probability = 0. You look at enough folks with OSA and some of them just might get better----think MIRACLE CURE. (Who is the patron saint of sleep disorders?) But scientific evidence indicates that for those of us whose OSA is not weight related, Probability(Getting Better) is pretty darn close to 0: After all, OSA is a progressive chronic condition.

For folks with weight problems, Probability(Getting Better) is tied to both Probability(Loosing and Keeping the Weight Off) AND Probability(OSA Is Caused Only By Excess Weight). For folks with weight problems, the person may have some influence over Probability(Loosing and Keeping the Weight Off). But Probability(OSA Is Caused Only By Excess Weight) is tied to the structure of your upper airway and you've got no control over that.

So for folks with weight problems:

The closer Probability(OSA Is Caused Only By Excess Weight) is to 0, the closer Probability(Getting Better) is to 0.

The closer Probability(OSA Is Caused Only By Excess Weight) is to 1, the closer Probability(Getting Better) is to Probability(Loosing and Keeping the Weight Off).